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Tuesday, January 27, 2015

return of the glaucous

Spent the morning tramping around the Killeröd loop with Paul Cook and his mate from the UK, this nutcracker was one of the target birds we did find but we failed to find the normally easy crested tits...

Had a rough-legged buzzard in Grevie on my way to meet up at Killeröd with Paul Cook and a mate of his from the UK. A crossbill dropped in whilst I waited for them to arrive and then we walked the long loop which was very quiet apart from a nutcracker halfway round and four willow tits near the car park when we got back.

Next stop was Torekov but a biting northerly wind sapped our enthusiasm after we had logged 23 purple sandpipers at the rev. Also here a redpoll (my first of the year at last), a shelduck and a Slavonian grebe. I split from the guys here and headed south to check Ranarpsstrand for jack snipe - no habitat after the storm so no joy. Apart from 16 starling feeding on the foreshore the place was pretty quiet.

It all happened on the way home when I noticed a large flock of fieldfare feeding in a field at Ranarp. Stopping I found myself next to a large flock of greylag in a ploughed field that demanded inspection. Sure enough two neck-collars were in the flock but no other geese species sadly. As I got out of the car for my 'scope I flushed a covey of nine grey partridge (nice year-tick) and later when the geese were checked I turned round to the ploughed field on the other side of the road and found the elusive glaucous gull feeding with other gulls and getting ridiculously muddy feet! This bird has not been seen since the 18th but is obviously still present! A quick check of the fieldfare flock revealed a redwing - bonus!

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