Wednesday 8th August - Monday 13th August 2012
The Unst Adventure
Abandoned dwelling, Muness, Unst
I was lucky to be invited to join a small group of young people, led by my friend Barry, spending a week on Unst, the most northerly of the Shetland Islands. Indeed, the most northerly outpost of Britain. We stayed in the hostel at Uyeasound for the week but were lucky enough to visit Fetlar and cross Mainland and Yell. We spent several hours in Lerwick on the return leg. So, let's get on with it! I shall say little of the journey north to Aberdeen. We'll start on board our North Link ferry on August 8th.
Day One: Wednesday 8th August
'Starting gently...'
As we approached the Shetlands on the 8th of August, Fair Isle and then Foula appeared in the morning light.
Fair Isle
Foula
Gannets and fulmars followed the wake of our ship.
This uncropped photo of a sub-adult gannet was taken as it passed over my head. The fulmars didn't get quite so close.
Entering the harbour at Lerwick we saw some eiders and our first black guillemot.
A friendly herring gull landed on board close to me. I backed off to get in focus range.
Kittiwakes perched on part of the quayside. The one on the left is very tyred!
Commotion was caused among the terns as an arctic skua arrived on the quay not far from me. I ran off a series of pictures.
It didn't stay long.
We crossed the Mainland, took a ferry to Yell and then our final ferry to Unst. We had arrived approximately 28 hours after leaving York. Whilst Barry sorted things out the rest of us explored a little. A very distant [much cropped] red-throated diver caught my eye.
Meadow pipits are very common on Unst, although at times the ubiquitous wheatear seemed to be the most frequent bird.
I was lucky to catch this wheatear as it fled. Overall the birds on Unst seem more flighty and nervous than back home - including common birds like starlings and sparrows.
In the afternoon we walked to Muness Castle. I began to get a feel for the island. Abandoned buildings tell a tale of decline and loss. The Jubilee timeline at the Heritage Centre at Haroldswick confirms this ongoing loss culminating most recently in the closure of the primary school in Uyeasound.
The wildlife prospers however and wild flowers in particular thrill any visitor. Mid-August is late for flowers but I was thrilled each day by what we saw so this blog will contain quite a lot of my flower photos - all labelled as far as I can!
Bog asphodel [narthecium ossifragum] and bog cotton [eriophorum angustifolium]were plentiful. Even a few orchids were seen that first afternoon.
Heath spotted orchid [dactylorhiza maculata] leaving Uyeasound on the road to Muness.
I was quite taken with the speed limit sign!
We passed lots of friendly shetland ponies. They come running to say hello. I suppose I'd better include a couple of photos. Here's a youngster.
They come in many colours but here's another brown one. I liked the result.
Strong, sturdy and stocky just about sums them up.
On the walk back we passed turnstones on the shingle beach. Adult and juvenile together.
Day Two: Thursday 9th August
'An unforgettable day...'
The day began for me with an early walk along the shore. The ringed plover seemed more at ease with my presence than other birds.
I then headed uphill towards Dam Loch. Greylags watched me nervously. I turned back and then advanced again crouching below the stone wall to get this view.
I spotted Barry coming to join me. A meadow pipit posed on a house roof. Look at those hind claws!
At Dam Loch a lone whooper swan looked rather sad in the dull light.
Wild angelica [angelica sylvestris] grows everywhere. Some forms are really dark pink. I forgot to photograph a deep pink one at Muness and then I never saw another quite so dark...
On the way back I disturbed some juvenile turnstones but I was pleased with the resulting bifs.
We watched some juvenile wagtails but didn't notice this adult white wagtail [with an attendant wheatear].
A starling was getting a bit too close to the back end of this shetland pony. Any minute now he'll be on Yell!
On the way back an oystercatcher seemed very annoyed about something. But they often do...
For eating seaweed there's nothing like a pair of red chopsticks!
The bird flew off still shouting at us both.
We were to go to Hermaness that day to face the bonxies - potentially a dream come true. First we had to call at Ethel's for supplies. A curlew flew past the shop on the shoreline.
We also called at the most northerly shop in Britain - 'The Final Checkout' - sounds like a great name for an undertaker's! Eventually our minibus reached the car park. These signs had an ominous ring.
Note the negative sales talk for waterproof trousers....
It was an uphill climb. Things always look easier on the map! Great skuas - I'll call them bonxies it's easier to type - were soon apparent if not particularly close to me. I had no idea how close I would eventually be, so I photographed as much and often as possible. There's going to be a lot of bonxie pics!
