Shetland: Bonxie Bathing

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On our travels around Shetland, one of the best wildlife sights was of a Bonxie bathing spot not far from Hermaness National Nature Reserve.

Great Skuas, or Bonxies as they are known locally, are a bird highlight of the islands. These large, heavy-weight birds are known for their aggression and they frequently mob passers-by if they get too close. I was on the receiving end of their dive-bombing out on a walk in Orkney a few years ago but fortunately in Shetland we didn’t have that experience, despite some quite close encounters. Skuas are also known as ‘pirates of the sky’ as they spend much of their time robbing other birds of their food.

The bathing spot is in a large freshwater lake in a valley behind Hermaness. The first time we drove past we counted around 70 individuals in the water or standing on the nearby lakeside. The second time, we stopped and used the car as a birdwatching hide and managed to get a few photos as they argumentatively cleaned themselves.

The real close-up pictures in the set below are actually from a small pond on Hermaness itself. As we hiked up the boardwalk we came across a very obliging Bonxie that didn’t at all seem bothered by our presence.

Shetland: Atlantic Puffins

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For many people, a standout bird of Shetland has to be the Atlantic Puffin. I have a mixed relationship with these familiar birds. On one hand they’re one of the most charismatic species the UK is lucky to have but on the other hand, due to that charisma, they often take the limelight away from other species. Despite their attraction, they are on the UK Red List for birds, which puts them at the highest level of conservation concern.

We found these bird in a number of places in Shetland, from the northern-most spot, at Hermaness, to the most southern, at Sumburgh Head. The latter gave the best views of these birds including during an early morning wander around the lighthouse which gave is the perfect light for some of the photos below.

The two images below are my particular favourites. Both taken in that early morning light. The first is a ‘ball of Puffin’ sitting cosily on the edge of the North Sea, looking east towards the sun. The second is of a jaunty Puffin, as it came out of its burrow high up on cliffs.

Like so many seabirds, Puffins have experienced long term declines in their numbers but it was good news to hear that the UK has closed its sand eel fishery. These are the main food source of Puffins and it’s a pity we weren’t in Shetland to get some of those lovely images of parent birds bringing in bills full of sand eels to their growing pufflings…perhaps next time!

Back to my volunteering roots

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This year I’m using the two days volunteering my company gives me to spend time with Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust.

Today, I’ve been out with them at their amazing Strawberry Hill reserve. This is the rewilded farmland site they took over recently and one of the most inspiring places I’ve ever visited. Taken out of agricultural production nearly 40 years ago, the site has been allowed to return to nature. When I visited in spring, the dawn chorus was perhaps the loudest and most intense I’ve ever heard it in the UK.

Today, at the far end of the bird breeding season, I was helping with work to maintain a wildflower meadow. The rangers had already cut the long grass, and cut some more today, while the volunteers spent the day raking the cuttings and piling them up in large stacks of hay at the edge of the open area.

At first it did seem slightly odd for management techniques to be reapplied to an area where nature had been allowed to take its own course over the last few decades. However, without some intervention, the whole site would eventually be taken over by scrub and then succession woodland. The alternative is to have a richer and more varied pattern of landscape with woodland, scrub, open areas, meadows and water. We were, essentially, acting as large herbivores who, in truly wild areas, would help to create that diversity of places. As much of the site is presently unfenced, these animals have been missing during that rewilding period. While traditional breed cattle are now in parts of the site, to do that work, much of the site remains unfenced, so there’s still a role of us to some of the clearing.

Given the temperature was well into the mid-20s today, it was hot work but by the end of the day we had cleared the whole area. Tomorrow, I will be at another Wildlife Trust site, possibly doing something similar but also cutting willow. I’m hoping I don’t wake up too stiff tomorrow!

A day with kingfishers

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Last week we spent much of a day at a photography hide watching and taking pictures of kingfishers. Over eight hours with had at least ten visits from a couple of different birds. They came to perch just a few metres away, using it as a vantage point from which to spot and catch fish.

Despite the sometimes long waits between visits, the time flew past, and it barely seemed like the eight hours when we packed up at the end of the session.

It was perhaps one of the most mindful and relaxing ways to spend a day, between the short periods of activity when the birds turned up. We plan to return to this spot again but to also find more such hides; they provide great opportunities to capture images of wildlife!

