It’s very difficult to pick a favourite place in Scotland; every area has its own unique charm and character, and all have superb wildlife, however the Shetland Archipelago is a standout destination and our time there this summer proved exactly why!

Over three weeks in June and July we ran two private tours to these fabulous islands. Early summer is a prime time to visit the Shetlands as all the summer wildlife is back and breeding. With 20 hours of daylight each and every day we have a lot of time to play with, and thanks to the generosity of good friends on Shetland who are trained ringers we have been able to see a number of species much closer than normal.

On Shetland many of the waders such as this Common Snipe perch on fence posts!

The islands are a mecca for seabirds and we enjoyed many fabulous encounters with Puffins, Gannets, Guillemots and Razorbills, Kittiwakes and Arctic Terns. Mousa, off the east coast, is the icing on the cake when it come to seabirds. A stunning Iron Age broch (fortified dwelling) remains intact on the island and is now home to over 500 pairs of European Storm-petrels (with over 10,000 pairs on the island as a whole). A visit at dusk allowed us to witness their arrival back on to the island having been foraging far offshore during the day. Their churrs and hiccups eminate from the cavities, nooks and crannies of the stone broch and create and almost ethereal experience, all to the back-drop of the simmer dim, the soft glow of light from the north.

A Common Guillemot at Noss, just one of thousands of seabirds encountered

Elsewhere around the islands we enjoy many northern breeding species including Red-throated Divers, Whooper Swans, Golden Plovers, Snipe and Curlew all of which are widespread and even common breeding species up here. The wader highlight is the diminutive but charismatic Red-necked Phalarope with its almost clockwork toy like movement and subtle but attractive colouration. Common and Grey Seals are frequent along the coast and careful scanning also produced Harbour Porposies, Minke Whales and White-beaked Dolphins, and we even managed a distant encounter with a pod of Orca. For many, the main target of a visit to the Shetlands are Otters and on one of our tours we spent a considerable amount of time focused on finding and enjoying these fabulous mammals. Our search culminated in a simply phenomenal encounter with a mother and two cubs that came ashore just 3m from us and proceeded to check us out having scent-marked a rock.

A mother and two Otter kits close in along the shore

Th archipelago is home to more than just birds and mammals and we enjoyed exploring the unique habitats of the Keen of Hamar, a serpentine-rich fellfield where several unique plants grow, as well as the tundra-like area of Ronas Hill, Shetlands highest peak. This summer we were also privelaged to join local ringer Phil Harris, who also runs the award-winning Shetland Seabird Tours (we head out with these guys for a truly sensational Gannet experience). Phil gave us a ringing demonstration unlike any we had previously seen taking us to both Merlin and Sparrowhawk nests where we were able to see the chicks up close as they were ringed.