Back up north .... at last !

Finally got back up to Shetland not before the boat took part in a search and rescue during the night, apparently looking for a missing fisherman. Got up to Sumburgh Head in the afternoon and after a frantic 3 hours caught up with a male and 2 juvenille Two-barred Crossbills. Totally fucked after walking up and down the head but well worth it great views of stunning birds.

All at sea !

Decided very early on in the year to go on the Scillonian paleagic in the vain hope of Wilsons Petrel. That didnt quite happen when it came down to it and it ended up a disaster. The sea was rough as fuck, people were puking all over the place, some twat fell over straight on his face so we had to divert to st.marys so he could go to hospital, and so putting all the plans in the air. When a Wilsons Petrel was spotted it was for a milisecond and so resulted in 2.4 people seeing it. Top class views of Great Shearwater was the only consolation. Glad to be home tbh and just had burger & chips for tea, ah well roll on thurs so i can see if there are any 2bar xbills left.

Invasion !!

For the last 13 days Two-barred Crossbills have plagued the Northern Isles, with most noticeably 18+ this afternoon around Sumburgh Head. I am feeling quite frustrated about the whole episode as i keep recieving texts, phonecalls and now pictures of the little bastards, please stop its not funny !
On the other hand with the way the numbers are expanding there should be 50+ by thursday !!

The Journey

From A to B or B to A, its as simple as that. Seems a long way but its not that bad, probably because they now have M&S service stations on the motorway.