IGC Goose Count weekend

The weekend of 25th/26th February is the international weekend for goose counts for the Icelandic-breeding Goose Census (IGC), which aims to count all the Greylag Geese and Pink-footed Geese from Icelandic populations. Shetland birds included winterers from Iceland, while local breeders are probably 'short-stoppers' which have stopped short on their migration north in the past and bred in the islands.

Unfortunately, with many of the regular counters away this weekend, counts were largely restricted to the main wintering areas, in South Mainland and Unst. The final total for Shetland (excluding many of the islands with smaller populations but also excluding Yell and Fetlar) was around 3500 birds. In South Mainland, initial results suggest that there were about 2000 birds from Sandwick south, slightly lower numbers than earlier in the winter (there was a census in December). On Unst, there were about 750 birds, almost exactly the same number as were present earlier. Overall, counts suggest slightly lower numbers than earlier in the winter.

A paper on the status of the Greylag Goose in Shetland has just been submitted to Scottish Birds and will hopefully appear soon.

For full details on birds and other aspects of the natural history of Shetland, don't forget to visit the website at http://www.nature-shetland.co.uk, while there is also a Facebook site, with different content, at http://www.facebook.com/natureinshetland .

Iceland Gulls in January 2012

Iceland Gull is generally considered to be a scarce, but regular, winter visitor to Shetland in small numbers. From about January 7th 2012 larger than usual numbers began to appear in the islands, and it soon became clear that a major influx was taking place.

With this in mind, a co-ordinated Shetland-wide count was organised by members of the Shetland Bird Club, and others, for Saturday 14th January. Observers were despatched far and wide to locate as many birds as possible, in order to try and record the influx as best as possible. We've received virtually everything now, although there may be one or two extras to add in later. Below is what we've come up with so far:

Unst (total 24)
Skaw - 4 (all 2nd-winters)
Norwick - 1 (2nd-winter)
Baltasound - 3 (all 2nd-winters)
Westing - 1 (2nd-winter)
Belmont - 13 (4 adults, 4 3rd-winters, 4 2nd-winters, 1 1st-winter)
Uyeasound - 2 (adult and 2nd-winter)

Yell (total 12)
North Sandwick - 7 (2 adults, 2 3rd-winters, 3 2nd-winters)
Mid Yell - 1 (2nd-winter)
Ulsta - 1 (2nd-winter)
Hamnavoe - 1 (2nd-winter)
Loch of Littlester - 1 (2nd-winter)
Burravoe - 1 (2nd-winter)

Fetlar (total 1)
Just one 2nd-winter on the island

Whalsay (total 22)
Symbister - 15 (5 adults, 3 3rd-winters, 4 2nd-winters (one of which was dead) and 3 1st-winters)
Hamister/North Voe - 2 (1 adult, 1 3rd-winter, both showing characteristics of Kumlien's Gull)
Skaw - 1 (adult)
Vaivoe - 1 (2nd-winter)
Challister - 1 (2nd-winter)
Brough - 1 (2nd-winter)
Huxter Loch - 1 (2nd-winter)

North Mainland (total 2)
Ronas Voe - 1 (2nd-winter)
South Collafirth - 1 (2nd-winter)

West Mainland (total 13)
Melby - 5 (1 3rd-winter, 3 2nd-winters, 1 1st-winter)
Burrastow - 8 (5 adults/3rd-winters, 3 1st/2nd-winters)

Central/East Mainland (total 55)
Firths Voe - 3 (1 adult, 2 2nd-winters)
Laxo - 3 (1 adult, 1 2nd-winter, 1 1st-winter)
Lunna - 1 (2nd-winter)
Dury Voe - 4 (2 adults, 2 2nd-winters)
Brettabister - 1 (1st-winter)
Scalloway - 6 (all 2nd-winters)
Loch of Tingwall - 1 (3rd-winter)
Lerwick - 36 in total; 35 (8 adults, 5 3rd-winters, 20 2nd-winters, 2 1st-winters) at Shetland Catch, and 1 (1st-winter) at Breiwick

South Mainland (total 15)
Sumburgh - 1 (adult)
Scatness - 1 (adult)
Fleck - 1 (adult)
Boddam - 1 (3rd-winter)
Clumlie - 2 (adult and 2nd-winter)
Scousburgh - 3 (2 2nd-winters, 1 1st-winter)
St Ninian's Isle - 1 (2nd-winter)
Gulberwick - 1 (1st-winter)
Wester Quarff - 4 (unaged)

Fair Isle (total 8)
2 adults, 1 3rd-winter, 5 2nd-winters (one of the 2nd-winters was found dead)

Grand total: 152
We'll continue to update the totals as and when more information is received.

