Shetland

Wild about Whaaps at Spiggie Hide

2023-04-17T08:00:00Z

Join us in going Wild about Whaaps on World Curlew Day

Friday 21 and Saturday 22 April, World Curlew Day Drop-In Event 12-4pm

The evocative burbling cry of the Curlew, affectionately known as Whaap here in Shetland, is sadly commonplace in few places in the UK, and the fact of its familiarity in Shetland is something to be celebrated.

Curlews are not the only special species for which Shetland is a refuge, and this has been recognised by Species on the Edge. This new partnership programme is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Species on the Edge is working across seven project areas, including Shetland, to safeguard, celebrate, and strengthen the status of target species, of which Curlew is one of eight in Shetland. The programme is delivered by seven conservation charities and NatureScot, with RSPB Scotland taking the lead in Shetland.

Curlew, alongside other so-called farmland waders such as Lapwing, are experiencing dramatic declines across the UK with causes rooted in human activities, such as changes in farming practices and other land uses, as well as climate change. World Curlew Day (on April 21) is a grassroots initiative dreamed up by Mary Colwell, a committed champion of the Curlew. The aim is to highlight the plight of the Curlew, to unearth and celebrate the meaning it has for people across the UK, and to encourage people to take responsibility for the future of the Curlew and other special species in any way that they can.

Join us at Spiggie Hide on Friday April 21 and Saturday April 22 between 12-4pm to participate in a range of indoor and outdoor activities as we go Wild about Whaaps!

Enjoy a guided walk (running on the hour) to RSPB Scotland Loch of Spiggie and the opportunity to observe Curlew and other waders. Discover why Shetland is so important to these species. Binoculars and scopes will be provided but feel free to bring your own.
Add to a long tradition of celebrating the iconic and charismatic Curlew in art by following some creative prompts for drawing and writing at Spiggie Hide. Basic materials will be provided but you are also encouraged to bring your own art and craft materials.
Children and families can get stuck into various activities to discover more about the Curlew.
Indulge in some hot drinks and baked goods while perusing a range of books, watching videos, and listening to music inspired by these brilliant birds.
Find out about opportunities to get involved in taking action for Curlew and other treasured and threatened species found in Shetland, perhaps through taking part in surveys.
Crofters and landowners can discuss land management for Curlews, at RSPB Scotland Loch of Spiggie and explore features such as the new scrape that provides vital feeding habitat for waders.

Please park at Spiggie Hide at the north end of Loch of Spiggie for the event, and wear weather appropriate clothing and footwear if participating in the guided walk. The route will follow the public road along the edge of Loch of Spiggie but the route may be wet and it may be necessary to step onto grassy/muddy verges to allow vehicles to pass.

For more information on Species on the Edge, please visit the Species on the Edge webpage at https://www.nature.scot/scotlands-biodiversity/species-edge-sote/species-edge-about-project or come along to our launch event on May 4^th 3pm-7pm at Isleburgh Community Centre in Lerwick (more information to follow).

You can also contact:

Molly Harvey – People Engagement Officer, Species on the Edge molly.harvey@rspb.org.uk

Tom Allen – Project Officer, Species on the Edge tom.allen@rspb.org.uk

Tom's highlights as Assistant Warden

2023-01-23T10:23:00Z

Hello, it's a different blog this week as after working as the Assistant Warden for the Shetland team for nearly three years (Well, two years and fifty-one weeks, to be precise), the time has come to take on a new challenge working as the Species on the Edge project officer in Shetland.

So I'm taking this opportunity to reflect on my time in the role and share my top 5 moments in this role. However, I have experienced so many great moments, too much to put into words, so where do I start...

Tom outside the off at RSPB Sumburgh Head

When I started in February 2020, I landed at the deep end as the Biodiversity Challenge Fund works were happening on the Mires of Funzie. My first day in between induction was spent watching diggers attempting to clear pools whilst trying not to sink, with some dodgy moments; that was the moment when I realised this was going to be a great job, watching habitat being created, knowing somewhere down the line this would attract red-necked phalarope (Little did I know back then that in 2022 we would have our first phalarope breeding on the mire since 2009)

Getting creative and using clothes to map the pools and ditches at the Mires of Funzie

Speaking of Phalaropes, I had never seen one before coming to Shetland, and one day in June, whilst paddling in the sea, this small bird swam up to me and swam around me. I was stunned; in my head, I was trying to identify the species, and everything told me it was a phalarope; a quick photo of the team confirmed my theories, and it was!!! At that moment, another 3 birds joined the first bird, and I spent a great afternoon watching them.

Tom's first red-necked phalaropes

After that moment, I had an excellent opportunity to work closely with these magnificent birds, experiencing the highs and the lows throughout the season. Another great tail was finding my first chick. Whilst surveying one of the mires, I saw this 'bee' in a wet patch. I went to pick it up until this thing squealed and ran into the nearby pool, at which the mire erupted with birds. I am not sure who was more scared!

Out on surveys - there is a phalarope in this picture!

Another highlight that we have talked about a lot on these blogs is the management of the sites. During my time, we have successfully set up grazing on three mires, resulting in increased breeding of birds on the sites. In one year, we managed to excavate pools on all the sites on Fetlar. This is most notable on the Mires of Funzie, as mentioned previously. Hopefully, with this work, we will continue to see the reserve flourish for years.

Cutting at the Mires of Funzie

Finally, to round up, we were running a rock pooling day last summer, helping Ali with Unst Fest. The rain was heavy, and we weren't expecting too many people. But out of nowhere, so many people were keen to get involved, and that number kept growing throughout the day. But seeing the interaction of people who were scared of crabs at the start overcoming their fears to holding them by the end of the day was really special.

