Twitching with kids

Magic birds grey wagtails, even when they are playing hard to get.

With Mrs B stuck in a meeting all morning, the kids and I went twitching to nearby Lagaoset. It's a beautiful spot and the kids always enjoy it here. The male stonechat behaved too, surrendering as soon as we had walked the short distance to the back of the dunes. The only other notable bird in our lightning visit was a/some crossbill heard in the pines.

On the way home we checked Klarningen of course, but it remains quiet, there were more snipe about though and the curlew total has hit five. Over on Eskilstorpsdammar were two grey heron. Woo-hoo! Did finally meet Jan Skidell though which was good.

In the afternoon the entire team accompanied me up Sinarpsdalen. It seemed 'quiet' on the way up, just one grey wagtail. But once I had waved off the team and headed back to pick up the car the place came alive with birds. Funny that! Kicked through a mixed flock of thrushes that refused to contain a redwing, but resulted in a flushed woodcock (my first of the year). Another grey wagtail flew overhead, and a line of cherry trees yielded a hawfinch. High in a birch a great grey shrike peered about and down in the valley bog (and the biggest surprise of all) I heard my first water rail of the year.

Hot dogs on the beach - 13/03/10

We all headed out for a trip into Halland this morning. First stop was Lagaoset, the mouth of the Lagan river. I do not get up here much, it is off-patch, but it is a cracking site and gets good vismig in spring and autumn. Quiet today though, with just some obvious skylark movement overhead and a few goldcrest and common crossbill knocking about.

We took lunch at Trönningestranden, more skylarks on the move, a pair of common crossbill in the pines and a few shelduck. Temperatures above freezing at last but the snow seems reluctant to leave us.

Last stop of the day was at Klarningen where in 20 minutes on my own I managed to cobble together a few good birds. A huge flock of 42 stock dove flew east. Overhead a few skylarks were singing and more passed north overhead, together with the odd buzzard. A couple of lapwing were on site too, together with one of the regular rough-legged buzzards. The best bird was a single woodlark, calling as it flew overhead - not many moving at the moment, so a bit surprising.