pm session

Had a look around on the hill this afternoon, bumping into two pairs of crane, a spotted flycatcher (year-tick) and three whopper swans. A quick look into Klarningen produced a lifer red fox for Number 1. Also here hobby (2), shoveler (20), ruff (5), little ringed plover (2) and lots of swifts (at last!).

first BK dragonfly of the year

My first teneral BK odo fluttered into view today at Frestensfälla - surprisingly it was an Anisopteran - Leucorrhinia rubicunda. The first April record for BK and my earliest by two weeks.

Could not resist a day out today. Started off checking the big field at Ljungbyholm. Dotterel are moving and there is a surprising amount of freshly tilled soil available... No sign though this morning just 41 golden plover and a curlew.

Did a number of sites quickly during the morning. Ranarpsstrand was great with a pair of garganey and a single common sandpiper providing year-tick action. Also here a single male gadwall and four white-fronted geese through north. Out on Grytskären were another couple of male gadwall and two female pintail.

Påarps mal next. Lesser whitethroats were blasting out their song and the calm sea allowed an appreciation of the sheer number of common scoter well offshore, at least a thousand birds stretching from Hallands Väderö down towards Dagshög. Torekovs rev provided another year-tick - a little tern. Also here six purple sandpipers, greenshank (1) and whimbrel (1). Nearby Flytermossen had a single male marsh harrier.

In the afternoon I headed along the high ground, picking up a crane at Atteköp whilst listening unsuccessfully for wood warblers. Nearby at Frestensfälla I had a single teneral Leucorrhinia rubicunda at the pool and tree pipits were singing here.

Last stop of the afternoon was at Klarningen. Rather quiet here but nine wood sandpipers and seven ruff were entertaining. Two wheatears were my first on site for the year and the wetland over the river in Laholm kommun was obviously busy with a marsh harrier flushing a flock of ten shoveler into the view at one point.

The afternoon was also notable for the great sandhill crane excitement, I was looking after the kids after school and could not take part in the hunt for Sweden's first record of this species.. It may have passed north over the eastern boundary of BK...

white stork

My second BK white stork, a ringed project bird, appeared in the sky above Klarningen this morning. Only the 11th BK record...

Had a few hours in the field this morning. Stopped off to listen for wood warblers unsuccessfully at Atteköp. Tried for little grebe at Frestensfällan too without success. But it all came good at Klarningen. Shortly after arrival I noticed a soaring white stork coming from the north and the bird drifted west over the next five minutes. Only my second BK bird. One day I will get a black stork... Also here three green sandpipers, a marsh harrier and a sand martin were new for the year. Other notables included a white-tailed eagle, two shoveler, ten ruff, green sandpiper (1) and two house martins. Great session.

early icky

Two male firecrests were singing at Dömestorp after lunch.

Got out a little earlier this morning and hit Eskistorpsstrand again hoping for a flyby white-billed diver or for one of the two Yank scoters to the north of BK to stray south. None of the above happened sadly! In fact the black scoter flew north back to Påarp. They are sure to transit BK I guess but the chances of me witnessing it are slight! I contented myself with going through the available scoters and enjoying a flyby female merlin.

Onshore winds made for difficult viewing conditions and eventually I decided to have a poke around in the coastal scrub. Really quiet with no migrants at all until I reached the carpark at Mellanvägen when a short burst of song lead me to a ridiculously early icterine warbler (not the first in BK this year though, Mats L had one yesterday).

Klarningen next predictably enough. Still rather quiet but a thorough examination revealed three garganey and a nice Temminck's stint. A pair of red-necked grebe were nest-building and at least six wood sandpipers remain on site but no other migrant waders today.

Dashed back to pick up the team and we headed out to Dömestorp for a picnic. En route we checked for dragonflies at Frestensfälla (nothing doing, temperature failing to hit double figures...). Dömestorp was great with nice views of two male firecrests and a frustrating time trying to get a photo of the frenetic little buggers.

On the way home we checked Bränneslätt, no Odos here either, but my first green hairstreak of the year. Finally a great roadside hawfinch fed on the ground for us to admire as we drove through Atteköp. A better session.

An hour at Klarningen

Spent an hour with the kids at Klarningen after lunch. It was rather quiet today, the weather has gone chilly again and a dense blanket weed has appeared. A pair of garganey were pootling about at the back. Waders included a greenshank, two spotted redshank, three wood sandpipers and five little ringed plovers. A singing male yellow wagtail was promising, hopefully the nest will not get mowed this year...