Soon they were much closer as I climbed towards the first ridge. The rest of the party were now well ahead of me.
Some were on the ground guarding their nests. They are quite well camouflaged until you get your eye in.
A raven passed overhead. Here they play second fiddle to the bonxies.
I reached the north-west corner of Hermaness, facing the Atlantic Ocean. The stacks were white with gannets [and their poo], thousands nesting close by their bitter enemies, the bonxie. Having seen the bonxies down gannets into the sea on Uyeasound channel I was surprised by how close to each other they set up home. Spot the bonxie in the photo below!
Muckle Flugga lighthouse
The view looking south was most impressive.
Here puffins were busily flying around us and below us. Except one.
Unfortunately this adult would fly no more. Words unnecessary.
I wonder what those lambs are thinking.
They are doing what they were meant to do. Life is harsh here. Impressive birds however in every context that we see them. Espying one out at sea from Flamborough Head will never be the same...
A lovely souvenir
Not wanting to face the daunting climb before us, we headed back towards the minibus and, eventually, back to the hostel in Uyeasound. The day had not finished surprising us. A glaucous gull landed on a farm building visible from our lookout in the hostel conservatory. It was passed 9.30pm. Grab camera! The light was rubbish [another shorter word came to mind]. Shutter speeds would be ridiculous. Anyway, here's two of the best of them.
Day Three: Friday 10th August
Damping down a bit
Wet air followed by a bit more drizzle suggested a day focusing on more indoor activities. A wheatear strode the lawns, photographed [through glass] in the dew from the conservatory.
The group visited the Boat Haven and the Heritage Centre and then went on to the Leisure Centre at Baltasound. The area around the centre proved quite rich in bird life. Oystercatchers circled over the playing fields.
At last I got reasonable views of hooded crows. They are numerous but very cautious. Perhaps they think my camera is a gun!
Wallcreeping got me in close to an adult starling.
Across the narrow road from the starling a flower meadow with an abandoned chapel in the background did much to convey the essentials of an Unst landscape.
A great black-backed gull circled the leisure centre too.
Towards the end of a day when we had had several otter sightings - one very early as an adult otter strolled across the lawns outside the hostel. Only Barry and I were up that early. However another evening sighting turned out to be a curious seal who had come to visit the beach area.
Day Four: Saturday 11th August
Fetlar: The delights of Tresta, Papil Water and Kroklahellia
Barry found out that we could go from Unst to Fetlar free of charge and take the minibus. A good deal! So off we set after breakfast on Saturday morning. A blackbird was looking rather bedraggled at the roadside near the hostel.
At Belmont, where the ferries leave for Yell and Fetlar, gannets and arctic terns were busy feeding. 
This tern was emerging from the water after an unsuccessful dive.
The arctic tern's streamers show well here.
Gannets were coming almost straight for us!
So was the ferry.
The waves in the wake of the ferry caught my eye. This is a black and white image. [You'll get the point shortly]
This is a colour photo even if it looks b&w!
This juvenile black guillemot looks like it's swimming on a millpond.
The next image I had fun with.
Now for a bit of a puzzle. On the starboard side of the ferry I photographed a red-throated diver flying past us somewhat distantly.
Nearer to the island of Fetlar I photographed two more divers on the port side of the boat. I don't think they are red-throated at all. I think they are.... Well, someone tell me!! Have a close look. Heavily cropped and quite a way off but head shape and colouring....
Same 2 birds
At Tresta a meadow pipit was on a wall where I thought I saw a wren disappear. I really wanted a shetland wren photo!
Hold on! Here it is!
Then Barry found another one. On a rotting post. It was still there when I went to look.
Ok. That's the Shetland Wren sorted, I hope. Fulmars were nesting close by and really low down on the left-hand side of Trestar beach.
This youngster is in his garden of bladder campion. Doesn't look like it could ever fly!
There were rabbits on Fetlar too.
What's this fellow?
Black rabbits are not that uncommon it seems. It is said they carry the souls of the dead and that white ones carry the souls of witches.
We drove across the island to the Loch of Funzie and walked to the hide to see the red-necked phalaropes. We saw nothing which was unfortunate as they were seen that day on the Loch. You can't win 'em all!
Whilst we waited for the ferry a black guillemot swam near the harbour quay. A shag flew past as well.
And so another great day came to a stop. Time to head back to Unst.
