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Friday, April 1, 2011

Misty morning

Woke up to find the garden shrouded in mist, at least 12 siskins in amongst the chaffinch and one bramblin gtoo. Things had dropped out in the night. Drove over the top to Klarningen, picking up small numbers of redwing in amongst the other thrushes. Also here the occasional brambling in large flocks of chaffinch. Spring migration seems to involve lengthy stop-overs with us this year for a number of species. Yesterday there were a staggering 7,200 cranes at one site in southern Skåne!

Klarningen was bitterly cold again in a bracing westerly. Little new to report although a green sandpiper was good to see, numbers of everything else remained stable. After yesterday's glut of gadwall at Ranarpsstrand I had hoped some might be present here but no joy. A quick look at Eskilstorpsstrand was quiet, although eider are starting to get antsy and flying around the bay. Many eventually fly overland to the Baltic coast and I guess north from there.

Petersberg had defrosted and produced two fabulous pairs of red-necked grebes. They still seem an exotic breeding species to me, even after four years. I was surprised to flush a snipe from under a birch tree here. A grey wagtail flew downriver as I left. Sad to think the whole site is scheduled to be bull-dozed soon.

In the afternoon the team headed for Farhult, picking up two cranes at Ängeltofta and a rough-legged buzzard at Södra Utmarken. Farhult was very windy but I finally managed to catch up with the bar-tailed godwit that has been haunting the area since last month. Redshank are finally arriving in numbers (nine here) and we also had dunlin (2) and avocet (14). The reeds were thrashing about but occasionally I could hear bearded tits, they must have been on the ground!

Last stop was Sandön where we had two gadwall, 14 avocet, a redshank and some annoying fishermen.

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