Irruptive behaviour

Checked out Eskilstorpsstrand this morning. Frost overnight again and a cold start to an otherwise sunny day. The wind has gone east, can it produce? I searched anyway. The sea had 100+ scaup (mostly off Skummeslövsstrand) and good numbers of velvet scoter (100) off the patch and many more off Skummeslövsstrand. More bullfinches again today with 13 seen, many of which were flying over giving the 'eastern' call. Thirteen waxwing south too. The coastal strip of vegetation produced nothing else of note apart from two coal tits, but as I was getting in my car I noticed a small flock of redpoll feeding in an alder with individuals occasionally dropping to feed on the ground. Unlike previous flocks this autumn, they were settled and allowed a good going through. Of the twenty birds present one showed a good white rump and I focussed my attention on it - another Arctic redpoll! It behaved really well, but as the flock flew south, I wondered how many of the twenty had been Arctic, or had I chanced on the only one? Difficult birds to pin down on your own, mostly because they are hyperactive!

Naturally I visited Klarningen briefly on the way home. Water levels are at an all-time high and so were goose numbers. At least 500 greylag in. A thorough search revealed 46 Canada geese, three white-fronts and a single tundra bean goose. Superb. Duck numbers are dropping though as the temperatures plummet; just 15 wigeon and 8 teal remain. A kettle of eight migrating buzzard and a single hunting rough-legged buzzard were the only raptors today. The huge flock of starling present recently had dwindled to one today! Best bird though was my first bullfinch for the site...

No diver!

Frost this morning and flat calm at Kattvik. Could I find the great northern diver? No!

Kicked off at Kattvik at dawn. Great birding here, as is often the case, one of the many places in BK that I do not get to enough. Highlights here included; goosander (1, west), Slavonian grebe (2), little gull (1K, west), black woodpecker (1), waxwing (30) and rock pipit (1). Eventually I conceded that the diver was not present and went searching for it towards Yttre Kattvik; more divers here with black-throated (2) and red-throated (4) but no joy with GND. Another 35 waxwing flew over west and best of all I found a chiffchaff feeding along the road (my first in November). Whilst these guys are still around, my dreams of a Sibe this autumn are intact... Checked out Norrviken too for the diver but just rustled up a bunch of red-necked grebe (4) and another rock pipit.

Gimpy, the red-backed shrike, is adopting an over-wintering strategy, I do not fancy the odds.

In the afternoon I escaped out again and headed for Ripagården. Bumped into Mikael Olofsson and had a chat and he pointed out another chiffchaff. Afterwards I followed this bird up and found another close by that looked good for tristis, but views were brief and the bird failed to call. Moving on I headed for the red-backed shrike, it was showing well, left wing still drooping and it looks like this bird will not be heading south this year. My first record in November. Will it make it into December? Other birds here included; black guillemot (1), grey wagtail (1) and crested tit (1).

Weekend birding

Dead quiet on the stretch of coastline I walked this morning.

Had a little time in the field today but missed all the good birds in BK today. Two great northern divers and a very late red-backed shrike were gripping. The shrike is doubtless the same slightly damaged individual that has been seen on-and-off at Ripagården during the late autumn. Might be able to catch up with the diver tomorrow hopefully.

Did get an hour walking between Vejbystrand and Ranarpsstrand in the morning. Surprisingly little of note. Two rock pipits at Vejbystrand underlined how scarce these birds are so far this season. A few flocks of greylag geese drifted south, at least ten barnacles in one group too. A dead 1K kittiwake was a reminder that autumn gales are not always fun. The only redshank seen were two at Lervik, again this species is scarce this season. Also two dunlin here and two snipe at Ranarpsstrand. So a fairly quiet walk.

In the afternoon I took the team out to try and show them a little auk, that was showing well yesterday at Torekov harbour. No joy sadly. Offshore a gannet and a couple of kittiwakes remained from the gale though. Driving away Perstorp produced a single jay, much more notable than they were two weeks ago.

Son of Seawatch

Did DIY in the morning, the wind having dropped slightly, but after lunch it strengthened again and so had a couple of productive hours at Eskilstorpsstrand in the afternoon. This spot is not the most comfortable of locations in a strong westerly but the views can be stunning and so it was today.

