BKK

Got our very late today - feeling grotty and I fear 'real' flu may be on the cards shortly after exposure to the infectious in-laws over Easter... With temperatures hitting the low 20s I went inland to Bösketorp pools hoping for an early Pyrrhosoma but had to settle for a manic noctule and three barn swallows flying through (my first of the year). An orange underwing (Archiearis parthenias) gave us the runaround.

I eventually got round to reading my sms messages to find that I should have been in Mats' garden for the return of last year's firecrest. Got there eventually and the bird was still entertaining the finder in fine style. I then dragged myself off to lie on a rug on the beach as the day cooled and scored two whimbrel north. On the way home we checked the pond at Lönhult and nabbed a nice common sandpiper for our troubles. Four year-ticks today despite minimal time in the field.

great day out (20150226)

Had an increasingly rare day in the field today in southerly winds, blues skies and lots of bird movement (mostly skylarks!). Skylarks were definitely the bird of the day, plenty already singing on territory and they could be heard overhead nearly continuously along the coast in the morning.

Great grey shrike finally fell for the year at Ripagården (one of four year-ticks recorded during the day), an engaging individual that was hopping about on the short turf searching for invertebrates. Thanks Sara!

I started the day at Glimminge plantering, where the beach failed to produce a ringed plover but it was evident here and at all coastal sites visited afterwards that shelduck had arrived in numbers. Dagshög next to check for the black duck (no sign), two black guillemots well offshore were the highlight here. Påarps mal did produce the black duck, sheltering in the rocks from the brisk southerly wind. Out on the island were my first ringed plovers (3) and three lapwing. Torekovs rev had two more ringed plovers and at least three oystercatchers. A single purple sandpiper was spotted way to the south on Svarteskär.

Norra Ängalag had a few birds moving through including ten white-fronted geese and a single stock dove going like a bat out of hell. My last coastal stop of the day was at Ripagården hoping for the great grey shrike reported earlier in the week. It was still present and showed very well, hopping about in search of food in the short turf by the sea. A Lapland bunting calling as it flew north was a nice bonus.

Finally I had a quick look at Klarningen. Lots going on here for a day in February with 17 shelduck, 12 teal and 36 lapwing all seeming very early.

epic garden birding

Had a great day in the field today. Kicked off with a look for a few things that may still be lurking on the hill. Lya Ljunghed failed to produce any stonechats but spring was in the air with whinchat and cuckoo singing lustily away. Taking the road through Tvehöga produced a few singing wood warblers but a quick check for red-breasted flycatcher failed too. In Östra Karup a grey wagtail joined me going down the road.

Klarningen produced the first year-tick of the day with a high honey buzzard over north. Also here one male shoveler and 40+ eider south! Otherwise quiet, recent rain has put the water level too high for passage waders! The ducks are breeding though with fluffy mallard, goldeneye and coot available.

High honey buzzard north over Klarningen

Next task was to check a few sites for the black stork that was present during my last tour. I checked the road between Frestensfällan and Baramossa. No joy although Baramossa (just off-patch in Laholm kommun) did produce a nice young family of whooper swan. Typically when I stray out of BK there is a reminder to return to the fold and this time it came in form of an SMS from Mats Ljunggren - he had a firecrest in his garden at Glimminge. As this was one of my most-wanted BK birds I was interested but did not exactly dash over. I checked a few more sites and then headed home for lunch and a look in my garden. I think it is the bible that it states that one should not look at birds in another person's garden until one has thoroughly checked one's own...

Over lunch I was stunned to hear an Acrocephalus warbler singing from one of the hedges.  A reed warbler! Superb and totally unpredicted addition to the garden list. Things were even better in Mats' garden in Glimminge plantering. The firecrest put on quite a show but I totally failed to secure a good image. Also here a honey buzzard over.

The best I could do with the firecrest but what a great bird and a superb find by Mats

Mats' garden was also busy with redstarts.

A walk around Glimminge and Vasaltsheden produced Slavonian grebe (1, full summer-plumage), two little terns, a couple of male red-backed shrikes and a singing icterine warbler. The latter two my first of the year.

A quick look at the pond at the Mäsinge end of the plantation produced a damselfly year-tick - Enallagma cyathigerum and a big grass snake.

Last stop of the day with some kids in tow was fantastic. We went up the hill to Hålehallstugan and the sun shone down. The carpark must have had 150 Cordulia aenea sheltering in it and down by the lake edge we found a good number of Coenagrion lunulatum. Overhead a male honey buzzard displayed with a frog grasped in it's talons. A nice end to a superb day in the field.

