Sea-watching - 24/11/09

White-chinned petrel - not off Yttre Kattvik today. Regular from boats in Walvis Bay (Namibia).

Headed out for the last hour of the day for a quick look at the sea. Winds light westerly and a few bits and pieces reported further north so worth a go. En route had a nice male hen harrier over the road at Hov. Spent an hour at Yttre Kattvik for red-throated diver (3), red-necked grebe (1), kittiwake (3) and guillemot (7). Pretty quiet really.

Birding with the kids - 23/11/09

Well the weather continues to be grey and drizzly, so rather than submit the kids to a long walk anywhere, I drove 40 minutes to Höganäs and coshed off the 1K barred warbler. The bird was easy to find but harder to keep track of. It appeared at our feet on arrival and then drifted off slowly. If you are twitching with kids though that is the way you want it! We spent just 20 minutes here, also seeing little grebe (1) and coot (10). A November red-footed falcon and now a barred warbler, what next? Perhaps we might just get some real winter weather instead.

Next stop was Farhult for a quick half hour scan whilst the kids played on the beach. Hardly any wader habitat here due to high water levels, so it was mostly offshore. Highlights included black-throated diver (2), Slavonian grebe (5), red-necked grebe (1) and shelduck (4). The latter are probably birds returning north due to the warm weather!

The bridge at Sandön has taken a battering in storms this autumn!

Last birding stop of the day was Sandön. Five oystercatcher were the highlight here, this species is sporadic here in winter, but Sandön is a good place to score. Two white-tailed eagles sat atop Rönnen and that was our lot.

Dreary, dreary me

Another grey, wet day. Nipped out for a couple of hours with the family. Spent 40 minutes looking out to sea from Yttre Kattvik from the car. Quiet busy considering the lack of favourable winds; red-throated diver (9), great crested grebe (7), red-necked grebe (1), guillemot (8) and razorbill (2).

Stopped off at Klarningen on the way home for a very quick look. Single rough-legged buzzard hunting the site as usual. A large flock of lapwing (140) included 25 golden plover and one starling.

Wagtail update

Terry (Birding Copenhagen) has just pointed out to me that Klaus Malling Olsen has posted this regarding the putative citrine wagtail at Lomma that I saw on the 14th. I wish I had trusted my doubts at the time... Oh well.

Birding - 21/11/09

Secretarybird - nice legs.

Game of two halves today, with a morning out with the kids at Torekov and then a last hour dash out to Öllövstrand with the entire family.

Torekov rev was busy this morning with at least eight purple sandpipers feeding avidly and hard to count (other observers with fewer children counted up to 12 during the day). One was orange leg-flagged, but I could not read the code, ringed this autumn in Sørkappøya, Svalbard! Also here dunlin (2) and redshank (10). The recent storm has replenished the weed on the beach and a big flock of pipits was making use of it when we arrived. Just had time to find a single water pipit, before a 1K sparrowhawk dived in and it all went to hell. We are in weird limbo at the moment, the weather is so mild that none of the normal wintering birds are here in any numbers, but the autumn stuff is long gone. This water pipit is only the second or third of the season on the patch. Offshore a few seaduck were noted; long-tailed duck (1), velvet scoter (1) and common scoter (2). The woods produced nine flighty crossbills.

Washed windows in the afternoon and was rewarded with four hawfinch over the garden.

The last gasp afternoon session at Öllövstrand was fairly quiet. A fantastic male hen harrier stole the show right at the start. The only other birds of note were three golden plover over north.

Coast to coast - twitching again

Under the thinly veiled disguise of visiting Mrs B's Aunt and Uncle in Kristianstad, we all went twitching again today. The location was a larch plantation on the east coast of Sweden, near Landön, close to Kristianstad. The target a 1K male two-barred crossbill that has been present for some time.

After crossing Sweden (105 minutes) we found ourselves at the site and spotted a few birders loafing about. It quickly became apparent that a large flock of common crossbills was feeding here, so we all tramped into the middle of the plantation. Pretty soon we were eyeball to eyeball with a gang of common's, in amongst them goldcrests, blue tits and red squirrels. A real feeding frenzy. Occasionally and rather excitingly, in amongst the racket made by the common's, you could hear the 'toy trumpet' call of a two-barred close by. It did not take long before it flew up into a nearby pine to deal with a larch cone and we all got great views. I will not torture you with another of my appalling photos, check this one out instead (whoopsie, that reads wrong, it's a good photo Magnus). Job done, time for grilled sausages by the sea and then the short drive to the see the relations.

As well as being a Swedish tick, I think this may have been only my second ever two-barred crossbill. Pretty exciting stuff.

Birding - 19/11/09

Another quiet day, mostly spent stacking wood. Took the kids out in the afternoon. Tried a windy walk at Eskilstorpstrand for an hour but saw very little. Spent the last bit of light at Klarningen where at least we saw some birds. The hen harrier (ringtail) was hunting when we arrived. A large flock of 100 lapwing was nice but better was a huge flock of 53 goldfinch.

Raining - 18/11/09

Dry sand (makes me feel better just looking at it).

OMG it will not stop raining today and the wind has picked up during the evening. Got a half hour walk in, in the morning. Hoping for hawfinch around the village but had to make do with redwing (6). After lunch nipped out to Ranarpstrand for a while, but only lasted half an hour in the driving rain. Nothing doing there.

Odonata - Namibia

Managed to record 18 species of dragonflies on the recent trip to Namibia, including several new species for the trip. Best of the new stuff was Pseudagrion massaicum (common at von Bach Dam this year) and Zygonyx torridus (two at von Bach Dam). Who knows what I could have found at von Bach if I had not been attacked by wasps whilst trying to catch the latter species!

Orthetrum trinacria (Etosha) - a dragonfly specialist, chomping on a hapless Diplacodes lefebvrii at Namutoni.

Ceriagrion glabrum - Mokuti Lodge (Etosha).

Pseudagrion massaicum - a tick for me at von Bach Dam this year.

The widespread Urothemis edwardsii at von Bach Dam.

Rhyothemis semihyalina - seen at three locations this year.

Birding - 17/11/09

A peacock 'basking' in the garden at noon was a bit of a surprise, the weather continues grey, although a weak sun tried a few times to make an appearance today.

After a trip to Ängelholm in the afternoon, we all hit Rönnen for the last hour of the day. A scan of the sea resulted in Slavonian grebe (2), long-tailed duck (2) and velvet scoter (2). The island seemed pretty quiet, the gyr is overdue to arrive, but things seem loathe to come south this autumn. Very few waxwings recorded yet, for example. The distant rocks off Sandön (Själrönnen) hosted a resting white-tailed eagle and that was our lot.