I could not have ordered a better set of birds to parade past. Within the first 25 minutes I had seen not one but two Leach's petrel (year-tick) and the first of perhaps four northern fulmar (ditto, at last!). Both species coming through close in the surf and giving spectacular views. I have never seen Leach's petrel so well before - fantastic. Just 8 kittiwakes went through during the session. Otherwise (!) apart from another close Leach's petrel it was rather quiet, very few alcids and just one gannet and one little gull.

Seawatch

The wind was not as fierce as predicted yesterday but a reasonable blow from the west all the same, which saw some birds going past. I managed to miss a Leach's petrel though...

Kicked off at Båstad, it seemed quiet at first but then a little auk went through, followed quickly by an adult and a 1K little gull. Quieter today though for auks in general and only five kittiwakes and five gannets in total in 2 hours. Other things noted included; black-throated diver (1), red-necked grebe (1), Slavonian grebe (2), sparrowhawk (5) and dunlin (1).

Fancied a break and took a quick lunch at Klarningen. The swan flock along the access track held 13 tundra swans and five whoopers. Plenty of birds using the wetland with over 450 lapwing, 300 starling and smaller numbers of wildfowl. The mute swan flock has hit 3! Raptors stole the show though with hen harrier (ringtail), goshawk (1K), red kite (1) and rough-legged buzzard (1) all using the site.

I arrived at Eskilstorpsstrand for more seawatching just in time to miss a sooty shearwater and left just before a Leach's went through! Did get great views of two close little auks though, plus a brent goose going north. Left early to drive over the top and have a look at Älemossen on the way home. This paid off with nutcracker (1) and great grey shrike (1). Nice end to the day but that Leach's would have been nice.

It's gone west!

Had lots to do this morning but managed a quick look at Klarningen before lunch. Highlights were few and far between; 4 whooper swans, 51 wigeon, 150 starlings and 25 skylarks in fifteen minutes of spotting. It was worth going out though to realise that there was a strong SW wind blowing and that sea-watching might be on the cards.

I managed to nip out for the last couple of hours of the day and parked up at Yttre Kattvik. Stuff was definitely moving with guillemots, razorbills and kittiwakes passing regularly. Had to wait 45 minutes for my patch year-tick little auk and then had another straight afterwards. Other highlights included long-tailed duck (1, my first of the autumn), gannet (5), and purple sandpiper (1, west). Just before heading back, what was arguably the bird of the day whizzed east towards Båstad - a fantastic sooty shearwater.

Nice little session and bodes well for tomorrow, the winds forecast veering westerly overnight and blowing well at least through the morning. Other observers nearby had puffin, pomarine skua and great northern diver, so plenty of stuff to aim for tomorrow. Where to go?

Bits of birding

The invasion continues.

It was Number 2's birthday today so we had a great time celebrating. I managed a few birds from the car - rough-legged buzzard hunting at Hasslarp and 70 waxwings in Ängelholm.

Did get fifteen whole minutes at Sandön, whilst the kids decompressed in the car. Hard to cover in fifteen minutes... The 'highlight' was an aberrant 1 or 2K black-headed gull, with full black hood and dark bill, had me going for a split-second as I dreamed of Franklin's. Redpolls were heard and waders included a single bar-tailed godwit and at least nine grey plover out on Själrönnen.

Arctic roll, sir?

This monster was new for my steadingly growing Klarningen list today.

The background track to today's birding was yet again the calls of the bullfinch. The overhead migration has stopped pretty much but birds have dropped out all over. Walked Hemmeslövsstrand to Eskilstorpsstrand. Walking through the houses at Hemmeslövsstrand produced long-tailed tit (10), crested tit (2) and eight flyover parrot crossbills. On the beach near the river mouth was a skittish flock of redpoll, working through them took some time, especially as I kept attracting peoples dogs and inane comments. I eventually found one convincing Arctic redpoll! Not a male, so not that simple, but I was happy.

Walking onto to Eskilstorpsstrand, I amazingly found another flock of redpoll feeding. They all sat up and there looking down at me was a pristine male Arctic redpoll, this one needed no head-scratching and careful checking. Superb. Offshore a whooper swan and a tundra swan cruised together.

Last stop of the morning was Klarningen. The access track fields produced 12 tundra swans and 4 whoopers. The trees at the end had a noisy black woodpecker, an expected addition to the Klarningen list but always fantastic to me. The tower produced a single whooper swan and tundra swan (surely the same birds as seen earlier at Eskilstorpsstrand?). Six redpolls flew in but still no bullfinch. Great morning.

