Review of the Shetland Nature 2011 Season
Posted by Gary Bell on Wednesday 16th November 2011 | News
The review of the Shetland Nature 2011 season has appeared a little later than planned, but for good reason: the arrival of Brydon and Vaila’s second son, Corey James Thomason, who was born in early September. For this very joyous reason, many post-season tasks, such as reviews and news posts, were put on ‘paternity-leave’ hold. It is perhaps more appropriate in any case, as it means the review can now be a more complete overview of the year’s programme, and includes the last of the season’s holidays such as the Shetland Autumn Birding weeks which finished in October.
Spring/summer season review
Once again, we were very fortunate to enjoy an excellent season, with our programme of ‘Shetland Nature Experience’ (week-long) and ‘Wild Shetland Weekend’ (long weekend) holidays all selling out. In fact, such is the popularity and demand for the northern isles, we were able to offer and fill additional holidays to those initially advertised. There is no doubt that Shetland is definitely a ‘must visit’ location, and for many very good reasons! To quote Lonely Planet, who listed Shetland as one of its Top 10 regions in the world to visit in 2011: “this might just be the last untamed corner of the United Kingdom”.
This year saw a definite increase in visitors taking advantage of our highly successful Day Tours. More encouragingly, there was increased demand from people seeking tours in the ‘shoulder-seasons’ of early spring, autumn and even in winter than in previous years.
As far as sightings were concerned we certainly delivered; indeed, in many cases, as well as reasoned judgement we had luck on our side. Throughout the season, all of Shetland’s star speciality species were encountered and enjoyed, and for some lucky guests even all in one week. In fact, Otters, Killer Whales and Red-necked Phalaropes were encountered in one day!
Amongst the most sought after of all are, of course, Shetland’s enchanting and endearing Otters, which were enjoyed on all holidays on multiple occasions and all our day trips too. Otter watching is a real speciality of ours and one that we are justly renowned for (see also Otter watching day trips and Otter Photography holidays). Our groups really do experience first-hand the benefits of both our small group sizes and our knowledge of Otters and the sites they use. Dedicating time to track them on our week-long trips is also a huge attraction.
Killer Whales also provided several sightings throughout the season. Although several holidays and day tours enjoyed encounters, it was on the whole a ‘below par’ season for inshore Killer Whale sightings around Shetland, with fewer than normal of the known pods having been sighted. This is of course not unprecedented; no two summers are the same but thankfully Killer Whales always seem to come back! We were delighted to welcome back Dr Andy Foote of the North Atlantic Killer Whale ID project to lead on a couple of our marine-based day trips.
Other sea mammals seen included White-beaked, White-sided, Risso’s and Common Dolphins (the latter being quite a rarity in Shetland waters), whilst Minke Whale and Harbour Porpoise were the more frequently seen cetaceans, especially later in the summer. Also during the latter part of the summer were several Basking Sharks. In fact, it has probably been the best year for a couple of decades in Shetland for this species, which has only recently begun occurring with any regularity.
The summer breeding birds were typically more reliable (with the often frustrating exception of the increasingly more elusive Red-necked Phalarope); from Plovers, Petrels and Puffins to Gannets, Guillemots and Great Skuas and Red-throated Divers, Ravens and Razorbills.
Also from an ornithological outlook, several of our groups were fortunate to connect with some fine rarities and scarcities on our spring and early-summer holidays. Amongst the scarcer migrants were Long-tailed Skua, Red-backed Shrike, Golden Oriole, Marsh Warbler, Common Rosefinch, Corn Crake (including one lucky group which actually saw the bird singing in the open!), Quail, Crossbill, Wood Warbler and Wood Sandpiper to name but a few, whilst rarities such as Squacco Heron, Black Kite, Rustic Bunting and Subalpine Warbler added to the already impressive list of birds recorded on our holidays. In the field, you are always aware that you might find something unusual or rare. When it happens, it’s one of these experiences that is difficult to describe, but often involves adrenalin! This season went reasonably well, with the group leaders finding White-billed Diver, Black throated Diver, Ring-billed Gull, Pectoral Sandpiper and Short-toed Lark during our holidays or day tours. However, it’s not all about the rare species; unusual can relate to behaviour too. This year, amongst others, we have witnessed an Otter catching and running off with a domestic duck, another Otter running around amongst sheep, and a Shag attempting to consume a fish that was larger than itself!
Shetland’s wild flowers, plants and fungus provided breath-taking scenes as we toured around the islands. Stone dykes covered in symbiotic lichens alluded to a pristine environment. Carpets of Ragged Robin, Red Campion and Fox-and-Cubs gave way to patches of Yellow Iris and fields of Marsh Marigolds and were the aesthetic starters to Shetland’s rich flora. Orchids are always a popular delight and we were able to find Early Marsh, Early Purple, Frog, Fragrant, Heath Spotted and Northern Marsh, although different periods of the summer are better for certain species than others.
