Quail!

Had a short but excellent session before breakfast at Klarningen this morning. I coasted to a halt on the access track and was immediately rewarded with a close, singing male quail (my first for the site). The bird eventually took exception to my presence and flew a short distance away from me, giving great flight views.

A walk around the edge of the site produced a singing grasshopper warbler (another Klarningen first). Migrant waders were obvious with spotted redshank (1), green sandpiper (1) and wood sandpiper (20). Fluffy lapwing and little ringed plover chicks were nice to see.

Garden tick!

Up at 0130 this morning to wave goodbye to my sister and her family. Surprised to hear at least two long-eared owl youngsters nearby - excellent garden tick!

At a more civilised hour, I took the kids for a quick look at Ranarpsstrand, just seven redshank and one greenshank.

Later in the day I checked out Farhult. Stacks of waders here with; oystercatcher (80), little ringed plover (1), curlew (29), spotted redshank (2), redshank (33), greenshank (45) and wood sandpiper (7). Waders are on the move in numbers. Also 8 shoveler and 16 teal. A quick stop at Sandön produced a singing grasshopper warbler and 35 avocet.

Patch tick - great egret!

Last day with my sister and her family, so in the afternoon we headed out for a walk out onto Gröthögarna. This proved to be an inspired choice. As we walked south a marsh harrier put all the herons off the wetland in the centre of the headland. My 'spidey-senses' were tingling so I checked carefully through the five grey herons for a possible purple. Nothing doing, then I looked up and saw a great egret slowly flying north! Excellent bird. Got nice views, did a victory boogie and then remembered I should be taking photographs...

It looked good going past but by the time the camera was out... Scarce in BK and a good NW Skåne bird. They should get commoner though and will certainly be easier to see in BK when Klarningen comes online.

Other birds here included dunlin (2) and snipe (1), as well as four massive mullet along the harbour wall at Norrebrohamn when we were having a swim...

Big mullet (Mugil cephalus) , there are several species in European waters but I struggled to identify this one on Google due to it sharing it's English name with a disastrous hair-style...

Sunday birding

Spent the day outside but mostly doing family stuff. Did the Axeltorpsravinen walk in the morning, picking up a grey wagtail. Driving away had a nice 2K hobby hunting over Sinarpsdalen. Spent the afternoon grilling meat at Grytskaren and managed ten minutes at Ranarpsstrand, this quick look produced two greenshank, seven redshank, four curlews and seven fly-by barnacle geese.

Went home to watch the football and then went outside to take the England flag off the car. Three hawfinch in the garden (a family party?), lifted my spirits somewhat.

Another trip to Rönnen

En route to Helsingborg today we stopped briefly at Rönnen. The reason being that the Terek had been joined by a male green-winged teal. Forty-five minutes was plenty of time to get close views of the Terek and watch the teal a bit (another Swedish tick). Also here little gull (1) and gadwall (1).

Even closer views of the Terek today, allowing a record shot to be attempted.

The double-bill attracted a score of twitcher's and regulars. The two birds separated by about 200 metres. Sweet, I wonder what I have been missing in BK this week?

Beach art and penguins

Small flock of penguins at Tönnersa. A very unusual sighting, but this stretch of beach has produced tufted puffin in the past...

Kinetic flatfish installation at Tönnersa. But is it art?

Klarn-again

Had an hour at Klarningen this morning before the Midsummer festivities. Yesterday's wood sandpipers at Rönnen, prompted a visit and sure enough a flock of 13 woodies was present, along with two green sandpipers and six redshank.

Whinchats have bred successfully at Klarningen.

First Calopteryx splendens of the year at Klarningen.

Plenty of water on site at last. A few waders about.

Work on the tower continues.

A rare twitch

Still busy with family. Great blue-sky, sunny weather today. Spent time at Dömestorp (hawfinch heard) grilling sausages and then went up to Tönnersa (too busy to look at birds).

After tea and with excellent baby-sitters on hand, Mrs B and I slipped out of the house heading for Rönnen and the Terek sandpiper found yesterday. We quickly located the bird feeding in a shoreline pool on the west side. Nice views in good light. Terek's are great, and this was my first in Sweden. We watched the bird for about 15 minutes before it flew onto the rocky shoreline of the island to the north and was eventually lost to view. The nearby pool had a good selection of waders; green sandpiper (2), wood sandpiper (7), spotted redshank (2) and dunlin (1). A single 2K little gull was also present. Nice evening.

Walking Älemossen

We all walked across Älemossen to Frestensfälla with my sister's family today. Beautiful blue sky weather and plenty of things to look at. Birds were quiet, the highlights being a singing siskin and a smart displaying male honey buzzard. Invertebrate highlights included this pearl-bordered fritillary...


A 'blue' female common blue...

and this exciting black adder, probably the biggest individual I have ever seen...

Birding lately

With most of my family in town there has been little time for birding, but we have seen a few things in passing. A trip to Yttre Kattvik on the 17th produced just a pair of flyby goosander. Sandön on the 19th had bearded tit (heard) and a pair of osprey.

Spent some time at the place my family had rented in Råbocka (Ängelholm) and had hobby (1), black and lesser spotted woodpecker and calling young long-eared owls over the last few days. A walk yesterday down Sinarpsdalen produced at least three pairs of red-backed shrike.

Goodbye Nelly B

The family gathered from far and wide on Friday, to help us say our last goodbye to Nelly. We all gathered at Torekov to take the boat out into deeper water. The afternoon was sunny, with a brisk westerly, that made for a lumpy ride out into the lee of Hallands Väderö that the kids thought was very exciting. In this achingly beautiful spot we said a few words and then we lowered the biodegradeable urn over the side. As the urn sank, everyone dropped decorated and inscribed rocks over the side and we had a little cry before heading back to Torekov.

A good kind of monkey to have on your back

Birding yesterday

A pre-breakfast session saw me checking out Klarningen. The rain and high winds over the weekend have bolstered water-levels here and there was a little more activity than there has been lately. A male ruff flew through, otherwise just the resident waders present. A pair of shoveler still present and at least three teal. Broods of goldeneye and shelduck were nice to see and a pair of cuckoos chased each other around. Marsh warblers were vocal with at least five males heard, mostly in vegetation along the river.

On the way home quickly checked out Petersberg. Calyopteryx virgo and Ischnura elegans were on the wing. Both pairs of red-necked grebes had single youngsters and redpoll and garden warbler were vocal.