Arctic

My first Arctic terns for some time straggled through Yttre Kattvik heading west today

Got up early for a chilly and occasionally wet seawatch at Yttre Kattvik that failed to deliver despite some ferocious westerly winds. Finished a five-hour session with totals of: fulmar (1), black-throated diver (3), merlin (1 north), kittiwake (3), Sandwich tern (2) and best of all Arctic tern (34 west). Disappointing not to bag a shearwater.

On the way home I checked out Lya ljunghed for singing cuckoo and a pair of red-backed shrikes. Driving up Sinarpsdalen was greatly improved by a hobby flying alongside the car for a while.

Rats!

Today's signature bird was undoubtedly the great skua, it was hard not to find at least one out in the bay at any point during the session.

Had a great sea-watching session today but I missed two good birds, one a BK tick, so it was a bitter-sweet experience. I spent five hours at Yttre Kattvik, arriving to find a quality team had already assembled and recorded a great northern diver. Not much I could do about that.

One of two Arctic terns sneaking past under the radar at Yttre Kattvik today.

Loads of birds going past, with the flavours of the day being great skua (12+,but uncountable really), kittiwake (241, BK year-tick...) and razorbill (49). Last week's favourite the gannet could only muster 38 individuals today. Other highlights included two Slavonian grebes, four fulmar, three sooty shearwaters (BK year-tick), a rough-legged buzzard in-off, two Arctic skuas, a little gull and five little auks (another BK year-tick). Without a doubt though the best bird was a really close adult Sabine's gull, sauntering past with a gang of kittiwakes. Adults are very scarce in Sweden and this one was very late. Terns were typically scarce with just one Sandwich and two Arctics past. Other non-seabird notables were a great grey shrike and a grey wagtail.

With just 1.5 hours remaining and with no sign of a Leach's petrel I decided to head to Båstad and try there. This was my downfall, had I stayed I would have been the proud owner of a second-hand Cory's shearwater... Gutting. But Båstad is good for close views of things and in the hour here I got great views of five great skuas, a frisky flyby little auk and also a tired-looking little auk which motored into the harbour and back out again. A single barn swallow enjoyed the late afternoon sun.

Seven little auk during the day were my first of the year. Always charming.

Postcard from Gotland

Just had a great week on Gotland with the family...

"Look Daddy - a snow owl" - it begins... We stopped on the way for lunch at the delightful, family-sized Porsbjärs nature reserve in Halland. It looks good for owls and grouse, we had a surprise wryneck and the first icterine of the year. We will return.

Spent some time at Oskarshamn, the harbour had Arctic terns and a pair of black redstart busily feeding young.

Our cottage at Puser was close to Paviken (where we had these splendid white-tailed eagles), but a little too far away from the key sites in the south.

Caspian terns were frequently observed, I am still waiting patiently for my first patch Caspian.

We watched this dark gotlandicus grass snake trying to swallow a toad for some time.

Waders were a little disappointing, I failed to find any broad-billed sandpipers, a flock of 18 purple sandpipers in good plumage were some consolation.

The incredible flora of Gotland could not be ignored and we spent quite a bit of time looking at the spring flowers. Hepatica nobilis is one of my favourites.

Highlights of a week on Gotland with the team included a staggering three Swedish ticks! I know, not difficult for me but still... Greenish warblers were located on a number of days, singing their songs from the tree-tops. I managed to time my visits to Hoburgsklippan to avoid all the good birds but still managed a self-found white-billed diver (tick Number 2). On the last night a corncrake started singing from the field behind our cottage (Number 3). Other goodies included a brief Richard's pipit on the deck, the abundant collared flycatchers, a superb perched female Montagu's harrier, penduline tit at the nest and singing rosefinches. My total of birds seen in May now stands at 179 and there are still more to come...