Cracking views of Bluethroat. An early scour of the area on the mainland opposite the island of Vardo produced good views of female Steller’s Eider, Red-throated Pipits and breeding-plumaged Lapland Buntings. After breakfast, we set off in convoy along a long narrow lane which skirted the north coast to the hamlet of Hamningberg, a remote community at the far end of this extremely long dead-end road. A very scenic drive, we stopped along the way to scan various bays, inlets, rocky cliffs, small lakes, willow-fringed streams and areas of open bog and rocky tundra. This variety of habitat produced a wide range of birds including Brunnich’s Guillemot and Black Guillemot, Long-tailed Duck, displaying Common Eider with their distinctive ‘whuouh’ call carrying across the water, roosting Arctic Skuas, breeding-plumaged Snow Buntings, more Lapland Buntings and Red-throated Pipits, crippling views of Red-spotted Bluethroat hopping around just feet away from us as it shared a small patch of mud with a Temminck’s Stint, Arctic Redpolls teasing us with tantalising views in the budding willow bushes, and hundreds of Purple Sandpipers foraging amongst the rocks.
It was cold work standing still while scanning and seawatching, so we were grateful to pile on the layers of clothing and hike across the open moorland in search of Ptarmigan. We spread out to cover the huge area ahead of us as effectively as we could, and walked slowly across the moor, scanning right, left and ahead as we went. Suddenly, we heard the distinctive bubbling call from somewhere off to our right amongst the boulders of a steep rocky incline. Three of us scoured this area intensely but the bird remained hidden from view and refused to call again. Others in our group discovered Ptarmigan droppings and feathers, but no sign of the bird itself, so we’ve had to satisfy ourselves with just hearing the bird, for today. But never give up hope, there’s still another chance another day.
Bird species list: 228610th June