ross' gull goes past!

I elected to be a good boy today and collect some firewood from the nearby workshop despite the reasonable sea-watching conditions. As I trundled my loads down the hill to the house I was happily oblivious of the adult Ross' gull that was passing BK under the eagle-eye of Nils Kjellén. Rats!

When the news went out I was fairly cool about it but decided to get down to Torekov after I had finished my work and see if the bird had stopped off at the rev. With the dinner slow-cooking in the oven and the kids picked up we headed out to Torekov to see what we could find. No sign of the Ross' - that would have been too good! But we did find the first BK redshank of the year and at least 17 purple sandpipers. 

Driving home we found a curlew wandering the field son the outskirts of the village, year-tick number two.

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...

stormy weather

A male green woodpecker put on a show for me and the kids this afternoon.

It was blowing a gale through the night and into the morning but I stayed at home. The sea-watching was poor so I made the right decision. Did get out in the afternoon though and checked Klarningen for the reported fulmar (!) - no sign. But did pick up two male shovelers, my first of the year.

Nearby at Petersberg we found a flock of at least 219 tufted duck, a huge total for the site and BK, but no sign of red-necked grebe. A pair of green woodpeckers put on a show for us though and the kids got good looks through the 'scope.

45 minutes at Klarningen

All beak and no trousers, yet another photo of a white-tailed eagle.

Had a short session at Klarningen in the afternoon. Rather quiet on the migrant front. The teal flock has built to 55 but there were no other notable wildfowl species. The stars of the show were a rough-legged buzzard hunting all the rough ground and diving spectacularly at times. The buzzard went high at one point as a white-tailed eagle came through and tried to catch a teal. Two reed buntings were new-in.

Rough-leg back at Klarningen after being absent for most of the winter.

wot no beans

Been trying to secure a bean goose for my BK year-list for some time this spring but no dice again today. Another session at Klarningen this morning failed to deliver the goods but the white-fronted goose flock had built up to an amazing 140 birds. Easily my highest total in BK. In amongst them were nine barnacles but I managed to miss the pink-footed goose reported by others later. The pintail (male) and gadwall (2) remain on site.

Båstad next for a quick look on the sea, somehow I am missing both red-necked and Slavonian grebe this year too. But again no joy, but seven long-tailed duck looked fantastic as they always do. Later whilst shopping I picked up some fly-by crossbills at Petersberg. Finally a year-tick!

white-front flock

Had half an hour at Klarningen this morning. A large flock of geese along the access track contained a massive 95 white-fronted geese and a single pink-footed geese. A great show. At the tower a great grey shrike was hunting out around the wetland, my first on site this season. Wildfowl included the male pintail and pair of gadwall.

In the afternoon the kids and I dropped in on Stora Hultstrand to check through some eider. At least 500 on site but no sign of the king. Six goosander were good to see they have been scarce this year.

cranes!

Finally bagged a couple of cranes migrating over the village this afternoon. Slight compensation for suffering from a nasty cold virus and being out of the field for a few days.

eider know

Had a quick look through the eiders massing off Segelstorpsstrand and Ranarpsstrand this morning. No sign of a king eider yet but the build-up looks promising and many of the birds are feeding close inshore too.

A similarly quick look at the swan flock at Ängalag revealed that numbers have dropped just 217 whooper swans today and fewer geese but including at least one white-fronted goose and a limping pink-footed goose.

gadwall

A ringtail hen harrier at Klarningen was our first ringtail for some time on the site and evidence of movement.

Got out to Klarningen briefly this afternoon, picking up seven white-fronted geese at Östra Karup on the way. I was hoping to connect with the pair of gadwall that have been reported occasionally this week and this happened after a ringtail hen harrier went through the site and scared all the duck out of the marginal vegetation. Also here pintail (1) and the harrier put up an early snipe too.

whooper trooper

Part of a huge flock of wildfowl feeding in fields in Ängalag was today's treat, a huge congregation by local standards and including at least one tundra swan, two pink-feet and two white-fronted geese.

Managed to drag myself away from the computer this morning and get out in the field for a grey and wet afternoon of birding. We screeched to a halt in Ängalag when we spotted a huge flock of whooper swans in a fallow field. Closer inspection revealed a lot of wildfowl, with counts of whooper swan (270), greylag goose (237), barnacle goose (100) and canada goose (69) making it the biggest flock of grazing wildfowl I have ever seen in BK. In amongst all this we managed to pick up one tundra swan, two white-fronted geese and best-of-all another two pink-footed geese (perhaps the same individuals first seen on Tuesday). Epic stuff and indicative of the early move north by migrants this year due to the mild weather.

Afterwards Torekovs rev in the rain did not seem half as exciting and we did not linger long. A black woodpecker flew by and out on the rev was a single snow bunting.

green woodpecker

It was wet and miserable this morning but I got out to look for the reported spotted redshank at Klarningen. No sign of it sadly but good numbers of widlfowl on site with teal (50), pintail (1), wigeon (7) and shelduck (6) amongst others.

Eventually the rain moved me on and I walked around Petersberg a bit. A large flock of tufted duck (149) was in residence and I finally heard my first green woodpecker of the year.

In the afternoon I checked out Ranarpsstrand with the kids quickly, plenty of oystercatcher (7) and shelduck (20) but nothing out-of-place.

postcard from Kanha NP

We worked hard for our tigers this year at Kanha but were rewarded with two absolutely superb encounters. The first was with this young male that wandered up the road towards us and then sat down right in the middle of the track.

Our second encounter came on a narrow track, with a drop one side and a high bank on the other. This tigress kept on coming and made it perfectly clear that it was us that had to give way, so we had to keep reversing away from it until it came to a suitable side-track.