beyond the pale - two male pallid harriers!

Got out for an hour at Klarningen this morning but things were very quiet. 300 teal remain on site but there was little else around. Buzzards may have been moving and feeding kestrel (1) and marsh harrier (1) possibly indicated some movement. Always hard to tell. Likewise a quick look at Ehrenstorp, hoping for a wryneck, produced a single adult honey buzzard that made it's way imperceptibly south whilst keeping a good lookout for something to eat. Also a single immature red-backed shrike at the latter site.

The big excitement came in the afternoon on the way home from doing the weekly shopping in the supermarket. On our way home we headed for the coast to eat our dinner by the sea. I was astonished when an adult male pallid harrier almost came through the windscreen. We were just about to go under the railway and the road dipped and we lost the bird. By the time I got on it's trail we were well behind and we never saw the bird again. Bloody hell.

Grytskären was a nice place to eat and there were plenty of wheatear about but it was when we drove home that we encountered another male pallid harrier. This time a 2k bird, it was wildly hunting small birds on the new plough along the access track and was successful. It took it's prize to a nearby field and settled down to eat. At this point I could finally deploy the only optics I had with me, my 'scope! What a great bird, it fed unconcerned whilst I drank in the finer points of it's plumage before heading off east and into BK. Not seen this plumage so early in autumn before so it was educational. No photos though, I should know better than to leave my gear at home in the autumn...

red-backed shrike

Common lizards appeared today and I even had a brief glimpse of an adder. It remains rather cool though and we had frost overnight. We still have a long way to go before it feels like spring.

Had a busy morning in Ängelholm, tree pipits notable migrating overhead early on and two grey partridge at Barkåkra on the way home. Driving back into BK after lunch I headed straight for Vasaltheden where Kent had just located BK's first red-backed shrike and thrush nightingale for the year. I walked the site and nearby Öllövsstrand picking up the red-backed shrike - a lovely male. Throughout the walk I was struck by how much this spring feels like autumn, birds are coming through but not singing. Normally migrants go straight onto territory and get busy but this year birds are too busy feeding it seems. I pished a likely spot at Öllövsstrand and was rewarded with an hitherto undetected common whitethroat, my first of the year. Normally you would find these birds singing...

Other notable birds during the session were whimbrel (1) and three sand martins.

Shrike hunting

Had a good look for great grey shrikes on the top today with no luck. Dropped in on Klarningen for half an hour too. A nice male hen harrier was new here, plus the usual ringtail and a rough-legged buzzard. Otherwise rather quiet with just 14 starling although a flock of 20+ meadow pipits was perhaps an indication that spring is actually around the corner. Easy to believe as we bask in the relative warmth of just sub-zero.

In the afternoon a trip into town netted another hen harrier and rough-legged buzzard around the airport.