The severe gale force wind of the past couple of days finally abated and with Lubo also champing at the bit (so to speak) to go for a walk, I headed out for a thrash as far north as the Obs. It is certainly a bit milder now too (+6 or 7 degrees celsius). There are even more thrushes around with 100 Fieldfare, 50 Redwing and 27 Blackbird logged plus a Mistle Thrush - spied at Busta as I returned home, so also an addition to the Burkle garden list!!! Star bird however was the Coot in the Barkland ditches. We also turned up a Goldeneye in South Harbour (with six Wigeon and three Teal the other ducks of note) and flushed 16 Woodcock. Greylags still number around the 300 mark and Barnacle Geese around one! The vast majority of the Curlews have moved on but the five Dunlin remain. Lingering small stuff include six Skylark, a Meadow Pipit, two Linnet and a Chaffinch.

Chak! chak!

The ground is a few degrees above freezing now but the gale force SE'ly takes the wind-chill a degree or two below zero! There has been a movement of thrushes, mainly Fieldfare, with 85 counted in fields around the south today. Still lots of Curlews present plus six Golden Plover, a Lapwing and five Dunlin. The two Linnets remain faithful to the seed in the garden. A Grey Heron is new in South Harbour.

Did I mention that we are now taking bookings for the 2010 season? Come up and see the new Observatory - its very impressive and is going to be lovely!

Bookings!!

I forgot to mention that we are now taking bookings for the 2010 season in our swanky new building!!!!! Doors open to guests on 1st May.
'Its gonna be a good year, Its gonna be a good good year!'

......and 'Hello 2010!'

Already its over a week into the New Year (How time flies!) but already the year list is looking good with some early additions. Sanderling and Dunlin were added on New Years Day and a Chaffinch a day later and since then Oystercatcher and Linnet have made it. A Barnacle Goose is with the 350(!) Greylags, a Wigeon and 6 Teal and a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers are the wildfowl highlights. Up to 16 Golden Plover, a few Jack Snipe and Woodcock plus a couple of Lapwings with the usual Common Snipe (130+), Redshanks (c25) and Turnstones (c60) have been lost amongst the extraordinary record influx of Curlews.....I have logged at least 185 but they are so spread out and mobile, not remaining in any cohesive flock that the actual number may be actually over 200!
Passerines have been understandably scarce but a handful of Skylarks and Robins are toughing it out whilst Blackbirds and Redwings just about make it into double figures.

The New Years Party was held here at Burkle and following several highly entertaining guising sketches most of the isle descended just after the bells. After consuming an extraordinary amount of alcohol the last ones departed shortly after 7am!!!

Whilst the rest of the nation appears to be under a mountain of snow, here on Fair Isle we've hardly had any! We've not even given the kids their sledges we bought then for xmas - waiting for the big surprise when (if?) it does snow! Its been cold, but not as cold as elsewhere and with no wind recently its actually been very pleasant! Ice is the word and I've spent many hours gritting the roads with Iain Stout and Darren Wiseman and even spreading sand on the airstrip so the high school kids could get back to school. Lubo has been sent flying a few times as he is incapable of going anywhere slowly! The ponies are finding it tough to walk on the hard ground too, so are not moving far from the hard standing Ian Best has provided fro them, and from their haynets! Chickens slumped to a low of four eggs a week or so back but have rallied and today we got a full house (8 eggs) for the first time since 25th October (yes! we keep a record!).

Goodbye to 2009!

The year petered out without too much excitement on the birding scene. A couple of Glaucous Gulls on 8th December was an-all-too-rare sight so far this winter. The Chiffchaff lasted until 11th at least whilst a few Skylarks and three Meadow Pipits made it right to the end. Thrush numbers dwindled right down. A Sparrowhawk passed through on 13th and a female Hen Harrier dallied awhile from 18th-23rd. Boxing day turned up 39(!) Curlew, 7 Dunlin and 2 Sanderling plus a female Gadwall.