The view whilst travelling to Unst

Well, that's all for me now; I will still be about. To finish with, say a massive thank you to all the staff, volunteers and community that have supported me during my time. Tom

Ps enjoy the photos (many of them are me in water – where I feel most at home!)

Tom in his natural habitat

Brough lodge beach

Discussing habitat management with other reserves staff on a visit to RSPB Loch of Strathbeg

A phalarope success story

2022-12-08T16:55:00Z

After we carry out practical work on the reserves there’s a period of time where we have to wait to see if species respond in the way we hope. There’s a lot of skills and experience within the organisation that backs up why we manage habitats the way we do, but there’s still a moment of relief when wildlife uses the new or improved habitats. Sometime things turn out even better than expected, as was the case this year.

Back in March we got a digger in to one of our sites we manage for red-necked phalaropes to reprofile ponds and help future proof the site. Over time open pools can become full of vegetation so we use the diggers to remove some of the growth to reinstate areas of open water. We also use the machines to reprofile edges so there is a variety of sloped edges and steeper drop offs, creating areas for emergent vegetation to grow and islands within the pools. Different depths within the pool also helps to ensure that there is still water present, even in dry years. Combined with the use of water control pipes and some pilings dams, all of these factors create the mosaic of habitats that red-necked phalaropes need for displaying, nesting, and feeding. The work went well and over the season the whole team were thrilled with how good the site looked – completely transformed from last year when it dried out.

Warden Beth stuck in the mud whilst work was being carried out

The newly reprofiled mire with new islands

Over the last two summers, when monitoring phalaropes, we have colour ringed any chicks we have come across. The combination of colour rings helps us to identify individual birds if they are seen again. Over time this will enable us to build up a picture of how chicks use our sites and see if they return. We weren’t sure what to expect this year and were over the moon to find three of last year's chicks return to Shetland this year as adult birds.

A colour ringed phalarope chick.

One of the returning birds turned out to be a male. We can’t tell the differences between the sexes at the chick stage so we have to wait until they’re re-sighted before we know the sex. This male bird had returned to the site where he’s hatched in 2021, and we spotted him within a few hundred meters of the location of his nest. This site also happened to be the one where the digger work was carried out in early spring.

As survey season continued the male was seen again, showing courtship behaviour with a female, and then later, with a nest, on an island that had been created during the digger work! We couldn’t have hoped for a better result. But that’s not the end of it.

As we finished the final survey of the season we did one last check on the phalarope nest and made the delightful discovery that one of the eggs had hatched and a tiny beak had broken through the shell of a second. Our little chick from last year was now a parent. Watching from a distance the male was observed removing empty shell from the nest. Rather than just drop it a distance from the nest he took it to the edge of a pool, and dunked it in the water until it sank. We’re not sure if anyone has ever seen this behaviour before! By the end of the day all four eggs had hatched and we were able to colour ring the chicks – that's two generations we can now identify.

It was a perfect way to round off our 2022 phalarope season - seeing birds respond to the work we'd done and watch one of last years chicks have it's first successful breeding season. We have everything crossed our phalaropes migrate successfully and we see some of them next year. We're already counting down the days until they return.

Beth

A look back at the breeding season

2022-11-23T10:05:00Z

In previous blogs we’ve talked about the surveys we carry out and recently, the team have been spending time number crunching and writing annual reports, so thought it would be nice to share how species have fared on some of our sites this year.

Loch of Spiggie

At Loch of Spiggie our surveys are targeted on waders and wildfowl (ducks and geese). Waders have had a good year with an increase in breeding pairs of curlew to five pairs compared to last years three pairs. Oystercatcher and snipe numbers also increased whilst redshank pairs remained at five, the same as last year. We also had two pairs of ringed plover breed on north-west marsh – the first ones since 2010. The team were also thrilled to discover red-necked phalaropes breeding on the reserve – our site manager even managed to spot the chicks.

Snipe

A pair of shoveler bred on Setter marsh whilst mallard numbers increased from last year. The number of tufted duck pairs was down but we saw a high number of chicks in broods this year. Three mute swan nested around the loch through sadly no eggs hatched in one of the nests. The whooper swan pair that nests on Brow loch had six cygnets and moved between the two lochs.

Whooper swan

Although Arctic terns didn’t breed on the rafts we installed this year, a couple of pairs successfully bred at the edge of the loch further south. The rafts were used however, by a pair of pied wagtails, who fledged three young.

Mousa

The survey season start with our black guillemot survey where we recorded 95 breeding adults, slightly up from last years count of 92.

Black guillemots on Mousa

Unfortunately, the storm petrel census, which was due this year, couldn’t go ahead due to HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza) so we’ll keep everything crossed it can be carried out in 2023 instead.

The shag population followed the trend of lower numbers seen elsewhere around Shetland. This is thought to be due to poor winter weather rather than avian flu.

This year we surveyed the whole island for waders and recorded breeding snipe, ringed plover, redshank, oystercatcher and dunlin.

Although we couldn’t carry out our proper surveys for Arctic terns as it involves walking right through the colonies and it was decided the risk was too high with HPAI present, we did manage to get some rough counts from a distance. The terns had a really good year, doubling the number of adults compared to 2021.

The red-throated divers successfully fledged a chick.

It just happened that a whole island count of skuas was due this year. The team counted 36 occupied great skua territories. The last full island count was in 2017 and had 60 occupied territories, so as expected with HPAI, numbers here have dropped dramatically. We’ll be monitoring bonxies going forward to help us develop a better understanding of the long-term effects of HPAI.

Other birds recorded breeding on the island this year included eider, wheatear, twite (good numbers of young seen), rock pipit, wren, starling, meadow pipit, skylark, herring gull and great black-backed gull.

