Two hours birding before the rain

Lots to do today but squeezed in two hours in the field before the afternoon rain. First stop was Brandsvig. Forty minutes here produced some good birds including hen harrier (2 1K birds), a peregrine (adult male) having a rest on a pile of soil and a great grey shrike. The latter are unusually abundant this autumn it seems.

Last stop was Klarningen back in BK. An hour here was not nearly as productive sadly. The shoveler flock has built to 15 though and today a single pintail was also present. The teal flock has climbed back up to 250, presumably birds are flying between the wetland sites along the valley. Waders included 13 golden plover, three ruff and two snipe.

First frost

Out again for sunrise at Klarningen this morning. Just 1 degree and frost on the ground. No sign of yesterday's reported Lapland buntings sadly, despite a good hoof around the stubble fields south of the wetland. Plenty of skylark (50) and linnet (ditto) though. With a light easterly wind blowing there was little evidence of much migration going overhead but the hedgerows produced a few migrants including an impressive 48 goldcrests, two blackcaps and 12 song thrushes. Viewing the wetland from the tower produced my first Klarningen great grey shrike, madly chasing starlings. A hen harrier went through high and south, my first at the site this autumn I think.

After some taxi-driving I headed out to Segelstorpsstrand to look for yellow-browed warblers. There are not many YBW's around in Sweden at the moment so this was likely to be fruitless and indeed it was! Just four chiffchaff and a handful of goldcrests for my troubles.

After lunch we all took a walk between Båstad and Hemmeslövsstrand along the beach and back through the woods and gardens. Båstad produced a couple of grey wagtails and a chilly looking Arctic tern and at Malen there were four barn swallows briefly. We said goodbye to the latter and wished them luck.

Flooding out

Cranes decided to head south today when the winds went northerly and the big rush saw me logging over 700 south from various locations in BK, including the garden.

Kicked off at Eskilstorpsstrand hoping for left-over seabirds in the dying NW wind. It faded fast and veered more northerly. I had to be content with three great skuas mugging gulls offshore and ignore the reports of Leach's petrel and sooty shearwater from points south of me in BK. Picked the wrong place! Ten scaup offshore here were my first of the autumn and I also recorded a single sanderling (my first October bird in Sweden). After an hour and a half I headed for Klarningen.

At Klarningen it quickly became apparent that birds were moving in big numbers. The first flock of cranes was 130 strong and the total in two hours was 554, many right overhead and trumpeting away. Greylag (172), buzzard (60) and woodpigeon (1060) were also obviously on the go. On the wetland were whooper swan (4), wigeon (89), teal (150), shoveler (14, a site record), lapwing (250), dunlin (1) and ruff (3). A single adult female marsh harrier was my latest in BK and the 1K female peregrine seen last time here was still ineptly chasing waders about.

The 1K female peregrine is still terrorising prey at Klarningen but I have yet to see it kill anything.

Over lunch the garden produced a flock of 55 cranes south as well as two goldfinch feeding in the rowan out the back with a couple of blackcaps. We all went out in the afternoon for a walk in the woods around Killeröd and Önnarp. More migration spotted in the clearings with a flock of 64 crane south and a steady string of buzzards weaving across the sky. Best birds though were four two-barred crossbills and two great grey shrikes.

Two great grey shrikes livened up a family walk around Killeröd and Önnarp this afternoon.

Shambolic sea-watching

Got out sea-watching on Thursday morning only to be driven back indoors by a morning of torrential rain. That evening I was stuck at home when the sooties started flowing past... Yesterday I managed to spend plenty of time in the field with the kids but still left empty-handed, no sooty shearwaters or Leach's petrels for me. Three hours at Yttre Kattvik did produce a huge count of 175 gannets, two Arctic skuas and five great skuas. Raptors were moving too with merlin (6) and hen harrier (male) in-off.

After lunch we headed out again to check out the action off Ripagården. Here we had a single red-necked grebe (scarce at the moment), 25 gannets south, a great skua and a couple of 1K little gull. A 1K skua heading south was good for pomarine but I had a nightmare day with skuas. One of those days where you get very confused - hopefully a prelude to greater enlightenment.

Middling seawatch

Reasonable westerlies commenced yesterday so it was a no-brainer that sea-watching might be productive today. Unfortunately the car was in for it's left-hand drive light installation, so I had to take the bus down to Båstad and watch from there.

It was a rather slow six-hour session punctuated by occasional bursts of excitement. I had to wait three hours before the session was totally vindicated by the arrival of a fully-spooned adult pomarine skua, with another, indeterminate age, individual in tow. BK year-tick! During the watch a steady trickle of merlin flew south (at least 8) and also a 1K hen harrier. I love in-off raptors. Gannets were frequently about with 36 logged heading west. I had to wait another two hours for a couple of great skuas to do a flyby and then head back north into the bay to mug large gulls. Hard work but worth it. I missed great northern diver and sooty shearwater though, reported by others nearby...

