more chiffies

Had a nice afternoon walk around Rammsjöstrand and Mäsinge this afternoon. The weak sun was enough to get two chiffchaff feeding in the gardens along the front at Rammsjöstrand, also here a small flock of teal (9) and two grey heron. All signs of the mild weather. Walking south to Mäsinge produced a big flock of siskin (150+) feeding in the alders, 20 whooper swans heading east and seven waxwing south. 

epic garden birding

Had a great day in the field today. Kicked off with a look for a few things that may still be lurking on the hill. Lya Ljunghed failed to produce any stonechats but spring was in the air with whinchat and cuckoo singing lustily away. Taking the road through Tvehöga produced a few singing wood warblers but a quick check for red-breasted flycatcher failed too. In Östra Karup a grey wagtail joined me going down the road.

Klarningen produced the first year-tick of the day with a high honey buzzard over north. Also here one male shoveler and 40+ eider south! Otherwise quiet, recent rain has put the water level too high for passage waders! The ducks are breeding though with fluffy mallard, goldeneye and coot available.

High honey buzzard north over Klarningen

Next task was to check a few sites for the black stork that was present during my last tour. I checked the road between Frestensfällan and Baramossa. No joy although Baramossa (just off-patch in Laholm kommun) did produce a nice young family of whooper swan. Typically when I stray out of BK there is a reminder to return to the fold and this time it came in form of an SMS from Mats Ljunggren - he had a firecrest in his garden at Glimminge. As this was one of my most-wanted BK birds I was interested but did not exactly dash over. I checked a few more sites and then headed home for lunch and a look in my garden. I think it is the bible that it states that one should not look at birds in another person's garden until one has thoroughly checked one's own...

Over lunch I was stunned to hear an Acrocephalus warbler singing from one of the hedges.  A reed warbler! Superb and totally unpredicted addition to the garden list. Things were even better in Mats' garden in Glimminge plantering. The firecrest put on quite a show but I totally failed to secure a good image. Also here a honey buzzard over.

The best I could do with the firecrest but what a great bird and a superb find by Mats

Mats' garden was also busy with redstarts.

A walk around Glimminge and Vasaltsheden produced Slavonian grebe (1, full summer-plumage), two little terns, a couple of male red-backed shrikes and a singing icterine warbler. The latter two my first of the year.

A quick look at the pond at the Mäsinge end of the plantation produced a damselfly year-tick - Enallagma cyathigerum and a big grass snake.

Last stop of the day with some kids in tow was fantastic. We went up the hill to Hålehallstugan and the sun shone down. The carpark must have had 150 Cordulia aenea sheltering in it and down by the lake edge we found a good number of Coenagrion lunulatum. Overhead a male honey buzzard displayed with a frog grasped in it's talons. A nice end to a superb day in the field.

 Cordulia aenea

Honey buzzard displaying with a frog dangling from it's talons

early chiff

Had a picnic lunch enjoying a brief spell of sun today on a walk between Mäsinge strand and Rammsjöstrand today. Not much doing bird-wise until we crossed the small bridge over the stream in Mäsinge strand and ran into a chiffchaff quietly feeding in a hedge. My earliest BK bird by nine days! There must be a wheatear around somewhere...

Lestes we forget

Having missed that splendid time in mid-June when just Lestes dryas is flying it was time to re-learn the differences between female sponsa and dryas in the hand. The ovipositor on sponsa (top picture) just reaches the end of S10, on the much more robust dryas below it storms past the end of S10.

Field-tested my new net today and found it to be splendid. Will do a review when I have given it a thorough working over. The sun shone today so we headed out into the field in the afternoon for some dragonfly survey work. Despite the sun things remained on the cool side with the temperatures just breaking 15 degrees!

Hit the pond at Mäsinge first and walked the shallow Equisetum-choked mire, hoping for dryas with the kids chirping behind me - no sign of any Lestes! The nearby pond was better but still low numbers of stuff and nothing unusual, except for the first sponsa of the year. Next we tried the excellent series of small mires at Rammsjöstrand and here the first damselfly we saw was a dryas! We found at least three in the end and plenty of recently emerged sponsa too. A few Aeshna flushed out of the mires too.

Male Lestes dryas, present no difficulties in the hand.

09062012

Grizzled skipper flying yesterday near Rammsjöstrand.

