Birding solo - 14/03/10

The lone goldfinch was at the feeder this morning. The team decided that they wanted to go into town by bus today so I opted out for a long walk along the coast. Driving in I stopped at Ljungbyholm, the huge field here is often good for swans and geese and produced a few birds today; whooper swan (8), Canada goose (121), lapwing (12) and skylark (50). Birds are setting up territories despite 30-50% snow cover, spring will arrive.

Walked the stretch from Vejbystrand to Grytskaren, a blue sky day with a light NW wind. Highlights included Slavonian grebe (1), good numbers of shelduck and teal, small numbers of wigeon, oystercatcher and ringed plover, as well as curlew (2) and dunlin (2). A calling green woodpecker at Vejbystrand was nice to hear and I flushed a single meadow pipit (very scarce at the moment). Grytskaren was busy with eider (at least 400), a few go-throughs produced nothing unusual, apart from six coot. Walking back a few migrating raptors were evident, including two superb strandline-hugging red kite and a single sparrowhawk.