No thrillers in the mist

Spent the three misty hours after dawn tramping the Gröthögarna circuit hoping for a yellow-browed warbler (just two BK records...). Some evidence of a fall of chiffchaffs and goldcrests and still a few blackcap feeding in the elders but nothing too exciting until I flushed a jack snipe at close range, which flew low and quietly until swallowed by the mist. Ripagården produced a ringed plover calling out in the mist somewhere, only my second October BK bird bizarrely, also one or perhaps two grey wagtails along the shoreline.

In the afternoon we all checked out Klarningen. A tractor was on site baling silage but the huge mass of birds just moved around on site luckily. Wildfowl numbers remain high with wigeon (30), teal (300), pintail (2) and little grebe (1). Raptors were good, many attracted by the machinery including a record nine red kites. Another record count was the flock of 47 ruff on site. Two swallows hunted close to the tower and as I left a superb 1K peregrine started hassling the teal.

Walking in the woods

Took Number 2 out for a long walk around the woods in Killeröd and Önnarp this morning. Plenty of birds migrating overhead, mostly brambling/chaffinch and the first appreciable thrush movements of the autumn with both mistle thrush and fieldfare on the the go. Highlights came in the form of multiple encounters with two-barred crossbill (20+) and crossbill (30) and a nice acorn-stuffed nutcracker. Willow tits were calling everywhere this morning with at least six noted during the walk.

In the afternoon we headed out to Stora Hultstrand/Vejbystrand which produced three Slavonian grebes and five grey plover. The single wheatear here a reminder of how many migrants have slipped south already.

Up the rev

Had a BBQ at Torekov rev with the team at lunchtime. Lovely weather but not much doing in the way of birds. A ringtail hen harrier crossed the road in front of us on the way. Two hours at the rev produced just; wigeon (111), golden plover (111), grey plover (3 1K), dunlin (18) and a single redstart.

All quiet in Laholmsbukten

Wrecked - guillemots are still dying along the coast in BK.

Spent the morning walking the harbour area in Båstad and north between Hemmeslövsstrand and Eskilstorpsstrand. Båstad was fairly quiet, I was hoping for a kingfisher but had to settle for a grey wagtail, a rock pipit and a 1K little gull. Further north I walked a long way and recorded just four tree pipits. All other sub-Saharan migrants seemed to have moved out overnight. On the beach a flock of dunlin contained seven 1K grey plover and two sanderling. Had time for 50 minutes at Klarningen before home. Loads of wildfowl in here now with 400 teal, 150 wigeon, 12 pintail and 2 shoveler. A family party of three whooper swans arrived whilst I was here, autumn it is. Also here little grebe (1) and ruff (5).

In the afternoon we all headed out for a quick walk between Mäsinge strand and Rammsjöstrand. A single crossbill over was the only bird highlight but we did find a juvenile or eft common newt walking along the road.

This tiny common newt eft at Mäsinge strand this afternoon was a big hit with the kids.

Seawatch delivers another pallid harrier!

This gannet gave us an excellent close flyby, I don't think it was carrying nesting material! Unfortunately I suspect a hook-and-line are involved.

With Number 2 in tow and a reasonable westerly in progress we headed out to Yttre Kattvik to camp out in the car and get some seawatching done. It was rather quiet for seabirds though with just four gannets, four little gulls and an unidentified skua through in just over three hours. Wildfowl were on the move though and small flocks of wigeon produced a total of five hidden pintail. Strangely a brent goose spent most of the session floating offshore. Dunlin (40) were on the move in a small-scale way and four grey plovers also headed west.

But it was the raptors which really stole the show with two kestrels, two merlin and two peregrines in-off and then the big one. I was playing about with Number 2 when I looked around to discover a large ginger raptor was heading straight for us. I got it in the bins just as it hit the beach and turned west - another 1K pallid harrier. Number 2 giggled as I tried unsuccessfully to get my camera out in time. Well at least I thought of trying to get a photo this time. Maybe my fourth of the autumn will make a digital image! Just a superb encounter and ridiculously close yet again. Do pallid harriers have less fear of man than other harrier species?

Yesterday - more wind from the west

It started blowing westerly again yesterday and me and the kids got down for an hour at Kattvik in the afternoon. Not much moving for us but the black redstart remains in residence. More today hopefully.

Waterfowl Census Part 2 - Torekov to Hovs Hallar

Kicked off the day's birding at Förslöv with a single flyover two-barred crossbill. Just wish I could see some at the coastal sites I frequent before they vanish back where they came from.

Today was my chance to finish my survey work and I could not have picked nicer weather, constant drenching drizzle throughout the morning, although it did clear up in the afternoon I was pretty wet. Started at Torekov rev which typically produced the best of the birds; two brent geese, a shoveler and four 1K grey plovers. The walk northwards produced little of note but did include a total of nearly 100 dunlin. Ripagården produced a nice adult peregrine ripping up a small bird (starling?) and I saw the presumably the same bird perched close to the road and looking fantastic against the newly-tilled soil later at Vråen. Shame my camera was drying out in the back of the car!