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.
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!
A good place to start talking about our Shetland adventure is with an animal I had largely forgotten in planning the trip.
Whilst I do spend a lot of time watching birds, I actually have more interest in mammals. In planning the holiday, I had only really thought about the possibility of seeing orca, which unfortunately we didn’t, and the almost certainty of seeing seals, which we did. The possibility of watching otters in the Shetlands had almost completely escaped me. Despite this lapse in thinking, Shetland, perhaps, was the best place I’ve been to in search of this lovely species.
To date, I’ve only ever seen otters in Scotland, specifically in the Hebrides, having previously had some great views in Mull and Skye. I’ve seen tracks and signs of otters elsewhere including the Hebrides but so far I’ve never seen them or their signs anywhere else in the UK.
Our otter watching had a slow start with a momentary glimpse of a splash and tail in a loch as we drove past. Despite turning around and looking around the spot, there was no further sighting. That was almost it for the first of the two weeks until I had a late evening view of a distant otter on the far side of the loch above which we stayed for our first five nights. The brief view through my telescope revealed the otter searching around the shoreline in the failing evening light before it disappeared into a hole beneath a rock.
For the second week, we moved away from the west of Shetland, where we had stayed near to the village of Walls, to the far north and island of Unst. We had thought from what little research we had done before our trip, that otter spotting in Unst was quite difficult and less likely to be productive than other places. This was actually far from the case and we had four excellent sittings.
Our first came in a gloomy and damp afternoon as we drove from Clivocast to Uyesound. As we passed over the narrow strip of dry land between Easter Loch and the sea, we saw a head and then the rest of an otter’s body appear in the fresh water of the Loch. Stopping the car, we watched as the animal fish momentarily before it moved off, avoiding a swan, left the water and trotted up through a meadow on the opposite bank. I suspect this is quite a good place for finding otters as a lady we spoke to later in the week had also seen on at this spot a few days earlier.
Our next encounter was on a day trip off Unst to the smaller island of Fetlar. As we were making our way back to the ferry for our return journey we stopped off at the old slipway below Brough Lodge. At first we saw curlew and great northern divers but then an otter appeared on the water’s surface, diving down in search of prey. After a while it reappeared with a huge crab and proceeded, with some difficultly, to swim to the land. As it came to the shoreline it sat on a large rock to start to break up the crab and eat its contents. Unfortunately, we had to leave for the ferry and missed the opportunity to better the photographs shown below.
The day was not complete for our otter sightings. As we returned to our holiday rental that evening, we decided to stop off at a turning head next to the bay below Westing. It wasn’t long before we struck lucky and found a slightly distant otter fishing between the shoreline and Brough Holm. We decided to walk along the coast to get a bit closer and as we did the otter came to shore and then disappeared. As we walked further searching the rocks we found it again, eating its meal in a secluded spot. We stood for a few minutes watching it chomp away contentedly and managed to get some nice photos of it. Eventually, it moved off back into the water and out of sight.
We had one final otter sighting, this time on Yell. As we drove down towards the ferry to the mainland (checking out the food truck for breakfast the next morning – which is worth a try while waiting for your crossing), an otter ran across the road. As we drove slowly up to the spot where it had crossed, it ran along a drainage ditch beside us and then disappeared into a culvert.
For that second week, it almost seemed easy to find otters in Shetland and I’m sure we could have seen more if we had spent additional time at some of those spots. It really was worth putting in the effort to find them, although, I have to say that our stop at Otterswick on Yell came up with a blank!
Yesterday we got home from two weeks on Shetland. I’ve been a bit quiet on my blog lately and this is largely why – two weeks travelling the length and breadth of a truly stunning place.
I was planning on blogging while I was there but in the end I wanted to keep my eyes away from a screen and more on the scenery and wildlife. So, now I’m back, I plan to do some posting over the next few weeks (perhaps months) with a focus on the places, the scenery, the wildlife and perhaps some of the history too…there’s quite a lot to say.
Daft Mumblings 