There are rarities and there are rarities. Roger found one of the all-time mythical British rarities yesterday, all the more special being one of Heinrich Gatke's Heligoland legendary first records for northwest Europe... Egyptian Goatsucker! Unst often isn't the best place to be located from which to chase rarities elsewhere on the islands and yesterday that again proved true. On reading the species typically have large foraging ranges it didn't fill me with confidence that it would be present today. But Glen's message 5 minutes before sunrise to say it was again roosting on the beach at Eastshore resulted in us scrambling for the door and picking-up Mike and Chris enroute to Belmont. Fortunately the 'bookings only' 7am ferry had arrived courtesy of a sheep lorry and we were soon leaving Unst. Likewise there was plenty of room on the 8.15am ferry from Ulsta and we were heading south. We were greeted by Paul encouraging us to quickly take a look through his scope as the Nightjar had become a little active at the onset of light rain. We were then largely mesmerised by the Nightjar as we watched it rocking, shuffling and on one occasion opening its very large eyes to take a look at its gathering admirers. It was then great to spend time with friends, not least Roger recounting his exciting find. A very enjoyable day and what a bird - a world tick to boot!
Egyptian Nightjar at Virkie
Eastshore beach
The gathering admirers
Birds of Heligoland
