We ummed and aahhhed about heading to Fetlar for the white crowned sparrow. Although we have seen one before this one is a slightly different race which means it might get split at some point. The weather was due to be bad so we spoke to inter Island ferry booking team yesterday to see if it was worth trying for. The lady booked us on the 9.15am from Toft to then get the 10.05 to Fetlar. She said there might be issues later in the day if the winds picked up but getting there mid morning would work and get us back before the wind picked up.
Or so we thought...
We got to Toft exactly 30 minutes before sailing to see the previous ferry just about to go. There was room to get us on but they ignored us and shut the gate. We weren't too worried until the 9.15am didn't turn up. We phoned bookings and they tried to say there were no bookings today even though they had given us a booking reference. It was just a turn up and go day. This meant we arrived at Gutcher to get the next ferry just in time to see it go. We spoke to the ferry staff who said the next one would go at 3.30 from Unst so off we went, thinking at least we would get a couple if hours in Fetlar.
We headed off to find the Pied Wheatear on Unst which would have been a bonus, but we couldn't find it. Lots of Redwings though and an amazing view from the Saxavord road.
We got back to the ferry at just before 3pm ( after a quick coffee in the cafe). The sign now said please phone for a message on the ferry service - which said no more return trips to Fetlar and all ferries stopping at around 6pm instead of 10pm. So we ended up sitting in the car for 2.5 hours waiting. We did manage to get on and back to mainland though. We were expecting it to be rough, but it wasn't. Serious case of left hand not having a clue what the right hand was doing. We think quite a few people have got stranded today due to last minute decision making.
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