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.