Yell

On our two reserves in Yell, we do annual monitoring of waders on three 1km square plots to give us a snapshot of how they are doing. We recorded 8 breeding wader species this year – dunlin, whimbrel, oystercatcher, golden plover, snipe, curlew, redshank and lapwing. Apart from redshank and whimbrel, all species saw an increase in numbers this year. One of the plots is on an area of the peatland that got restored over last winter so it’s going to be really interesting to see how the numbers change over the next few years.

Dunlin and golden plover

We were also due a whole reserve survey for skuas and gulls in Yell this year. The survey recorded breeding great black-backed and herring gulls as well as a colony of common gull on one of the hillsides. Across the two reserves we had a total of 45 great skua territories and 2 Arctic skua territories. In 2017 these numbers were 91 and 5 territories respectively.

Fetlar

Although a lot of our work on our managed sites in Fetlar is focussed on red-necked phalaropes, it does make the mires suitable for other waders which we monitor every year. We have the same 8 breeding waders as can be found on our reserves in Yell and all of them except dunlin saw an increase in numbers this year.

This year we had 28 apparently breeding red-necked phalarope males on Fetlar, spread across all of our managed sites which was fantastic news, and a real boost after carrying out habitat management and getting grazing established on sites. The number is slightly lower then last year, but we’ve had a very wet summer, so some off-reserve areas of habitat will have stayed wet enough to be suitable for breeding this year.

It's always very satisfying at this time of year to take some time to reflect on how the season has gone and what has been achieved. We’ve already started thinking about next year and are continuing with practical work across the sites. Next week I’ll share a highlight of the year with you all – a success story that we weren’t quite expecting!

Until then

Beth

Monitoring storm petrels on Mousa

2022-10-21T13:38:00Z

There's nothing very exciting to report from the reserves team this week. Some of the team are off on holiday whilst the rest of us have continued keeping an eye on the reserves, checking cows, cutting vegetation and doing office work.

At this time of year we're writing our annual reports and looking back on everything we've done over the last 12 months. As I was writing the Mousa report I realised we didn't share much about the exciting research work that was happening in the summer. Visitors in May and June may have met some of our Conservation Science team who camped on Mousa. They were there carrying out research into new methods for surveying storm petrels. They hope that using audio equipment will make it possible to monitor storm petrels in inaccessible areas and Mousa was a great spot to see if it works. Zoe explains more in the video:

www.youtube.com/watch

Avian Flu meant they had to wrap up early but hopefully they can continue next year and also carry out the whole island storm petrel census.

Sightings from the last week:
Loch of Spiggie - Glaucous gull, ring-necked duck, scaup, pintail, garganey, whooper swan, little grebe, long-tailed duck, pochard, Slavonian grebe , snipe, wigeon, teal, tufted duck

Sumburgh Head - orca, long-tailed duck, snow bunting, goldfinch, wheatear, fulmar, raven, shag, redwing

Mires of Funzie - glossy ibis, snipe

Until next time

Beth

Wonderful whoopers

2022-10-12T15:03:00Z

Although summer is our main survey season, we do still like to keep an eye on how some of our wintering birds are doing. We have some fabulous volunteers who do these counts for us but this week our volunteers who do the winter swan counts are away. This meant I had the chance to do it. It’s a fairly simple survey – count all the swans on Loch of Spiggie, making a note of if they are whooper or mute swans, and whether adult or juvenile. The counts happen weekly, and as with all our surveys, because we have consistent records for previous years we can see if numbers are increasing, decreasing or stable.

The weather has been a bit wild up here recently but yesterday was calm, so I made the most of it and got down to Spiggie with my telescope to count some swans. It is fantastic at the hide at the moment - I’d highly recommend any locals pop down there and take a moment in nature. There is a good number of whooper swans who are being very vocal. Amongst them are a large number of wigeon who’s quieter whistles can be heard amongst the swans. Tufted ducks are out on the water, with the occasional pintail and Slavonian grebe amongst them.

Although a few whooper swans breed in Shetland, most of them spend the summer in Iceland, Scandinavia, northern Russia and northern Asia and migrate to Scotland, amongst other places, for the winter. Family groups make the migration together and this year's cygnets will remain with their parents over the winter. Some of the birds I counted yesterday will stay here for the winter whilst others will be using Loch of Spiggie to feed up before continuing further south. The easiest way they can be told apart from mute swans is buy their bills; whooper swans have long bills which are mostly yellow with a black tip and mute swans have orange bills with a black base. As their name indicates they are also very vocal making a loud whooping noise!

Let us know if you manage to see any whooper swans!

Here’s a brief run down of some of the sightings on our sites over the last couple of weeks.

Loch of Spiggie
Late September saw a few exciting sightings with a marsh harrier hunting between Loch of Spiggie and Loch of Brow on a number of occasions. Great-spotted woodpeckers are still being seen in Shetland with one right by the hide. Most of our breeding waders have either left or gathered into winter flocks whilst species such as jack snipe and purple sandpiper have returned for the winter. Other wader sightings include a group of black-tailed godwits and a pectoral sandpiper. Numbers of wildfowl are increasing with whooper swans, mute swans, wigeon, teal, pintail, tufted duck and shoveler all present. It may be stretching the reserve boundary a little but it’s worth mentioning the least bittern, a first for Britain that was found at Spiggie beach car park last week. Sadly it didn’t survive after it’s very long journey but thank you to the locals that stepped in to help it out.

