year-tick bonanza

Wheatear was a predictable addition to the year-list today, still only present in low numbers though with just four seen around Gröthögarna.

After nearly three weeks away on tour, a walk around Gröthögarna in the late morning produced a good crop of year-ticks. It was good to be back on patch and I enjoyed the fine weather. Highlights of the walk included; peregrine (1), gannet (4), four green sandpipers, plenty of chiffchaff and white wagtails, migrating barnacle geese, three goldfinch (at last), a male blackcap and the first swallow of the year.

News of a king eider at Eskilstorpsstrand sent me over that way later in the day and we eventually found it in the company of velvet scoter. A nice 2K male, my first in that plumage for some time and probably my first king eider in Halland too. A white-tailed eagle here spooked everything and so we headed for Klarningen and a picnic.

Klarningen was great with a good selection of waders; oystercatcher (2), little ringed plover (2), ruff (5), snipe (1), curlew (1) and green sandpiper (1). A total of eight swallows was the icing on the cake. Seven year-ticks takes the BK year-list to 136 and I am still somehow ahead of the competition.

This white-tailed eagle put many of the seaduck in Laholmsbukten to flight, including the 2K male king eider I was chasing.

Gröthögarna circuit

Great grey shrikes are a daily occurrence at the moment. This one was patrolling the shoreline at Dalen today.

Had a three hour walk around Gröthögarna and Ripagården this morning. A light southerly breeze kept me company. Visible migrants were finchy and thrushy today with two goldfinch, five twite and one redpoll competing in the sky with a good number of redwing and a few fieldfare. One mistle thrush was amongst the many thrushes gorging on berries on the headland. A 1k peregrine tabbing south may well have been migrating too. One of the best birds of the walk was yet another great grey shrike, it will be a record month for this species for me no doubt.

Ripagården produced another 1K wheatear, a fresh-plumaged and strikingly rufous bird. A good look in the plantation produced just goldcrests and the usual suspects (including at least one crested tit). The walk back was enlivened by bumping into a female lesser spotted woodpecker, a real surprise.

Getting late for northern wheatear now and every one I glimpse raises my hopes of a rare wheatear. Desert wheatear in Halland today...

Lesser spotted woodpecker - a new bird for me on Gröthögarna.

Wheatear!

It definitely feels like spring now!

Spent the morning in the field today. Started late at Brandsvig, a quick stop here secured my first little grebe of the month, as well as at least ten teal and eleven snipe. Next I drove back into BK and checked out Vasaltheden/Glimminge. Tramped about in the wet bits at Vasaltheden searching for jack snipe but skunked out, flushing 11 snipe in the process. The airspace above the heath produced flyby barnacle geese (6), sparrowhawk (1) and waxwing (10). The air was full of the songs of meadow pipit, reed bunting and yellowhammer. Just before walking into Glimminge I noticed a wheatear perched near the bunker, a confiding bird and a welcome year-tick.

Glimminge was rather quieter just before lunch. The easy highlight was my first BK redshank of the year. I stared at it amazed, it looked so good. The red legs burnt holes in my colour-starved retinas! Also on the beach here single rock pipit and white wagtail.

Later in the village I tracked down a singing male siskin and nearly had my head knocked off by a hunting sparrowhawk whilst mucking out the car.

Birding - 06/06/09

Wheatear - busy feeding young along the coast today

Overslept this morning and did not get into the field until 0600. Walked between Glimminge and Dagshög before breakfast. Fine day with a brisk SE wind. A scattering of marsh warblers, thrush nightingales and icterine warblers were evident in song. Plenty of fledgling birds about too. Highlights included: goosander (male Rammsjöstrand), hobby (bird of the day at Burensvik) and yellow wagtail (female at Dagshög).

Got back to be whisked out again with the family to Ranarpstrand. 45 minutes here produced two avocet and a male wigeon. Quiet sessions but enjoyable.

Another birder (showing well but distantly at Grytskaren) - rare sighting around these parts!