kingfisher

Checked Ranarpsstrand for an hour in the afternoon and found some good birds; kingfisher (1) was nice and we also had jack snipe (1) and skylark (1). Two starlings south were my first for a while and there was a reed bunting briefly too.

Swedish tick!

Christmas came late this year - glaucous gull at Torekov, an addition to my Swedish list and therefore a most welcome BK bird.

News of a glaucous gull yesterday on Hallands Väderö sent me out the door with some optimism this morning. I searched the coast between Torekov rev and Norra Ängalag before getting an SMS that Rolf had found it feeding on a dead porpoise just north of Torekov sewage works. Sure enough there it was on arrival and it posed well as it snacked on cetacean flesh. Superb!

Other highlights were few, there seems to have been a slight influx of goosander, whooper swans are still passing, the rev had two goldcrest and offshore Vinga held a pair of resting peregrines.

Christmas birds count (20141225)

With Christmas wrapped up on Christmas Eve in the proper Swedish way there was some time for birding today under a blue sky and sub-zero temperatures (at last!). We walked the coast between Burensvik and Påarps mal. The easy highlight was the American black duck drake that was loafing off Dagshög and it then drifted north alongside me to Påarps mal. I still have not seen it close enough to photograph but it looks like it might stay into the New Year. Finger crossed.

Other highlights were snipe (1, Dagshög), goldfinch (2, Dagshög) and dunnock (1, Påarps mal).

wet seawatch

Had an hour-and-a-half at Yttre Kattvik with the kids this morning as we kicked off the Christmas break with a parade of kittiwakes (39). Plenty of red-throated divers too (45) going past, as well as a 20+ gannet. Offshore and resting were some south-bound whooper swans (28) and a couple fo Slavonian grebes.

grey day

An hour at Båstad late in the day produced no seabirds but got nice close views of long-tailed duck - here a male.

 A female.

Managed to get out for a couple of hours in the afternoon, after a busy morning watching the kids show off their equestrian skills. Båstad was rather quiet and grey but I got close to some long-tailed duck (3) in the harbour. Afterwards checked out Petersberg quickly in the rain for two little grebe - only my fourth record this year in BK.

Common or harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) have started pulling themselves out on the rocks at Båstad. They do this all round the coast but usually in more peaceful locations.

Postcard from Honduras

Brilliant blue-skipper (Paches loxus)  - I had just one afternoon of warmer, almost sunny, weather during the week on a day trip to Lancetilla -  an hour west of Pico Bonito. Butterflies and dragonflies responded and I saw a lot of new things including this little stunner.

I had a week in Honduras at the end of November, staying at The Lodge at Pico Bonito, which was excellent despite the non-stop rain (just my luck to be hit by a weather-bomb during my stay). The weather made frogging rather good but put a definite dampener on invertebrate activity and prevented me seeing many of the birds I had hoped to track down during the week. That said the place is amazing and if you have a week to spare and you fancy Honduras, this is the place to get to know the country and its wildlife. Great guides, accommodation and food.

 We visited the nearby Rio Santiago Nature Resort on two days. They have an incredible number of hummingbird feeders here and we had nine species of hummer including plenty of fantastic violet-crowned woodnymphs.

Another hummingbird easily spotted at Rio Santiago was the white-necked jacobin.

The Lodge garden was always worth stalking about to see what was coming into the feeders, like this collared aracari.

 Honduras finally produced my first male red-capped manakin, after a number of female/immatures in Belize and Guatemala.

This juvenile boa constrictor (Boa constrictor) was a nice find in the Lodge garden on the last day. A tick for me and yet another Brooke Bond wildlife card moment on tour.

The easy highlight of the week though was two Honduras brook frogs (Duellmanohyla salvavida) on a night walk at Rio Santiago.

 This crazy glass frog (Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni) was the target of a concerted effort in the rain one evening at at the Rio Santiago Nature Resort with James Adams and some very good local guides. These frogs reflect or absorb light differently than most things!

More Duellmanohyla salvavida - this frog is a critically endangered endemic. They do not get better on the frogging front than this little beauty. The specific name is in honour of the local beer I believe...

 Some crazy invertebrates are attracted to the light at the Lodge, it was not brilliant whilst I was there because of the rain but things like this freaky Odontoptera carrenoi could be found.

 The blunthead tree snake (Imantodes cenchoa) was surprisingly easily found at night around the Lodge.

