An Arctic Warbler near Scalloway 7th October 2024

We were making our way back to our accommodation in Scalloway having had quite a day with the earlier excitement of being in on the discovery of a PG Tips at Garth. see here

We had spent the afternoon examining a quarry at Voxter, that while looking prime habitat for a rarity gave up nothing more than a Redwing and then a nearby walled garden that last year held a  fabulously showy Olive backed Pipit but this afternoon yielded nothing more than a highly elusive Barred Warbler. If only we had known how well the PG Tips was showing at Garth. Very much the one that got away but we have all been there - such is birding.

Mark was driving us home when my phone pinged as another message was posted on one of the Shetland Bird News groups. Mostly it is the Common or Scarce Bird groups that are involved but on looking at this latest message I saw it was on the Shetland Rare Bird News Group.

Possibly it was relating to the PG Tips but no, it was alerting everyone to an Arctic Warbler that had been found in trees in a steep and narrow gully through which ran The Burn of Njugelswater, and then carried on flowing under the busy, well by Shetland standards anyway, A970  the road back to Scalloway. We were only ten minutes away.

There was no mistaking the site which is in the middle of nowhere surrounded by moorland but right by the road and from which we could see a huddle of birders standing at the top of the gully looking down into the trees. A number of cars were parked in a large layby off the  road on the opposite side to the gully. For once there was no problem with parking which was just as well as you had to be very careful crossing the road to access the gully as cars in Shetland outside of the towns and larger villages do not hang about!

The somewhat precipitous gully through which the burn ran harboured sycamores, conifers, willows and birch where it was at its deepest, providing partial shelter to the trees from the elements. 

Crossing the road we  had to surmount a wire fence, for once not barbed and then you had a choice of one side or the other of the gully. I took one side and Mark the other.Scrambling up a steep, wet slippery slope I joined around twenty birders looking down into the gully  and did not have to wait more than a minute before setting eyes on the Arctic Warbler which was, in true leaf warbler fashion zipping about amongst the branches of both the deciduous and conifer trees, ranging from low down in the gully to right to the top of the trees.

One could say it showed very well and the same went for Mark on his side but the lateness of the hour meant that it would soon be dark and the light had long gone to preclude any photographic masterpiece from Mark. Confusingly the trees were also occupied by a male Blackcap and a Goldcrest and you had to be careful when you saw a movement that it was not one of these two.

We departed with everyone else and headed for home, well satisfied with this unexpected conclusion to our day and resolving to come back tomorrow morning if the warbler was still here. We hardly had far to travel.

Next morning was one of very strong wind and frequent rain showers and the warbler was still present. When we got there, unsurprisingly there were only two birders braving the wind and rain and neither of them had seen the bird for the last half an hour.This time viewing was less easy as the strength of the wind would force any birds if they were there, deep into the gully.We stood on the side of the gully that appeared more sheltered but saw nothing for an hour,.About to give up the Arctic Warbler was finally found by birders standing on the other side where I had stood  yesterday.

We made our way to that side and soon worked out that we needed to stand much lower in the gully if we were to have a chance of seeing anything well.This could only be achieved at the point where the trees ended by descending a steep grass slope made treacherous by all the rain, then stand there by the burn looking into and along the gully The wind at the top was just too strong to be comfortable and the warbler if it came to the sycamores at our end would be low over the burn anyway.

Our plan worked quite well and the warbler appeared, low down and at regular intervals at our end of the gully, usually favouring a sycamore whose huge yellowing leaves dwarfed it as it examined them from the underside, picking off invertebrates.

At times it came close and gave ample opportunity to get a good shot of it but it was typically hyperactive in its movements and you had to be fast off the mark to pin it down and focus on its rapid progress through the twigs and leaves. It had a semblance of a feeding circuit so for periods we could see other birders watching it at their end of the trees and gully but applying the maxim of 'let the bird come to you' we always had a few minutes of opportunity when it was at our end and showing well.

I have seen four Arctic Warblers in Britain before this one but can say that this individual gave the best views of any. It was especially gratifying as we had dipped one at Bigton two weeks ago.

We stayed until early afternoon as there was little else being reported and Mark wanted his ultimate photo.I was not complaining, enjoying pitting my wits against the elusive mite and achieved some nice images. What I believe photographers call 'keepers'

There was little sign of any other bird in the gully today apart from a Wren but towards noon several flocks  of Redwings came from over the moors behind us to rest in the trees before moving on  and excitingly but all too briefly a Ring Ouzel landed in one of the conifers but caught sight of us and immediately departed, a harsh rattling call signifying its alarm.

The rain became more insistent and in the end we agreed there was really no point in getting soaked for no reason. we had seen the warbler really well and also got some great images to savour back at the house.