Birthday - part 2

Kåseberga bunker - a fantastic migration watch-point and the home of Sven Splittorff!

After a fitful night's sleep in the tent we eventually dragged ourselves out and off to the bunker. Here we found the great Splittorff in residence and he did not disappoint. This guy must be the most dedicated patch-worker in Europe, let alone Sweden. Anyone know any different? He sits at the bunker from dawn for six hours every day making meticulous counts of everything moving. We spent a pleasant but rather chilly hour at the site and watched a few things go by at close range and in excellent light. Highlights were the 8 black-throated divers (adults and 2K birds) and the two hobbies that came in-off. Topped up with local gen we headed off and quickly added corn bunting and serin to our Swedish lists - thanks guys!

My first Swedish serin - a fantastic moment, I love these birds

Krankesjön

On the way home we stopped off at Furuhus Mosse, hoping for a garganey. We failed in this endeavour, but enjoyed this little site with its three black-necked grebes and large group of gadwall (22). Stopped in again at Vombs ängar and this time found 11 cranes and at least one white stork. No sign of any ruff today though, instead a single wood sandpiper. The flooded grassland looked epic for garganey but no joy here either. Nearby Krankesjön was much the same as the day before, although a singing grasshopper warbler near the car park was new for us.

Last stop of the day and close to home was Sandön. Here we had good numbers of waders, including greenshank (60), avocet (24), common sandpiper (1), spotted redshank (1) and little ringed plover (3). The best bird here though was the first singing cuckoo of the year. Excellent mini-break.

Happy birthday Mrs B! Day 1.

When asked what treat Mrs B would like for her milestone birthday, she requested a couple of days birding with a night under canvas. She always has been my kind of wife!

So we left the kids with Ma B and headed out late morning. First stop was Eskilstorps pools on the patch (shame to waste mid-morning on driving). Here we had the first common whitethroat of the year, a migrating yellow wagtail and heard the grasshopper warbler again. Next stop was off-patch, the industrial area of Ängelholm. Here we quickly found a singing male black redstart and headed off south to look at some sites in the southern end of Sweden.

Black redstart habitat!

Injured white-fronted goose

Next stop was a sunny exploration of the Krankesjön and Vombs ängar area. At Krankesjön (a large, reed-fringed lake) we heard our first reed warbler, thrush nightingale and penduline tit of the year. Out in the large gull colony a single adult Mediterranean gull had taken up residence. We tried in vain to find black tern or little gull. Other birds of interest though included a hobby and single white-fronted and barnacle geese. Nearby Vombs ängar was amazing - a really good wet grassland with a huge number of ruff displaying (at least 50 birds in total) and goood numbers of redshank and curlew. No sign of any white storks though.

Untidy barnacle goose flock migrating east at Kåseberga in the evening, against a stiff south-east wind

Good numbers of long-tailed duck (many in full summer plumage) were encountered close-in at Kåseberga

Last stop of the day, and where we finally camped, was Kåseberga on the south coast. Here we wandered about and checked out the coastal bunker made famous by Sven Splittorff - one of Sweden's most dedicated patchworkers. We looked forward to ticking-off the man himself in the morning. Till then we had the bunker to ourselves and enjoyed great views of 220 migrating barnacle geese and some excellent long-tailed ducks loafing just offshore. Walking back on the coastal path we chivvied along four excellent yellow wagtails.