Shetland Day 7: A quieter day with fewer thrushes (though still 1000+ Redwing, many Blackbird & 1 Ring Ouzel at dusk) & only Olive-backed Pipit remaining of the rarities. Still much to enjoy, including finding a late Pied Flycatcher at the top of Ward Hill, 2 Mealy Redpolls & a couple of Jack Snipe

Shetland day 6: No question about bird of the day on Fair Isle, with rain at dawn sparking a big fall of thrushes, dominated by Redwing. All-island total around 12000 - huge groups of 500+ swirling around, also good numbers of Song T, Fieldfare & Blackb. Two YBWs and hrd only Olive-backed Pipit too.

A wet morning on Fair Isle, so while we wait for the rain to clear through will post this Starling - ever present birds here - riding one of the local sheep...

Shetland Day 5: A weather change with light N'lies & showers, & flat calm by early PM, seemed to have brought little but a few hundred Redwing, till some classic afternoon Fair Isle events, with first Rustic Bunting, then Arctic Warbler at the southern end. Also Barred W, Little Bunt, OBP & STLark

🧵 Matt Goodwin demanded to be fact-checked live on air when he claimed the UK spent "£100 million PER YEAR on family planning and condoms in Pakistan". He then 'corrected' himself to £74.3 million, saying it was based on a "major news story from October 2025" He was, of course, still wrong... 1/30

Shetland day 4 pt 2: Beautiful day on Fair Isle with the wind dropping away. A few new Yellow-browed Warblers arriving this afternoon & also enjoyed more excellent views of Little Bunting, blythi Lesser Whitethroat and finding a Black Redstart down one of the geos

Shetland Day 4 pt 1: A good day on Fair Isle with the highlight exceptional views of this Olive-backed Pipit striding around in the garden at Upper Stonybreck - such long pink legs at times

A couple of close crops of the head of yesterday's Little Bunting - feeding quite unconcernedly within 3m and beautifully lit: couldn't ask for better views!

Shetland Day 3: arrived Fair Isle mid morning. Good day round island with highlights of superbly confiding Little Bunting, funky 'North-western' Redpoll, Short-toed Lark, 3 Yellow-browed Warblers, Hen Harrier and plenty of migrating geese and Whooper Swans

Shetland day 2: howling westerly gale made day difficult, though a few migrants still to be found including brief Yellow-browed W in Quendale, Pied Fly at Hoswick, scattering of thrushes & another look at Buff-breasted Sand. Joined many failing to see elusive Arctic W in wind-tossed plantation.

Arrived on Shetland this afternoon for a week's birding (Fair Isle on Tues if weather permits). Difficult conditions, with wind & rain, but happy to see 3 Buff-breasted Sandpipers, King Eider & after some searching, the Siberian Stonechat at Levenwick at dusk & a lone Pale-bellied Brent at Virkie.

A Queen in hiding... Watching the female King Eider in Lerwick harbour today when a Bonxie came in for a close pass, causing the Eider flock to bunch together tightly in defence

That side of the lake - bordering the 17th green no less - is strictly out of bounds to birders!

We were discussing exactly that! Water level much lower than normal because of drought but there must have been many hundreds visible embedded in the mud

I had to upgrade recently because I was spending silly amounts of time managing storage, constantly deleting & reinstalling apps. The operating software updates just take up more and more space… probably with lots of functions I’d really rather not have.

Yes - incredibly frustrating

Does that mean you've just bought it, or that you've had it for 7 years, or that, among a series of phones over the past seven years, this is the newest?

Great find!

Little bit of video of the juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper at the Oxfordshire Golf Course this morning, foraging among lost golf balls... The same small lake hosted the juv Red-necked Phalarope only a month ago, an excellent double