Sumburgh
Sumburgh continues to have a steady trickle of common migrants pass through with common whitethroat, goldcrest, garden warbler, snow bunting, yellow-browed warbler and lesser redpoll passing through. Those who have braved sea-watching have managed to spot sooty and great shearwaters. On the sea a velvet scoter hung around for a few days whilst the eider and long-tailed duck flocks are building up. A grey phalarope was also seen. Redwings have been seen amongst the rosa and in the fields up to the lighthouse whilst fulmars are still around on the cliffs

Until next time

Beth

Autumn Migration

2022-09-20T08:00:00Z

Apologies for the lack of updates over the last few weeks, a combination of staff holidays and end of season report writing has taken up a large portion of our time.

One of the truly special things about Shetland is being at the vanguard of bird migration. In autumn Shetland is the first land hit by south bound migrants spilling out of Scandinavia and from central and eastern Europe caught up in easterly airflow.

That constant flow of easterly winds along with the perfect timing for birds setting off on their migration, has resulted in some truly breath-taking numbers of migrant birds around Shetland including on our sites.

Little stint

Starting at the southern tip of Shetland, our Sumburgh head reserve is a great place to look for migrant birds, as they often fuel up here or double back to the headland after having second thoughts about setting out over the sea to the south. From the last few weeks of August until now there has been a constant arrival and build up of passage birds. The first indication of this was on August 23, when in the early afternoon and low band of cloud and drizzle over the south of Shetland forced birds to seek refuge and drop to the land to feed and shelter. I headed out of the office for a quick walk around the headland and birds were dropping in from high.

A barred warbler was the first bird to herald the new arrivals, a scarce “drift” migrant that breed in Scandinavia and across eastern Europe. A chunky warbler which is always nice to see here.

Pied flycatchers were perched along the fence posts, tree pipits buzzed over head and another scarce arrival in the form of a citrine wagtail bounded around restlessly. A splash of colour with juvenile willow warblers frantically feeding on insects.

Pied flycatcher

This trend continued on and off for the last few weeks with significant arrivals of common passage migrants, that quite frankly have become sadly not that common due to declines in populations. However this arrival has probably been the biggest in numbers of early autumn migrants for c20 years.

Species such as Common redstarts, pied and spotted flycatchers, willow warblers, whinchats and garden warblers have all arrived in superb numbers. Amongst their throngs, scarce migrants have also been around in larger numbers than previous years- species such as wrynecks, common rosefinches, barred warblers most notably.

Wrneck

A more unusual arrival although certainly not unprecedented has been the arrival of Great spotted woodpeckers their arrival from Northern forests coincided with an influx of siskins.

Great spotted woodpecker

Rare arrivals from this period have included- Western Bonelli’s warbler, greenish warblers, a small arrival of Arctic warblers and a booted warbler.

The easterly winds have stopped for now, but a switch to a North Westerly airflow whipping past Iceland, might well see the first push of pink footed geese heading south as well, a truly nostalgic sound of autumn.

Siskin

Recent sightings

Loch of Spiggie-

5 little stints, Pectoral sandpiper, greenshank, Osprey, marsh harrier, redstart, whinchats, bar-tailed godwits, knot. Small increase in whooper swans and wigeon

Sumburgh head -

Barred warblers, pied and spotted flycatchers, great spotted woodpecker (flying around the lighthouse) redstarts (8 at once) citrine wagtail, tree pipits, willow warblers, reed warbler

Funzie -

Cuckoo, redstarts, pied flycatchers, willow and chiff, golden plovers

After the breeding season

2022-08-17T15:15:00Z

Gosh it feels like a long time since I’ve written a blog post!

Since my last post the reserves team have finished all of our breeding bird surveys – they only take place over a few months of the year but it is a very intense time for the team and I will admit I’m slightly glad things calm down a little for us now. Looking back over the last few months we have achieved a lot and managed to get all our visits in despite the lack of summer weather.

Now that we’ve collected all the data out in the field we have to spend some time in the office number crunching. Using the maps and number of birds collected on the surveys we can work out the number of breeding birds on our reserves. As we follow the same methodology every year we can then compare numbers from previous seasons to track changes in populations. I’ve worked through most of the sites but still have a few survey results to go through before we have the final numbers.

Our thoughts are already turning to next years breeding season and how we can tweak our reserves to keep them in the best condition possible for a successful year. Grazing is a huge part of our habitat management – the way cattle graze creates a mixture of short sward and tufts whilst their weight helps to trample other areas and make muddy edges to pools, all which contributes to the creating the mosaic of habitats birds need to successfully raise young. We already have cattle on at Loch of Spiggie and a site on Fetlar, with plans for grazing at some other sites across the rest of autumn and winter. Unfortunately some areas are too wet for cattle to reach safely so the reserves team will be getting out and doing some hand cutting too.

The cows at Loch of Spiggie

This weekend we’re joining other organisations across Shetland to host wildlife drop in sessions in South Mainland. Between 1pm and 4pm there will be experts at different locations helping visitors look for cetaceans, discover the birdlife at Spiggie, get to grip with waders at Virkie and explore rockpools at Leebitten. Check out Shetland Community Wildlife website for more details.

The last few puffins are still at Sumburgh Head

Recent sightings

Sumburgh Head – There are still a few puffins hanging around on the cliffs though many have joined the guillemots and razorbills in heading out to sea after the breeding season. The kittiwakes chicks are ready to fledge whilst the fulmars have a bit longer to go with plenty of large chicks viewable on the cliffs. There has been a number of sealife sightings in the last few days with minke whales, basking sharks, harbour porpoise and white-sided dolphins all being spotted.

A fulmar chick on the cliffs

Loch of Spiggie – Although most chicks have fledged or are very large now there are still curlew, redshank, snipe, and oystercatchers around the loch. There has been an autumnal feeling with some passing waders as greenshank and groups of black-tailed godwits have been reported around the reserve. A short-eared owl has also been photographed between loch of spiggie and brow loch.