The animal I most wanted to see at night was the iconic red-eyed treefrog (Agalychnis callidryas). They did not disappoint at the specially-constructed ponds near the Lodge.

seaduck spotting

Quite a few Slavonian grebes in the bay at the moment.

Checked the sea at Yttre Kattvik in the morning for divers, plenty of red-throated (3) and one black-throated. Also one Slavonian grebe. There were plenty of feeding cormorant offshore and at least 14 gannets and a harbour porpoise joined the show. Herring shoal? More of the same at nearby Kattvik (including two more Slavonian grebes) and then I headed to Malen to go through the seaduck assembled just offshore. I waded laboriously through the large flock coming up with 1100 velvet scoter, 550 common scoter 230 scaup, 30 tufted duck  and one long-tailed duck. Not a sniff of anything unusual. Lots of grebes though with at least another five Slavonian grebes here.

late seawatch

The big forecast storm fixzzled out overnight but it still provided reasonable seawatching condition today. Sadly I spent a lot of the night up with a poorly child watching re-runs of Strictly Come Dancing... The sacrifices of parenthood... (although as a quick aside I think Pixie Lott deserved better).

So it was not until 1250 that I rolled up to Båstad to find most observers packing up for the day. Things were still going on though, a very distant sooty shearwater appeared in the north and was a good test for my fantastic new optics (I recently splurged on the ATX95...). Over the next two hours I was joined by Paul Cook and we watched an equally distant pomarine skua (1K) and Paul found me the great northern diver (in flight briefly) that had presumably been lurking all day in the bay amongst a good number of red-throated diver (25) and black-throated diver (2). Otherwise rather quiet with just two gannet of note, some close-in seaduck in the corner of the bay including at least 75 scaup and three species of grebe.

quiet at klarningen (20141212)

Had 40 minutes at Klarningen - very quiet as is usual in the winter despite the place being completely ice-free (of course). There was a big flock of common gull (250) on site though, together with at least 16 black-headed gulls and a single herring gull. One of the black-headed gulls was a superb leucistic individual, with just traces of dark pigment in the head and tail.

Erythemis simplicicollis - first for Guatemala?

On the afternoon of 22nd November I found this Eastern pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) whilst checking the ponds by the entrance gate at Tikal. It may be the first documented record for the country, although if so this record just fills a gap in the known range rather than extending the species range as such.

black duck still here

Managed to get out of the house today, since I got back I have failed to battle the jetlag whilst looking after a poorly child. But we all got out for walk today and eventually caught up with the male black duck at Rammsjöstrand after searching around Dagshög and Påarps mal. Later I had dusk at Klarningen, predictably quiet here with kestrel (1), rough-legged buzzard (1) and a grey heron south.

Postcard from Tikal

 Owl butterflies are often found along dark trails in the forest in Central America, this one is yellow-fronted owl butterfly (Caligo telamonius).

We went fishing for tarantulas on one day at Tikal and got one straight away. Although this Mexican red-rumped tarantula (Brachypelma vagans) had 'just' been found by one of the park maintenance team on one of the trails.

A huge gang of white-nosed coatimundis rules the parking area at Tikal.

Grey-necked wood-rail is tame near the the small ponds by the entrance gate.

Wet weather before we arrived soon turned to sun and brought out the army ant swarms and their attendant birds. This ruddy woodcreeper was hopping about like a mad thing and was unconcerned by our presence.

Postcard from Belize

Time spent in Central America in the winter is time spent with American warblers. Black-and-white warbler sightings are a daily occurrence in Belize.

The colourful keel-billed toucan is always a big favourite with clients and passing tourists.

Searching out the boat-billed heron is one of the less onerous tasks on tour. This beauty appeared right next to the trailside pond at Cockscomb.

Days spent snorkelling produced a fair crop of birds too. Brown pelicans were commonplace and we also visited breeding islands used by magnificient frigatebirds and searched tiny cays for migrants.

Our trip ended at Crooked Tree where we had a surprise white-necked puffbird.

Mårten and Olof score big - American black duck in BK!!!

With an incredibly low battery on my reserve camera I managed this poor record shot of the black duck before the camera retired for the day! It will not surprise you that there are better images of this bird on the internet.

