Leaders	Craig Round & Tim Drew
Flights	Flybe, scheduled Outbound: Afternoon, Aberdeen-Sumburgh Inbound: Afternoon, Kirkwall-Aberdeen

Day 1	Fly into Sumburgh and drive to our hotel 5 nights at Herrislea House Hotel
Days 2-5	Birdwatching and wildlife exploration of Fetlar, Unst and Mainland, including night visit to Mousa
Day 6	Take Ferry to Orkney, with wildlife watching enroute 4 nights at the Merkister Hotel
Days 7-9	Wildlife and archaeological exploration of Orkney
Day 10	After a morning’s birding, catch flight from Kirkwall to Aberdeen

Walking	Easy walking with one 5 mile walk on hard tracks. Walking boots essential
Weather	Cool to warm, usually windy with the chance of rain (10°-20°C)
Insects	Biting insects are not a problem
Meals	All included from dinner on Day 1 to breakfast on Day 10
Accom	Herrislea Hotel, Shetland Merkister Hotel, Orkney Double, twin and single rooms all ensuite
Boats	Our Noss boat trip is 3 hours long. Our evening boat trip to Mousa is a short 15 mins crossing, but has a rocky, uneven landing. We also take some short inter-island ferries
Group	10 - each group 5 guests and 1 guide

Just 6° south of the Arctic Circle, far northern isles and incredible archaeological sites, with spectacular seabird colonies, Storm Petrels and Red-necked Phalaropes.

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48uep6bbphidval|SHETANDORK

	*   Two island groups at the 'Simmer Dim' when the sun barely sets
	*   Easy flight to Shetland rather than the 14-hour ferry
	*   Mousa's Storm Petrels, Fetlar's Red-necked Phalaropes
	*   The spectacular seabird cities of Hermaness, Noss and Sumburgh
	*   Maes Howe, Skara Brae, Ring of Brodgar and Stenness
	*   Otters and offshore whales and dolphins
	*   Regular rarities and summering scarce breeders

Day 1	We fly into Shetland and drive to our hotel. At this time of year it will still be daylight when we arrive.
Days 2-5	Fetlar, meaning ‘the island of the fat land’ in old Norse, is famous for the rare and confiding Red-necked Phalarope and on Loch Funzie these incredible arctic breeding waders can be found delicately spinning on the lochs surface, picking insects from the waterside stones. The tundra-like serpentine heath on the island supports outstanding numbers of breeding waders including Whimbrel, Dunlin and Ringed and Golden Plover and also breeding Arctic and Great Skua. Red-throated Divers will have young and we’ll hear their weird courtship wailing from freshwater lochans. Shetland’s coastline and harbours are favourite haunts of Otters and from inter-island ferries we’ll see synchronised diving Gannets, Puffins escaping marauding Great and Arctic Skuas, Arctic Terns and streams of flying Puffin, Razorbill and Guillemot, commuting to and from their colonies to feed. On Mainland at Tresta Voe, Loch of Spiggie and Loch of Hillwell we’ll see Rock Dove and Raven, Wheatear and Twite. In recent years we’ve found occasional rarities such as Paddyfield Warbler, singing Marsh Warbler, Rose-coloured Starling, Hobby and Osprey and seen Lesser Grey Shrike, Blyth’s Reed Warbler, Nightjar and Black-headed Bunting, Black Kite, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Red-throated Pipit and Surf Scoter. Great Northern Diver, Long-tailed Duck and King Eider all regularly over-summer and Whooper Swan breed in small numbers. At Sumburgh Head we’ll get up close with Puffins and keep a sharp eye out for cetaceans. In previous years we’ve seen White-beaked and White-sided Dolphins, Harbour Porpoise and watched Humpback, Minke and predatory Killer Whales! On our boat trip out around the island of Noss, we’ll cruise right in under the incredible sheer seabird cliffs of the Noup, rising some 590ft above us, the largest cliffs on Shetland’s east coast and home to almost 9,000 pairs of Gannet! Sheer seabird heaven! We’ll also visit the island of Unst and walk out through dive-bombing colonies of Great Skuas, called ‘Bonxies’ in Shetland, meaning bad tempered person! Here we’ll take in the breathtaking spectacle of more than 100,000 breeding seabirds, with vast throngs of noisy Gannet, Gulliemot, Razorbill, Kittiwake, Fulmar and Shag. The dramatic cliff top scenery and stunning views out to Muckle Flugga lighthouse and Out Stack are simply out of this world at this, the most Northerly point in Britain! Finally, no trip to Shetland would be complete without a trip out in the ‘Simmer Dim‘ of a Shetland night, to the island of Mousa, where inside the walls and stonework of the 2,000 year old iron age Broch, we are enveloped in silence, until the magical rhythmic ‘churring’ of tiny Storm Petrels amongst the stones brings it alive, as hundreds of these tiny ocean-going birds arrive from the sea in the gathering darkness.
Days 6-9	Early evening we take the eight hour ferry to Orkney - alert for Storm Petrel, Manx Shearwater, skuas, Minke Whales and dolphins - sailing south by North Ronaldsay, Stronsay, Shapinsay, Copinsay and finally into Mainland. The softer landscape has broad coastal vistas and we’ll see many Brown Hares in the pastures, with Hen Harrier and Short-eared Owl quartering the moors and meadows. The sounds of Reed Bunting and Sedge Warbler fill the air and a few elusive Corncrake sometimes occur. The seabird cliffs of Marwick Head are a delight and Skara Brae in the dunes is an absolute must - an entire prehistoric settlement with rooms and passages, beds, dressers and pottery, all exposed by a storm some 5000 years after it was built! The Standing Stones of Stenness have one stone over five metres high and the Ring of Brodgar, where 27 of a circle of 60 stones still stand, is impressive, but it’s the walled, roofed chambers of magnificent Maes Howe that steal the show, along with the Tomb of the Eagles, where you can see and handle neolithic artefacts.
Day 10	After a morning’s birding and a visit to Kirkwall, we catch our flight to Aberdeen where we say our farewells.

Just some of what we hope to see..

Red-necked Phalarope	Arctic Skua	Twite
Whimbrel	Gannet	Otter
Storm Petrel	Puffin	Minke Whale
Red-throated Diver	Black Guillemot	Killer Whale
Great Northern Diver	Common Tern	Merlin
Long-tailed Duck	Arctic Tern	Peregrine
Whooper Swan	Dunlin	Shetland Wren
Hen Harrier	Golden Plover	Harbour Porpoise
Short-eared Owl	Rock Dove	Harbour Seal
Great Skua	Raven	Grey Seal