Bo**ocks!

Headed out a bit late this morning to look for yesterday's reported great snipe at Ripagården. Arrived just in time to see someone with the same idea flushing a dark, chunky-looking snipe, the notebook reads:

"flight only (no plumage details...), flushed at close range, looked solid, heavy and pot-bellied in level flight (more reminiscent of woodcock than snipe), no rocking in flight, no call heard. Flew SW and lost to sight in the fog over Gröthögarna."

Almost certainly a great snipe, but it got away... Whilst here I did a circuit of the site picking up waxwing (46 south), chiffchaff (1, easily my latest bird on patch), willow tit (1), crested tit (1) and four bullfinch.

In the afternoon we had a grilling session with some friends at Grytskären. A few good birds here including a shag offshore on the islands, more waxwing (30), nine superb long-tailed tits and two snow buntings. We walked into Ranarpsstrand for a Slavonian grebe before it was time to go home.

Bullfinch bonanza

While the family snoozed and had a late breakfast, I got out and walked the stretch of coast between Rammsjöstrand and Påarps Mal. I neglect this bit and I hoped that a water pipit might be lurking there, in that I was right but the real excitment was the number of bullfinches on the move. I did not get big numbers (nearby Kullen had over 3000 through today!!) but it was a great spectacle nevertheless. Bullfinch is a species that I scratch around for most of the time and I usually see a few more in the autumn on the coast. The scale of this years movement is unbelievable. They can be heard over the garden almost all the time...

Highlights of the walk included white-tailed eagle (1K?, Burensvik), goshawk (1, Burensvik), Slavonian grebe (1, Dagshög), waxwing (60+), water pipit (1, Burensvik, great bird and first of the season), bullfinch (total of 34), parrot crossbill (5 south, Dagshög) and snow bunting (1 south Burensvik). Also small numbers of redpoll, twite and yellowhammer on the move. Great stuff.

After lunch took the team for a drag up the beach at Hemmeslövsstrand and Eskilstorpsstrand. A few bullfinch still on the move and five more parrot crossbill (do I keep seeing the same five everywhere?). Otherwise the best of the rest was a superb kingfisher (my first sight record this year...), at least 75 scaup and two Slavonian grebes.

Noctule-type bat hunting during the afternoon at Hemmeslövsstrand.

Last stop of the day was Klarningen (of course), the access track produced a patch year-tick (5 tundra swan), a great way to end a satisfying day in the field. The weather was nice too.

A family party of five tundra swans at Klarningen was a great way to end the day.

Quick look outdoors

Not much time for birding today but got out in the morning and spent 45 minutes at Klarningen. Highlight here was a 1K peregrine sitting in the field to the north. Just one whooper swan today, 17 wigeon, 20 teal and one tufted duck.

On the way home stopped at Tvehöga by a flock of 40 redpoll (they vanished quickly) and 7 bullfinch. Bullfinch were obviously on the move today, had another 6 at Atteköp and could hear more from the garden, including one nasal 'northern' calling bird. The next patch tick is going to be finchy I reckon. Pine grosbeak would be nice.

It's all gone a bit finchy

It's pretty and it's got wingbars but I am sadly no closer to my dream Sibe.

In a rare gap in the rain this morning, I did a four-hour walk between Ranarpsstrand and Öllövsstrand. BK has gone a bit quiet lately but I managed a few good things. Ranarpsstrand was quiet, duck numbers are up though with 85 wigeon, 150 mallard and eight teal about. Six snipe flushed as I walked. Segelstorpsstrand was a bit more interesting with 40 waxwing charging about, four redshank hiding out and five parrot crossbills south.

It had been finchy so far, plenty of greenfinch and siskin about but Öllövsstrand was excellent. The weedy beet field had a flock of 35 mealy redpoll, which included one twite and two goldfinch. Following 'Stoddart's Rule' there should have been 3.5 Arctic redpolls too. Sadly the 'polls were feeding in weeds being thrashed about by the strong southerly wind. But I do not think any Arctics were present; but this winter looks like it could be good for this species. Lots of mealy's are on the move. I need it for the patch list...

Thrashing back to the car I had time for the now obligatory flock of long-tailed tits at Segelstorpsstrand and managed another flock of 40 waxwing at Förslöv.