10092012

 Ovipositing Aeshna mixta, the most common dragonfly on the wing at this time of the year.

Had a great walk out on Monday morning last but have been too busy doing office-work and getting the garden in shape ahead of my trip to northern mexico next week to blog it out. Walked Gröthögarna up to Ripagården and back. The highlight was a poor encounter with the bluethroat near Norrebrohamn, whiclt trying to find it though a red-throated pipit flew over south. The bushes were not exactly heaving with migrants but there was a steady trickle of sub-saharan stuff and finches were noticeable for perhaps the first time this autumn...

 Aeshna mixta

 A common wasp chewing the head off a Lestes sponsa!

In the afternoon taking advantage of some quite warm weather I hunted dragonflies at a few sites around BK - Aeshnas were dominant with grandis, cyanea and especially mixta on the wing at all the sites checked. Best bird was a hobby over Vysterborg but no sign of any Sympecma here despite a good kick about.

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.

Postcard from Georgia

It's a steep learning curve for me on this trip, lots of new things encountered in the last few days and no doubt more to come. Pleasingly we have got to grips with one of the two potential new birds for me on the trip, my fifth lifer of 2010. Migration is in full swing, raptor passage is especially good, but many of the passerines are hard to find and may already have gone south.

Yesterday I finally unblocked Caucasian black grouse (my most wanted chicken). Had three males scooting about on the other side of a valley above Bakuriani just after dawn. My fourth time in habitat, so this bird was becoming very important! Whilst we watched we counted no less than 8 pallid harriers flying from roost on the slopes above us and heading over the pass and south. Mega! [Image nicked from BirdLife website]

Another new thing yesterday was a colony of social voles (Microtus socialis) up on the hills beyond the Javakheti Pass.

One of our target species above the Javakheti Pass was the impressive Colchicum speciosum. The supporting cast here included huge flocks of hundreds of twite and a few shorelark.

Rana macrocnemis - a new amphibian for me. Hundreds of tiddlers along the shore of Lake Tabatskuri yesterday.

Today we walked in the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park. Here we encountered Aeshna mixta in enormous numbers, some clearings having 500-600 hunting individuals as the sun dropped.

Two year-ticks today!

This male Lestes virens was just one of a swarm noted at an off-patch site near Gånarp.

Mmmm, nice! Mrs B is starting to call me a nerd when I whip out my hand-lens and start looking at anal claspers...

The site at Gånarp, it looks very good and I will try to get back next year. Not got much of this kind of habitat in BK but searching it out is a priority. We found two possible contenders today.

After dropping off Number 1 at school the rest of Team Benstead headed off to scope out a few dragonfly sites for next year. [I have taken on 8 BK squares for the 2009-2014 Dragonfly Atlas of Skåne, which is why there has been so much dragonfly action of late.] Our first stop was Gånarp and a beautiful little site crammed with Lestes virens. One on patch last week and now this! Too much. Afterwards we headed back on patch to check out a few sites that might offer the same biotope, we kind of succeeded but no sign of any more virens. A single honey buzzard (probably a resident) was our only birdy reward.

Aeshna mixta (female) at Rönnen.

In the afternoon I jettisoned the team (who were going shopping) and headed out to do the nearby coast from Sandön to Farhult. Sandön had a scattering of waders, best of the lot was my first sanderling of the year but also notable were; grey plover (1), knot (10), dunlin (60), ruff (2), bar-tailed godwit (2), curlew (58), redshank (6) and turnstone (1).

Rönnen was quiet, the geese had taken over and I could not avoid flushing 850 barnacle geese from the paths where they were happily grazing. Clearly no-one had been birding much today, which was why I could roll up and find these dollying about on the water...

Surprise of the afternoon was not one but four red-necked phalaropes at Rönnen, my first multiple encounter in Skåne and a year-tick to boot! There are three in this photograph (honest!), taken at long range on macro setting...

Other waders at Rönnen included; avocet (13), knot (1), another sanderling, Temminck's stint (1), three spotted redshank and at least 15 wood sandpipers. Last stop of the day was Farhult, thrashed about behind the reedbed for dragonflies and then did the birds. Waders again providing the interest. Another single sanderling made me wonder if I was being followed. Also here; avocet (4), grey plover (3), knot (21), curlew sandpiper (1), dunlin (105), bar-tailed godwit (20, most flying past including one with an orange leg flag - French?), an impressive 57 redshank and 14 greenshank.

Swedish tick - Erythromma viridulum!

Nipped out pre-breakfast for a look around Torekov this morning, strong easterlies blowing but still overcast and very muggy. The rev was fairly quiet and the waders were a bit jumpy. A 1K goshawk steamed in at one point from the direction of Hallands Väderö, which may have explained this behaviour. Migrants mostly consisted of waders with; ringed plover (30), dunlin (29), ruff (8), bar-tailed godwit (1), redshank (8) and greenshank (3). A nice 1K red-backed shrike was by the car as I left.

The quest for a good fox photo continues... This was just one of a string of predators scaring the birds at Påarps Mal this morning.

A quick look at the sewage works area, revealed that it was being disturbed, just 2 greenshank flying away and a depressed-looking kestrel were present. Påarps Mal was better, although in the 50 minutes I was there the plover flock was put up by buzzard, sparrowhawk and a fox. This allowed me to estimate the number of golden plover present at about 300 though. Also here; lapwing (80), snipe (6), redshank (4), greenshank (2), green sandpiper (2) and common sandpiper (3). Driving home for breakfast I stopped briefly at a potato field near Dagshög for a big flock of 60 linnets and at least 8 yellow wagtails.

In the afternoon, Mrs B dropped me and the kids at Hasslarp for an hour while she went on to Helsingborg. Hasslarp was good today. The easy highlight was a single male Erythromma viridulum and a range extension for this recent colonist. Is there a colony at the site already or is this the vanguard of the inevitable invasion?

Dragonfly species number 42 for my Swedish list and probably a good find too. Erythromma viridulum has been spreading from the extreme south of Sweden, where it was first recorded in 2004. This sighting may be the most northerly in Skåne and may also be the first in NW Skåne, there are no other records in the excellent national invertebrate database anyway. I reckon I will find it in BK this year if I look hard.

X marks the spot! One of the diagnostic features of Erythromma viridulum is the black cross incised into the blue of S10 (the apical segment of the abdomen).

Birds were good too, with a garganey, a superb broad-billed sandpiper and a good scattering of common migrant waders including a splendid 26 wood sandpipers and 11 spotted redshank.

Number one modelling this year's Aeshna mixta (female) at Hasslarp today.

Last stop of the birding day was an hour at Sandön. The easterly winds had cleared a lot of water off the site and birds were abundant. Wildfowl included wigeon (2), gadwall (2), pintail (1) and shoveler (1). The mudflats held waders galore with three superb broad-billed sandpipers being the best of it, but also knot (6), Temminck's stint (2) and curlew sandpiper (1). From the island the gull and tern roost contained two 1K and two adult black terns, as well as two dinky 1K little gulls. Walking back the reed edge revealed two skittish water rails and a couple of feeding bearded tits. Two ospreys hunted overhead and an adult hobby shot past. A superb day out.