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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Sea-watching and other stuff - 18/08/09

Ospreys popped up a few times today, probably all the records relating to this one individual, which has been hanging around Båstad for a while now.

Up and about for dawn again, hoping for more seabird action. Tried a rather windy and almost spectacular Eskilstorpstrand for three hours first thing. The easy highlight was a superb male hen harrier going south through the surf and an osprey just overhead. Seabirds included a single dark Arctic skua, three kittiwakes and a single Arctic tern. A trickle of waders tested my mettle as they came fast along the strandline in front of me - grey plover (6), knot (4), redshank (3) and dunlin (4).

Moved on to Yttre Kattvik as they had seen more skuas (a great and a pomarine) in the early morning. Things quietened down sadly for the rest of the morning but the watch was not without interest. The raptor theme continued with a great male merlin (as I sat down) and a peregrine in-off later on. Wader passage still ongoing here with grey plover (2), golden plover (22), redshank (4), knot (3) and oystercatcher (61).

Took the kids out in the afternoon. Malen had a fly-over osprey and after the kids had a swim we went on to Klarningen. Here we had another (or the same?) osprey, a marsh harrier, ruff (3), greenshank (5), snipe (2), whinchat (6) and wheatear (2).

Driving home we bumped into the same family party of cranes as the other day at Ehrenstorp (photo and video below).

Another shot of one of the cranes currently using road-side fields at Ehrenstorp. I should get a better camera really... In the video below the plaintive cries are from Number 3 - it is not some previously undescribed juvenile crane call.

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