News from the Field - February 2025
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Up Helly Aa - Shetland in Winter
Shetland may not be the first place you think of for birding in January but we had an incredible six days with some real headline birds. We managed to see 68 species in total including a North American rarity triple header - American Coot, Bufflehead and Ross’s Goose! With a supporting cast of American Wigeon, Purple Sandpiper, Merlin, a
Woodcock sat out in the open in a field and three Otter in one day!
Of course, there was also the wonderful spectacle of the Viking-inspired fire festival – Up Helly Aa! Watching close to a thousand torches parading round Lerwick, culminating in the galley being set alight, was a truly magical experience.
Heatherlea Guide: Holly Page
This week has been a real goldmine of Highland birding in winter including a day where we saw a bumper 84 species in one day! We spent the day working along the Moray Coast and got off to a great start at our first location with three Iceland Gulls, a Glaucous Gull and a Kingfisher. We picked up some farmland species throughout the day such as Grey Partridge, Yellowhammer and Tree Sparrow plus we had excellent views of Crossbill drinking from a pond, Red Squirrel and
Brown Hare. At other coastal sites we saw plenty of waders including Sanderling, Purple Sandpiper, Bar-tailed Godwit and Golden Plover. Offshore birds came good too with three species of scoter – Common, Velvet and Surf - Long-tailed Duck, Eider and Red-throated Diver. Add in the views we had of Crested Tit and you get a supreme day of birding with a mix of species you can only get in this region.
Heatherlea Guide: Aidan Branch and Mark Warren