Shetland Update

It's good up here, very good. Despite on the face of it poor winds, birds are still turning up. There is almost no point trying to analyse charts (though as I type this, I am salivating over easterlies tonight), you might as well just go out and see what you get. Since I've been on, which is three days now, I've seen stacks. I think it's time for a good old fashioned list. Siberian Stonechat and Pechora Pipit were both ticks, but this is just the start. Isabelline Shrike, Red-backed Shrike, Buff-bellied Pipit, Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll, Little Bunting, Barred Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler, American Golden Plover, Spotted Sandpiper. And that's on a supposedly rubbish forecast. Good knows what happens on good forecast!

Despite the quality of Pechora, the best bird by a mile has yet again been the Redpoll. In order for a bird to score points on the JL scale, it only has to do one thing. Come close. Oh yes. I've condemned myself to hours of editing, but it is going to be hugely worthwhile. In the meantime, here is one off the back of the camera...