…we joined up with a guided bird watching tour near the center of Shetland’s biggest town Lerwick. This week, Shetland is experiencing its very first, and hopefully not the last, Nature Festival week and has activities centered on geology, botany and wildlife all over the islands.

Photo: Birdwatching walk through the town of Lerwick

Not only was it an interesting walk through the conservation area of Lerwick (the older part of town) but the three hour walk provided us with 25 different birds to be seen. Of these, the Arctic Tern (Arktis Tärna), Common Tern (vanlig Tärna), Arctic Skua (Fjälllab), Shag (Storskav), Herring Gull (Fiskmås), House Sparrow (Gråsparv) and Hooded Crow (Kråka) were the ones we recognized from northern Sweden. Surprisingly, birders in Great Britain have noticed a decrease in the House Sparrow population as we have observed in Sweden these last years.

Photo: New membership in the RSPB meant receiving a book and other material

The tour was so fun and our warden guides, Dennis, Lewis and Ewan, were so knowledgeable that I just had to become a member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). Interestingly, membership dues were open. New members could decide themselves how much they could afford for annual fees rather than the RSPB had set membership dues! An interesting idea for Swedish organizations?

Other images from today and yesterday…

Photo: The new Shetland Museum in Lerwick

Photo: Traditional harbor house in Lerwick’s conservation area
Photo: Cruise ship The Marco Polo visits Lerwick, Shetland

PS- We’ve become dogsitters for our landlady the next two weeks. Please greet Pele and Fiffi…