The Keen of Hamar National Nature Reserve on Unst is a weekly pilgrimage with us, and as well as providing scarce Orchids, the endemic Edmondston’s Chickweed and alpines such as Moonwort, Norwegian Sandwort and Northern Rockcress were found amongst many others.
Insect eaters! It often surprises people that we have insectivorous plants in Shetland and the commonest two, Round-leaved Sundew and Common Butterwort, were numerous in their preferred habitats.
Other fascinating plant encounters include the nationally scarce and declining Oysterplant, which spreads itself out on only a few shingle beaches in Shetland. We were able to see it at its best. Also, one of our guests wished to see a particular plant, and because of our small group size we were able to spend time seeking out the enigmatically named Grass-of-Parnassus at a site we know; this also led us to a very special Otter encounter. In Shetland, sometimes you just don’t know what’s around the corner!
North Isles Nature Cruise with Simon King
Having worked very closely with Simon over the past few years, we were delighted to have him feature on our North Isles Nature Cruise to Muckle Flugga this summer. This was our fifth summer running these adventurous and exciting marine wildlife cruises on the modern Yell Sound ferries, and our third to Muckle Flugga. With well over 100 passengers on board, this very popular voyage once again all but sold out. Having such a high profile personality as Simon on board was a real privilege for us, and one that we were very proud to offer as part of our summer season programme.
Autumn birding holidays
This year we ran two of our popular Autumn Birding holidays, both led by identification guru Martin Garner. A full review of the two weeks will follow soon. To whet the appetite, amongst the many species seen were Grey-cheeked Thrush, Swainson’s Thrush, Pallid Harrier, Lesser Grey Shrike, Black-headed Bunting, Surf Scoter, Olive-backed Pipit, Isabelline Shrike, Citrine Wagtail, American Golden Plover, Dotterel and Pectoral Sandpiper, as well as the more ‘usual’ scarcities such as Yellow-browed Warbler, Common Rosefinch, Barred Warbler, Red-backed Shrike and Bluethroat.
Also, look out for our round-up of Shetland birding in autumn 2011 (from July to November) – coming very soon…
Media and journalist trips
Throughout the season, we were delighted to be asked to lead several media journalists and press trips on behalf of both Visit Scotland and local tourism promoters Promote Shetland. Each summer, we are commissioned to work on such trips and are proud to do so, as it illustrates how highly regarded we are by local and national tourism promoters and are trusted to provide the Shetland experience they want visiting journalists to enjoy. This year, we were also proud to welcome visiting journalists from the Sunday Times, Time Out (London) and the Montreal Gazette, amongst others.
Media publications and websites
We were pleased with our continued association with leaders in the birding media Birdwatching and Birdwatch magazines. Our ‘reader holidays’ were sell-out successes, and we very much look forward to our continued association and working relationship with these publications. We are also delighted with our ongoing close ties with leading bird information providers Birdguides and Rare Bird Alert, and look forward to continuing to work closely with them over the forthcoming years.
We were pleased to further our association with Outdoor Photography magazine and are running a competition with them, offering a three-day Otter Photography workshop (with full board accommodation in association with Saxa Vord) worth over £1150! The competition/entry date ends in early December, see October’s issue for full details.
Scotland Outdoors is another publication we were very pleased to be approached by recently. Brydon will be the subject of their ‘Outdoor people – Day in the life of’ feature, which will be on the shelves in early November.
And finally, a big thank you…
To all of our guests in 2011, without whom our holidays and day tours would not happen. We are most grateful for all the positive feedback received (see our Testimonials).
To our accommodation providers: Neil and the staff Saxa Vord on Unst, and Keith, Beccy and the staff at Spiggie Hotel in south mainland and Steve Sharon and Gabriella at the Baltasound Hotel in Unst.
To Jonathan, Alan and Robbie at ‘Seabirds and Seals’ and Tom and Cynthia at ‘Mousa Boat Trips’ for getting us to Noss and Mousa respectively, often in somewhat trying circumstances.
2012 holidays
We are a small, locally-based company, employing guides who live and work in Shetland all year round, and as a result can offer an intimate and personalised experience of the islands that we are proud to represent. Our small group size of six people on all our holidays is unrivalled by any other company. The advantages of this benefit the wildlife and you. In 2011 this allowed our guests to enjoy Shetland in their own way, whether this was sketching, finding Grass-of-Parnassus, or putting in time and succeeding to find Red-necked Phalaropes.
