We could do with some good news today.  I've just spoken with Mark Bolton, the RSPB's seabird ecologist, who is staying on Mousa undertaking a fascinating study on storm petrels (come back for news in future postings).  He told me that they've discovered their first storm petrel chicks of the year today!!  That's quite timely as our Date With Nature Assistant Stephanie Miles had written a blog entry following…

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It is a very beautiful day here in Shetland.  The sun is shining, the air and sea are fairly calm, there are still some guillemots with their chicks lower down the cliffs (I imagine many of whom will leave this evening as it is calm), fulmars have fluffy gorgeous chicks and there are loads of puffins on the cliffs looking like they are posing for visitors.   It was at this time yesterday when we noticed strange occurences…

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It is with great shock and sadness that I am posting this entry to the Shetland blog.  Today, around noon, our little puffin chick took its last breaths.  It has been an emotional and confusing day, and we still do not know exactly what happened.  I'll try to summarise here, but hope to reveal more over the next day or so.

This morning, we could see the puffin chick and parent birds.  Just after noon, we noticed…

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Some of the guillemot chicks may be leaving tonight, as the wind has eased a bit.  So, make your way to Sumburgh Head to watch as they get their first experience of being in the sea. 

Cheerio

Here's a post from Blair Cameron - one of our Date With Nature Assistants at Sumburgh Head.

It is that time of year again when there is a wealth of activity on the Sumburgh Head cliffs. Newton, our Assistant Warden here at Sumburgh has seen the first of our guillemot chicks jumping off the cliffs and into the sea. They get their name 'jumplings' from this massive leap of faith they take into the waters below. The…

Here is a sequence of videos of significant moments of Puffincam 2012.

First there was the arrival of the puffins, back to the same burrow as previous years. www.youtube.com/watch

Then there was the egg  www.youtube.com/watch

Then, the occassion we were all waiting for, the hatching www.youtube.com/watch

Then, the first footage of a feed! www.youtube.com/watch

Special massive thanks to Andy Steven who has spent HOURS…

Blair - one of our Date With Nature assistants at Sumburgh Head - called me this morning saying that the Puffincam egg was starting to hatch.  How eggciting!  There goes my productive day off  in the garden :)

Both parents - we call them Tammy and Norie after the local name for puffins - have been in the burrow today.  As I write this blog post, the incubating bird is shuffling around a bit,  checking the egg, tossing its…

Blair - one of our Date With Nature assistants at Sumburgh Head - called me this morning saying that the Puffincam egg was starting to hatch.  How eggciting!  There goes my productive day off  in the garden :)

Both parents - we call them Tammy and Norie after the local name for puffins - have been in the burrow today.  As I write this blog post, the incubating bird is shuffling around a bit,  checking the egg, tossing its…

In my excitement about Sumburgh Head redevelopments and classic cars, I totally forgot to mention that our Loch of Spiggie whooper swans successfully hatched out five cygnets!!  Only a few whooper swans breed in the UK, and this is the first time they've brought out chicks at Spiggie in nearly one hundred years.  We are totally chuffed to bits.

Small cygnets are vulnerable to predation, so we ask people to avoid disturbing…

This weekend, the Shetland Classic Car Club have their show in Lerwick.  Before all the vehicles find their place in the Clickimin Centre, some visit Sumburgh Head.  Jenny took a couple of shots as she left the office. 

They don't make 'em like they used to!

Larry gave some less-mobile visitors a lift to the top of the reserve, which gave us a chance to check out his 1973 Triumph (in RSPB blue colour).  It is…

It's been a long time in the planning, but with the arrival of contractors Corramore at Sumburgh Head, plans are becoming reality.  Take a look at our partner Shetland Amenity Trust's website for details on the project.

Continued visitor access is very important to everyone here.   We are delighted that Corramore have factored in this into their work programme, and you will still be able to access much of the reserve…

Hello there.

Yesterday I received an email and had to share the attachment with you.