 Cordulia aenea

Honey buzzard displaying with a frog dangling from it's talons

arctic roll!

Had my first proper morning in the field for some time today and it was packed full of birds. I worked the coast between Stora Hult and Gröthögarna searching in vain for a large congregation of feeding eider but sadly failing. No king this year perhaps...

Stora Hultstrand had single Slavonian and red-necked grebe and redshank (2), as well as a decent-sized flock of common scoter (130+). Nearby Grytskären had a single flyby curlew and more redshank. Ranarpsstrand produced a single flyby white-tailed eagle, another red-necked grebe and (far inland) a flock of 200+ golden plover took to the air. Segelstorpsstrand was quiet (just five great crested grebe). At Glimminge I heard my first reed bunting song of the year and also bumped into three twite.

The king eider search continued north. I dropped into Rammsjöstrand (a rare event), no eiders here but the small birdy bay just north of the harbour had some redshank (2) and a pair of gadwall. Next stop was Påarps mal and here I got three year-ticks in no time at all. A white wagtail was feeding along the shoreline, as were at least three dunlin and back in the juniper there was a pair of linnet. Offshore at least two shags on the rocks. The rev was busy with birders when I got there but I had a quick look, counting one dunlin and 17 purple sandpipers out on the rocks before the crowds sent me scuttling on my way.

Last stop of the morning was a look at Norra Ängalag but before I got there I was stopped in my tracks by the Rålehamn redpoll flock. Back again and still containing an Arctic redpoll (this bird was last seen on 1st February) . I got reasonable views on the deck through the scope but the bird was very skittish as usual so no chance of a photo. Also in the mix, at least three twite and 25 linnets.

Very little time remained to me to examine Norra Ängalag but a quick look revealed a pair of gadwall and yet another redshank.

In the afternoon we all walked in Sinarpsdalen, the only bird of note being a single jay, although the kids made so much noise they were probably disturbing birds down on the coast...

January lesser whitethroat

Yesterday's big news was the continued presence of the wintering lesser whitethroat at Glimminge. Managed 40 minutes there today and quickly got views of the bird in question and bagged a handful of year-ticks. The year-list creeps up to 43.

26122013 - checking for the lesser whitethroat

A quick look at the pile of tree brash in the car park at Glimminge failed to turn up the lesser whitethroat - is it still there? Birds that were there included wigeon (65), red-necked grebe (1), hen harrier (ringtail), rock pipit (7) and starling (1).

more ivory

Nipped out in the morning to feed the ivory gull at Båstad and meet up with a very pleased and relieved Paul Cook. It is a great bird! A few flybys by the ever-elusive kingfisher were a bonus.

 Mmmmmm

 After an hour or so I dragged myself away to try and photograph the lesser whitethroat at Glimminge and get a useful 'month-tick'. It was playing hard to get when I arrived, probably because a determined set of jul-vultures were ripping into the pile of pine it lived in for Christmas decor... Eventually though peace descended and the bird started to behave. No clues as to it's origin though and no tell-tale tit-like calls... Found a water pipit nearby whilst we waited in the early part of the session here, they have been slow to appear this winter but I suspect a trawl around the usual locations would turn up a few now.

Lesser whitethroat in December! The odds favour an easterly origin for this bird but picking them on plumage is tricky to say the least. If it is eastern then it looks pretty normal! Perhaps it will get trapped in the near future and we will get an answer.

quick look

Checked the sunny edge of Glimminge plantering at noon, quite a few crossbill (10) and chiffchaff (9) and also a single redstart, but nothing more exciting. Best bird of the day came in the village later on in the afternoon when a nutcracker flew high overhead.

off again

Ahead of my departure to Malaysia on a dragonfly tour Mrs B and I took some time out and walked around on the coast. The weather has become very pleasant again and the wind is from the east, sometimes it is hard to leave BK behind...

We checked out Vasaltheden and were rewarded with a 1K cuckoo and some equally immature red-backed shrikes (3). A thin veneer of grounded yellow wagtails was obvious and overhead we were treated to more of the same, plus a few tree pipit and common crossbill. Glimminge had a few waders but nothing too exciting, again high-flying crossbills intruded on our conversation. Hopefully their will still be time to catch up with two-barred crossbill when I return. Am I going to miss something big though this time?

armatum again and again

The fantastic weather in the afternoon led to an exciting run of discoveries, with Coenagrion armatum found at two further sites in BK, this time in Skåne and therefore qualifying for the Atlas.

