still chilly

It was so cold today we did not need a net for the Odonates, we just picked them up...

Nipped out in the afternoon to check the lake at Pennebo, just outside BK in Halland. En route we stopped at the pond at Frestensfällan to get a long overdue BK year-tick - little grebe! At Baramossa we stopped for a nice roadside green sandpiper and also had a pair of spotted flycatcher.

At the lake it was about 10 degrees with a fresh westerly blowing. We worked through the commonplace damselflies sheltering along the track and flushed the odd Libellula quadrimaculata. The best of it was my first Calopteryx virgo of the year. So cold you could pick it up.

Coldest June day in Stockholm yesterday for 84 years...

More dragging

Another sunny day so I went out searching for Odonata, inspired by yesterday's effortless score. Today though was different, I worked hard for little gain. Spent most of the day in Halland too so it did not count towards the Atlas! The morning was spent walking into Eskilstorpsdammar and searching through the many ponds on this impressive man-made site. I had thought I might have missed some species last time but this visit produced many of the same species and only added Orthetrum cancellatum and Calopteryx splendens into the mix. No surprises then. Bird-wise things were quiet, just a single singing male grasshopper warbler.

Leucorrhinia rubicunda near Baramossa (Halland).

Nipped home to pick up the team and a big picnic and we headed out. A quick stop at Ehrenstorp produced nothing unusual and then we stopped for lunch at Perstorp enefälad. More false heath fritillaries here and today purple-edged coppers were also on the wing. Driving on we checked a small pond near Baramossa which had more purple-edged coppers and the day's only Leucorrhinia rubicunda. Last stop of the day was another look at the lake at Pennebo. I was hoping to discover Epitheca here, but none were flying today. Are they there? We did see plenty of Calopteryx virgo in the outflow stream and also had a single Brachytron, both species not noted last visit.

All quiet on the western front

Headed out to tramp around Gröthögarna this morning. I gave it a good go but the highlight was three singing icterine warblers. Also though an increase to four thrush nightingales, the pair of cranes and a hawfinch. The 'best' bird though came at the end near the car park at Norra Ängalag, a flyby collared dove - a new bird for Gröthögarna.

We all headed out for lunch at Klarningen, but they were working on the site with tractors... Ground-nesting birds get pretty short shrift here sadly. At least they did not harrow them this year I suppose. The best birds were a pair of grey partridge, a species hard hit by last winter and these were my first this year and the first reported in BK too. Good to have them back at this regular site. Whilst we lunched I spotted single greenshank and wood sandpiper and a pair of cranes migrated overhead. Water levels continue to drop, why don't they turn the wind-pump on? I guess I will have to ask!

The rest of the cool and overcast afternoon was spent looking for dragonflies in hardly ideal conditions. We checked out the lake at Pennebo, thinking it was in Skåne and would count for the Atlas, only to find out later that it was in Halland! It looks a great site though and we will go back. Dragonflies on the wing here were Pyrrhosoma nymphula, Coenagrion hastulatum, Leucorrhinia rubicunda and Libellula quadrimaculata. The weather and time got the best of us but we dropped in on Gånarp too for more Coenagrion hastulatum, Leucorrhinia rubicunda and Libellula quadrimaculata. Another off-patch site to revisit next month.

Plenty of teneral Coenagrion hastulatum at Pennebo and a few good males.

Leucorrhinia rubicunda was seen at both sites covered today, this one at Gånarp.