Find out about our 2012 range of Shetland Nature holidays.
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Otter Photography in Shetland 2010
Posted by Brydon Thomason on Saturday 18th December 2010 | News
As the final few days of 2010 draw to a close and as 2011’s calendar continues to fill in (already close to capacity for my Otter photography calendar) I thought it was a nice time to reflect on the past season, of both my own and more importantly my client’s Otter images.
I am pleased to say that my continued success rate remains and I have yet to have a single a day that a photographer has gone home disappointed! This year’s very busy season of photographers seeking to capture their own images of Shetlands wild Otters included some well-known names such as David Tipling, Peter Cairns, Mark Hamblin and Chris Gomersall (follow their links to read their testimonials).
As recommended most photographers chose two-three days (often more) which is certainly the most productive option; simply maximising the potential of photographic encounters and a better chance of hitting good light or weather conditions and more time to visit a variety of my favourite sites.
Throughout the season of Otter photography there were some early starts and some late finishes; some wild weather but also some wonderful- but there were always images to take away!
Here is a selection of some of my client’s images from this season;
These are some of my own images and favourites from this season;
And I am proud to recommend our wildlife photography clothing sponsors Stealth Gear, which I was wearing when taking all the images above.
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Another summer with Simon King
Posted by Brydon Thomason on Monday 16th August 2010 | News
Following the massively popular ‘Shetland Diaries’, Simon was once again in the Isles this summer. This year he has been commissioned by ‘Promote Shetland’ (Shetland’s official tourism promotions team) to put together a TV commercial. Once again we were delighted to be chosen by Simon to work with him throughout his ten-day trip in July.
It was particularly exciting to ‘fill in’ as his camera man for various shoots and indeed quite gratifying to see how useful our local knowledge and contacts were to help pull things together where ever and when ever it was needed.
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Summer Season
Posted by Brydon Thomason on Saturday 7th August 2010 | News
What a fantastic summer season we have had here in Shetland. Our ‘Wild Shetland Weekends’ and ‘Shetland Nature Experience’ holidays (which all sold out!) went wonderfully. There were many highlights throughout the summer. All our groups enjoyed multiple encounters with Shetland’s enchanting wild Otters – this really is a ‘Shetland Nature’ speciality and an area where our clients experience first-hand the difference between travelling with a small group of six as opposed to a ‘coach-tour’ group of twelve! But it was not just the Otters that enthralled this summer. We had many thrilling cetacean encounters too; Minke Whales, Basking Shark, Risso’s and White-sided Dolphins, Harbour Porpoises and last, but by no means least, Killer Whales were all seen by our groups. This was undoubtedly one of the best summers on record for Killer Whale sightings throughout the isles; with a combination of our local knowledge and contacts, the fact that all our guides are resident in Shetland and not just brought here for the summer, and of course an element of luck, we saw Killer Whales on all but two of our holidays! We also identified a new pod for Shetland’s waters, a very interesting find indeed – a more detailed news post on this will follow soon…
Amongst the other highlights were of course Shetland’s mouth-watering diversity of breeding birds and the northern specialities the islands harbour, such as Red-necked Phalarope, Red-throated Diver, Merlin, Arctic Skua and Great Skua, to name but a few, not to mention the seabird colonies and evocative nights with the Storm Petrels on Mousa. More news on the breeding season for Shetland’s seabirds to follow from our friends at the RSPB soon…
Birding highlights included some star-quality sightings. Amongst the rarities seen were Great Reed Warbler, Black Stork, White-tailed Sea-Eagle and Iberian Chiffchaff (the latter being the first ever Shetland record), whilst scarce migrants included Long-tailed Skua, Red-backed Shrike, Marsh Warbler and Golden Oriole. We also made some very exciting discoveries on the birding front, with Hoopoe, White-billed Diver, ‘Northern’ Eider and a fine drake Surf Scoter making national headlines! More on these stories on our ‘Birdwatching’ Reader Holiday posting…
Plants, by their nature, don’t fly or swim away, so it’s always lovely to catch up with them in stunning surroundings. The Shetland endemic Edmondson’s Chickweed has proved a star attraction, whilst orchids have included Fragrant, Frog, Heath Spotted, Early Purple and Northern Marsh. Several scarcities included Oysterplant, Arctic Sandwort, Northern Rock-cress, Wood Burdock and Moonwort. Mountain Hares also performed well, with all groups connecting with them; this species can be found later on in the season.
A big thanks must go to our hosts at the Orca Country Inn, Saxa Vord Resort and the Spiggie Hotel, for excellent company and cuisine after a full-on day in the field; savouring the best of food Shetland has to offer is a must. Much enjoyment came from the debates over cheesecakes!