With the clock ticking before a 23-day tour of Central America, I was busy packing when I received some astonishing news. American black duck at Dagshög!! I dropped everything, grabbed the gear that was not already packed and trundled off to Dagshög for a look. I have been a big fan of Olof Jönsson since his epic Corvo marathon in 2009 and he has found me several BK ticks since then. But this bird takes the biscuit. He was with Mårten 'duck-king' Müller... A great find, only the fourth Swedish record and a huge surprise addition to my BK tally!

three crossbill day

 Five two-barred crossbills were the highlight of three hours searching the gardens of Segelstorpsstrand for Sibes.

Inspired by Paul's find yesterday I headed to Segelstorpsstrand to search for Sibes. No joy as usual but there were a few good birds around. There were lots of mobile flocks of crossbill flying about and patiently hunting out the flocks whilst they fed led to my first parrot crossbill of the year and at least five two-barred crossbill. Searching the gardens turned up a flock of three blackcap but no other warblers. A 1K hen harrier floated south.

Two-bar

 In the late afternoon the kids and I had a look for the yellow-browed warbler but we had left it too late and came away with a hawfinch sighting.

Great spot

yellow-browed!

At least four snow buntings at Torekov this morning, my first of the season.

After eight days in the UK it was great to be back in the field in BK today, despite the soggy weather. I checked out Påarps Mal first but there was little to see. Further north in Torekov proper I tried to find yesterday's little auk in the harbour but it had already departed. Four shags on the rocks here though and a peregrine paid a brief visit unsuccessfully hunting a starling. At the rev the easy highlight was four snow buntings and a redshank. Checked Ripagården for the reported parrot crossbills without success.

Wondering if I was destined to get a year-tick for my troubles I decided to head for Båstad harbour for another crack at little auk. Unfortunately there was way too much disturbance here with the harbour basin still being dredged and the damage from last winter's storms being repaired. So I figured on Klarningen next but Paul Cook rang me just as I got out of town, he had seen a yellow-browed warbler briefly in his lunch break and needed the id confirmed. Where was he? Only in the grounds of the dagis my daughter went to for three years!

Meeting up with Paul, he filled me in and I walked off down the footpath finding the bird quickly just where he had left it earlier, despite it remaining completely silent. What a great bird. I put the news out once I had got some decent images and Kent and Håkan popped out to have a look at it whilst I waited in vain for the bird to call and tried to get images. In the end I had to drag myself away to pick up the kids.

Yellow-browed warbler, one of my most-wanted BK birds finally falls.

woo hoo!

Cracking day in the field today together with the kids, who kept themselves amused in typical fashion and enjoyed a superb burst of weather, with sun and ridiculous temperatures for the time of year.

Kicked off at Ripagården hoping for the three species of crossbill that have been hanging round. No dice with crossbills but the session here was not without excitement, most of which was offshore. The stiff southerly breeze produced a surprising number of seabirds. The best of which was a fairly close-in 1K pomarine skua. Further out a steady trickle of little gulls and kittiwake was evident and there were reasonable numbers of gannet in the mix too. Pleasant birding. Met up with Bengt here and as he was going south we went north!

Still a few cranes knocking about

Next stop was Yttre Kattvik just to see what the wind conditions were doing to sea-watching here. There were gannets going past but the gull passage was reduced. Interesting. Having promised the kids a burger for lunch our next stop was on the way - Klarningen. Some great birding here too with seven cranes flying in as we approached and quite a few geese on the ground. A quick look through the greylags and barnacle geese revealed at least four tundra bean geese and 11 white-fronted geese. The best bird here though was a redhead smew - only my second record of the year. Amazingly the curlew sandpiper remains, although this should not really be a surprise when we you consider that we have yet to experience temperatures consistently below double-figures this autumn...

After all this excitement we retreated to have lunch and run a few errands during which time I failed to notice that my phone was trying to tell me something. Jobs done we drove to Torekov, parked and finally received a text message saying that the rose-coloured starling was still being elusive!!! Where was it? Less than 300 metres from where we had parked! It took a while for members of the small team hunting for the bird to find it but there it was - a BK tick and one missed during a China trip two years ago. Amazingly this bird was found in the same place and on the same date as the one two years ago. The finder? Bengt of course. BK now has three records of this species and all come from Torekov.