Swedish tick - third time lucky!

After a leisurely start to the day Team B headed north off-patch to nearby Påarp, our third attempt in as many years to twitch a nearby black scoter. This attempt differed though in that we actually saw the bird, albeit at long range! Nice bird and with just 20 common scoters. It should come round BK on it's way south... Strong supporting cast this morning at Påarp with a staggering 950 oystercatcher and 75 whimbrel. Seventy-five! Other wildfowl included gadwall (pair), pintail (16) and shoveler (6). Superb.

Some observers counted 1700 oystercatcher at the site in the morning. I could not get the roosting flock present during my time at the site over 950 though and photos back this up.

The huge flock of 75 whimbrel at Påarp was rather fluid with birds heading east on migration and others dropping in. The volume of calls was wonderful. Great birds.

After Påarp there was time to check the dunes at Tönnersa strand. I yomped up and down recording a few notable birds; red-necked grebe (10), crane (9 north), black woodpecker (heard) but no interesting migrants.

We had to stop at Klarningen briefly as we were passing, water levels still declining and wood sandpiper numbers may also have peaked, just 20 today. Other waders of note; little ringed plover (1), ruff (4) and greenshank (2). Also a 2K lesser black-backed gull and two yellow wagtails here. Driving home over the top we had a pair of cranes at Atteköp and a soaring goshawk over Sinarpsdalen. Great Sunday birding.

Dawn patrol

My first dawn start of the spring, saw me out in the field at 0430. In the half-light of dawn at Petersberg I had my first cuckoo of the year. Next stop was just off-patch at Dömestorp where an hour in the woods produced five singing wood warblers and a firecrest - both year ticks. Nice to hear wrens here too, they are rather scarce this spring.

Klarningen next, water levels are dropping here again, hopefully intentionally to attract waders and not an indication of a partially disabled field drainage system. Certainly favours the wood sandpipers, a good total of at least 25 and perhaps 30 here today, also golden plover (7), ruff (2) and snipe (1). Wildfowl were scarce but varied with wigeon (2), gadwall (1), teal (9) and shoveler (4). The big news though was the pair of coot on the pond at the back, they have finally hopped the river and made it onto my site list!

On the way home I walked Frestensfälla and Älemossen, loads of tree pipits everywhere and after a bit of searching I finally tracked down a singing whinchat - my first of the year and very overdue. A wood warbler singing at Atteköp was a BK year-tick.

In the afternoon the kids and I had a quick look at Sandön - common tern (11), Arctic tern (6) and greenshank (1) and then went ot Hasslarp. Hasslarp was packed with year-ticks - sedge warbler (1), grasshopper warbler (1) and sand martin (2 - every year this is the last hirundine to fall!)

Misty morning

Woke up to find the garden shrouded in mist, at least 12 siskins in amongst the chaffinch and one bramblin gtoo. Things had dropped out in the night. Drove over the top to Klarningen, picking up small numbers of redwing in amongst the other thrushes. Also here the occasional brambling in large flocks of chaffinch. Spring migration seems to involve lengthy stop-overs with us this year for a number of species. Yesterday there were a staggering 7,200 cranes at one site in southern Skåne!

Klarningen was bitterly cold again in a bracing westerly. Little new to report although a green sandpiper was good to see, numbers of everything else remained stable. After yesterday's glut of gadwall at Ranarpsstrand I had hoped some might be present here but no joy. A quick look at Eskilstorpsstrand was quiet, although eider are starting to get antsy and flying around the bay. Many eventually fly overland to the Baltic coast and I guess north from there.

Petersberg had defrosted and produced two fabulous pairs of red-necked grebes. They still seem an exotic breeding species to me, even after four years. I was surprised to flush a snipe from under a birch tree here. A grey wagtail flew downriver as I left. Sad to think the whole site is scheduled to be bull-dozed soon.

In the afternoon the team headed for Farhult, picking up two cranes at Ängeltofta and a rough-legged buzzard at Södra Utmarken. Farhult was very windy but I finally managed to catch up with the bar-tailed godwit that has been haunting the area since last month. Redshank are finally arriving in numbers (nine here) and we also had dunlin (2) and avocet (14). The reeds were thrashing about but occasionally I could hear bearded tits, they must have been on the ground!

Last stop was Sandön where we had two gadwall, 14 avocet, a redshank and some annoying fishermen.

