Tuesday
25th
October Strong S-SW Occasional Showers
Early morning singing
session, to take my mind off the ever-rocking Good Shepherd as she
sails away from Fair Isle, starts the day.
Goodbye to Lee Gregory at
the Quay. I will miss this wonderful birder and friend. It has been fabulous to be in his company these last few weeks.
The sea swell is I suppose
normal yet enough to cause some white knuckle moments as I cling on
and sing.
A single little auk passes
the boat but I can’t count it on the year list; carbon transport
involved. A sooty shearwater does likewise and I wake Nina, a
volunteer from the Fair Isle Bird Observatory who is heading home and
sleeping in a corner of the deck. I am sure she would to see such a
great bird.
Grutness, goodbye to
Shaun, Deryk, Kenny and Ian and many thanks. A great crossing, it is
always such an adventure and with me a complete lottery over whether
I will chuck up or not.
This time I didn’t.
I feel tired and sleep for
a few hours! The day goes by with me oblivious to the harbour
activities and when I wake up the quay is empty, The Good Shepherd
has returned to Paradise.
My evening is spent in
great company. Into the superb Sumburgh Hotel for a meal, my first
cider is a gift from the proprietor, hence a donation to the
charities.
Steve Minton, a local
birder from Scatness arrives. He only be described as an Alexei Sayle
character, not the subtlest bloke I have ever met! His birding
credentials are exemplary and as for his garden list, is there a
garden in Britain that has a bird list of 201? If there is one
somewhere I would love to know about it.
Richard Bonser arrives
with Stef McAlway (sorry Stef if my spelling is off a bit!) and Juan
Brown arrive and the stories of birding binges lift the laughter to
the rafters. Birds seen, escapades and near drownings; birders like
this should have an outlet where the stories can be collated and
enjoyed by all.
Wednesday
26th
October Strong SW Occasional Heavy Showers
Three
aims to the day; get to Lerwick as soon as possible to find a tick
the Coue's arctic redpolls there. Then get the repairs required for
my bike done and finally get the ferry to Kirkwall, Orkney.
Heavy
rain and a strong south-westerly, which is mostly coming from behind
me, makes for a reasonable cycle despite the lack of gears. Oh for
that moment when with bike fixed I ride with a full set of gears
again.
The
views along the main road north alternate between moody magnificence
when showers hit and brilliant beauty when the sun shone brightly.
A
proper Shetland downpour when I reach Lerwick, I take shelter at a
bus stop and chat with a lovely old couple wo wave when they get onto
their bus eventually.
The
rain slows and find the cemetry where a flock of redpolls has
lessers, mealies and two Coue's.
Half
an hour later, Coue's arctic redpoll goes onto the year list,
310 – the crossbar goes higher.
Into
Leriwck centre and in through the entrance of the fantastic Shetland
Community Bike Project. Incredibly to me they manage to repair all of
the things required, front and back brakes, front tyre and inners.
All completed in time for me to get to the ferry to Kirkwall, Orkney.
http://shetlandlinkup.org/page16.html
Maybe
having a meal before getting on the boat wasn't such a good idea. I
saw it all a couple of hours later as the end of Finding Dory (isn't she cute as a baby fish!?) was
approaching and the ship was rocking violently in the large swell
south of Sumburgh Head.
I lie
down between seats in the ship's cinema and try to sleep.
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