Record shot of the rosy starling

Paul Cook had been one of the people trying to contact me during my 'lost hour' and he eventually joined us to have a look at the bird too. Before he arrived though the most surprising bird of the day drifted through the nearby gardens - a willow warbler, my first in October! Great day out.

dusk half-hour

Had a very short session at Klarningen at dusk today but it produced my latest ever BK marsh harrier - a female, that drifted through the site flushing at least 12 snipe. Also present were six shoveler and the very late curlew sandpiper.

sibe chiff

Henrik J found a great candidate for an acceptable tristis today in the rain, I had a brief but close encounter with one in BK in 2009 but failed to get a photo and did not submit it. This was a much more satisfactory encounter. [This photo is disappointingly soft which can no doubt be attributed to the thick raindrop filter employed at the time]

It rained most of the day but we dragged ourselves out to Klarningen whilst chauffeuring the kids. Not much doing here but the curlew sandpiper remains and five shoveler were in. News of a Sibe chiff sent us on to Torekov pretty smartish were we hooked up with Håkan J, who kindly found me the bird. It was with a regular chiffchaff which allowed a nice comparison. Sadly no calls for us, although it responded with interest when we played a segment of Siberian chiff song. Henrik had also spotted a shorelark but we could not find it among the jumble of stones on the rev in the time available. There was though at least one purple sandpiper out there and a single dunlin. A flock of 25 twite fed nearby quite unconcerned by our presence and then we had to get home and out of the rain.

another two!

The white-tailed eagle was hunting again at Klarningen...

With new optics in the bag it was time to go for a test drive. Hit Ripagården first thing and had a tidy little session. I could hear bearded tits in the reedbed from the harbour and wandered over to have a peek. Nine birds were present and they occasionally called and flew up out of the reedbed and back again but I did not have to wait too long before they plucked up the courage to depart high to the south. A scarce bird in BK and my first record for three years. Whilst standing by the reedbed a loud cough produced calls from two water rails. Checking the sea produced a surprise short-eared owl, angling to come in-off at Gröthögarna it was intercepted by hooded crows as it made landfall and chased north again, eventually hitting the coast at Hovs Hallar! Looking south and at long-range I spotted the black redstart that Bengt found a couple of days ago on the harbour breakwater. Nice run of birds!

Driving over to Klarningen to test my new scope produced a few good birds. The white-tailed eagle adult was tearing about chasing after wildfowl when I arrived. Otherwise fairly standard fare here with good numbers of lapwing (250), golden plover (300) and shoveler (7). Amazingly the 1K curlew sandpiper is still present. This time I found it feeding on the grass with a small flock of lapwing! No-one else has reported this bird during it's stay and I am starting to doubt my sanity...

Last stop of the day was at Lya where a fine great grey shrike was predictable but welcome nonetheless.

two BK year-ticks

Shorelark - a scarce bird in BK, only my third record since 2007.

Got out for an hour-and-a-half after lunch and mopped up a few niggly omissions to the year-list. First stop was Stora Hultstrand where the shorelark found yesterday by Håkan J was showing well. A good supporting cast here too with a Slavonian grebe on the sea, three brent geese and a greenshank.

Just had time for a look at Ranarpsstrand and managed to find a jack snipe very quickly, allowing to time to enjoy three more Slavonian grebes and a flock of four greenshank.

 Jack

late curlew sandpiper (20141014)

I somehow forgot to blog a day last week! Too busy. Had an hour-and-a-half at Klarningen in the middle of the day. The big surprise was a 1K curlew sandpiper, my latest ever in BK, although I was to see it again. There was a big flock of geese along the access track including white-fronted goose (14), greylag goose (750) and a massive 160 barnacle geese. Other wildfowl from the tower included two pintail and six shoveler. A lone crane passed south.

Klarningen dusk

Had an hour-and-a-half at Klarningen at the end of the day with number 2, whilst number 1 socialised nearby. We found a big flock of plovers along the access track - 350 lapwings and 50 golden plover. The corvids were up in the air when we got to the tower and we did not have to wait long before the reason appeared. A massive adult white-tailed eagle lumbered into the air with a hugely distended crop, it had obviously been feeding on something, and flew off south.

Red kite getting the treatment from some jackdaws

Water levels were up nicely after all the rain and duck numbers continue to increase here with wigeon (111), teal (195) and a single shoveler. Two red kite and a single rough-legged buzzard were nice. Passerines were evident with goldcrests calling from the nearby willows and a small flock of redwing on the ground and in amongst 350+ starlings. The big surprise though was the continued presence of the 1K curlew sandpiper.

skuas at last

Still too busy to bird but could not resist an hour-and-half of seawatching at the end of the day. With Number 1 off school sick and needing the doctor I spent most of the day indoors but then we wrapped up and sat in the car down by the sea to see of we could nab a skua or two. Embarrassingly any species would be a year-tick for me! In the end I came away very happy, with three species under the belt.