It is Sumburgh Head in the background, with the star of our RSPB logo flying by!   The avocet was discovered by Roger Riddington at Scatness last night and my thanks go to George Petrie for allowing me to share his photograph here.  If you wish to see other photographs of this bird, or keep updated with what birds are in Shetland, do visit

Lately the weather has been a mix of sunshine, gales, snow and hail but the south easterly winds brought some welcome migrants including an amazing fall of 160 robins on Friday (20 April) which saw them tumbling out of the drystane dykes in one's, two's, three's...they were everywhere! Fluttering around like rusty red flames against a grey wintry background, providing such a warmth of colour, the reserve was…

After a week of installing cameras, we were very excited when the puffins returned to the puffincam burrow at 11.20am on 17^th April.  They have been in and out lining their nest since then, so keep a look out for an egg any day now! The camera has also revealed unexpected visitors to the burrow in the form of a mouse, a starling, a robin and a rabbit (not all at the same time, it's not the tardis burrow).

Check out…

Last Saturday, the Mousa Boat ran to the reserve for the first passenger run of the summer.  Hurray! 

Crewing the boat was Tom Jamieson - anyone who has been to Mousa will recognise Tom - and two of the new owners Alan Pottinger (left) and Jimmy Fullerton (right). 

Unfortuantely, it was an exceptionally wet day so Jenny, Newton and I (hardened RSPB staff) were the only passengers onboard!  The weather was not at all kind…

A couple of years ago, my family were arranging a surprise birthday party for my father.  On occasions, when Dad has had one or two small sherries at a gathering, he'll laugh about making whoopee.  I thought that this was simply a reference to a good party. So, I sent out cards to various aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, old and young, inviting them to a night of "Making Whoopee."  Then someone told me that…

They're back! Through the fog, wind and rain, around 200-250 puffins can be seen on Sumburgh head this evening. Some welcome colour and character in dreich weather! (Phone pic - sorry!)

All is revealed.  Click here to read the news of Garry Sandison, Alan Pottinger and Jimmy Fullerton taking over Mousa Boat Trips.

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I can't reveal too much just yet, but I am soooo excited (and relieved!) and wanted you to know....

....someone has put in an offer for the Mousa Ferry! 

It sounds very promising that later this summer, we will actually be able to visit Mousa RSPB reserve to experience the broch, terns, storm petrels, seals, pipits, snipes, black guillemots, Arctic skuas, curved sedge, autumn gentian, bog bean, bog asphodel…

I have to admit that on Sunday morning, I was feeling a bit grumpy and stressed and was cursing my community mindedness.  I volunteer for our Shetland RSPB Wildlife Explorer Group and we were to meet in the afternoon.  Sharon and I had been collecting well-rotted pony poo, and I'd managed to stomp it into my house, I'd thorns in my hand from digging up my rose bushes and I was trying to muster some enthusiasm.  We were…

We are delighted to have three job vacancies in Shetland! 

If you love seabirds, enjoy talking with people about nature and are passionate about people supporting the conservation work of the RSPB, then you might like to be a Date With Nature Information Assistant.  There's a full time and a part time post, based at Sumburgh Head this summer. 

OR

Do you have experience of working with children and have a desire to inspire…

The answer is... a storm petrel!

In January, a storm petrel was found in the Kruger National Park, having been blown in land during a tropical storm.   The bird was ringed on Mousa RSPB nature reserve in July 2011, by RSPB Seabird Ecologist Mark Bolton and Glasgow University PhD student Hannah Watson.   Mousa is a famous breeding site for these sparrow-sized seabirds, particularly the Iron Age Broch. http://safring.adu.org.za/

I love the return of birds to our reserves here in Shetland.  Seeing the first Shalder back on Sumburgh Head reserve last Tuesday (21st Feb) added light to what has been a long dark wet winter. 

Shalder is the Shetland name for oystercatcher which is an anagram of "cheesytractor".  I think Shal means black and white (like shelduck), and the name is similar in Faeroe and Iceland (Tjaldur).   Flocks have been arriving…

Have you got any top quality images of seabirds? Or even zooplankton and killer whales?  Well, our friend Matt Arnold at Shetland Amenity Trust (who are the lead partners in the Sumburgh Head redevelopments) might like to hear from you.  

Here's what Matt said...

"Sumburgh Head is set to be redeveloped in a £5.4million project which will see the area transformed into a world class visitor attraction. The Sumburgh Head…

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When a reserve has conservation designations,such as SSSIs, certain aspects of management require government consent. I  was discussing the management of Loch of Spiggie RSPB reserve over the phone with ourl local Scottish Natural Heritage Area Officer, when he announced that little auks were passing his window!  The SNH office has views across Lerwick Harbour over to the island of Bressay, and they've seen a few unusual…