Saturday 6 May 2017

6th May 2017 Unst & Yell NE2 Clear

Having booked the 7am ferry to Yell planning a long day at work took a last-minute decision upon taking the route via Haroldswick. In the corner of the bay I noticed two large Divers so stopped to take a look to ensure that they were Great Northern Divers. One dived and took ages to resurface but when it did so they were both as expected. My attention was then drawn to a small passerine along the tide line on the beach and viewed at c.50m with the naked eye it's general colouration reminded me of a female Snow Bunting. On raising my bins I was delighted to see that, in fact, it was a Short-toed Lark, and just to make things even better, a Shore Lark was right beside it! I rattled off a few record shots when a Hooded Crow arrived on the beach and conveniently flushed the Larks onto rocks right beside me where the Short-toed Lark was seen closing its eyes presumably being tired. They then both flew but returned to the beach when it was time to make a dash to the ferry which was made with a couple of minutes to spare. Rather an uneventful remainder of the day until seeing a rather distant Iceland Gull at Mid Yell.


Short-toed & Shore Lark on Haroldswick beach





 Short-toed Lark on Haroldswick beach

Shorelark on Haroldswick beach

Iceland Gull at Mid Yell