There was some evidence that birds had moved on over the last few days (or relocated to other sites within the islands), particularly on Unst, where there had been 33 at Belmont on January 11th (compared to 13 on the 'count day') and 13 at Skaw on January 10th (compared to 4 on 'count day'). In addition, careful scrutiny of the ages of birds in Lerwick has shown that at least 44 individuals have been present during the last week.

It is fairly safe to say that the January 2012 influx is the largest to ever be recorded in Shetland. The previous biggest arrival was in January/February 1983, which produced at least 120 birds. In addition, the record site count has also been broken this year - the previous highest count at one individual site was 31 in Lerwick in January 1993.


An interesting aspect to the arrival in January 2012 is the make-up of the ages of the birds involved, with much larger numbers of 'older' birds than would normally be expected, and a strange dearth of 1st-winter individuals. This is something that we hope to expand upon in due course.






Observers who specifically went out looking and participated in the co-ordinated counts were:

Rob Brookes (north Unst)
Mike Pennington (south Unst)
Brydon Thomason (Fetlar and north Yell)
John Lowrie Irvine and Brian Marshall (Whalsay)
Jim Nangle and Lynn Thomson (Yell)
Rob Fray (south Yell, central and east mainland)
Gary Bell (north mainland)
Rory Tallack (west mainland)
Paul Harvey and Pete Ellis (Lerwick)
Juan Brown (Scalloway, Tingwall Valley, Burra and Trondra)
Jim Nicolson and George Petrie (Cunningsburgh to Gulberwick)
Roger Riddington and Glen Tyler (south mainland)
Naomi Scott (Papa Stour)
David Parnaby and Tommy and Henry Hyndman (Fair Isle)

In addition, casual records that added to the totals were received from Martin Heubeck and Mark Chapman, and a couple of records have been gleaned from various news services.

Our grateful thanks to everybody who took part.

Rob Fray

Colour-ringed and neck-collared geese

There have been unusual numbers of geese around in the last few weeks, with European White-frontedGeese, Tundra Bean Geese, Pink-footed Geese and several other species joining the usual Greylags. In amongst all these new arrivals have been two birds with neck collars. Rory Tallack found a White-fronted Goose at Sandness on Sunday 20th November (photo by Rory Tallack).It was probably marked in its wintering grounds in Germany or the Netherlands.

On Monday 21st November, Jim Nangle found a Pink-footed Goose at Cullivoe on Yell (photo by Jim Nangle). Although the full code on the collar has not been read yet, it has been confirmed that this is a bird from Svalbard which should have been migrating down through Norway and Denmark to the Netherlands or Belgium for the winter. This is a very interesting record as the Pink-feet that pass through Shetland are usually from Iceland. Although given the the fact that the other geese that arrived at the same time all came from the east, perhaps it isn't that surprising that the Pink-feet came from the same direction.

It is alo worth pointing out that a small number of locally-bred Greylag Geese were fitted with either colour-rings or neck-collars this summer, in a attempt to find out whether local birds emigrate in the winter, Any sightings of these birds, which were marked in Dunrossness, would be welcome.

Your Shetland List may have just gone up by 2!

The most recent report from the BOU Taxonomic Committee has announced two splits which affect the Shetland List - Hudsonian Whimbrel Numenius hudsonicus (three records, on Fair Isle on 27th-31st May 1955, Out Skerries from 24th July to 8th August 1974 and Fair Isle again on 29th-31st August 2007) and Siberian Stonechat Saxicola maurus (just over 100 individuals recorded, the first on Fair Isle on 13th-21st October 1961).

The Shetland List now stands at 449 (including 5 in Category D, 2 Category D candidates, 2 not seen from land and one extinct).

To read more go here http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1474-919X.2011.01155.x/pdf

Water Pipit, a first for Shetland

Unst managed to turn up its second first for Shetland in 2010 with a Water Pipit at Norwick on 21st-23rd November. Here is a finder's account from Brydon Thomason.

Water Pipit at Norwick by Jim Nicolson

November is traditionally a month never to be underestimated when considering winding down an autumn birding in the isles. It is a month that seldom passes without at least one surprise rarity. Personally speaking, November has indeed been more than kind and has brought  a diversity of  rarity finds such as Gyrfalcon, Lesser Scaup and Hume’s, Arctic and Dusky Warblers, to name but a few - along with multiple King Eider and White-billed Divers.

With that said though, it can certainly be a hard month to keep motivation going when out in the field. Migrants can be very few and far between and suitable habitat and cover for a potential rarity is often all but weathered away.

Although birding time had been at something of a premium, I had still had my usual November aspirations of finding Pine Bunting or Desert Wheatear but, alas, once again it was to be a year of neither! But what I was to find, in a local context at least, was to be a much rarer bird than either of these ...

It was our son Casey's belated first birthday party so, with the Sunday dinner preparations all in hand, and along with my parents, wife Vaila and our birthday boy we set out for a nice pre- dinner outing. Having enjoyed a lovely walk at Skaw beach we made time for a drive along the shore-side road which overlooks one of Shetland’s iconic vistas, Norwick beach. 

