You may remember, dear reader, back in the summer I shared my scribblings about visiting Shetland during the warmer months—and if you care to think back even further, I wrote about heading there for one of the fire festivals, back in February.

Well, for my final postcard from these wonderful isles, it can only be about the magic of migration in the autumn. As you’ll remember, Shetland is my favourite place, and every October I make the long journey north in search of rare, lost waifs, blown in from all points of the compass.

My very first visit to Shetland was in late September 2017. It was windy and virtually ‘unbirdable’ for about 70% of our two-week stay. Yet, I was instantly hooked. Despite the weather, we still saw an American Buff-bellied Pipit, found Parrot Crossbills and Red-breasted Flycatchers from northern Europe, Olive-backed Pipits and Yellow-browed Warblers from Asia—and I saw three new species I’d never seen before. And, of course, we saw several Otters too!