Fetlar – Although we have finished surveying them there are still some red-necked phalaropes around including juveniles, one of which was seen at Funzie loch earlier this week. A barred warbler was found in the willow by the hide at Funzie whilst across the island there have been willow warblers, whinchats, short-eared owls and a green sandpiper. Autumn migration is getting underway!

Dave and Jacky Sabbatical Blog

2022-08-04T06:50:00Z

Arriving on Shetland

Like many visitors our first encounter of Shetland was a misty morning coming into Lerwick on the overnight ferry from Aberdeen. The arctic terns (tirricks to give them their Shetland name) wheeling about and a passing arctic skua a welcoming sight. Two more ferries lie ahead to take us to our volunteering home for the next two weeks on Fetlar….

Arriving on the boat

Fetlar

The range of birds that make Fetlar their home is truly special. Snipe pose on fenceposts along the roadside while red-throated divers pass by overhead. Our volunteering focussed on helping with surveys of that most special of breeding birds, red-necked phalaropes. Aided by training with the Shetland reserves team, Tom, Beth and Kevin, we were soon up to the tops of our wellingtons in superb mires, glimpsing phalaropes among the diverse bogbean, pondweed, cinquefoil and horsetail-rich pools, along with fellow volunteer Alastair. The sheer numbers of dunlin, snipe and curlew is astounding, joined now and then by golden plover, whimbrel and very noisy oystercatchers. The commitment and enthusiasm of the RSPB team for creating the very best wetland conditions, through a combination of water level management, grazing and vegetation cutting is inspiring to see. With tirricks commuting to moorland nests with small fish, and fulmar, tysties and puffins all around the rocky coasts, while gannets plunge close offshore it all adds up to something magical. Sadly, the ravages of bird flu on the bonxie population are obvious on the moorland. While the RSPB team, clad in full PPE, have removed bodies from moorland pools and reserve areas, there are still many corpses across the open moorland, and while some adults have survived, there are virtually no chicks for the second year. Thankfully there had been no sign of bird flu in the arctic skua population. A final treat on Fetlar was two otters by the ferry terminal.

Snipe on a post

Unst and Herma Ness

At a glance the staggeringly dramatic sea stacks of Herma Ness at the northermost point of the British Isles on the island of Unst, look to be covered with gannets, but a closer look reveals a grim tally of dead birds strewn across the nesting areas. While some areas have been virtually abandoned, at least some parts of the colony have fared better and have many chicks. Time will tell what the long-term impact will be, and we can only hope the worst is past, but it makes you realise how vulnerable these colonial species can be.

Peatland on Yell

A visit to look at RSPB’s peatland restoration work at our Lumbister reserve on Yell was brilliant. The contrast between the areas where restoration has been carried out by blocking drains and re-profiling erosion gullies, and the areas still to be completed was remarkable – from bare eroding peat to pools, re-vegetation and sphagnum recovery.

Looking at pools on Lumbister

Mainland - Loch Spiggie, Sumburgh Head and west Mainland

To add some diversity to our volunteering, we helped pull up invasive monkey flower, a domineering garden escape that shades out native flora, at Loch Spiggie reserve (watched on by whooper swans and their chicks), met the close-up puffins at Sumburgh Head, and carried out some standard 1km bonxie plot counts in a coastal moorland area.

And before we knew it our volunteering stint was over, but a fantastic time in a wonderful place. Big thanks to all the Shetland reserves team for looking after us so well and making us so welcome.

Whooper Swan Family

Thanks Dave & Jacky O'Hara

There's chicks about.

2022-07-08T16:01:00Z

We’re at a really lovely time of year on Shetland; the wildflowers are in bloom, the sun occasionally puts in an appearance and there are chicks everywhere.

Down at RSPB Sumburgh Head the first pufflings have been seen and the adults are putting on quite a show for visitors as they bring in food and take well deserved breaks on the cliff tops. Guillemot chicks, which are also known as jumplings have started to fledge – this involved launching themselves off the cliff to the sea below where dad then accompanies them out to sea. The kittiwakes chicks have hatched and starlings and wrens can be seen taking food back to chicks in nest in the walls.

Shetland wren with food. Photograph by Mike Kerry

Puffins at RSPB Sumburgh Head

At RSPB Loch of Spiggie we’ve completed most of our wader and wildfowl monitoring with just productivity counts left to do. We’re thrilled that ringed plover have successfully hatched chicks on the reserve this year, which join redshank, curlew and oystercatchers breeding on site. We did some work with the water levels early in the year and this has exposed edges that have been perfect for feeding opportunities. Today we started pulling up monkey flower in some section of the reserve, to prevent it becoming dominant, and had a lovely time watching all the tufted duck-lings out on the loch as we worked.

Across on RSPB Mousa the Arctic terns seem to be doing well, with more adults in the colonies then last year, and food being brought in for chicks. Fledgling wheatears are all around the island and lots of the nests within our shag plots now have chicks. Unfortunately, on Mousa we have also been dealing with the ongoing Avian Flu situation and we were able to clear dead bodies from the island last week. Thanks to the Mousa Boat for doing a private charter to make this possible. The whole situation has been heartbreaking but the team have been pulling together and supporting each other. We’ll now keep everything crossed that it doesn’t make its way into the storm petrel colonies.

Wheatear

A shag with two chicks from Mousa

In happier news we are seeing good numbers of red-necked phalarope chicks. Alongside our managed sites we also keep an eye on other areas of suitable habitat. With the wetter conditions this year we’re finding breeding birds in areas they haven’t been for years and nests on all of our managed sites. In my last post I mentioned one of last years chicks had returned and was seen with a female – this week the team found him on a nest. What a great way to end the week!

