Snow, rain, hail, sun and repeat

A mixed day weather-wise, classic spring stuff. A strong SW wind throughout made the whole thing a bit unpleasant. But I did spend most of the day outside which was nice. In the morning I checked out Yttre Kattvik, winds were supposed to shift westerly but it never happened... A few things were moving though including red-throated diver (2), crested grebe (7) and guillemot (2).

Next stop was Ripagården were I was swiftly engulfed in snow and spent most of my time sheltering behind a bunker. Not much noted in these conditions unsurprisingly and I left with four coot and a collection of recent arrivals (shelduck, oystercatcher and starling).

In the afternoon, Mrs B and I headed out to look for geese around Lönhult, we found just one substantial flock of greylags (250+), but could only find two white-fronted geese. The light and distance were poor though and frustratingly a neck-collared bird evaded a protracted reading attempt. A check of Farhult for geese revealed that the sea had risen, driven by the gale force southerlies. Few birds about, especially waders, as a result.

Rönnen was better with a reasonable flock of eider building, which included two smart-looking long-tailed ducks. Will this be the location for the annual spring king eider this year? Other notables here included smew (3), white-tailed eagle (1) and ringed plover (4).

Last stop of the afternoon was Sandön where we found a huge total of six smew, as well as three scaup. Again high water levels meant few birds close in, but 75 oystercatchers were roosting on the Själrönnen offshore rocks.

Goldie!

Spent the afternoon looking quickly at the sites between Lönhult and Sandön, en route picking up two rough-legged buzzards. First stop was a quick look at Farhult to check if the gyr falcon was sitting around. No luck but three curlew looked out of place in a break in the sea-ice. Next stop was another favourite of the gyr (Lönhult), I worked the fields and eventually spotted a dead thing being picked apart by gulls and crows. Sitting nearby was a very fat young white-tailed eagle. Widening the search I found a tree with two more eagles, one of which was a splendid 2K golden eagle. I have done really badly finding this bird during the winter so this was a great moment. Just round the next bend a big gang of greylags got me working but nothing else apart from a few Canadas. As the sun broke through the low cloud skylarks soared into song. Nice - perhaps spring may come after all... Hard to beat.

A quick look at Rönnen produced another white-tailed eagle and four lapwing flying by. Last stop was Sandön, which had more curlew (10) and two smew at very long range. Only three weeks till the cranes start moving, hope it warms up for them.

Blue skies

The return of the cold weather brought the sun back out for the first time in ten days so out I went to enjoy it. Checked out some off-patch sites in the morning. Sandön was first, pretty quiet here but a male smew gave a nice flyby (year-tick), a white-tailed eagle (2K) flew in and 12 velvet scoter headed west. I never see enough smew in a year...

Rönnen was also quiet but ten curlew were new in and there were two more white-tailed eagles perched up and looking naughty. No sign of the gyr so I moved on to Farhult. Here another male smew flew past (surely the same one?) and there were three more curlew here. A cruise around for long-eared owls failed to produce the goods.

Last stop of the morning was a quick look at Lönhult for the merlin. There has been a regular bird here all winter, which I caught up with last month. There was a raptor perched distantly in the field on arrival, it looked good but then flew - a sparrowhawk. A single lapwing and a flock of 45 goldfinch were good - the latter another year-tick.

In the afternoon driving in the village produced four more lapwing - they really are moving early this year. Three wood pigeon in the garden were new in and proof of more movement. At the end of the day I managed an hour at Ranarpsstrand but had to settle for four wigeon, rather quiet to say the least.

Wizard day

Had an hour in the field on a brutally cold morning during a busy day with Mrs B. We tried to locate the big finch flock at Lönhult but somehow we could not find it (hard to miss a flock of 300+ goldfinch but we did). We did find the female-type merlin that has been attending to the flock for the last few weeks though, my first in December. Merlin is a rare winterer here. Also in the neighbourhood were a white-tailed eagle and a rough-legged buzzard.

The low sun made working the circuit north to south rather hard work and once again we failed to find a golden eagle. We ended up near the farm at Västraby going through a good-sized flock of Canada geese (350); a few greylag (50) and just one taiga bean goose. Driving south we had a flock of at least 10 waxwing at Fleninge.

Really cold!

The coldest morning so far this winter greeted me today. Nipped out to Ripagården for an hour but it was perishing cold and not much was on show, the woods had willow tit (1) and four bullfinch. Out in the open, somewhere that was rather unpleasant in the minus ten degrees when the brisk NE wind was factored in, I managed a snipe and a kestrel before heading home to defrost.

In the afternoon I drove around the Tursköp-Lönhult area hoping for a golden eagle but failing again. Did get white-tailed eagle, rough-legged buzzard, hen harrier and jay though. Last stop of the day was Sandön. At the river a big raft of 21 goosander was notable and there were more or the same out on the sea later. Roosting out on Själrönnen was a motley gang of barely visible waders including at least 25 dunlin, 25 curlew and five oystercatcher. I lasted half an hour before I headed back to the warmth of the car. It seems rather quiet at the moment.

A steppe too far!

Tilting at windmills. Twitching at the moment seems to be a quixotic affair. Another dip racked up and so soon after the pine grosbeak debacle...

An enormous day for white-tailed eagles with 13 recorded in total. Most over fields inland south of Rönnen.

Met up with Terry again this morning. A very cold dawn greeted us at our rendezvous at Lund and we quickly made our way to the nearby area that has been frequented by a young steppe eagle this winter. Our strategy was that on New Years Day, there would be heaps of birders eager to get this rare on their year-list and we would benefit by a quick find by spotters who knew this bird and its habits and be on our way. We saw no-one for three hours! We also managed to miss the steppe eagle, having to make do with a couple of white-tailed eagles instead. However the area was not a bad place to kick off the year-list and we saw some nice birds including; white-fronted goose (8), taiga bean goose (4+), barnacle goose (175), goshawk (1) and common crossbill (15).

Leaving the area we drove north onto more familiar territory, the arable fields south of Rönnen, to hunt for golden eagle and perhaps the wandering gyr falcon. We had no trouble finding a golden eagle last time we tried here but we failed today. The good news though was that Terry spotted the adult gyr falcon perched just 50 metres from the road at Lönhult, no doubt his blog will feature the photos he managed from the car shortly (go look). The bird sat nicely for us for five minutes, moved to another perch further way and then did a huge circuit around us heading for Farhult. Fantastic encounter. Also on the circuit we had a 1K goshawk (our second of the day), rough-legged buzzard (2) and a few redwing.

In the last light of the day we checked Farhult quickly (two Slavonian grebe and a frozen bay) and then Rönnen (the last white-tailed eagle of the day). But after a brave struggle against sleep deprivation and the -8 degree temperature (with added wind-chill), Terry started to look a bit peaky; it was time to get him back on the train to Denmark! Another good day out.