Hello from a rather breezy Sumburgh Head
It is cold, grey and windy, but spring is here! My brother John texted me yesterday saying so as he'd seen two wheatears. Imagine the journey those birds have had before reaching Shetland soil, having flown all the way from Africa! I discovered other signs of spring over the weekend. My garden revealed primroses in flower, dastardly rosebay willow herb poking up in the veggy patch, blackbirds gathering nest material, house sparrows scrapping with each other and a pair of migrant chaffinches feeding on the seed I'd put out. I heard skylarks singing and meadow pipits in full voice, parachuting through the air.
How brilliant to hear bird song again after this seemingly endless winter.
Other spring signs come in human form. The Noss National Nature Reserve wardens popped by my house for a cuppa. Noss NNR ferry (a small inflatable boat) will be up and running in a couple of weeks, so folk will be able to visit this uninhabited island once again. Mick from SOTEAG/Aberdeen University is back monitoring seabirds. He just informed me he's been checking the shags at Sumburgh Head this morning and there is one sitting on a nest. SOTEAG was set up at the same time as Sullom Voe oil terminal, and undertake a vast amount of monitoring in Shetland. The RSPB are most appreciative of the work of SOTEAG/Aberdeen University. To have such a long-term monitoring programme (over thirty years) is truly invaluable.
We've also been setting up PuffinCam with Andy from Promote Shetland. Unfortunately, my internet connection is too slow to see if it is working (I've been told there's a problem on the line, so hopefully BT will fix it!). We're running an outside camera first, to make sure everything is working. We'll put the "inside" cameras in well before the puffins come back to shore, so to keep disturbance to a minimum. I am now feeling a little anxious about the puffins. Will they have survived the winter at sea? If not, will another pair take over the burrow? Time will tell.
Cheers eenoo from 60North