A phalarope nest - photo taken whilst undertaken survey work under schedule 1 licence

A month in Shetland - Keith's sabbatical

2022-06-22T09:27:00Z

My sabbatical on Shetland was planned from mid-May to mid-June, as although quite early in the season for many species so far north, it is a key time to help with breeding bird survey work, and there's a chance of seeing an exciting species or two on spring migration. The work was very varied, with breeding bird, wader and skua surveys, AECS farm surveys, reserve visitor trail and sign maintenance, fixed point photography, and working in the garden of the RSPB office in Fetlar. There was a chance to see most of the RSPB sites on Shetland, working on the Fetlar and Unst reserves, Lumbister in Yell, RSPB Sumburgh Head and RSPB Mousa.

Baelans, the RSPB house and office on Fetlar and home during my sabbatical

I stayed at Baelans, the RSPB house and office in Fetlar, and being an obsessive gardener, I jumped at the chance to get involved in the garden. We hired a big skip, which is easier said than done on Shetland, and cleared a decade's worth of rubbish from around the garden and byre, planted 30 trees which will hopefully attract migrant birds one day, created a bed and sowed a wildflower seed mix, made a herb garden by the front door, and sieved the stones out of 2 gigantic bags of topsoil in order to create a raised bed in the old heating oil storage area.

The raised bed created in the old heating oil storage area at Baelans. The sieved stones were used at the bottom for drainage.

The work that dominated my sabbatical was bird surveys. We did general surveys of all the Fetlar and Unst reserves, skua and gull surveys on Mousa and Lumbister, wader transect surveys on Lumbister, and surveyed farms in Fetlar and Unst to support the Agri-environment Climate Scheme (AECS). The survey work involved a lot of walking, often over difficult terrain. My phone app told me I had done an average of 14,000 steps a day, which was impressive given we didn't do surveys every day. The biggest day combined a wader transect first thing, followed by a skua and gull survey on Lumbister. That involved 10km of transects and registered 26,000 steps. The problem is trying to walk a transect across bogs. It's impossible to walk a straight line, and while you are trying to concentrate on where to step, a bonxie (great skua) decides it would be fun to try and knock your head off. The reserves on Shetland are stunning for breeding waders, with the sounds of snipe drumming, golden plover piping, dunlin creeling, curlew bubbling and the odd whimbrel whinnying, all to the backdrop of the densest skylark population I've experienced. The only negative was the emerging avian flu problem. On my surveys I came across dead great black-backed gull and raven, as well as many dead great skuas, and the seas and beaches were littered with dead gannets. It's very worrying the impact this will have on populations over the next few years.

Great Skuas (Bonxies) dive bomb anyone approaching their territory, making navigating a transect across a bog much more challenging

You can't think about Fetlar without thinking about red-necked phalaropes, and the opportunity to see them almost every day was fantastic. My visit was early in their season, so before any of the monitoring work begins, but they were around on all the mires while we were surveying other birds. Sometimes they were swimming around in the channels, but often you could hear their chittering calls from deep inside the carex beds where they like to swim and pick insects off stems. They often gather on beaches around the coast when they first arrive, and my best views were from the beaches. The phalarope mires are great for other birds too, with red-throated divers on any with a more substantial area of water, as well as a host of waders, the occasional Teal and one of the few pairs of Arctic Skua still on the island. We also saw a passage Wood Sandpiper when surveying the mires. I was hoping to see lots of migrants, but the weather conditions were not good, with northerly winds often blocking migration. I found very few birds, with regulars like bluethroat and rosefinch eluding me, but a male redstart was very handsome, and icterine warbler was the undoubted highlight.

One of the fixed-point photographs on the Mire of Houbie photo-bombed by a phalarope. This is one of the best places to see them, as they are visible from the road.

Fixed-point photography was my main personal project. Points on all the mires had been set up and mapped in 2019, with initial photos taken, but no more were taken through the Covid period, so my job was to get to all the points and take photos for 2022. They can be compared with 2019 to look for changes in water level and vegetation. I used a GPS device to walk to the grid reference of the point, and the compass direction of the photograph is recorded so in theory you can take an identical picture. In practice the GPS location could be a few metres out which can have a significant effect on the view. I realised that it was essential to prepare reference sheets so the photographer can check that they have the identical view before taking the picture and had to go back and re-do some early shots that bore no resemblance to the original.

On my last full day I had the opportunity to go to Lumbister where peatland restoration work had been carried out. Fixed-point photography would be very valuable here in monitoring the effectiveness of the work. I thought this would be a nice jolly to end the sabbatical, but under-estimated the vast area that had been restored, and ended up walking as far as I would have on a wader transect. It was deeply satisfying to see and record just how well the peatlands are recovering, with water being held back in old drainage channels instead of racing off the hillside, and sphagnum moss already growing in the pools created by each dam. This is such important work and desperately needs doing all over our uplands to stop erosion, improve habitat, store carbon and slow run-off to reduce flooding lower in the catchment.

Dams blocking old drainage channels on Lumbister already holding back water and providing habitat for sphagnum moss to create new peat

I had an absolutely amazing month on Shetland. Not only for the spectacular scenery and unique wildlife, but also for working with such a friendly and dedicated team. One of the highlights was when we got together and camped on Mousa, as it's the only way to be on site early enough for the wader surveys. The memory of being serenaded in my tent by storm petrels calling from the adjacent dry stone wall as snipe drummed overhead in the "simmer dim" will stay with me always. Special thanks to Tom who drove me around everywhere and made sure I had everything I needed during my stay, and cooks a mean veggie chilli.

Phalarope season

2022-06-17T16:00:00Z

This week has seen the start to our favourite part of the year – red-necked phalarope monitoring time!