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World-class encounters!
Posted by Brydon Thomason on Friday 7th May 2010 | Birding in Shetland, News, Sea Mammals in Shetland
What a fantastic day! After an extremely successful (and very enjoyable) three days of Otter Photography – 23 Otters on three Islands with a Dutch client (Wim Konninghurst) we decided to spend a day on Unst.
The day got off to a fantastic start with a pod of over 20 Risso’s Dolphins off the early morning ferry. The dolphins were spread widely across Bluemull Sound between Yell and Fetlar. This stretch of water is one of the best in the Isles for seeing these burly dolphins.
Although you cant quite make out much detail from my cropped record shots, Risso’s are characteristically covered in scars. With blunt- bow headed appearance and these often rather prominent markings, Risso’s can look quite coarse and rather rough looking and with this be very distinct, given decent views. They are often quite deep water predators, with squid being a favourite food source and cause of much of the scarring! Feeding dives can often last up to an impressive 15-20 minutes and Squid in the stomach contents of Risso’s have been found to measure an amazing 12 feet! Lets hope we manage to locate them during our Seamamal Search on the 29th of May!
Barely an hour later, on arrival to Burrafirth Shore Station at the North end of Unst (where the Scottish Natural Heritage reserve’s visitor centre is based) we found a Hoopoe, literally seconds after getting out of the car and kitted up! Quite increadable given that fellow members of the ‘Shetland Nature’ team Garry Bell and Rob Fray had been called out to identify a bird the previous day – which turned out to be a Hoopoe! Which incidentally is the one photographed, by Gary.
But the day was not yet done. Just as we were about to make our way down off the reserve, whilst sitting gazing out over the Atlantic Ocean, simply awe struck by the ‘seabird city’, my good mate Robbie Brooks rang to inform me he had just had a Sea Eagle heading North over his house. Trying not to expect too much more out of what had already been an incredible outing, I thought to myself ‘that could very probably head our way…’
I then also passed on the exciting news by calling the reserve warden Alister Wilson, who I knew was out on the reserve, not too far away.
Sure enough about an hour later we were alerted to the birds presence by the hundreds of Great Skuas which took to the air across the reserve as the bird drifted low over the moorland. A truly awesome sight indeed watching how this fantastic bird of prey simply dwarfed the swarming Skuas. Not wanting Alister to miss out I called him again literally minutes later it soared over his head, when he got this cracking shot- note the wing tag.
The bird was an immature which was first seen a few weeks earlier on Fair Isle and again by good friend and Shetland nature tour leader Roger Riddington soon after. It is one from a release program on the east coast of Scotland. This bird had a green wing tag on with a No.8 on and is known to be a one year old male. We later enjoyed yet another encounter with the bird during an evening visit to the reserve cliff tops.
Oh if only these masterful raptors would return to the Isles to breed some day…
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Sponsored by ‘Stealth Gear’
Posted by Brydon Thomason on Tuesday 20th April 2010 | News
A very exciting development for us, we are now sponsored by ‘Stealth Gear’. Stealth Gear is a relatively new brand of outdoor clothing, which is as they say themselves ’is designed by wildlife photographers for wildlife photographers’.
It is my reputation as a guide for wildlife photographers seeking to photograph Otters in Shetland that led me to review and wear the clothing, for which the gear is ideally suited. The clothing is designed for dedicated wildlife photographers spending a lot of time in the field and, as my experience so far proves, in all weathers!
Read more about Stealth Gear and my review at: http://www.stealth-gear.com/photographers/brydon-thomason.html
Being sposored by ‘Stealth Gear’ realy is a fantastic development for ‘Shetland Nature’ and especialy so for the Otter Photography trips I guide. The various camo garments I normally provide clients with are now being replaced by ‘Wlildlife photography clothing that has been designed by wildlife photographers’.
Read more about my Otter photography
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Simon Kings ‘Shetland Diaries’- The book arrives!
Posted by Brydon Thomason on Thursday 15th April 2010 | News
Brydon with Simon
As if Simon Kings Shetland Diaries was not enough of a joy to watch on screen (and it truly was), the book is an absolute must have! Whether you are a fan of Simon, Shetland or Natural History in general it is sure to entertain and enthrall. A signed complimentary copy from Simon arrived today!
Having worked closely with Simon and co throughout the making of the documentary, I truly did feel privaliged to be included in the series (read more about this) . It was indeed an extended privilege to be asked by Simon to provide photographs for his ’Shetland Diaries’ book, for which he chose six images; otter’s (of course), Orca, White-sided dolphin, Red-throated Diver and Guillemots. And to be amongst the few individuals to be given a special thanks in the opening paragraphs was an true honour to say the least.
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