A Red backed Shrike at Sullom Shetland 1st October 2024

This morning after our customary coffee at The Cornerstone Cafe in Scalloway we set off to see a juvenile Red backed Shrike.

This would entail a drive northwards to Sullom, a small settlement of houses that lies on one side of Sullom Voe with the huge Sullom Voe Oil Terminal. situated further up at the head of the voe (a sea inlet) 

It was a bright but very windy morning as we set off and on arriving at Sullom we found only four other birders standing by the road looking for the shrike 

It had been reported from here for a couple of days and photographed only yesterday from literally by the roadside where the edge of a plantation met the road.This plantation was quite extensive and like most similar plantations across Shetland was presumably acting as a windbreak, although standing on the road it did not appear very effective today due to the wind's direction.

Of the shrike there was no sign so we split up to walk through the plantation and cover the surrounding area of small gardens and fields. Forty or so minutes passed before the shrike was discovered sheltering in some rosa bushes on the leeward side of the plantation and close to the road

We gathered together to admire it and took photographs  as it hunted bees, wasps and other large insects visiting the rosa bushes. It had been reported as having met with some mishap which manifested itself in the form of a suspected broken left wing and indeed when it moved up from a post into a tree by a series of giant hops you could see the wing hanging down but from experience I knew the wing was not broken but badly sprained.

Dire predictions came from Mark that it was a doomed bird but I pointed out that having rescued and recuperated several birds in such condition in my youth, with time the wing would heal. Time however was not on the bird's side but if the weather was kind (not a given with Shetland's capricious climate) and the apparent plentiful supply of prey remained it might stand a good chance of resuming its southward migration.

It certainly did not appear to inconvenience the shrike which despite the drooping wing was highly mobile, using both wings, damaged and otherwise, to assist it in progressing from ground level to the tops of the plantation trees with little apparent difficulty

The other four birders moved on leaving us alone in the road to  watch the shrike moving about, at one point showing much interest in an alarmed  Yellow browed Warbler which after some anxious hopping around and calling in anxiety near to the shrike left for safer surroundings.

We lost sight of the shrike and after a bit of searching discovered it had descended to the wire fence that ran along the leeward side of the plantation and rosa bushes and was a nice sunny spot well out of the wind.

The fence separated the plantation from a large grass field and I suggested to Mark we could get closer to the shrike and improve on any photographic efforts by climbing the fence which would put us in the field right opposite the shrike as it perched on the fence

In Scotland there is the right to roam enshrined in law and in Shetland provided you do not damage fences or leave gates open in areas such as this field it is not a problem to venture into such places.We duly crossed the low wire fence and stood in the wet  field.The shrike for its part showed absolutely no alarm at our presence and we came to realise it was one of those individuals that would tolerate a close approach.

The shrike continued hopping from fence post to fence post and we watched it regularly catching large insects that blundered into the prolific rosa bushes or caught beetles in the grass below.

We shared a pleasant two hours entirely alone with the shrike which remained for the most part in its sheltered corner of the field. Half way through the owners of the field came down from the top of the field checking on the fences and stopped to chat to us, asking about the shrike and telling us they had no problem with us standing in their field which I may say is typical of Shetland and its inhabitants and leaves one with a very pleasant feeling.

We went back a couple of days later to see the shrike and by now it was capable of flying relatively strongly so its prospects were hopefully positive.