Once a week for the next six weeks we’ll be visiting phalarope breeding sites in Shetland to record the number of birds and the behaviour they are displaying.

Phalarope surveys are unlike any other surveys we do. As the birds often move around the sites we make notes on individuals to ensure we don’t double count them. We record behaviour as this gives us an idea if there are nests or chicks around. We also have to be extremely careful about where we are putting our feet – phalarope eggs and chicks are tiny so extreme care is taken when moving through nesting habitat. When this is all put together, phalarope surveys can be quite mentally tiring but the experience is an absolute joy and the whole team feels very lucky to work so closely with such fantastic little birds.

We saw the whole range of behaviour this week – males that had recently returned and were feeding up, females chasing each other away, mating between paired birds and males ‘alone and frantic’ which is a sign they have a nest nearby, as they frantically feed son they can get back to the nest as soon as possible. Although we have some males very likely on nests, some birds are still arriving in Shetland which is why we do multiple visits to build up a comprehensive idea of numbers across the season.

Mating red-necked phalaropes
Photo taken whilst carrying out surveys under license

Excitingly on Wednesday the team saw two birds that were colour ringed as chicks last year. Both are now adult males and were getting flirty with females. One of the males was found about 100m from where he’d hatched. The other male, although on the same island where he had been born, was found on a different site. By recording re-sightings of our colour ringed chicks it will help us get a better understanding of survival rates and also see if/how the birds disperse from the sites where they hatch. This all then feeds back into our planning when we think about any practical management on the sites.

Left - a brood of four phalarope chicks in the nest
Right - a chick with colour rings - this was re-sighted as an adult this week
Chick handled under licence for ringing purposes- photo taken of rings to speed up the process of not lingering with the birds too long.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed for another successful phalarope season!

*If you are heading the Fetlar to see red-necked phalaropes, as well as RSPB Mires of Funzie, there are viewpoints set up to safely view birds at Aith beach and Mires of Houbie. Please do not walk through breeding habitat and read our previous blog post on why disturbance can be an issue.*

Sightings

Sumburgh Head – The puffins have been seen bringing food back to the burrows which indicates eggs have hatched. Guillemots, kittiwakes, fulmars, shags and razorbills can all be seen on the cliffs. And razorbill chicks are doing well as well as monitored shag nests too.

Loch of Spiggie – The new rafts continue to be used by Arctic Terns, giving visitors close views of food passes. Around the edges of the loch curlew, redshank, snipe, oystercatcher and ringed plover are breeding.

Mousa – Some of the eider ducks now have ducklings and we have the first chicks in our shag monitoring plots. Starling fledglings keep appearing from the stone walls. Red-throated divers are nesting and snipe, dunlin, redshank and oystercatchers are all nesting. Some of the storm petrels will now have eggs too.

Until next time
Beth

Wader data and photography, all in days work for the reserve team

2022-06-08T11:50:00Z

Hello, the last few weeks for the reserve team have involved lots of different surveys and many miles walked!

We have nearly completed our wader surveys, breeding bird squares and AECS wader surveys across Shetland. So far the numbers seem to be good, but it is a bit too early to say just yet. Once we crunch the numbers, I am sure we will let you know.

One thing we have noticed is that sites are wetter this year, which is great for the birds. The last two summers have been dry, with pools evaporating which means numbers of invertebrates that birds feed on have been lower. To help us track and monitor the change on sites we have been undertaking fixed point photography. We have specific points across the reserve where we take a picture facing either north, east, south or west or potentially a combination of directions. We can then compare the photos from different times to track changes across the sites. It has been a few years since the last photos were taken, so it has been great to start the monitoring back up and see the difference in reserves. Here is a selection of images below –

Mires of Funzie from the hide - 1st photo 8th of May 2019 2nd photo 31st of May 2022

Mires of Funzie looking out to the sluice pool - 1st photo 8th of May 2019 2nd photo 31st of May 2022

The team would like to say a massive thank you to Keith Blomerly, a member of staff currently on sabbatical with us. Keith initially set up the points and worked hard to complete the photos. Next week Keith will be writing a blog about his time on sabbatical with us. Thanks again

Next week we will start on our red-necked phalarope monitoring! This Is an exciting part of the year for the team; numbers on Fetlar have been increasing. Last night on Houbie Mires, I counted 4 birds, and it is the best location on Fetlar at the moment to see these magnificent birds. Speaking of sightings, here are the sightings for this week -

Fetlar - Mires of Funzie is full of breeding waders such as snipe, redshank, curlew. Loch of Funzie - Lots of Arctic terns, red throated divers and a large dog otter

Sumburgh - male rosefinch (seen near the airport on the road to the lightouse), chiffchaff in the roses.

Mousa - The storm petrels put on a good display last week and if you’re lucky listen out as you walk past the walls as you may even hear them!

Survey season in full swing

2022-05-27T13:02:00Z

Welcome back to the RSPB Shetland blog

We’re properly into survey season at the moment and taking advantage of all the good weather windows to get our work done. The team have been all across Shetland, carrying out surveys at Spiggie and Mousa aswell as on sites we manage on Unst and Fetlar.

We have a couple of plots on Lumbister, Yell, where we carry out wader surveys each year. This gives us a snapshot of how waders in the wider area and can highlight if there are any problems. We’re particularly interested in them this year as one of the plots is an area that was covered by our peatland restoration work over the winter. Through NatureScot Peatland Action fund, supported by the Scottish Government, we had the opportunity to rectify the damage and return the habitat to a healthy state with greater biodiversity. Working with local contractors, peat dams were built to slow the flow through gullies and ditches, and reprofile the edges of peat hags. This allows surface water levels to reach the vegetation layer which will contribute over time to peat formation again. It should also be in good condition for breeding waders – something we’re hoping our survey results will show.

