BK tick!

2014 got going nicely today with a BK tick no less. Checked out Torekovs rev very late in the morning (relaxed and slightly lazy birding being the order of the year so far). No sign of any purple sandpipers here sadly but the coastal bushes had goldcrest (1), dunnock (1) and reed bunting (1). More indicators of the ridiculously mild winter we are experiencing.

A quick look for the shags (5) south of the harbour was a very good idea. Here I found Nils Kjellén and he had just found an adult yellow-legged gull! Result. Perhaps the same bird that spent the early part of the winter just north of BK in Halland? Also here one gannet for the year-list. Driving out of BK to pick up Mrs B we bumped into our first red kite of the year and that brought up the 50. Slow and steady!

Temminck's stint

Been busy lately but crammed in a few year-ticks around work on Monday and Tuesday. Driving past Karstorp in BK early on 6/5 produced a fine merlin dashing across the road. Later on in the day at dusk I was poking my head out the Velux window upstairs and had a roding woodcock and heard a distant thrush nightingale. The next morning at 0400 I repeated the process and added cuckoo to my year-list.

Today I finally got back out there and checked Klarningen hoping initially for a crack at the reported Temminck's stint and latterly for a chance of a white-winged tern (many of the latter made landfall in Sweden on the SE winds we are experiencing). No joy with the tern but after 1.5 hours the Temminck's finally crawled out from wherever it had been hiding and showed itself. It rained pretty solidly for most of the morning but little dropped in. Twelve ruff were a highlight, also shoveler (pair), gadwall (male), grey partridge (1), greenshank (2) and at least 19 assorted yellow wagtails (flava and thunbergi, the latter dominating).

Drove home over the top picking up my first singing wood warbler at Hulrugered and a fly-over crane at Ehrenstorp.

Me and Mrs B

Had a nice few hours alone with Mrs B in the field today, which was a bit novel. We went south and looked at Hasslarp - almost devoid of bird interest although the flock of 30 redpoll were annoyingly hard to go through as is so often the case and then equally typically vanished.

Did the 'eagle circuit' picking up waxwing (25) in Kattarp, a superb adult white-tailed eagle at Tursköp and a rough-buzzard at Lönhult. No sign of a goldie. Hit the coast at Farhult for ten Slavonian grebes and finished up at Sandön where we found single bar-tailed godwit and oystercatcher. Pleasant day but birds rather thin on the ground. I am not used to being around at this time of year, but it just feels like it is about to go very cold and stay that way for some time...

Bits and bobs - 4/12/09

No time for birding today, even I have to spend a little time in the office sometimes! Did see a few things in passing though. The village scored with seven migrating whooper swans, a small flock of fifteen siskin (scarce in December here, although seemingly abundant this year) and a flock of 45 lapwing south.

Driving past the roadside pond at Karstorp, had a single moorhen at dusk, another often difficult bird to find in the winter on patch...