Two weeks ago I lied to you. I described and showed you my adventures with seabirds on the Shetland Islands. But not seabirds in kilts. Or even viking helmets. Today, in my sequel, I promise paragraphs of unvarnished truth about Scottish seabirds. Unfortunately there won't be quite as many bird pictures but I will make up for that with some pictures of beautiful landscapes. Before I resume my narrative on Shetland I must beg your indulgence once again with a small preamble. Also completely truthful - in fact in it I bare a dark secret of my soul. But first have some ponies.
Why did I go to the Shetland Islands? I had three days on my own in Scotland and I wanted to do something different and adventurous. And I chose the Shetlands primarily because that's where I had the best chance of seeing a Red-throated Loon/Diver (Loons are called Divers in British English). The Red Throats are the smallest of the five loon species and breed world-wide in areas north of the treeline. They were also probably number one or two on my list* of North American birds I most wanted to see. This picture shows you their striking appearance.
Photo by David Karna. Taken from Wikimedia Commons
Most of the British breeding population of Red-throated Loons occurs in the Shetlands.
And here's where I confess my loon snobbery. Those of you who leave near either coast of North America and have done some winter birding are might well have seen a Red-throated Loon. They can even be seen here in Florida in the winter, although they are not common. 'What's the mole's problem' they mutter into their coffee as they consider abandoning this diary and delving into the Times crossword.
The problem is that, to me, this is a loon
Loons are boldly patterned birds that hang out on lakes making weird calls and carrying chicks around on their backs. In my elitist world view they are not dull gray birds that sit silently on the ocean. I confess my loon snobbery to you honestly. I don't drink lattes but I only want to see loons in breeding plumage.
Twice before I have traveled to the far north of this continent. I have been fortunate both times to see breeding Pacific Loons. Here's a pair really far away in the Northwest Territories. Won't give you much of an idea of the birds but it will show you the habitat in which they are found.
Unfortunately the Red-Throats eluded me on both occasions.
OK preamble is over - back to the Shetlands.
When I left you last time I had just completed my boat tour of the Isle of Noss. It was 630 PM and I had a fifty minute drive to get to the B&B where I would spend the night.
An hour later I was about to give up in despair as I proceeded further and further down a narrower and narrower road through a landscape marked by the overwhelming presence of sheep and absence of humans. Then I happened upon a cluster of buildings and discovered that I had reached my destination. My kind hostess greeted me warmly and showed me quarters. After eating my dinner (courtesy of Tesco) I ventured out for an evening walk. I wasn't expecting much, just a pleasant stroll before going to bed early.
First I saw this intriguing sign. My walk was taking a decidedly Tolkeinesque turn.
Crossing the fence to investigate I saw this ruin. The remnants of stone buildings are all over the place. I later learned that the actual stones were over the hall and are a glacial phenomenon.
And then this (I believe the bathtub functioned as a watering trough for sheep)
This was turning out to be a very interesting walk. And I hadn't even got to the birds yet.
Turning around I decided to check out the situation back the way I had arrived. The road dipped down into a slight depression where a creek flowed sluggishly down to the bay only a couple of hundred yards away. Arctic terns flew back and forth as they prepared to roost for the night. A snipe fluttered around overhead making synthesizer noises with its wings. And redshanks (kind of like a yellowlegs but with red legs) screamed at me - which kind of marred the snipe's soothing vibe. Unfortunately all of these exciting birds were too far away and the light was too poor to even think about photography.
I turned up a dirt track and climbed a hill. Curlew flew by, Ringed Plovers darted away peeping, and Oystercatchers shouted alarm calls from the rock outcrops. It was a magical evening and a fair proportion of the birds were pissed off at me!
At the top I found these charming little lochs.
As I was heading back down to my bed something flew below me and rapidly out of sight. It had the awkward hunched posture of a loon in flight and the plain unmarked back of a loon of the Red-throated persuasion. I was pretty sure of my ID but it wasn't a very satisfying look.
The next morning I got some advice on the loons from my hosts and headed out to explore parts of the northwestern side of Shetland.
My first stop was the Mull of Rowe. This island sits right up against mainland Shetland and you can drive onto it over a short bridge. I walked over to an isolated cove. Two birds floated on the bay, one of which can be seen below.
I watched them for a while. They were quite cooperative despite the poor light and distance. At times I could even glimpse the red on the throat. Here's a closer view
Although pretty blurry you can see two key traits in this picture. The head and beak are held angled upward and the neck and chest form a vertical straight line. Here were more red-throats. I also saw a few others driving around the rest of the day. The irony is not lost upon me. I saw Red-throated Loons and they were basically gray birds sitting on the ocean. So much for snobbery. However the Shetlands would have been well worthwhile even if I hadn't seen them.
In addition to the loons the beach also had some great decor.
The rest of the day was just gravy as far as I was concerned. I headed west to Eshaness on the Atlantic coast and the scenery just got better.
The cliffs at Eshaness had lots of the usual suspects from the day before: murres, puffins, and the ubiquitous Fulmars
And then, sadly, it was time to head back into town to get the ferry back to the mainland. While killing time at the harbor I got a final Shetland bird photo - this Arctic Tern
Postscript
A few days later my wife and I were in southern Scotland. We tried to get on another sea bird tour but the fates were not in our favour. We did manage to sneak in a few more observations from the mainland.
We visited St. Abb's Head, another spectacular sea cliff area. Here I had my first successful digiscoping experience, taking this picture of Common Murres through my binoculars.
Here's the village of St. Abb's - what a setting!
And here is a token land bird - a Jackdaw.
The next day we visited Tantalon Castle on the outskirts of North Berwick, our last Scottish stop before heading south. In the background is Bass Rock, a major gannet colony.
And here is my second digiscoped picture. Bass Rock itself - you can sort of make out individual gannets as white dots covering the upper part of the rock.
And, of course, there were fulmars here as well