Foggy day out and a grotfinch

 We had no guests checking in yesterday so made the most of it and headed out after breakfast. We had planned to go to Unst but the Pacific Diver wasn't there so we headed South going for the Little Stint at Boddam. We did of course have a visit from the Sovereign nation of Shetland who vehemently demanded we leave as we were trespassing. Of course we weren't. We were in a layby.

Hmm

We did see the stint.

And some knot and Dunlin.

We then headed down to Sumburgh and Grutness. There was a very distant common scoter.

And terns

Sumburgh head was thick fog. It was hard to spot anything

We then pottered about a bit.

And stopped at Sandness on the way home.

It ended up being a good day even with the fog.

Today, we said goodbye to some lovely guests, Christine and Matt from Pennsylvania, sad to see them go as they were such good company.

Jill did some gardening and played with the chickens.

Then we had some excitement. We found a common rosefinch in the garden sycamore. Aka grotfinch, which is a bit harsh admittedly.

We have had 4 new garden ticks this week. Fleeting views of red backed shrike, scaup on the loch and mute swan.

Phew lots of photos opportunities!