A Common Rosefinch at Lerwick Shetland 26th September 2024

After a mid afternoon shop at Tesco we went to a small area called The Burn of Sound on the outskirts of Lerwick.It is no more than a gully surrounded by housing and consists of shrubs, bushes and small trees with said burn running down through the bottom of the gully to the sea.

A Common Rosefinch had been reported here earlier in the day but was proving very elusive. After a long while staring at nothing we finally got very brief, unsatisfactory and distant views of it by which time it was late afternoon and soon would be getting dark. We headed for home.

The next morning I decided to give it another try although Mark wanted to go into Lerwick so I dropped him in town and  headed off with the car promising to return in a couple of hours. I found only one other birder present and he soon left telling me he had not seen the rosefinch.

I was on my own

I stood half way up the further side of the gully and waited.Nothing moved. The ubiquitous Starlings chuckled and gurgled on the surrounding rooftops and House Sparrows chirped in the gardens that backed onto where I stood but of the rosefinch there was not a sign.

I confess I was close to leaving at this point. Not even a Chiffchaff had showed to brighten my day.

Then, in a far corner, I detected the smallest of movements. A bird surely? Through my bins I could see it was much obscured in the tops of the plants it was feeding on and its plumage was dull and featureless. My first thought was probably a House Sparrow but they are sociable birds rarely to be found on their own. Possibly a redpoll as they are seen here regularly or maybe, just maybe this was the rosefinch after all. On Shetland at this time of year you check everything meticulously as you never know.

The bird was much obscured by the plants it was feeding on, moving from stem to stem where the seeds were at their most prolific and always very much hidden but gradually it came more into the open and then I could see it was indeed a Common Rosefinch 

Being a first year bird it was hardly the most riveting of birds to look at, plumage wise, looking more like a very big female House Sparrow with overall dull, greyish brown, streaked plumage, a couple of buff wing bars and a beady black eye in a rather plain face. Nonetheless it was a good bird to see.One for the connoisseur is perhaps the best way of looking at it.

It is almost unique to find oneself alone with a good bird on Shetland and in a popular and well known birding spot at that, unless you find a bird yourself which was the case here. Slowly the rosefinch revealed more and more of itself as it fed on the seeds of the unidentifiable plant. Clumsily moving around in the plant tops seeking out the best seeds it was for a while fully in the open before sinking back into cover. The sun came out and the bird took on a bit more colour by which I mean it became more brownish than grey but still undeniably drab!

I enjoyed and indulged myself photographing it and then put the news out for other birders and it was not long before I had company.

I returned to the car to go and collect Mark

to be continued