30th March 2026 Lerwick NW5 Squally showers

The joys of a trip to Lerwick... a 4.45am alarm, car MoT & service, Tescos and a visit to the dentist all to look forward to and with a weather forecast suggesting that we might not even get there due to northwesterly gales grounding the ferries! I rarely leave home without optics and/or a camera but there really seemed little point in taking them with us today... car dropped off, an extensive tour of Tescos completed and with a little time to kill before the dentist, saw us drive to the Fjara cafe which is closed on a Monday, so we knew the car park would be empty... Partially recline car seat, enjoy the view of Bressay, watch a few Purple Sandpipers on the rocks and a Gull flies past heading north at a range of probably c.100m... but it looked rather small and it's underwings looked strikingly white lacking the dark 'shadow' on the underside of the primaries of a Black-headed Gull... I remarked to Brenda that it looked like a Bonaparte's(!)... and continued to watch it fly across the bay before it joined a small melee of Gulls along the foreshore of the Sletts. We took a drive round, found the small flock of Gulls comprised mainly of Herrings with just two Black-headed-type Gulls sat on the water... With the naked eye there appeared to be a size difference... Whilst walking closer, they flew and the smaller bird looped around and flew close past me before settling on the water a little further along the coast... I'd seen its strikingly white underwings and a crisp black trailing edge to its primaries... it really was a Bonaparte's...!! I typed out the relevant message to Whatsapp but then had second thoughts about sending it... I hadn't seen its bill colour, its leg colour, or a grey nape... what if it didn't linger and was never seen again... Instead I decided to phone Phil Harris who lives nearby and tell him that I was 99% sure that I was watching a Bonaparte's Gull at the Sletts but without optics! On being joined in a matter of a few minutes, I'd literally just seen it fly off back towards Fjara... but had then noticed another small melee of Gulls just to the south. We took a drive back round, back into the car park and I started squinting at a couple of Black-headed Gulls, when I heard a hoot from behind us, Phil had found it sat very close on the sea just off the rocks - phew! Rebecca obtained some brilliant images before it soon flew off towards Pullars Loch. We had no option but to depart for the dentist but Phil and Rebecca soon relocated it at the loch. With grateful thanks to Rebecca for kindly sending me her following images:

Bonaparte's Gull at Lerwick (all copyright Rebecca Nason)