Red-necked Phalarope

The Red-necked Phalarope is one of the UK's rarest breeding waders and is on the southern-most edge of its range here. It has always been mainly confined to the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland.

The Government agreed a Biodiversity Action Plan for this species in 1998. The targets for this plan have recently been reviewed and aim to maintain and expand the Red-necked Phalarope as a breeding species at existing sites and to enable range expansion to a number of previously occupied sites.

Fetlar holds 90% of the UK breeding population and this bird was photographed at the RSPB's reserve at the Loch Of Funzie.

This photo won first prize in the Rural Gateway's "Going Wild in Rural Scotland" photography competition. More information can be found here on the Rural Gateway website.

Date: 2nd June 2008

Location: Loch of Funzie, Fetlar, Shetland