armatum again and again

The fantastic weather in the afternoon led to an exciting run of discoveries, with Coenagrion armatum found at two further sites in BK, this time in Skåne and therefore qualifying for the Atlas.

Had a spell birding around Gröthögarna in the early morning, on tenterhooks most of the time waiting for confirmation of my black scoter. Eventually just before 0900 the sms came through that the bird had been reported by Nils Kjellen - phew, being a single observer is harrowing at times. Birding at Rålehamn, Norra Ängalag and Ripagården was rather subdued. Barnacles were moving in a very small way, and yellow wagtails were on the ground in small numbers. Norra Ängalag produced the best birds with my first BK little tern of the year, as well as single ruff and dunlin.

 A Chrysomela populi at Rammsjöstrand brightened up the afternoon

In the afternoon Mrs B and I took advantage of the fact that the kids were at a party and got out into the unfeasibly warm weather (28 degrees, sorry of you are in the UK reading this). Dragonflies were flying and we headed first to check the pond at Glimminge. My first Ischnura elegans and Enallagma were on the wing and we did not have to wait long before a Coenagrion armatum male sauntered past! Bloody hell! Also here a grass snake and plenty of common newts and even a few great cresteds.

Checking a few wetlands around Rammsjöstrand failed to turn up any more armatum so we headed for Flytermossen. And guess what here we found seven armatum including two females! Just amazing!

Libellula quadrimaculata was a year-tick for me today (here recently emerged at Rammsjöstrand)

Flytermossen (Torekov) finally produced some female Coenagrion armatum, as well as at least five males, my first multiple sighting.

Coenagrion armatum at Flytermossen

Here be dragons!

First brood of goldeneye this morning at Petersberg. Aaaah!

Kicked off quite early at Eskilstorpsstrand this morning. Plenty going on here with more red-throated diver migration evident (just 100 knocking about off BK but bigger numbers just to the north). Three summer-plumaged long-tailed ducks were nice to see although distant. The best bird was a male garganey hammering south - is that it then? Eight little gulls came in close and landed nearby for a while too, magic birds. Other notables included; black-throated diver (2), great crested grebe (5), and greenshank (1).

Klarningen next, where a big wader influx has occurred since I last looked in. Pick of the crop were four fantastic Temminck's stints, but also 12 ruff and 35 wood sandpipers in this morning. Other birds here included little ringed plover (2 pairs) and a calling cuckoo. Dropped in on Petersberg in time to see a goshawk being escorted off the premises by two irate hooded crows. Also here a singing sedge warbler and a fly-over hawfinch.

Spent the rest of the day with Team B tramping around a few wetlands in the sun and scaring up four species of Odonata; Leucorrhinia dubia at Bränneslätt mosgöl, Pyrrhosoma nymphula at Frestenfälla and Coenagrion hastulatum and Libellula quadrimaculata at Lya. It seems too early for all these species!

Quite a few emerging Leucorrhinia at Bränneslätt mosgöl today, all the ones we got a look at were dubia.

Pyrrhosoma on the wing to, here at Frestenfälla, a reliable site for this species.

Number 1 spotted this grizzled skipper at Frestenfälla and shouted 'Do I get an ice-cream?' Mmmm ice-cream moments.

Map butterflies are smart little chaps, again Frestenfälla is a reliable site for this species too.

A new site near Lya looks like it might have potential, this Coenagrion hastulatum was another year-tick.

We watched this Libellula quadrimaculata in the final stages of emergence. Furry little fellows!

Wings pumped and ready for flight. The dragonfly season is off!

Birding - 21/08/10

Nipped out to Torekov before breakfast. The rev was busy but many of the birds were roosting out of view and it was hard counting them. The highlight was my first patch sanderling of the year, other waders present including; grey plover (1), knot (8), curlew sandpiper (1), dunlin (36), ruff (1), bar-tailed godwit (3) and turnstone (1). A huge movement of tree pipits evident with perhaps 400 flying past in just over an hour. A few grounded tree pipit and yellow wagtail about too.

A pair of cranes south whilst we were at Klarningen this morning, plenty of other migrants on the move too.

Took the kids out of the house after breakfast to allow Mrs B to take it easy and recover from a nasty cold. Klarningen was the chosen spot and we had an entertaining two hours here. After all the recent rain and windy weather the water levels were up nicely and there were plenty of birds about. Big flocks of greylag (450), teal (180) and lapwing (250) contributed to the almost bustling feel to the place. The pintail flock has grown to nine birds and single shoveler was also present. Despite the good numbers of teal I could not find a garganey. A 1K goshawk entertained us, sitting up to be admired and occasionally sparring with hooded crows and a marsh harrier and also making more serious efforts to kill a common gull. Other raptors included up to five marsh harriers and two red kite. Two cranes drifted south and there were four whinchats on the fence. Waders were present in a reasonable variety and the raptor action ensured that most were flushed for views at some point or another. Hightlights included golden plover (1), Temminck's stint (1), ruff (1), snipe (10), curlew (8) and wood sandpiper (4).

Be nice to see Klarningen bank-full one day but things are moving on nicely, it is a delight to watch the gradual colonisation of the site by aquatic macrophytes and water quality seems good.

Before lunch we just had time to nip into Petersberg and look for a few dragonflies in the sun. We got eight species, including a single male Lestes virens (over-looked in the last three years evidently...), a nice male Aeshna cyanea and two late Libellula quadrimaculata. The kids enjoyed a big longhorn beetle we found (Aromia moschata).

Aromia moschata or musk beetle at Petersberg today.

Southern hawker (Aeshna cyanea), my first at Petersberg.

Two late Libellula quadrimaculata were flying at Petersberg too.

After lunch we headed out again this time to twitch a broad-billed sandpiper reported yesterday at Stora Hult. No problems with this bird, it was one of the few waders present at the site and good views were had. Walking on to Vejbystrand we were rewarded with close views of three 1K curlew sandpipers and a dozing 1K little gull. Last stop wasa quick look at Ranarpsstrand, a few waders here including; dunlin (2), snipe (6), spotted redshank (2), greenshank (4), green sandpiper (1) and wood sandpiper (9).

Birding - 02/05/09

The last two summer's have been so poor - that this green hairstreak was a patch tick for me

Libellula quadrimaculata - flying on the patch today

Not much birding today. Took the kids and Mum for a walk around a nice little wetland at Bösketorp. Plenty to see in a small site here, with a crane skulking about, a displaying green sandpiper, a few snipe and a pair of little grebe. Green hairstreak and Libellula quadrimaculata were superb. Insects have been so poor both summer's that I have lived here, that it is amazing to see what is here at last.

In the afternoon, whilst the kids played on the beach I checked out Petersberg, pretty quiet although a fly-over black woodpecker was nice and several common whitethroats and whinchat were singing away. A teneral Enallagma cyathigerum was a surprise so early in the season.