Also known as the Shetland Islands, it is the most northerly point of the UK. Shetland sits on a longitude 01ºW of Greenwich and latitude 60ºN and is just 400 miles south of the Arctic Circle. This is as far north as St Petersburg in Russia, or Anchorage in Alaska. Lying roughly 104 miles from the Scottish mainland, this subarctic archipelago comprises of around 100 islands and islets.
Having already talked about Otters above, I’ll let the photos below speak for themselves, but I consider myself extremely fortunate to have watched them play fighting, fishing for crabs and octopus (!), grooming and tending to the fur, and sleeping…
In some locations near the Otters we came across Oystercatchers (I saw these ‘flying car alarms’ all over the place on Shetland) as well as Arctic Skuas; known as the pirates of the seabird world for their kleptoparasitic nature as they rob other birds (primarily gulls and terns) for their catches.
John and I also had a day trip to Fetlar planned. The name Fetlar means 'the island of the fat land' in Old Norse due to fertile soil, and as such is known as the ‘Garden of Shetland’. Nowadays the island is famous for one of Britain’s rarest breeding birds; the Red Necked Phalarope. The RSPB have a site here at the Loch of Funzie, and most sightings of these little birds are from here. As they’re one of the rarest UK breeding birds, they’re listed under Schedule 1 of The Wildlife and Countryside Act, and therefore against the law to view them at their nesting grounds without a licence. Known locally as “peerie deuck” which means ‘small duck’, every summer they come to fresh water lochs on Shetland to breed. If you’re lucky you’re able to find these confiding birds as they feed along the shores of the Loch of Funzie from the roadside.
The island proved to be a great place to find Snipe, Skylark, and Wheatear perched on fence posts on the roadside, as well as a large group of Great Skuas which bathe in Papil Water.
Equally heading out towards Whiteness you come across a viewpoint overlooking Whiteness and the Westings Inn, made famous by the 5th series of the BBC crime drama called Shetland, in which the Inn is renamed to the MacBay Hotel.
We enjoyed our boat trip via Shetland Seabird Tours at the beginning of our trip so much we decided to go again in our second week. With me having an emphasis on photography I suggested we do one of their ‘early bird’ trips which leaves Lerwick harbour at 5.30am, and back in time for breakfast at 8.30am. Due to a less than favourable weather forecast for the day in question we once again postponed the trip to our last full day on Shetland. Now, this may seem unfortunate, but it was actually a real stroke of luck. Favouring sleep over an early start, we also moved our trip to the next available tour in the afternoon. This, again, was another stroke of luck. After Phil gave us the safety briefing we boarded the boat and he gave us an exciting piece of news; Orcas had been sighted 20 minutes away. It was a unanimous decision to divert the trip to look for these Orcas rather than make our way along the south coast of Bressay and on to Noss, and one I’m extremely glad we did. After about 30 minutes into the trip, heading north along the east coast of the mainland, we’d seen nothing but the occasional Great Skua flying alongside the boat. I was beginning to think we’d missed them. Fast forward another 10 minutes and Phil had slowed the boat down at the ferry crossing to Whalsay. All eyes were on the lookout for a black dorsal fin.
All of a sudden, my partner tapped me on my shoulder (rather hit my shoulder in excitement!) - three Orcas were about 100 metres away! What followed was a childhood dream come true.
They circled the area and, while I was looking through my lens, I noticed a seal (I think Common Seal) head bob up. Calling out to the rest of the boat to let them know, we knew it wasn’t in a good place. No sooner had I called ‘seal’ then the tail of one of the Orcas smashed through the surface of the water into the poor seal. We couldn’t see the hunt as it took place underwater, but when seabirds like gulls and terns started to hover and dive to get scraps we knew they’d been successful. This kept the Orcas, now estimated to be either 6 or 7 individuals, in the area for around 30 minutes. It was an incredible sight! As if that wasn’t spectacular enough, when they had finished feeding they appeared to make a move up the coast…
We thought that was them heading off away from the area, but amazingly a couple of them started to breach in front of us! I couldn’t believe it. Luck really was on our side. From an age of around 4 or 5 years old I remember watching the Trials of Life BBC documentary series, narrated by David Attenborough. I was particularly captivated by the episode which showed Orcas deliberately beaching themselves to catch Sea Lions at Peninsula Valdes in Argentina. I’ve been hooked on Orcas ever since with a dream to see them in the wild. Never would I have expected to have had that opportunity in the UK.
Once the Orcas had moved off we made our way back to Noss to return to original part of the trip. Despite us being with the whales for a long period of time, Phil made sure we visited Noss and the rest of what you would normally do on his boat trip. This was above and beyond, especially considering the trip lasted a lot longer than usual. I highly recommend using them for any boat trips to Noss.
So, having seen Orcas on our last full day in Shetland, we came to our last part-day, leaving at 7pm on the ferry. There was something I’d hoped to experience while visiting this time around and, unfortunately, weather conditions (whether strong winds and/or fog/mist) had prevented me from doing so. Through social media I’d become aware that Rebecca Nason, co-owner of Shetland Seabird Tours alongside Phil, had a hide for viewing Red Throated Divers on a small fresh water loch on the mainland. As with the Phalaropes, these birds are very sensitive to disturbance and as such are protected by law and listed as a Schedule 1 species by Scottish Natural Heritage. Rebecca as a licence to set up this hide and allow the likes of me to come along and photograph them. The pair that breed here, I was told, have been particularly successful in breeding, having managed to raise chicks for a number of years, which is great news.
Once we’d checked out of Hillside Brae we went up to the loch. My partner, ever tolerant and understanding, left me to go and watch these birds from the hide for a few hours. In that time, I was lucky to watch the Divers tend to their chick and preen. It was a fantastic experience and a great way to end the trip.
This trip to Shetland can be summarised as going from one amazing encounter to another. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog and with any luck I’ve provided some insight into the islands and what it’s like to visit. More images from my time there can be found in the gallery pages under ‘Britain’ and ‘Shetland’.