southward bound

I have given up looking for adults and we are now familiarising ourselves with the larva of Sweden's Odonata, this one is Leucorrhinia dubia I reckon. We were just getting started on our first-ever family pond-dip in the afternoon when the heavens opened and we had to run to the car. It's starting to piss me off...

Yesterday evening we were all up at Salmon Height's enjoying a BBQ in a heinous westerly with occasional showers. Overhead a steady stream of swifts were heading west - so soon? 

This morning the westerly wind continued and after a late night the best I could do was an 8 o'clock start! Spent nearly three hours at Ripagården and was pleased to log a light passage of waders that consisted mainly of dunlin (46) but also grey plover (2), knot (10 - BK year-tick), bar-tailed godwit (8 - BK year-tick) and turnstone (1). A young peregrine idly pursued an oystercatcher past my position and then the tables were reversed and the oystercatcher chased it off. Perhaps the most enjoyable bird though was a full summer-plumage Slavonian grebe that dropped into a raft of eider just offshore and looked fantastic.

the cranberries

Giggity. Lilioceris lilii in action in the garden. Worth planting some lilies for these guys if you haven't got any in your garden.

After a typically late Sunday start we all got out in the field for an afternoon session. Checked out a series of dragonfly sites but although the sun was shining, it was cool and the wind was strongish from the west. Not ideal. Had a quick look at Bränneslätt first, few Odonates on the wing here but double cranberry on the butterfly front, with both cranberry fritillary and my first BK cranberry blue flying.

Älemossen next, way too windy here and no sign of any Somatochlora arctica. Again few Odonates on the wing but did find more cranberry fritillaries and a single small pearl-bordered fritillary.Last stop of the day was at the small reserve at Ledtorpet. Just a lot of boggy grassland and one male Libellula depressa encountered.

 Leucorrhinia dubia

My first BK cranberry blue (Vacciniina optilete) appeared in front of the lens this afternoon at Bränneslätt.

Checked out the small nature reserve at Ledtorpet for the first time today. Very boggy and looks interesting, no sign of any of the good butterflies that are reported here, just a single male Libellula depressa.

New dragonfly in BK

Instead of risking weather and heavy traffic and going for Nehalennia today I elected to stay at home with Team B. The weather was variable with plenty of cloud but we had a good day looking at invertebrates at a variety of sites up on the hill.

First up was a quick look at the Sphagnum bog at Bränneslätt. I was hoping for an early Somatochlora arctica but the weather was not really warm enough to be sure that they are not flying. We did not see one! Plenty of Leucorrhinia dubia on the wing and some females egg-laying. Also more cranberry fritillaries here, which were so cold you could pick them up, which enchanted Numbers 1 and 2.

More secondary genitalia! This is the hamule of a Leucorrhinia dubia, much straighter than that on rubicunda which I pictured earlier.

Crossing the road we strolled down to the man-made pools and adjacent peat bogs. This area is rather good for Odonata and we had two year-ticks here in the form of both Somatochlora metallica and flavomaculata. Also here an Aeshna grandis.

One of two patrolling male Somatochlora metallica at Bjäred today. New for the year, but regular at this site. flavomaculata was flying here too today.

After lunch we checked out the small stream and large reedbed at Hulrugered. A neglected bit of the patch me thinks, and just as I was thinking it, Mrs B earned the team an ice-cream by spotting my first Swedish Cordulegaster boltonii. It perched nicely for photos.

A long-anticipated addition to my BK list and a Swedish tick to boot. Cordulegaster really is a monster Odo. Kudos to Mrs B.

Last stop of the day was a recce into the mire at the eastern end of Älemossen, difficult to get into but full of potential. Just one Libellula quadrimaculata flying when we were there but some good butterflies including purple-edged copper and idas blue.

Idas blue - another first for me in BK.

A rather tatty female purple-edged copper spotted at Älemossen this afternoon.