Larking about with the kids

Numbers 1 & 2 are still off school with a bug, the antibiotics are being pumped in and they seem to be responding. Today we ventured out to Klarningen where I built them a huge nest in the bird-tower. En route we headed over the hill picking up several flocks of fieldfares, six mistle thrushes and best of all we caught up with Ekenberg's flock of 12 (yes, twelve!) woodlark at Ehrenstorp. An amazing record and always great to see.

Whooper swan numbers are still building at Klarningen, with 70 on site and another 14 on nearby Eskilstorps dammar.

Klarningen over three hours was almost as good, the goose flock produced two taiga bean geese, the whooper swan flock had built to 70 and still included the two tundra swans. A solitary crane dropped in unnoticed and commenced feeding along the back - at last! Another year-tick popped up in the shape of a single snipe. No sign of any ringed plovers today, were they just passing through? Raptors featured too with rough-legged buzzard (1) and my first kestrel this month, the latter almost certainly migrating. A stiff easterly blew throughout the day and seems to have reduced the flow of migrants in the last few days.

The tundra swans gave us a flyby too this morning.

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.

Birding - 07/12/09

Eskilstorpsstrand - the view south to Båstad.

Eskilstorpsstrand forms part of the shoreline of Laholmsbukten (a bay), which is shallow and full of bivalves. It supports good numbers of scoter, eider and scaup in the winter and spring.

Just me and the kids this morning. Hallandsåsen was fog-bound, so we headed north to the sun at the beach at Eskilstorpstrand. Plenty happening here this morning; the highlight being a flighty flock of 250 scaup (a good total for the site), presumably just arrived. The sea was mirror-calm and the number of scoter stretching off north was big, at least 200 velvets off Eskilstorpstrand alone, together with at least 50 commons. Other birds of note included 2 Slavonian grebes and a common crossbill south.

On the way home we dropped in on Klarningen. West of the access track and just south of Eskilstorps pools, I spotted three Bewick's swans flying in to join a 20-strong flock of foraging whooper swans. The Bewick's eventually walked into view for confirmation on the deck. A year-tick and only my second record on the patch! As we watched them a ringtail hen harrier flew past.

Klarningen was surprising, there were wildfowl! At least 130 mallards, three wigeon and best of all three pochard. The latter are scarce on the patch. Also here we had single lapwing and skylark. Driving home we had three brambling at Ehrenstorp and a starling at Atteköp. Great session.

Nutcracker - 18/10/09

An odd family day out, started with the car not starting (too cold)! Taught Mrs B how to start it with the battery charger and then we set off. The red light was on, so we drove around to re-charge the battery. The light did not go off quickly, so we headed out on a round-trip of the back roads of the Hallandsåsen. This paid off with a quality bird sighting. I suppose in the week after my operation it was inevitable that I would finally unblock nutcracker for the patch year-list! Three of them, feeding silently by the road at Atteköp - great birds.

With the battery light still on after 45 minutes, we feared a dead battery and headed for home, but the sight of a rough-legged buzzard flying over the village soon had me stalling the car! The car started fine though, so we finally went for a walk. Did the stretch from Malen to Eskilstorpstrand (slowly). Highlights included; Slavonian grebe (2, Eskilstorpstrand), great crested grebe (26, Eskilstorpstrand), barn swallow (10, Malen and another at Eskilstorpstrand), crested tit (1) and crossbill (4).

Dragging - 23/08/09 and some birds

Another mid-afternoon walk, saw us all visiting the dragonfly pools at Frestensfälla. The late afternoon was warm enough for several species to be flying. A number of Aeshna juncea were patrolling and it was good to catch one to compare with yesterday's subarctica. Also on the wing were Sympetrum danae (small numbers) and Lestes sponsa (still abundant).

Aeshna juncea - in the hand pale spots were noted on the occiput and the underside of the thorax was plain.

Whilst we were looking at dragonflies, a flock moved through the trees and we heard both willow and crested tit. The former is hard to find here but does breed on the patch, the latter is hard to pin down in the breeding season but come the autumn and winter is much easier to see. Last winter a cresty took up residence at Torekov rev and could be watched feeding out on the seaweed with rock and water pipits!

On the way home we watched the 'retro-farmers' at Ehrenstorp cutting a crop with a horse-drawn reaping machine. On the other side of the road the family party of cranes was feeding quietly. A horse field nearby had at least ten yellow wagtails feeding in it. Nice afternoon session.