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Focus on Wildlife - Spring 2008

GO BIRDING ON FAIR ISLE!

Fair Isle is famous in spring for its huge seabird colonies and rare migrants. Top Shetland birder Hugh Harrop is your expert guide on the ‘Mecca’ of British birding…

Populated by around ninety souls, measuring just three-miles-long by about one-mile-wide and rising from sea-level to over 500 feet in places, Fair Isle is one of Britain’s most remote islands and one of Europe’s most famous birding sites. Equidistant between the archipelagos of Shetland and Orkney and lapped by Atlantic and North Sea waters, a visit to the island in late spring gives one the opportunity to witness truly stunning seabird colonies and observe migration at its very finest.

Over 360 species of bird have been recorded on the island (that’s an average of 116 species per square mile!) and the vast majority of these are migrants. Just over thirty species breed regularly, including Twite, truly-wild Rock Doves, Hooded Crows, Ravens, Rock Pipits, Wheatears and the endemic subspecies of the Wren – aptly named, the ‘Fair Isle’ Wren.

Of the thirty or so species that breed, just over half are seabirds. In spring, the Thrift and Spring Squill-strewn cliffs are home to over 100,000 pairs of breeding seabirds. Here, one can sit at a safe distance on the cliff tops to watch thousands of Guillemots and Razorbills jostling for space. Searching the colonies will reward you with small numbers of Shags and the truly handsome piebald Black Guillemots. Puffins will often join you on the cliff tops, affording superb photographic opportunities, and will sometimes even tug at the laces on your boots out of sheer curiosity!

Fulmars cruise along the cliff tops at eye-level, Arctic Terns hover above your head and both Great and Arctic Skuas swoop through the colonies in search of a free meal – their piratical antics have to be seen, to be believed. At night, diminutive Storm Petrels return ashore under the cover of what darkness there is at this northern latitude, in order to avoid predation.

The sights, the smells and the sheer raucous cacophony of Fair Isle’s seabirds are an experience not to be missed. But Fair Isle has even more to offer - migrants and vagrants.

Of the 360 or so species to have been recorded on the island, 25 have been new to Britain at the time of their discovery and over 35 were the first records for Scotland. Fair Isle therefore needs no further introduction with regards to its fame for hosting rare birds.

First-time visitors to the island may well wonder how on earth migrant passerines are discovered here in the first-place. Apart from the tiny 'plantation', there are no trees or bushes of significant size on the island at all, and thus cover is extremely sparse to say the least. The lichen-strewn stone dykes, the vegetated and sheltered cliffs (known here as ‘geos’), the damper ditches and the small areas of rose bushes in the scattered crofts all provide shelter for migrants. Furthermore, the island residents are extremely birder-friendly and apart from one tiny area in the south of the island, one has the freedom to roam wherever one wants. Bliss!

Migrant birding on Fair Isle really is superb, but like most migration hotspots, one is at the mercy of the weather, with the direction of the wind being particularly crucial.  Light winds from any one of the eastern sectors can produce spectacular ‘falls’ of migrants that for me, epitomise a spring birding trip to Fair Isle. Despite popular belief, its best not to have the drizzle or mist associated with these winds – Fair Isle is so small that birds drifted off course from their Scandinavian super-fly-way, need to visibly see the isle in order to make landfall. So the really good birding days on Fair Isle tend to be clear and sunny, with just a light easterly blowing off the continent. More bliss!

The first signs of a ‘fall’ are evident when ‘indicator’ species start arriving. Light easterlies will bring a scattering of commoner species from the near continent such as Tree Pipits, Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs, Sedge Warblers, Whitethroats and Lesser Whitethroats. Numbers will tend to increase steadily throughout the day as more and more birds arrive. Its then worth look closely at everything that presents itself - those ‘Yellow’ Wagtails are probably Blue-headed or Grey-headed, that giant-looking Willow Warbler may well be an Icterine Warbler and that huge Linnet-like bird with a black mask and a long-tail will be a dapper male Red-backed Shrike!

The island is covered reasonably well during the main spring migration period by just three or four ornithological staff who work at the observatory and a handful of visiting birdwatchers. The chances of finding your own rare and scarce birds are thus extremely high when compared to other migrant hotspots, such as the Isles of Scilly.

Migrants on Fair Isle are what we refer to here in Shetland as ‘Martinis’ – they turn up any time, any place, and anywhere. Over the years I have witnessed birds in some truly bizarre places – a dazzling spring-male Myrtle Warbler hopping around boulders just inches from the roaring Atlantic; a giant Thick-billed Warbler bounding up and down Fair Isle’s only road; and I’ve seen many a dapper Bluethroat grovel around the fringe of a septic tank to be watched by a Red-backed Shrike perched on somebody’s washing line. That’s birding on Fair Isle for you and the rule is to expect the unexpected.

A Fair Isle ‘fall’ will remain etched in your memory for the rest of your life and there have been some truly memorable ones. 1992 can perhaps claim fame to the best ever late-May and early-June arrival. Some peak daily counts during the period included 350 Spotted Flycatchers, 80 Garden Warblers, 35 Whitethroats, 11 Icterine Warblers, five Marsh Warblers, 8 Bluethroats and 12 Common Rosefinches. Rarities recorded during the period included two Red-footed Falcons, five Red-throated Pipits, a Thrush Nightingale, a Paddyfield Warbler, a Great Reed Warbler, Fair Isle’s first-ever spring record of Barred Warbler, seven Subalpine Warblers, two Greenish Warblers, a Rustic Bunting and five Black-headed Buntings. And you would have been able to have seen Dotterel, Corncrake, Honey Buzzard, Hobby Shore Lark and Golden Oriole during your stay.

And all on an island that measures just three miles by one…Bliss!

View previous article:
Focus on Wildlife - Winter 2007

To find out more about birdwatching and wildlife holidays in Shetland visit Shetland Wildlife (www.shetlandwildlife.co.uk). The company has been running birding, general wildlife and photography holidays in Shetland for 15 years and offers week-long fully guided trips to all corners of Mainland Shetland, the North Isles, Whalsay and Out Skerries. As well as offering organised group holidays, Shetland Wildlife also offers a bespoke guide service for individuals and small private groups.

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