Sun at last

My mate Sam rang me yesterday excited about the sand martin colony in the gravel pit at Förslöv. So the first thing Ma B, Number 2 and I did today was drive down and check it out. It was bustling with activity and there must have been 350 nestholes in the sand-face. Nice one!

Next we went for a short walk around the Killeröd loop, not much bird action here just plenty of singing tree pipits and goldcrests and a single siskin.

Today's sun brought out the insects again, a morning walk aroud the Killeröd loop track produced a few grizzled skippers.

Small coppers are commonly encountered at the moment.

I still find the dubia/rubicunda species pair hard to call, this is dubia (black pterostigma, goodish size black spot in base of forewing). Other good pointers I have noted are the shape of the antehumerals and the distribution of colours on S2 and S3, and the hind wing patches are blunter on dubia (at the trailing edge).

In the afternoon we all checked out Rönnen, hoping for broad-billed sandpipers. We skunked out, despite 16 being reported earlier in the day. We did connect with a pair of garganey, recently hatched lapwings, three Temminck's stints and single bar-tailed godwit, common sandpiper and greenshank. Nearby Sandön was really quiet with just a curlew and three Sandwich terns.

Here be dragons!

First brood of goldeneye this morning at Petersberg. Aaaah!

Kicked off quite early at Eskilstorpsstrand this morning. Plenty going on here with more red-throated diver migration evident (just 100 knocking about off BK but bigger numbers just to the north). Three summer-plumaged long-tailed ducks were nice to see although distant. The best bird was a male garganey hammering south - is that it then? Eight little gulls came in close and landed nearby for a while too, magic birds. Other notables included; black-throated diver (2), great crested grebe (5), and greenshank (1).

Klarningen next, where a big wader influx has occurred since I last looked in. Pick of the crop were four fantastic Temminck's stints, but also 12 ruff and 35 wood sandpipers in this morning. Other birds here included little ringed plover (2 pairs) and a calling cuckoo. Dropped in on Petersberg in time to see a goshawk being escorted off the premises by two irate hooded crows. Also here a singing sedge warbler and a fly-over hawfinch.

Spent the rest of the day with Team B tramping around a few wetlands in the sun and scaring up four species of Odonata; Leucorrhinia dubia at Bränneslätt mosgöl, Pyrrhosoma nymphula at Frestenfälla and Coenagrion hastulatum and Libellula quadrimaculata at Lya. It seems too early for all these species!

Quite a few emerging Leucorrhinia at Bränneslätt mosgöl today, all the ones we got a look at were dubia.

Pyrrhosoma on the wing to, here at Frestenfälla, a reliable site for this species.

Number 1 spotted this grizzled skipper at Frestenfälla and shouted 'Do I get an ice-cream?' Mmmm ice-cream moments.

Map butterflies are smart little chaps, again Frestenfälla is a reliable site for this species too.

A new site near Lya looks like it might have potential, this Coenagrion hastulatum was another year-tick.

We watched this Libellula quadrimaculata in the final stages of emergence. Furry little fellows!

Wings pumped and ready for flight. The dragonfly season is off!

Birding - 11/07/09

Slipped out mid-afternoon whilst the kids went to buy their Saturday sweets... Spent an hour at Klarningen - quiet here with curlew (2), green sandpiper (3), common sandpiper (1), lapwing (60), ringed plover (pair) and little ringed plover (pair).

Next stop was half an hour at nearby Frestenfalla, here some dragonfly pools are always worth checking and today was great. Plenty of damsels with Lestes sponsa, Coenagrion hastulatum and a single Pyrrhosoma nymphula. Big dragonflies were represented by an excellent Leucorrhinia rubicunda, lots of Leucorrhinia dubia, Libellula quadrimaculata, Sympetrum danae and a single Aeshna (prob juncea).

Plenty of Coenagrion hastulatum on the wing today

Sympetrum danae was present in good numbers as tenerals, just one adult located

Leucorrhinia rubicunda, just one present in amongst plenty of dubia. Note the blackish pterostigma, pale costa and the pattern along the abdomen.

A Leucorrhinia dubia for comparison.