The wader plots are very enjoyable to do, as it feels pretty special to be out in remote places, just you and the wildlife. However they are a physically tough survey to carry out. We have to walk out to the start point before following the survey route itself which consists of 5, 1km transects, and then there’s the long walk back to the vehicle. This is all over peatland and heather so not easy going. The survey this week was after a night of rain so the ground was rather wet underfoot but the site looked incredible. Survey snacks and dry socks to put on afterwards are essential!

community.rspb.org.uk/.../VID_5F00_20220523_5F00_084619.mp4
A little wet underfoot

The highlight for me this survey was the number of dunlin on site. Where I lived previously we only saw dunlin in the winter so having the chance to see these charming little waders in breeding habit and hear them sing is delightful. I also got to witness some interesting behaviour with a dunlin following around a golden plover. It is thought they do this to take advantage of the golden plovers wariness and relying on them to alert the dunlin to the presence of any threats. This behaviour has led to dunlin being know as the plover’s page.

A dunlin and golden plover side by side

Recent sightings:

Sumburgh Head – Puffins, guillemots, kittiwake, fulmar, razorbills and shags can be seen on the cliffs. Great skuas, herring gull and great black-backed gulls are regularly seen flying around. A hobby was seen in the area at the end of last week and today staff were treated to orca going around Sumburgh head whilst they were up there working.

Lumbister – It was a successful survey day with golden plover, curlew, snipe, great skuas, redshank, oystercatcher, lapwing and whimbrel all being seen in suitable breeding habitat. A short-eared owl was a nice surprise.

Loch of Spiggie – Curlew, redshank, snipe, oystercatcher, ringed plover and lapwing are all still present around the reserve. Two pairs of mute swan are still on eggs whilst the whooper swans on Brow loch have hatched 6 cygnets. A little stint and a knot have also been seen feeding around the edges of the loch

Some mallard ducklings at Spiggie

Until next time
Beth

The issue of disturbance

2022-05-18T15:05:00Z

Welcome back to another RSPB Shetland blog.

This week we wanted to touch on a slightly less enjoyable side of our roles here in Shetland, and indeed a common theme for colleagues around the country too.

Disturbance.

Disturbance comes in various forms, often perfectly innocent, through lack of understanding and awareness, to that at the more sinister end of the scale.

Here in Scotland, we are fortunate to have the outdoor Scottish access code, that permits responsible access to the countryside, opening much of the landscape to responsible access.

It is that key word that I will focus on “responsible”. Although access can largely be enjoyed, and indeed encouraged, it cannot come at the detriment to wildlife.

Shetland is blessed with a wealth of special wildlife, many afforded the highest level of legal protection- known as Schedule 1. This relates to bird species that are particularly vulnerable to disturbance and whose populations are at threat or at risk, due to a variety of factors.

All birds are protected by law during the breeding season, and it is an offence to recklessly interfere with or damage/destroy a birds nest. Above that, Schedule 1 is an extra layer of protection that requires a special licence to potentially disturb these species, often for monitoring purposes, and always avoided where possible.

As Shetland has many special species of birds, they quite rightly receive the adulation of many visitors, who wish to observe them at close quarters- which we welcome of course. However, disturbance to these birds and their nests can and should be avoided.

As a prime example, lets focus on the red-necked phalarope. A magnificent little bird that we are fortunate to manage many of our sites for.

They are particularly vulnerable to disturbance, as they are perceived to be so confiding. A phalarope, won’t necessarily show it is disturbed in the same way as most others birds, only resorting to alarm calling and typical related behaviour when they have chicks near or eggs- and even this is not consistent and sometimes hugely delayed.

Many of the phalarope sites are visible from behind a fence or stone wall, so entering the area is not needed and indeed is putting the birds, their eggs and chicks at risk of trampling- and certainly in breach of the law if their presence is known to the observer.

Chick handled under licence for ringing purposes

The main issue we encounter with disturbance to phalaropes is people entering and walking through their nesting habitat. Although the birds might be visible on a pool, if you are entering the nearby area, you are potentially within inches of a tiny nest or their minute chicks.

During the season we will introduce pop up view points where it is safe to watch phalaropes from in Fetlar, and we will keep updates going via this blog and social media.

Recent sightings:

Sumburgh Head – As always the seabirds are the stars of the show at Sumburgh head with puffins razorbills, kittiwakes, fulmar, guillemots and shags all visible on the cliffs. Oystercatchers can be seen in the fields by the car park whilst wheatears and starlings are using the stone walls. The quarries on the drive up to Sumburgh head have been attracting spring migrants with lesser whitethroat, chiffchaff and robin all reported in the last few days.

Loch of Spiggie – Spiggie has seen a mix of regular spring migrants and some rarer visitors this week. Wood sandpiper, dunlin and knot have been recorded as well as a yellow wagtail and a couple of swifts. A marsh harrier, white-tailed eagle and little egret have also been seen around the reserve.

Mousa – Our exciting sighting news from Mousa is that the storm petrels have returned. Breeding waders on the island include snipe, ringed plovers, dunlin, redshanks and oystercatchers. Great skuas are back on territories and an Arctic skua pair have been seen. Some of the eider ducks are now on nests and the Arctic terns are back in their usual spots.

Fetlar – Whilst species such as lapwings, snipe and curlews are settling down into the breeding season there was been a flurry of spring migrants this week. Sightings have included a wood sandpiper, whinchat, redstart, whitethroat, chiffchaff, icterine warbler and a male bluethroat outside the hide. The first of the red-necked phalaropes have also arrived back on sites.

Bluethroat outside Funzie hide. Photograph by Linda Garratt