A 30 minute seawatch from Lamba Ness went unrewarded as did a visit to Skaw so I decided to continue painting the exterior of our house. Mike called-in to empty the moth trap and in among the usual suspects was a Dark Spinach - a new species for Mike, the first record for Unst and only the fifth for Shetland! Brydon, Casey and Corey visited later with the albino Great Northern Diver and Bonaparte's Gull both seen from our garden.
I spent most of the day working but did manage a pre-work visit to Norwick beach seeing the albino Great Northern Diver and the Bonaparte's Gull and squeezed in a seawatch from Lamba Ness from 10.15am - 11am seeing a single Manx Shearwater and a single Sooty Shearwater fly north and c.3 Common/White-sided Dolphins moving south.
The day started early as we were kindly invited to attend a Storm Petrel ringing session at Lamba Ness so joined Phil, Glen, Gina, Kristofer, Mike & Margaret with the first Stormie being trapped at a minute after midnight! It was a very enjoyable session albeit it never got truly dark and the breeze persisted stronger than forecast. A total of 18 Stormies were ringed with plenty more seen through Phil's infra-red scope but a couple of vocal Leach's evaded capture. After a few hours sleep a visit to Skaw proved fruitless but a sea-watch from Lamba Ness from 8.30am - 9.30am in misty conditions produced a single Manx Shearwater and 2 Storm Petrels all flying north. A visit to Norwick beach produced the lingering colour-flagged Sanderling but there was no sign of the Bonaparte's Gull - presumably attracted to the nearby cut hay fields along with the majority of other Gulls.
I seawatched from Lamba Ness for 90 minutes from 7.00am again being joined by Kristofer. We saw a Sooty Shearwater, 7 Manx Shearwaters (6N & 1S) and a pod of c.14 Risso's Dolphins. Mike P then treated us to a masterclass in moth identification with a nice selection of resident species trapped in our garden overnight. A walk around Norwick produced the Bonaparte's Gull, a colour-flagged Sanderling, a Robin, a Common Whitethroat, a Chiffchaff and 2 Mealy Redpolls.
An hour seawatching at Lamba Ness produced a single Manx Shearwater flying north. The albino Great Northern Diver and Bonaparte's Gull were still at Norwick. Whilst on the phone chatting to my Dad this evening I saw what appeared to be a Beluga surface around 5 times below the south cliffs of Lamba Ness! I explained that I'd better cut our conversation short because of what I thought I'd seen and he replied somewhat incredulously 'what the white one?!'... I ran to the next room for my bins, camera and to tell Brenda and we dashed outside to see it surface another five times... and then another five times... it seemed completely unbelievable but I couldn't think of what else it could be - an albino Seal crossed my mind - especially being in the same view as the albino Great Northern Diver at one time! I put the news out and thankfully it proved to be a Beluga and a few others managed to reach Lamba Ness in time to see it round the tip and head north rounding the Holm of Skaw. Here's hoping that it resurfaces tomorrow...
I was heading for Lamba Ness when I saw the ghostly vision of the albino Great Northern Diver close off Norwick beach where the Bonaparte's Gull was also still present and 2 Sanderling and 9 Turnstone. Phil H scored two species of Shearwater from Esha Ness so I again headed for Lamba Ness where I sea-watched from 8.45am to 9.45am seeing plenty of the usual suspects including plenty of Auks carrying prey but a single blue Fulmar flying north was all that was really noteworthy. The visibility closed-in so I called it a day and a quick check of Skaw proved unproductive in the windy conditions.