It took a while for them to come round but a 'huge' flock materialised in the corner of the bay. At least nine pomarine skuas (including some fully-plumaged adults), six Arctic skuas and one great skua. Other birds of note during the session included a gannet, three Slavonian grebes and a black guillemot.

lap bunt

Plenty of chiffchaff knocking about this morning but no sign of any eastern visitors. A good day out though.

Had a very saitisfactory session out in the rain this morning. As I packed the kids into the car for the school run a hawfinch flew over the garden. First stop though was Påarps mal where I spent sometime in the garden - chiffchaff, goldcrest and 11 long-tailed tits before moving down to the coast. Here I was treated to a flock of 16 brent geese that flew in from the north, as well as a migrating rough-legged buzzard and a superbly energetic 1K peregrine chasing crows and generally making a nuisance of itself. Surprisingly there were no roosting shags here.

Svarteskär had shags though, 7 on the rocks and one fishing offshore. Last stop of the day was the rev which again produced some nice birds. A female/immature merlin dropped in with it's lunch. Three ringed plovers were my latest ever in BK. Bashing the weeds along the strandline pushed out more two wheatear, chiffchaff, a single dunnock, a reed bunting and the bird of the day - a superb Lapland bunting which circled about calling before landing on the beach for a grilling through the 'scope. A BK year-tick.

brent

Plenty of birds on the move this morning but no sign of any yellow-browed warblers at Torekov. Had to make do with goldcrests. Back to work on the house tomorrow...

Had a wet couple of hours in the field this morning. Birded Torekov (Påarps Mal and the rev) and had a BK year-tick straight off at Påarps Mal, three brent geese gracing the foreshore. The garden by the gate produced a few goldcrest and a flock of 18 long-tailed tit flew over. Down by the sea tere were four shags on the rocks and my first rock pipit of the season flew over calling.

The rev was wet and had five more rock pipits. Other highlights included 13 dunlin, a wheatear and a nice flock of 53 twite feeding in the weeds.

another hour at Klarningen

Cranes over Klarningen (with a pair of barnacle geese), part of a flock of 425+ resting in the area after strong easterly and south-easterly winds after the last few days.

There has probably never been a better October to bag a BK yellow-browed or Pallas' warbler but I am stuck working on the house as usual... Hopefully I will have finished soon but I fear it may cost me a Sibe.

An hour at Klarningen was great though. So many birds present. The fields either side of the track had a mobile flock of waders that included 350 lapwing and 40+ golden plover. From the tower there were at least 1000 greylag geese and in amongst them I managed to count two tundra beans, one taiga bean, 11 white-fronts and 63 barnacle geese. Not a bad haul.

last gasp hobby (20141006)

Had an hour at Klarningen on my first day back. It was afternoon so the light was pretty poor. Lots of greylag (850+) in and the flock produced my first bean geese of the year (7 tundras) as well as 53 barnacle geese and three white-fronted geese. A family of four cranes were on the ground when I arrived and another 11 migrated through whilst I watched. The best bird though was an immature hobby that went through low and fast and was a very overdue year-tick.

pantala

Got down to the Namnam River this morning (near Köycegiz) and found a couple of Pantala flavescens on the wing. Managed to grab this poor record shot before being chivvied back onto the minibus. A great record and only my third sighting in the WP.

super Krüper's

Went searching for Krüper's nuthatch yesterday and found plenty of family parties in the hills above Dalyan, otherwise rather quiet with plenty of coal tits but few tropical migrants remaining. A single passage wood warbler came as a surprise therefore.

red-veined darter

These red-veined darters were not snapped in BK, though it will probably not be long before I bag one there. I'm in n Dalyan for the week, my fourth trip to Turkey this year and a welcome break from the roof re-build.

kingfisher (20140924)

Whilst the car was being repaired I had a couple of hours birding around Riviera/Hemmeslövsstrand/Eskilstorpsstrand. The river at Rivieran had a kingfisher calling on it and I did not have to wait long at the bridge before it whizzed past. Only my second of the year.

Walking the beach produced a few interesting birds; black-throated diver (1 - Hemmeslövsstrand) and grey plover (1 - Eskilstorpsstrand).

The rest of the week was spent working on the roof, including Saturday which saw a great shearwater pass Yttre Kattvik... Painful but no proper birding till the roof is on.

wildfowl count - part 2 (20140920)

The second part of my September wildfowl count produced some great birds including two BK year-ticks - nice to get a reward sometimes.

