Påarp - sandbanks and rocks just offshore attract a variety of waders and other waterfowl. Today's highlight was the first brent goose of the year. They pass through in small numbers at this time of year and a few drop out. The bulk of the brent migration seems to go round the south end of Sweden and into the Baltic.A day out with the family took us north to Trönninge ängar where I had hoped to finally year-tick garganey. No joy again, although two excellent spotted redshank made up for the journey off-patch. We did not spend long here though (hides feel claustrophobic these days) before moving on to have lunch at nearby Påarp. Plenty of good birds here with brent goose (1, year-tick), knot (1), dunlin (2), bar-tailed godwit (1) and a singing rock pipit. Also at least 100 common scoter offshore amongst the eider.
Got home to discover that the redstarts next door had hatched and the 'parents' were busy feeding young. You may recall that our male redstart died, hitting one of our windows in May. After that we heard no more song but it was obvious pretty quickly that the female was still incubating and later that a male was still present in the territory. Did she somehow enlist help from another male? We have seen a few extra-pair matings in the garden this spring by different species, was this male lurking in the background? Some of the chicks could be his I guess if so. In the garden nestboxes I think we have two female pied flycatchers nesting but I am not sure yet if this is right, they are still incubating and hard to keep track of.
No comments:
Post a Comment