Had a spell birding around Gröthögarna in the early morning, on tenterhooks most of the time waiting for confirmation of my black scoter. Eventually just before 0900 the sms came through that the bird had been reported by Nils Kjellen - phew, being a single observer is harrowing at times. Birding at Rålehamn, Norra Ängalag and Ripagården was rather subdued. Barnacles were moving in a very small way, and yellow wagtails were on the ground in small numbers. Norra Ängalag produced the best birds with my first BK little tern of the year, as well as single ruff and dunlin.

 A Chrysomela populi at Rammsjöstrand brightened up the afternoon

In the afternoon Mrs B and I took advantage of the fact that the kids were at a party and got out into the unfeasibly warm weather (28 degrees, sorry of you are in the UK reading this). Dragonflies were flying and we headed first to check the pond at Glimminge. My first Ischnura elegans and Enallagma were on the wing and we did not have to wait long before a Coenagrion armatum male sauntered past! Bloody hell! Also here a grass snake and plenty of common newts and even a few great cresteds.

Checking a few wetlands around Rammsjöstrand failed to turn up any more armatum so we headed for Flytermossen. And guess what here we found seven armatum including two females! Just amazing!

Libellula quadrimaculata was a year-tick for me today (here recently emerged at Rammsjöstrand)

Flytermossen (Torekov) finally produced some female Coenagrion armatum, as well as at least five males, my first multiple sighting.

Coenagrion armatum at Flytermossen

gyr again!

An adult white-tailed eagle gave a fly by on it's way north.

The gyr gave a fly by on it's way south and then I caught up with it again whilst chasing a water pipit on Vasaltheden. It flew up from the beach with a bird's wing clasped in it's talons!

Had two hours in the field before knuckling down to more African invertebrate identification. It may be cold and snowy at the moment but the lying snow is good for one thing, spotting grey partridge, and I finally got six near Öllöv for the year. Glimminge was my destination this morning. Quite a bit going on here with flyby white-tailed eagle and five shelduck on the sea. The high point though was the gyr coming past close in on it's way south.

I went south too walking onto Vasaltheden and whilst chasing a very annoying and flighty water pipit bumped into the gyr on the beach. It flew up with a bird's wing in it's talons and landed on a rock. The water pipit distracted me then the gyr flew inland out of sight. The fog descended and I headed back to the office.

got jack!

Finally got a photo of an obliging jack snipe this afternoon, this was my first ever at Torekov rev and as always a really smart bird. 

Nipped out late today for a six-hour session in the snow. Checked out Glimminge first which produced another brief water pipit. Up to Torekov next. Påarps mal was rather quiet, just two dunnock along the edge of the oat crop. A quick look at the sewage treatment works produced nothing but Svarteskär had two shags. 

Then it all came together at the rev with a nice run of good birds. A redshank called as I got out of the car, a species that has got steadily scarcer in winter in BK as the recent cold winters have taken hold. A jack snipe flushed from the edge of the dunes and I tracked it to it's 'hiding place', getting a great photo at very close range. Nearby another dunnock called from deep cover. Out on the rev the best birds were a pair of gadwall. Offshore three white-tailed eagles flew north in a rather scattered but purposeful formation. A sparrowhawk terrorised the small birds eking out a living on the frozen shoreline.

My last planned stop of the day was at Norra Ängalag, pretty quiet here apart from the continued slow and steady trickle of mute swans overhead in small flocks. They never go at the same time as the whoopers!

On the way home close to dusk I got a pager message that some shorelark had been spotted at Vejbystrand. On the off chance that they had strayed north into BK I checked them out but sadly they had strayed a long way and I never found them. Maybe they are wintering?

One of three white-tailed eagles that sallied out from Hallands Väderö in the late afternoon. I caught this juvenile heading back later over Norra Ängalag.

reedbeds

Common frogs at two sites today busy spawning.

Headed out for a day in the field today, the aim being to check the coastal reedbeds for water rail and bearded tit. No joy on either sadly but saw a few things of note. First stop was Klarningen where the two white-fronted geese were still lingering, the barnacle flock had climbed to 14 though. Two redshank looked at home here. A peregrine shot through, nearly grabbing a curlew and a green woodpecker was singing from the riverside trees.

Petersberg was the first reedbed site but was quiet, just reed buntings and a single chiffchaff singing. Four goldfinches here were my first spring birds. A quick look at Kattvik produced a single grey wagtail and not a lot of movement on the sea. The second reedbed was at Ripagården, again just reed buntings in residence but good numbers of spawning common frogs. At least 7 lesser black-backed gulls in the area though, my first of the year.

