18 BK year-ticks!!!

Barnacle geese resting at Torekov rev today.

Good to be back in BK. I missed the arrival of the early migrants whilst in Crete but caught up with a lot of the backlog today during the morning. Over breakfast I glanced out the window and got three year-ticks to get things rolling; chiffchaff, redstart and blackcap!

First stop was Klarningen which was looking rather low for breeding birds but good for wader passage. Year-ticks here were everywhere; a pair of shoveler, two noisy common sandpipers, a greenshank, seven wood sandpipers, eight swallows, two blue-headed wagtails and at least three wheatears along the access track. The wood pile had at least eight song thrushes and a wren resting in it, must remember to check it regularly.

Driving through Petersberg I was joined by two goldfinches flying alongside. A quick look at Båstad revealed two cold-looking common terns perched on the rocks near the harbour. Ripagården next, a scout around offshore revealed two adult gannets but otherwise things were quiet. I searched hoping for ring ouzels but without success. Trawling through the wood I was pleased to find my first pied flycatcher of the year and also by the stream was a lesser whitethroat. A preoccupied fox crossed the stream in front of me and sniffed about for ages just 20 metres from me before it finally made eye-contact and bolted. Magic stuff.

Torekov next on my whistle-stop tour. Flytermossen was hosting a good number of hirundines, with 20 barn swallows, five house martins and a single sand martin. The fenceline along the pond, had at least twenty chiffchaff and a few willow warblers feeding along it and later they had been joined by another pied flycatcher. I was hoping for more terns at the rev but had to settle for three purple sandpipers and a shoveler. Redstarts were singing here and a pair of wheatear were on territory.

In the afternoon we headed back out, this time to Ranarpsstrand. Curlew were on the move with 43 either flying through or resting on the rocks. No sign of any whimbrel though, just a pair of gadwall and as we drove away another pied flycatcher and willow warbler. Two more pied flycatchers at Segelstorpsstrand ended the day.

Evidence of a widespread arrival of migrants overnight, nearby Kullen had an estimated 60 ring ouzel!