Our first ever Christmas on the isle (after 11 seasons) was a totally chilled (in more ways than one) occasion. Normally we are travelling around the country dragging children from pillar to post, camping out here and there at various friend's and family's houses, which whilst fantastic to see as many people as we can is a far from relaxing time away! This year has been so different. The kids have enjoyed it (well, they would enjoy Xmas wherever we were) and Lubo was able to experience it all with us too (and open his presents with us!). We were invited to Setter for xmas lunch where we all stuffed our faces, drank too much and played some noisy board games!! Lubo just played with Molly!

The Essex Factor!

Schoolton Nick's on a roll. He phoned this morning to tell me of a Waxwing in his garden. Lubo and I came across it on our rounds in Lower Stoneybrek garden. A cracking male, it flew around me a couple of times and when it saw I didn't have my camera with me, it perched on top of a rosa bush just five metres away from me and just sat there!!
There was no sign of the RN Grebe in South Harbour but I, sorry we, flushed a few Woodcock, a couple of Water Rails and found a dead Short-eared Owl.

We took the ponies a bit of hay and moved their electric fence to give them some more grazing. We also took them a wee tub of carrot peelings, but these were no ordinary carrot peelings. They were lovingly home grown, freshly picked today, totally organic, the sweetest, the softest, the cleanest, the orangiest carrot peelings from Hollie's Garden!! Whatever, the ponies seemed to like them as they ate them, well, like a pair of hungry horses!

Fyntan has just recovered from a sicky bug, so last night Ythan went down with it, resulting in lots of vomit and two bed changes, and then this morning Raven had the first twinges! But by 10am they had all rallied and been fine all day. Its an odd bug as it only seems to be effective at night! We shall see how much sleep tonight brings!

X-Factor semi-final result - Lachlan's favourite, Danyl is out leaving my (and Raven's) tip to win, Ollie plus Hollie's fave Dagenham Stacey and Ythan's choice Geordie Joe. Its too tense for Fyntan to make up his mind!

Nick's (a) Redneck!

At last, a bird to write about! Auld Haa Tommy phoned to say Nick (Schoolton) had found a grebe in South Harbour he wasn't too sure about. I immediately went down with a 'scope to meet them and after a few frustrating minutes trying to find the frequently diving blighter I had it in the 'scope long enough to see it had a thick dusky neck and alot of yellow in the strong dagger-like bill - a Red-necked Grebe! I thanked Nick for finding me an island tick (its the first on the isle since 1996) and Lachlan (who happens to be home this weekend) even got out the car and braved the rain get it on his list.
Its been pretty quiet otherwise though with a couple of dark-bellied Brent Geese and a Barnacle Goose with the 200 or so Greylags. The Chiffchaff just made it into December whilst the Jackdaw is still going strong! Three Grey Herons, a scattering of Robins and thrushes and still a fair few Woodcock, c20 Skylark, Merlin and a couple of Water Rail make up the best of the rest! Despite lots of gulls taking refuge on the isle during the regular gales, white wingers are noteable by their absence!! I guess we need some really cold arctic northerlies to get them, but I am quite happy to wait a few weeks!!
Aside from birds.......the most excitement has been a weekend out in Lerwick for the whole family - Christmas (and essential clothes/shoe) Shopping! Fun!? We returned on Monday morning a good few pounds lighter in the wallet but several pounds heavier round the waist having visited the Pizzaria, the Curry House and the Chippie on consecutive nights!!
Hollie's main (mane!) birthday present eventually arrived - a couple of sets of horse jumps, which she seems to be delighted with and hasn't sent back......although she hasn't (as yet) been near them with a pony! I think that won't be 'til next summer!
The Obs is progressing - even some carpets down upstairs now but, contrary to the headline in this weeks Shetland Times (!), it will not be finished by Christmas! The workmen on site are away from 16th and really looking forward to their, well deserved, Christmas break.
I checked out my AW Jack Ashton-Booth's new blog today - great stuff, he's such a nice lad!
Okay, X-Factor time.........Ollie!..... Ollie!...... Ollie!.......