Season shifting in a heatwave

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It’s many weeks since I last took a dawn wander down the lane to the sheep fields. The sunrise has been so early that even I, a usual early riser, haven’t been up before the sun has broken the horizon for quite some time.

This morning I was up just at the right moment of the ‘golden hour’ to take a few phone photos of the mist in the shallow valleys beneath me. I was surprised to see any sign of moisture at all given we are in the fourth heatwave of the summer and drought conditions were announced some time ago. It’s going to be around 30 degrees Celsius today, not hot in comparison by the current continental extremes being experience but still a continuation of the warm or very warm weather we’ve had most of the summer and reaching back into the spring.

One of the real differences between this and my last dawn visit to the bottom of the lane was the bird song. Gone is the vibrant, energetic, many-voiced dawn chorus and in its place a softer and more subtle melody of a few individuals. Today there were two wrens on opposing sides of the track alternating their calls and a robin perching high in a tree with its quiet song of autumn.

…and it does feel slightly like autumn or, if not, approaching the latter part of summer. Despite the ongoing hot weather, those misty fields show that the cooler days of the next season are not too far away.

Another heatwave

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A lunchtime walk down the lane and the heat is already building. What rain we had last month has dried up and the land is again turning brown and the wheat fields are becoming indistinguishable from the meadows.

But not all moisture is gone – a last few blackberries (small but sweet) and elderberries are still in the hedgerows and I might venture back down the track this evening to pick a few.

Harvest nearly over

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I have to admit a fascination for combine harvesters and I could watch them do their thing for hours. One of my usual cycle routes heads straight through an area of arable fields and this sometimes gives me a good view of the action.

Last year the harvest seemed to go on for weeks and I saw a lot of it happening. However, this year, it seems to be over far too quickly and the action seems to have been while I’ve not been on my bike to see it.

This seems to be the story of the year so far; the days and weeks passing very quickly and before I know it the seasons have moved on. With August already here I need to make sure I’m out in my bike as much as I can be to make best use of the remaining summer.

Driver entitlement in the countryside

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Two great, but contrasting, examples of driver entitlement on one short section of rural byway near where I live.

The byway isn’t a major thoroughfare and doesn’t really go anywhere, it’s just a farm track through some fields. It’s heavily potholed – well, there largely isn’t a tarmac surface at all, it’s more of a gravel track with holes large enough to swallow a small pony. Despite the risk of damaging their car, people still seem to insist on driving along it; except that they don’t…

The first image is an example of people who like to drive off-road but get worried when it gets too bumpy and they think they might damage their pride and joy. So instead of turning back, they’ve made their own parallel muddy track through what is usually an area set aside for wildlife.

The second image is an example of the same track not being bumpy enough; some off-road enthusiasts last winter decided to carve up the farmer’s field instead of driving along the track, resulting in a section of the field being unusable for planting crops.

I love the countryside, I crave being out in it and I long to have more access to it. However, I can equally see that landowners and their tenants are worried about increasing access when a small (but impactful) minority of people abuse what little rights they already have.

Summer swifts

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Last weekend we had a night in Ross-on-Wye and two nights in Pembrokeshire. Unfortunately the weather stopped us getting across to Ramsey Island but we did have some great views of swifts. Ross is a very swift town with screaming parties all around the town centre. I also know a great spot just above the Cathedral in St David’s to do a bit of late evening swift watching.

One evening we watched the swifts circle about the valley and come into their nests in a house high above the cathedral. I don’t recall ever seeing them at their nest sites before and it was quite startling just how fast they fly up to their holes and enter with a thud.

Sadly, they’ll be gone soon and sightings have already dropped off around our house. We had a screaming party of 30 last week but I’ve only seen three or four birds at one time so far since we returns from Wales.

Not quite the silent dawn

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For the first time in ages, I had a wander down the lane this morning and to my surprise there were still some birds singing a chorus. This is the time of year when the gardens and fields go quiet as the avian breeding season comes to an end. However, there were one or two calling from trees and hedgerows including a song thrush, yellowhammer and a few tits. There were also a few crows and an alarmed green woodpecker.

This is a slightly melancholic point of the summer when I can feel the year moving from its vibrant burst of life that started in the spring to a slower pace of life as the heat lingers and nature takes a breath.