GALLERY: Blackburnian warbler appears on Shetland Mainland for the first time on record

Blackburnian warbler at Geosetter, South Mainland yesterday. Photo: John Lowrie Irvine

A Blackburnian warbler has been found in Shetland for the second time on record and the fifth time in the UK. 

This is the first time the small New World warbler has appeared on Shetland Mainland after a young male was discovered at Geosetter on Tuesday morning by William Carter.

The only other record of the species in the isles was in Fair Isle in 1988.

Blackburnian warblers breed in eastern North America from southern Canada, westwards to the southern Canadian Prairies, the Great Lakes region and New England, to North Carolina.

These warblers are migratory, normally wintering in southern Central America and South America, with the very occasional migrant travelling to western Europe.

The last time the warbler was spotted in the UK was in October last year in Bryher, one of the Isles of Scilly.