Hampshire birding and beyond

Grutness is a superb area. It has a lovely beach where waders were plentiful, a lovely rocky terrain as well a few gardens and the quarries at Sumburgh. We awoke early checking the gardens around our accommodation and all we had was a few Blackcaps and Goldcrests so we made the decision to check the plantations at Kergord.  Soon after arriving we heard a yellow Browed calling and shortly after had brief glimpses in the thick strips of bushes. It was soon cut short tho as a message came through of a Pallas's Warbler at Grutness in the garden which every day before so far I had checked but nothing more than a couple of chiffchaffs, Twite and Brambling.  Shortly after we arrived at Grutness to a group of birders staring into the garden, it transpired into a long wait as a strong northerly wind was whipping across the Island and therefore the bird was keeping very low amongst the group of sycamores than ran around the garden. When it eventually showed it was amazing! ...

Aurora Borealis aka Northern Lights has always been high on my wish list to see and when I went to Shetland this was hopefully a chance to finally see them. After a lot of driving around and checking of the Sumburgh Head webcam I was starting to get really frustrated as to why I couldn't see it. Looking to the north you could see a greyish type wash to the sky but surely that wasn't it? Well it turns out it was! Underwhelmed would have been an understatement I really did think you would see it how it is in pictures but it wasn't the case. Over the next hour or so I tried to get some pics and eventually got the right settings to reveal some colour. Amazing really how this occurs even if somewhat uninspiring!

After seeing the Snowy Owl we made a hasty retreat down the hill back to the car. Once back I checked the timetables and we had missed the boat damn!!! The next one wasn't for a couple of hours which was really frustrating but it gave us no choice but to check out some gardens. The best we could muster was another Yellow Browed which was very elusive so we headed back to the Ferry.  Finally with what felt like forever we set sail back to Unst where we got straight off and back on to sail to Yell. Once back at Yell we ploughed it back to the site where the Swainson's had been seen.  We parked up and started scanning the dense well vegetated garden where this yank thrush had been lurking. Half an hour passed and no sign until everybody ran off back up the road, we followed and soon after we were watching our 1st Swainson's Thrush hopping around on someone's lawn.  After a quick chat with a guy who had been there a while he said to us get yourself positioned by th...

News broke of a Snowy Owl on Fetlar late on one evening at stackerberg their last breeding place in Britain. I had already seen one back in the day at Zennor, Cornwall but being so close I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see another. We waited a day to see what it did and it stayed put so the next day we were off! We got over to yell early so we could get the first ferry over to Fetlar.  Arriving at Gutcher we got in our lane behind another group of birders. Out of nowhere he put the car in reverse and came back totally oblivious to the fact we were sat behind him, luckily I blasted the horn and reversed quickly up the lane which thankfully prevented him smashing into the front of our recently acquired 20k car. Lucky escape!! But things were about to get worse but we didn't know it yet. We boarded the boat to Fetlar and no sooner had we started to pull away MEGA Swainson's Thrush Yell. A tick for all of us!! I couldn't believe it. 5 minutes earlier and we could h...

I awoke early am and checked the gardens but it was very quiet so we loaded up the car and headed down south to Sumburgh to check the quarries and Grutness. I had high hopes of finding a Common Rosefinch so I pulled over to check the beach at Grutness. Moments after I had started scanning a WhatsApp message came through 2 Common Rosefinch Grutness by the pool! Typical!!  We hopped into the car and drove 2 mins down the road to the car park and after half an hour or so of searching they both perched up on one of the many boulders behind the pool, (glad it wasnt a mega as this place has ankle breaker all over it). They were fairly distant but it was my first in this plumage. The only other Common Rosefinch I had seen was a smart male which was self found on Portland.  After this we started to search the general area which included the gardens and quarries but there wasn't a lot happening although it felt rare with light drizzle and a slight breeze. WhatsApp pinged ...

Whilst on Shetland I decided to pop over to the most Northerly Isle in Britain Unst. Primarily to try and get the Pechora Pipit however despite 8 of us searching for a few hours we could not locate it in the vast area of fields at Haroldswick. In hindsight I should have gone over on the day I arrived but I just couldn't handle it after a long drive and boat up. Anyway all was not lost as we headed onto Skaw where we had great views of a Blyth's Reed Warbler. A tick for me and one I had hoped I would see well and not just skulking on the mainland. We searched a few areas of this great island but only got rewarded with a single Yellow Browed Warbler at Halligarth and a few Brambling.