Posted by Brydon Thomason on Saturday 30th January 2010 | Birding in Shetland, News

(From left) Brydon Thomason, Roger Ridington, Fiona Barclay (Birdguides), Mike Weedon (Birdwatching Magaziene) Martin Garner and Dominic Mitchell (Birdwatch Magaziene) minutes after identifying Britains third ever Taiga Flycatcher - the smiles say it all!

The birds were far from the only focus, we took time out to show the team our other speciality with some gripping otter watching...

In a bid to introduce some of the leading names from the nations Birding media to Shetlands legendary autumn migration, we put together a thrilling long weekend birding trip, with the vision being to showcase our innovative 2010 Autumn Birding holidays.

Lead by Brydon Thomason, Roger Ridington and Martin Garner, the top team of publicists (consisting of Fiona Barclay of Birdguides, Dominic Mitchell of Birdwatch and Mike Weedon of Birdwatching magazine) new that they could not have wished for better hosts as they each made their Island autumn debut.

Taiga Flycatcher

The weekend excelled beyond all our expectations and simply could not have been scripted better. With the incredible discovery of a Taiga flycatcher, (a third for Britain!!) by the team, the whole ethos of what our birding trips are about and much of our key aims and objectives were wonderfully illustrated; team work, sharing knowledge, inspiring others and the thrill of finding, identifying and enjoying your own ‘rares’ in a remote and crowdless environment.