green woodpecker

It was wet and miserable this morning but I got out to look for the reported spotted redshank at Klarningen. No sign of it sadly but good numbers of widlfowl on site with teal (50), pintail (1), wigeon (7) and shelduck (6) amongst others.

Eventually the rain moved me on and I walked around Petersberg a bit. A large flock of tufted duck (149) was in residence and I finally heard my first green woodpecker of the year.

In the afternoon I checked out Ranarpsstrand with the kids quickly, plenty of oystercatcher (7) and shelduck (20) but nothing out-of-place.

postcard from Kanha NP

We worked hard for our tigers this year at Kanha but were rewarded with two absolutely superb encounters. The first was with this young male that wandered up the road towards us and then sat down right in the middle of the track.

Our second encounter came on a narrow track, with a drop one side and a high bank on the other. This tigress kept on coming and made it perfectly clear that it was us that had to give way, so we had to keep reversing away from it until it came to a suitable side-track.

pinks

One of today's highlights was the huge flock of 30 purple sandpipers that is currently in residence at Torekovs rev.

Got out this morning to search along the coast between Påarps Mal and Ripagården. Plenty of year-ticks to be had, I ended up with five! I had not even got to the coast when I stopped at Slättaröd to check out my first stock dove of the year. Påarps Mal produced a flock of 19 resting ringed plovers and nearby the sewage works had my first oystercatcher. I checked out Svarteskär next for shags but there were none, instead an adult  peregrine offshore on Vinga Skär, four black guillemot on the sea and two razorbill past. The rev produced a fantastic flock of 30 purple sandpipers (my previous best of 17 blown away in the process).

Last proper stop of the day was Norra Ängalag, here a mistle thrush erupted out of the juniper and going through the greylag geese out on Tjällran produced the big surprise of the day - two pink-footed geese. A quick look at Ripagården on the way home failed to turn up anything notable.

coot!

Had a quick look at Klarningen and Petersberg in the late afternoon. Klarningen had a big gathering of 200 lapwing and a few duck (shelduck 7, teal 14 and wigeon 3). But otherwise rather quiet. Petersberg produced a surprise male pintail and my first coot of the year. The tufted duck flock here has dwindled to 30. Zoned for housing I will be well pissed off to see this pit disappear some time in the future.

back in the rain

My first hen harrier of the year. Spring has definitely sprung whilst I have been away.

Had two hours in the field with Mrs B today which was a bit luxurious. We sat in the tower for the first half of this short session. I got three year-ticks in the first three minutes and then things calmed down considerably. Hen harrier (male), skylark (1) and 50-strong flock of lapwing were the year-ticks. Also here four shelduck, a few wigeon and teal and a kestrel. Later we checked out Eskilstorpsstrand for 100+ scaup.

postcard from Gir NP, Gujarat

Been after mottled wood owl for sometime and it finally came to pass yesterday. This may well be my last lifer owl on the mainland sub-Continent. Sri Lanka beckons...

Gir NP is perhaps the best park in India to have a crack at leopard, I have now seen three in four attempts here. This one was encountered just before sunrise, modern cameras lie spectacularly but if you check out the pupil dilation on this beast you can tell how dark it was!

One of eight Asiatic lions encountered during our three day session at Gir, I could have reached out and touched this one as it walked past our jeep!