The sun came out in the afternoon and the temperature crept up above 20 degrees for the first time in a long time. We all headed out the door and had a picnic and walk between Mäsinge strand and Rammsjöstrand, taking in the excellent mire and new wetland as we went. Birds were few and far between, but we had a flock of 8 resident (?) barnacle geese along the coast and flushed a single spotted redshank off the new wetland. Likewise dragonflies were restricted to the commonplace and we failed to add any new species to the Atlas square or the Odo year-list

02062012

Portrait of the author as a pissed-off, soaking wet and cold birder. Will summer ever actually arrive?

Spent two-and-a-half hours tramping the coast between Öllövsstrand and Mäsinge strand during the late morning. Almost nothing to show for it, bar a couple of singing thrush nightingales and a ton of rain. 

In the afternoon the whole team accompanied me to Sinarpsdalen and we had a good look at the valley mire. The sun came out but it was still windy and not much was showing on the Odo front. We were greeted by a trio of raptors at the car park though - red kite, buzzard and honey buzzard. Sweet.

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.

Back on patch!

After nearly six weeks away I have finally made it home... Great to be back on the patch and the first job today was to look for two-barred crossbills (several have dropped in to BK in the last two weeks in my absence and I 'need' it). No chance of an early start as normal, but I got two hours in at Killeröd mid-morning. No sign of any two-bars though, but two 1K common crossbills were nice. Two nutcrackers were also welcome but failed to show well. A tit flock here included both willow and crested. Dragonflies started to appear as the day warmed. Plenty of Sympetrum vulgatum throughout and a few Aeshna juncea warming up on spruce trunks.

Aeshna juncea - several flying in the woods this morning. Lower down the hill mixta was flying.

Quick looks at Lindab (Sympetrum flaveolum) and Vysterborg (several Aeshna grandis) were useful for the dragonfly Atlas totals for that square. Last stop of the day was Mäsinge for a quick look at the pond, the easy highlight being a male Anax imperator (a recent addition to the Odofauna in Skåne). One day a female will turn up too. Fancying a bit of birding I checked out Glimminge for waders but just one common sandpiper and one greenshank kicked up in a quick look.

Aeshna mixta at Lindab today.

Just one Aeshna cyanea today, this female egg-laying at the pond at Mäsinge strand.

Singing Blyth's reed

Sun at last. Busy with swim-school in the morning, although we did manage to divert by the pond at Mäsinge strand for a quick look on the way home. Still plenty of Orthetrum cancellatum here and just one Libellula quadrimaculata. The only new Odo here was Lestes sponsa, so no surprises.

After lunch we headed out to check out the recently-found Blyth's reed warbler at Dömestorp. Just a kilometre or so outside BK... Luckily a birder was on it on arrival so we did not have to search it out, it was singing splendidly in between bouts of feeding and showing well in a small oak tree. Great bird, just got to find one in BK now. There has been a huge quail influx this year and with plenty of observers in the field at night, things are turning up. Our next stop was a nearby bridge over the Smedje, a small river, where river warbler had also been found! No sign of it singing in the heat of the day though, but dragonflies came to the rescue. Number 1 pointing out a superb male Onychogomphus forcipatus, perched at our feet! An ice-cream moment for the team. Also here Cordulia aenea and Libellula depressa.

Onychogomphus forcipatus - only my second in Sweden.

Last stop of the afternoon was a quick look at Klarningen. A few waders in front of the tower; green sandpiper (2), greenshank (1), wood sandpiper (4) and redshank (1). A night session beckons. Can he stay awake?

Ringo!

Another blue sky day had me shelving work at home in favour of more walking and birding. Got to get out whilst it is nice at this time of year, especially after the winter we have had. We headed over to Farhult again. En route there were lapwings and stock doves on offer, things are really moving now. Farhult was packed with whooper swan (45), shelduck (50), wigeon (15), goldeneye (110), smew (3), oystercatcher (32), lapwing (5) and curlew (12). The highlight for me though was three dainty white-fronted geese that flew in to loaf about on the ice. Other good birds included ringed plover (1, year-tick) and reed bunting (1).

A quick look at Sandön on the way back produced more big numbers of shelduck (76) and oystercatcher (24), and four more smew.

In the afternoon the entire team headed out for a circular walk from Mäsinge strand to Rammsjöstrand. Yellowhammers were singing and buzzards were definitely heading north this afternoon. Walking the shoreline produced more shelduck (50), teal (7), oystercatcher (3) and a dozen starlings. The tap is on and stuff is on the move.