Sunday 5 October 2008 - Day 10 - RED-THROATED PIPIT on Shetland - A new addition to my British List - 05/10/2008
RED-THROATED PIPIT on Shetland - A new addition to my British List
Our disappointing trip ended with a bang........ well with a slight ripple of excitement anyway. The first stop off on our final day was Trondra. After a careful group scan of around 700 Common Eider around the fish cages Steve Richards put his piercing blue eyes to good use by picking out an eclipse drake KING EIDER bobbing around in the distance. Fortunately the bird swam just a bit closer and all of the usual defining features of this species (whilst in this unimpressive plumage state) could be picked out. Also in this area Common Chiffchaff, Lesser Whitethroat and Siskin were seen. We then moved across to Kergord where a couple of Yellow-browed Warblers (including a particularly vocal bird) were seen in the main plantation. Other species included Pied Flycatcher, Blackcap and a few Goldcrests.
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On the way to Lerwick for fuel we then decided to stop of at a nice looking garden at Frakkafield near Dale Golf Club. Here we managed to see a Common Snipe, a Reed Warbler and a Blackcap. The highlight however was watching an angry golfer go balistic at a mischevious Raven which dropped in and flew off with his golf ball in it's bill! From the noise he was making anyone would have thought he was having his eyes pecked out Hammer Horror style..... very funny indeed. It was while viewing this particular garden that a friendly resident appeared and told us how whilst eating his morning bowl of Corn Flakes on the 12th September 1983 he peered out of kitchen wndow to find a HAWK OWL eating a Starling whilst perched in one of his willow trees. Just imagine that! Anyway whilst Andy Jensen and Steve Nuttall were rummaging around this famous garden news broke of a lifer for Andy and I down in South Mainland.
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We arrived on site at Clevigarth near North Town to find around twenty or so birders all looking in different directions which is never a particularly good sign. It appeared that our target species had just vanished into thin air. After a short while we all headed in different directions in order to attempt to relocate the bird. I hadn't walked far when I flushed a Pipit species from a small patch of nettles. It landed briefly infront of me before taking flight again giving off a distinctive tseeeeeeeeezzz as it went. At last my first ever RED-THROATED PIPIT but typically it continued to fly off into the distance. It was at this point that my emotions went from delight to disappointment in just a few seconds, I needed better views. The bird was relocated again briefly on a couple of occassions but just as I managed to get on to it the bird would either disappear into a patch of vegetation or fly off silently with the Meadow Pipit flock. Finally after a bit of hard work and a lot of patience we nailed the bird once and for all. This time Ian Moore flushed it but instead of the bird fleeing into the horizon it dropped down just a short distance away into a dense patch of nettles. We surrounded the area and waited quietly. Eventually the bird strolled out into the open providing us all with superb views as it fed just a few feet away.
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 * Red-throated Pipit - Clevigarth, Mainland Shetland - Oct 2008
Photo by Steve Nuttall
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Before heading back to Levenwick to pack our cases we stopped off at Scatness where Tom Perrins had tipped us off about a Dark-bellied Brent Goose amongst the Barnacle Geese flock. Unfortunately by the time we got on site there was just 9 Barnacle Geese remaining along with an adult Whooper Swan and two youngsters.
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So overall a pretty disappointing trip rarity wise but we had some pretty damn good birds really and some cracking views of them. Maybe us 'ASBO's' are just a bit on the greedy side. On the plus side I ain't laughed so much for ages, my sides nearly split on several occassions! Thanks for the memories lads.
Let's go cutes!
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