As we drove towards the turning point, a passerine flitted over the verge and down toward the beach. I caught no more than a fleeting glimpse, but what I did see certainly intrigued me; the amount of white in the outer tail suggested pipit, but perhaps even a bunting or lark were all possibilities given how poorly I’d seen it. In any case any pipit, lark or bunting in late November is worth checking; they are few and far between by late November.

Leaving the car running and family in it, I peered over the bank and down onto the dead seaweed smothered beach only to see a female Black Redstart fly away from me - confused, my eyes quickly then fixed on my mystery bird flying off along the beach. It was certainly a pipit, but which? It showed quite a lot of white in the outer tail and seemed to show some brownish tones. I knew something was unfamiliar about it as I watched it fly to the far end of the beach. I quickly shouted to Vaila to come back for me ‘in a bit’, having no earthly idea how long that would be!      

I relocated the bird at the far end and got my first ‘on the deck views’. It was some 40-50yards away and I had no scope! The split second thoughts of Blyth’s (more by its apparent choice of habitat than anything else, feeding along the edge of dunes) were expelled instantly, not least on plumage tones and underpart streaking but also structure.

Its underparts were strikingly clean white, plus the white in the tail ruled out local Rock Pipit and I was fairly certain littoralis was not in the picture either. Water or Buff-bellied Pipit were all that were possible, I thought to myself. Without even getting the chance to stalk forward and get better views, a dog walker flushed it, causing it to fly over my head and all the way back to the far end of the beach, calling once as it went - a rather flat Rock Pipit like ‘psp’- surely it must  be  a Water Pipit?  

It had been several years since I had heard Buff-bellied Pipit in the States but I was pretty confident this was not one. I began to really train my thoughts on Water Pipit, a species I had never even seen in Britain, and not since a UAE trip many years ago, and even there I had admittedly paid them little attention. BBP was very much fresh on my radar having seen the bird at Eshaness only a few weeks previously, but this was just never coming across with a Buff-bellied Pipit vibe to me.

When I returned to the other end, my father was at the wheel of my Freelander and informed me the others were back home (only a few minutes up the road). I grabbed my scope but had no tripod with me. A blustery and very anxious few seconds through the scope for the first time appeared to confirm to me the following basics;

·          Tail, coverts and tertials did not appear strikingly blackish or crisply fringed as in BBP

·         The mantle appeared to be visibly streaked as opposed to rather plain BBP

·         Streaking on clean white underparts was quite bold all the way down flanks

·         Slightly browner tones around rump area

·         Perhaps most importantly the lores appeared to be quite distinctly marked and not open

·         Nor did it show the striking eye crescents of BBP - It had to be a Water Pipit I thought to myself.

Water Pipit at Norwick by Rob Brookes

All this had happened in under ten minutes, it was just after 1500 and light was failing fast, I had to get news out to the ‘Unst boys’. Unusually, I had no camera with me nor did I even have a field guide to hand. We drove off up the road to get phone reception and where Mr P (Mike Pennington) was my first and very definitely priority call. Thankfully he answered and within ten minutes was by my side followed swiftly by Robbie Brookes – I knew young Rory T was off island.

Water Pipit was certainly a first for Unst and I was also aware that it would almost certainly be a new species for all the Shetland ‘listers’ but didn’t actually realise at the time it was in fact a county first! Whilst anxiously trying to relocate the bird with Mr P I relayed all that I had noted. Thankfully without too much distress (although perhaps maybe with a little ‘tension’ in the air!) we pinned it down back feeding on the dead kelp on the tide line of the beach, which proved to be its favourite spot. We enjoyed fairly good and definitively conclusive views through a shared scope but with light that was by now bordering on appalling neither Mike nor Rob got anything better than poor record shots.

By about 1530 we had lost the bird due to poor light. On route home we put the news out and I was back home in time for getting the ‘tatties’ on and set the table - a county first and my son's first birthday party, the perfect Sunday!

A Round-up of Killer Whale Sightings involving Shetland in 2010

by Andy Foote, Brydon Thomason and Suzanne Beck
 

Even as this year draws to a close there have been Killer Whale sightings around Shetland. So it seems like a good time to look back at the comings and goings of our Killer Whales during 2010.

The first whales showed up in late March (23rd) in Yell Sound, which is consistent with the past few years. We got a chance to photograph them from the Yell Sound ferry, but the sun was working against us and the images were backlit and we couldn’t really positively ID any of the whales. One of the female-sized fin silhouettes however had two distinctive notches in the trailing edge, which looked very much like the female with ID number 12. But other individuals had silhouettes that did not match any of the fins in our photo-id catalogue, and so it seems like we had some new whales!