Checked Torekov rev next for the biggest gathering of white wagtails of the day (14) but otherwise quiet with just a single redshank of note. The reedbed at Flytermossen was quiet (another grey wagtail over) but more common frogs spawning here too. Dropped in quickly at Glimminge on the way home, picking up three linnets on the road down - my second year-tick of the day.

It's that time of year when it is warming up but still so early in the spring, I just want the migrants to come back!

Hard work

As Mrs B will tell you I do love a bird with a sense of porpoise.

A mild, calm, perpetually grey day. I was out all day getting some walking in ahead of an upcoming panda thrash in China. I hope I will be fit enough, bamboo always grows on such steep slopes... and pandas only grow on bamboo!

Effectively covered the stretch of coast between Vejbystrand and Glimming plantering today. That's a lot of mileage and with minimal return today sadly. Highlights were the long-staying 1K great skua (still happily married to his porpoise corpse) at Stora Hultstrand, nine twite at the same location, two redshank, a wheatear and a Lapland bunting at Ranarpsstrand and a curlew at Segelstorpsstrand. At the turning point at Glimminge I bagged a chiffchaff. Still plenty of invertebrates about and a good show of late migrants, but nothing to compare with the isabelline wheatear on nearby Kullaberg.

Cuckoo!

I must be bonkers because it was not until after tea last night that I finally went down for the last hour of daylight and what would have been an epic seawatch if I had missed my tea and gone straight away! Highlights were my first skuas of the year, a dainty 1K long-tailed skua that angled in from the NW and bounced off again and at least two Arctic skuas. I managed to miss at least one sooty shearwater and a red phalarope, ho hum. Hopefully more of them later, if the autumn weather continues on in the same vein we could have a bumper year for seabirds. Two grey plover past close were nice. Got home to find that Martin Åkesson had found a 2K Mediterranean gull just up the beach and off-patch of course...

Today I decided to walk the beach between Båstad and Eskilstorpsstrand, in case the Med gull was still around and to see if any wrecked seabirds were present. Highlights on this long and often wet walk were as follows; osprey (1, Båstad), Arctic tern (3), guillemot (2 plus another dead), knot (singles at Båstad and Eskilstorpsstrand), little stint (1 south at Hemmeslövsstrand), sanderling (1, Eskilstorpsstrand) and little gull (4 1K birds south at Hemmeslövsstrand and another resting there on the way back). A fall of wheatears was very evident all along the stretch walked.

Moving on I headed for Torekov, picking up a cuckoo over the car at Lugnet, just outside town. The rev was looking pretty busy. At least 35 wheatears grounded here, quite a spectacle. Waders hanging about included; golden plover (84), grey plover (3), knot (1) and bar-tailed godwit (2). As I watched a magic merlin shot along just above the sea and bumped a flock of starlings feeding in the seaweed, emerging somehow with a greenfinch! A neat trick! Looking south I could see a lot of calidrids feeding on the weed by the harbour. Closer inspection revealed a flock of 60 dunlin which included four little stints. After two sparse years for this species I seem to be back on track.

Last stop of the day was Glimminge Plantering, the beach here produced a single shelduck, seven knot, five dunlin and a brace of greenshank. Then it started to rain again...

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.

Atlas work - more Odonata

Had a leisurely start today and headed out when things got warm to search Vasaltsheden for Ischnura pumilio, dropping the team at the beach. The mire here is very dry and much of it was accessible for a change, amazingly I could not find a single damselfly, just one Libellula depressa had a look around before buzzing off. The bushes in the mire had a singing icterine warbler, surely a recently arrived migrant.

Before picking up the team I checked Mäsinge pond again whilst I was in the neighbourhood. Things have really picked up here with several new species recorded: Erythromma najas, Brachytron pratense, and a pair of Libellula depressa.

After a quick lunch I dashed out again. The weather forecast for the rest of the week looks dicey so these sunny days have to be capitalised on. I checked out a few sites near home. Lönhult pond is an odd spot, by rights it should have a rather poor Odonate fauna. It lies in the middle of an agricultural area, is clearly highly eutrophic and has little submerged aquatic vegetation. I was stunned therefore to record 11 species of dragonfly at the site including both Coenagrion lunulatum and hastulatum. After walking the superb Vasaltsheden mire and recording just one species it seemed a little strange. At least 15 Libellula depressa here were entertaining. It was not just dragonflies either, I flushed two green sandpipers off the pool and the small area of scrub and trees included within the buffer surrounding the man-made wetland had singing marsh warbler and thrush nightingale.

