NEW! shetland BIRDERS TOUR

Saturday 25 September – Saturday 2 October 2010 - TOUR FULL

Saturday 2 October– Saturday 9 October 2010

Price £1295pp  single supplement £140pp Deposit £100pp
Price excludes flight from Aberdeen, which Heatherlea can arrange for you at cost price. Allow £120 - £180. Maximum ten guests plus Leader Peter Cosgrove or John Poyner  
The latest in our popular ‘Birder’s Tours’ of outlying Scottish islands, this exciting autumn holiday to Shetland offers you the chance to see a variety of rare and scarce migrants amid spectacular scenery. We will stay in three centres, with two nights in Sumburgh in the extreme south, two nights on Unst, Britain’s most northerly island, and three nights more centrally around the Lerwick area, allowing us to spread our wings and locate highly desirable rare birds more easily. We will cover all the key birding locations for autumn migration, and you can expect to add Yell, Bressay, Whalsay, and perhaps Fetlar and the Out Skerries to your British ‘island list’!

Possibilities include Surf Scoter, American Golden Plover, Wryneck, Bluethroat, Red-backed and Great Grey Shrike, Short-toed Lark, Olive-backed Pipit, Pechora Pipit, Richard's Pipit, Citrine Wagtail, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Red-flanked Bluetail, Yellow-browed Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Barred Warbler, Lanceolated Warbler, Arctic Warbler, Blyth's Reed Warbler, Arctic Redpoll, Common Rosefinch, Little Bunting and Lapland Bunting. In 2009 at this time, you could also add to this list Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Grey Phalarope, Taiga Flycatcher, Veery, Olive-backed Pipit and Buff-bellied Pipit, a real feast!

Peter in the famous 'Unst Bus Shelter!'

What turns up depends upon the weather, so there are no guarantees, but we'll find our own birdsand twitch good ones as we travel around the island. If the wind is in the east, then large falls of finches (e.g. Brambling), thrushes and crests (with Yellow-browed Warblers) are likely, along with odd species like Woodcock, Water Rail and Long-eared Owl.

General birding will include some seawatching (Gannets, divers, skuas, Manx and Sooty shearwaters are distinct possiblities). On the mainland, species such as Starling, Twite, Greylag and Pink-footed Geese and Raven are common. The freshwater lochs should hold reasonable numbers of common ducks, with rarities such as American Wigeon and Green-winged Teal a possibility. Good numbers of waders will be locally present, and we will scour flocks of Golden Plover, Lapwing, Ringed Plover, Sanderling, Redshank and Curlew for the odd rarity.

Access to most places on Shetland is largely unrestricted, and birding is made easier by the almost complete lack of trees. Rare birds can turn up virtually anywhere, but the best areas might be in the central and south mainland where vegetation is generally better developed. The northerly and most rugged part of the main island holds plantations which are good places to visit for migrant passerines.

Our two nights on Unst should be productive. Unst has a tundra-like landscape, with slopes covered in thin turf and stony outcrops and screes. The north and west are the best vegetated areas and are likely to be best for migrants, though lochs in the south and sounds in the north of the island are well worth our attention. We will also visit the legendary Unst Bus Shelter, where birders leave tips and items matching the décor (we will check this year’s colour scheme before we travel, and take something suitable!).

Numerous small gardens and crops provide the only vegetative cover on the islands, and with travel easy on good roads, these islands can be very productive in autumn.

All in all we expect an exciting and varied birding adventure, where as usual in Scotland’s Outer Limits, just about anything can turn up. Travel will be by air from Aberdeen, where the group will meet up, or as an alternative you can travel to Aberdeen with Heatherlea after a week with us in Scotland at Mountview Hotel.

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Please note: all itineraries are given as a guide only. Actual holiday content may vary according to the judgement of your guide, and elements beyond our control (eg weather).