The new individuals appeared to stick around for a couple of weeks as the fin shapes match with those seen hunting in Scalloway harbour only days later on the 28th March and with 2 males photographed in Yell Sound on the 8th April.

May was a quiet month around Shetland, and all the action was further south. The group of four (27, 34, 72 & 73) that are regularly seen around Shetland showed up in Scapa Flow in Orkney (6th May) and they had a new calf! It appears as though 27 is it’s mum as it stayed closest to her in all the photos we were sent. The photo (above) of this pod was taken on Bluemull Sound on 15/03/08.

We got to follow this group's travels through a series of great photos provided by the public. On the 13th May they were seen off Durness in Sutherland, but they headed east again and were photographed on the 20th off Whaligoe steps, Ulbster, Caithness. They didn’t show up again until 23rd August when they were photographed off the Faeroes feeding on eiders and doing some hunting training with the youngsters, and even hit the headlines by making it on to the Faeroese evening news.

12 and her group were also sighted regularly in May, being photographed between Shapinsay and Kirkwall in Orkney on the 9th May, and then Duncansby Head, Caithness on 16th. They were back up to Orkney where they took a marine mammal in Eynhallow Sound on the 25th May, before heading south again, being seen back off Caithness on the 28th May. Then they headed west and were last positively identified off St Kilda on 12th June. They may have also paid a fleeting visit to Shetland as a group that looked like them were photographed on 8th July off Bressay, but it was choppy weather and the photos weren’t clear enough to be sure.

Larger groups of Killer Whales were also getting seen feeding on herring offshore about 25 miles east of Shetland during May. Photos we received were all of individuals not previously catalogued.

June was pretty quiet too, until on the 23rd a group of 5 showed up in Yell Sound and took either a seal or porpoise just off the ferry. This was the start of an unprecedented run of sightings from the Yell Sound ferry, with almost daily sightings for a month. Photos that we have received or collected ourselves between 23rd June and 24th July showed that most of these sightings were of the same group of 5, which were positively IDed on the 23rd June, 7th, 12th, 15th and 18th July. The group had not previously catalogued and it seems highly likely that they are newcomers to Shetland.

They weren’t the only group seen around Shetland at this time. As noted above the group on Bressay were definitely not the same group, and our old friend Bigga (ID number 14) was seen on his own off Gutcher on 10th July and again on two occasions over the following fortnight on Yell Sound.

Further south again, photographs came in of the group with female with ID number 15 (who we last saw in 2009 off Bluemull Sound). They were seen once off the Moray Firth on 29th June and then off Orkney on 20th July.

So, this year due to the amazing public contribution of photos, we’ve been able to track some pods as they have moved over quite a considerable distance, we’ve been able to monitor the birth of new calves, and we’ve seen what look like 2 sets of newcomers to the Northern Isles, suggesting that Killer Whale sightings in this area may be on the increase.

A massive thank you to everyone who contributed to this year’s efforts, the support continues to grow each summer!

Read more about the ID project at www.northatlantickillerwhales.com

This blogpost has also been published on www.shetlandnature.net - we would welcome further shared blogposts if they cover subjects of broad interest.

Two new moths for Shetland

Every year, the small band of moth-trappers in Shetland catch a few moths that they are unable to readily identify, and by October have a fridge-full of deceased moths in pots. They are then magically sent away south to be identified by Jon Clifton of Anglian Lepidopterist Supplies (www.angleps.com). The results from 2010 have just come back, and have revealed two firsts for Shetland.

Sandy Carpet (Perizoma flavofasciata)

A moribund individual was trapped on 21st June 2010 by Rob Fray in his garden at Virkie. It was not photographed, but a photo of the species can be seen here.

This moth, which usually inhabits open woodlands, mature hedgerows, calcareous grassland and sand-dunes, is fairly common and widely distributed in England, Wales and southern Scotland. It flies during June and July, although does not come to light very often. It would appear to be spreading north, as it is not mentioned in the books on Orkney Lepidoptera which summarised records until the mid-1990s, but there are now widespread records on Orkney Mainland according to this map.

Splendid Brocade (Lacanobia splendens)

This was trapped by Paul Harvey in his garden at Virkie on 19th July 2010. Again, the specimen wasn ot photographed, but a photo of the species can be seen here.

This central and southern European species was first identified in Britain from a specimen captured at Portland, Dorset),on 1st July 2003, although earlier specimens which had been overlooked have been located since. Since then it has been recorded in the UK on a number of occasions, usually in southern England. It flies in June and July and typically frequents damp woodland and forests in its native range. Not only was this a first for Shetland, it was the first record of Splendid Brocade in Scotland.

On behalf of all who trap and record moths in Shetland, thanks to Paul Harvey and the Shetland Biological Records Centre for providing us with an easy facility to get our moths identified, and Jon Clifton for patiently wading through loads of common moths and locating these occasional little gems.