Getting out of the car at Torekovs rev just after 0800 was greatly enlivened by a close flyby Richard's pipit, calling well as it flew low south (just flushed from golf course?). Only my second BK record and my first self-found bird. Excellent. The rev was otherwise quiet although six shoveler were present, barnacle geese were obviously moving in modest numbers and a single bar-tailed godwit was only my second of the year...

Next stop was Rålehamn where a brief glimpse of a wryneck was confirmed by a sudden, surprising and very brief burst of song. The rest of the count up to Hovs Hallar passed without further excitement.

jays (20140919)

A few jays over the roof this morning were indicative of a small movement noted at nearby coastal watch points during the day.

wildfowl count - part 1 (20140917)

Did the first half of my September wildfowl count this morning. Finally lost the battle to save the tooth damaged by sinusitis this morning and so wandered the coast trying to stem the bloodflow from my jaw! Unpleasant...

The coast was rather quiet with few wildfowl available to count and little else of note really. Highlights though included: shag (2 - Torekov), peregrine (1 adult on Vinga Skär), greenshank (1 - Påarps Mal),  Sandwich tern (2 - Dagshög) and calling crossbills at Torekovs rev.

Klarningen (20140915)

An hour in the afternoon produced just one record of note, a huge flock of 121 ruff on site, roosting on the pools or feeding out in the fields with lapwing.

poorly (20140913)

Bronchitis/asthma laid me during the week but it was good to get out for a breath of fresh air. Torekovs rev for an hour provided highlights in the shape of a nice merlin and two sanderlings. Nearby at Påarps Mal were at least six shags.

emptying

Had 40 minutes at Klarningen this afternoon, as I drove over the hill it was obvious that many migrant passerines have gone south for the winter over the last week. Klarningen was rather quiet too with just a greenshank (1), snipe (12), wheatear (2) and whinchat (3).

eagle

2K white-tailed eagle over Klarningen this morning

Had an hour at Klarningen part of a bid to take a day off from the roof and try and get over the virus that has been dogging me for weeks. A white-tailed eagle perched up for a while was the easy highlight of the session which also included little grebe (1), shoveler (1) and ruff (4). Rather quiet.

roof birds and a BK tick

Been on the roof again this week but most of the hammering and noisy machine work is finished and so the ear-defenders are off and I have become a birder again. Birds have been on the move this week with migrants obviously passing over the house most mornings. Crossbills and hawfinches have been regularly heard and in amongst them I have had the toy-trumpet call of the two-barred crossbill on two occasions. Not bad.

My weekly visit to Klarningen today ended with a single penduline tit call coming from the poolside willows behind the tower just as I had to leave to pick up the kids. A BK tick nonetheless. Otherwise plenty of wildfowl on site but the afternoon light made going through them problematical. Waders present included ruff (22), wood sandpiper (3) and green sandpiper (1). Passerines on the gorund included yellow wagtail (3), whinchat (7) and wheatear (5).

pochard

Still busy re-roofing the house but had 30 minutes at Klarningen this afternoon and year-ticked pochard at last (single male), which took me to 195 in BK for the year. Will I Get to 200? En route over Hallandsåsen there were notable numbers of migrant passerines including yellow wagtail, whinchat, pied flycatcher and red-backed shrike. Klarningen was full of water and had a a good number of wildfowl and a few waders. Other than the pochard other notables included shoveler (1), ruff (3), green sandpiper (1), wood sandpiper (2), greenshank (2) and redshank (2).

wader go

 My first grey plover of the year...

With rain forecast for most of the day I stayed off the roof and went birding instead. Been a while. Torekov was the obvious location as a number of potential wader year-ticks have been recorded there recently, the best of it being two broad-billed sandpipers. It took me a while to nail the main flock of waders down but I found a couple of sanderling on the beach and had three curlew sandpipers briefly whilst I was searching. The wader flock also contained a grey plover, a little stint, two broad-billed sandpipers and three knot. Ended the session with six year-ticks!

Nearby at Norra Ängalag it was pretty quiet, just 8 dunlin but evidence of passerine migration with showy redstart and spotted flycatcher available.

Nice

 Needed

more broad-bill

In the afternoon I engineered some time at Klarningen. Waders here too with spotted redshank (1), ruff (3), dunln (1), wood sandpiper (2) and green sandpiper (1) being the best of it.