Day Five: Sunday 12th August
The Keen of Hamar and other tales
If the day on Hermaness was an unforgettable experience then our early morning visit to the Keen of Hamar was botanically for me the stuff of dreams, a field of dreams as Kevin Costner would say...
As we walked up to the reserve itself from the small parking area, along the cattle access track, a hooded crow obliged by flying up from an adjacent field.
The first impression of the Keen of Hamar is of a barren, lunar landscape. The more you look the more tiny plants appear. It must be wonderful in early summer. In August it was, as I said, a field of dreams. Some of the plants are not confidently identified. I will post some of the images on ispot to seek further identification / confirmation. So, here begins a botanical extravaganza complete with the plant I most hoped to see in Shetland. You'll have to wait just a little bit longer to see it! We nearly missed it.
By the way, if you go to see the flowers, pick up a copy of David Malcolm's Shetland's Wild Flowers - a super photographic guide published by the Shetland Times £15.99 3rd edition 2012.
This is a mauve form of common scurvy grass [cochlearia officinalis ssp scotica]. Thanks to ispot for confirmation of my identification.
Moss campion [silene acaulis].
Slender St. John's Wort [hypericum pulchrum] - thanks to ispot members for the identification.
Sea campion [silene uniflora]- thanks to ispot members for the identification.
Common butterwort - flower stem remains. Pinguicula vulgaris. Note the trapped dead insects on the leaves.
Shetland mouse-ear - cerastium nigrescens v. nigrescens. I deliberately took photos of both the flower and the leaves.
This may be arenaria norvegica ssp norvegica or norwegian sandwort. Or it may be something else altogether!!
This is [I'm fairly sure] a small autumn gentian - gentianells amarella ssp. septentrionalis - what a mouthful!
A tiny eyebright [euphrasia arctica].
Antennaria dioica? Mountain everlasting. Flowers didn't last!
Here it is. The plant I dreamt I might just see. I realised it might flower a little later in Shetland and this was the place. There was even a plaque marking its location but we overlooked it. You see it's tiny. Not some great spike of floweres 10 inches high but a minute thing about 1.5 inches high. I went back, looked again, saw the leaves. I lay almost flat on the ground. To photograph my first ever frog orchid, coeloglossum viride. Brilliant!!
Barry and I returned to Uyeasound for breakfast. Ironically he found another splendid orchid by the hostel. This, I think, is some sort of northern marsh / common spotted hybrid like the hybrid on plate 76 of David Malcolm's book labelled dactylorhiza x formosa. The plant vigour suggests a hybrid. Very nice.
The group now travelled west to Lunda Wick with its fine beach where the arctic terns display and feed. More great images, I hope.
The church and cemetery were interesting - it seems that wives maintain their maiden surnames on the gravestones. It's not the stuff I normally like to photograph but here's a couple...
There were thistles everywhere.
Above: Spear thistle cirsium vulgare. Below: Creeping thistle cirsium vulgare.
We went down onto the beach.
Lily's boots
Arctic terns were feeding their young nearby. I sat down on the sand and watched.
Passing it over!
On the way back we stopped to see the largest bstanding stone on Unst near Burragarth.
Later that day a short walk from the hostel led to some nice flowering discoveries. The flag iris [iris pseudacorus 'seggi-flooer' in Shetland] had all finished, I thought, until I found a large very marshy stand where just one stem was still in flower - quite a way from my path on very boggy ground. This cropped image is very pleasing therefore.
Ragged-Robin [lychnis flos-cuculi]
Marsh cinquefoil [potentilla palustris].
Finally a daisy dfound everywhere on Unst: oxeye daisy [leucanthemum vulgare].
Day Six: Monday 13th August
The last leg.
And so it all comes to an end. We left Uyeasound bright and early heading for Lerwick. All went very smoothly. We had a good look round Lerwick. Fuel is very expensive I noticed. And I went to Tesco's in Lerwick too!
After some hours in Lerwick we boarded our ferry for Aberdeen at about 15.30pm. The remaining photos were all taken from the stern of the vessel - all except the final picture taken in the harbour.
Common tern!
I tried many times to photograph gannets plunge diving. My efforts have been fraught with difficulty, no, failure! This is what I usually end up with!
Here are some of my efforts that afternoon in Lerwick harbour.
Not bad - pity it's not all in the frame. Uncropped.
Bonxies were in the harbour too.
The last arctic tern.
The last black guillemot.
The last picture. Out at sea following the MV Hrossey.
Thanks, Barry. Wouldn't have missed it for the world.
137 photos
1 lifer [Shetland wren]; one year tick [raven].