Retrospective on Shetland - Blue winged Teal - 25th September 2025

c Hugh Harrop

A drake Blue winged Teal in eclipse plumage, a very rare bird for Shetland with only around ten records to date has been seen virtually daily at the Loch of Hillwell in the south of Mainland, since it was first discovered on the 19th of September and is a species that I have not seen on Shetland before so I made the twenty five mile trip from Scalloway to attempt to rectify this.The last Shetland record for this species was as long ago as 1995.

Trouble is the Loch of Hillwell can only be viewed distantly from the road, ideally through a telescope.The road in question is also narrow with limited opportunity for parking and the potential for upsetting the local farmers concerning access is ever present so it requires extreme sensitivity on the part of birders such as myself keen to see the duck and/or view the loch.

The other problem is that the duck is in eclipse plumage which renders it very similar in appearance to the local Eurasian Teal with which it associates and also likes to disappear with into the grass at the edge of the loch. The only failsafe method is to view it when it flies, when the pale blue wing coverts appear as two highly distinctive patches on each of the forewings.

There is a viewing alternative  as the Blue winged Teal can sometimes be seen at Setter Marsh, a spit viewable from a layby on the road overlooking the Loch of Spiggie, to where it often flies during the day along with its commoner cousins and spends time there but again there is the same issue of being able to identify it at distance when not flying.

I parked my car off the road by a deserted farm building at Hillwell and set up my scope to scan the loch that lay beyond and below me. Shortly afterwards Hugh Harrop, probably Shetland's most well known professional naturalist, who owns and runs Shetland Wildlife, came along the road and suggested I might be best to park my vehicle in another area less  likely to cause local concern. I duly did as suggested and then he said to follow him down a field towards the loch. The object was not to get closer to the teal but to try and find a European Turtle Dove that had been frequenting this field for the last few days.

We failed to flush the dove but getting nearer to the loch the ducks and geese took to the air.

Looking through my bins I picked out the Blue winged Teal flying at the front of a flock. of around twenty Eurasian Teal 

Hugh raised his camera and pointed it at the flying ducks

Where is it in the flock  Ewan?

Near the front Hugh, about third or fourth in

Got it!

A volley of camera clicks ensued and Hugh achieved the image that you see above.I doubt I could have managed  this and anyway my main priority was to see the bird and even Hugh  said he took a multitude of images of the flying teal flock 'just in case' and hoped one would come out that featured the Blue winged Teal.

It did and he has been kind enough to consent to allowing me to use it to illustrate this post

So thanks Hugh and what could have been a difficult and lengthy identification process was made a whole lot easier and I could add another new species to my Shetland Birdlist.