The pond at Lönhult - it may not look like much but it is going to be an interesting place to watch.

One of two Coenagrion lunulatum spotted at Lönhult today, I thought this species would have narrower habitat tolerances but it looks like it is going to be widespread in BK.

Last site for the day was the valley mire part of Sinarpsdalen, plenty of red-backed shrikes in here plus one fly over hawfinch. The mire was chocker with Pyrrhosoma nymphula and Coenagrion puella (easily the best site for these two that I have found in BK so far). But the prize went to the five or so Calopteryx virgo along the little brook. This spot may well produce my first Cordulegaster in BK I reckon.

Stunner! virgo in all it's glory.

Vejbystrand to Glimminge

Had time for a quick check of the garden this morning. Somewhere up the hill a thrush nightingale was singing and the pied flycatcher is still singing strongly but no sign of a female yet. All three tree sparrow nests have noisy young that will fledge in the next week I guess.

Took the chance to walk between Vejbystrand and Glimminge after breakfast. It was a rather quiet affair but did produce some good birds. Chief amongst them being two BK year-ticks - marsh warbler at Ljungbyholm and Lervik and a nice male red-backed shrike at Vasaltheden.

Saw my first wall browns of the year during the walk today.

Pearl-bordered fritillary at Vasaltheden.

A brisk NW wind made the long walk a bit of a chore but the other birdy highlights just about made up for it (!); shelduck with fluffy young, avocet (1, Vejbystrand), a few singing icterine warblers and thrush nightingales and at least two broods of young wheatears on the wing. Time speeds on, young birds are appearing, ducks are going into eclipse and autumn migration is just round the corner already! My walk ended with a well-timed pick-up at the pond in the Mäsinge part of Glimminge, where I had my first Orthetrum cancellatum of the year, as well as Ischnura elegans and Enallagma cyathigerum.

More lunulatum found

Spent a couple of hours at Torekov this morning. A pair of little ringed plovers seem to be in residence, explaining the odd flyby sightings of late at the rev. The woods had at least two garden warblers singing amongst the nearly complete ensemble of songsters. Round the back of Flytermossen was a singing thrush nightingale and a hunting hobby.

Checked out the pools at Bösketorp for dragonflies at midday, picking up my first spotted flycatcher of the year in the process. Conditions were less than perfect - quite windy and patchy sun and occasional rain - but I was pleased to find another colony of Coenagrion lunulatum. Also here a few Libellula quadrimaculata, including one watched leaving the water and emerging.

Another colony of Coenagrion lunulatum found today this time at Bösketorp pools. They will probably prove to be widespread in BK. The lack so far can be explained by the fact that I am usually birding solidly until the end of June.

That John Hurt moment - an adult Libellula quadrimaculata emerges at Bösketorp pools.

In the afternoon Team B headed for Rammsjöstrand. The sedge marsh here looks famous for dragonflies but again conditions were less than ideal. Nevertheless it produced small numbers of Coenagrion hastulatum, my first Coenagrion puella of the year, a single Coenagrion pulchellum and the inevitable Libellula quadrimaculata. I think this site is outside any of my Atlas squares but I am going to keep an eye on it all the same. Nearby at the new wetland I was pleased to find at least three little ringed plovers and a couple of wood sandpipers.

Another look at Coenagrion hastulatum, this one from Rammsjöstrand.

Female Coenagrion pulchellum are variable!

My first Coenagrion puella of the year was kicked up at Rammsjöstrand today.

Gröthögarna magic

The best bird at Gröthögarna this morning was this short-eared owl, only my second in BK.

Another morning session on Gröthögarna for me today. I have birded this area reasonably consistently for four years and so was overjoyed to get three site ticks in four hours! A great session. Walking the back trail against the light at the start of the walk was almost immediately brightened up by a soaring short-eared owl, which floated about idly sparring with a marsh harrier before drifting off. Birds had dropped out all over the site, good numbers of whinchat and grey-headed wagtail evident and a few pied flycatchers. The thrush nightingale was singing away lustily - still no others in BK, a late arrival for this species this year. Walking on into Ripagården I was overtaken by a male pochard heading north, my first for the site. The reedbed still had a singing reed warbler, with sedge warbler singing nearby too. The final icing on the cake came back near the car at Norra Ängalag - a reeling grasshopper warbler. Offshore on Tjällran sat a single turnstone. Great session.

Two cranes remains at Gröthögarna.

In the afternoon we walked Vasaltheden (marsh harrier) and nearby Glimminge (hobby) and checked out Greviebackar for pasque flowers. Nice day.