to the sea again

Kittiwakes passage seemed to slow up today but I still logged 65 through Yttre Kattvik in two hours.

More seawatching for me this morning. I arrived fashionably late yet again at Yttre Kattvik to find no parking space in the carpark and the news that I had missed a Sabine's gull and the entire gallery had missed another great northern diver, reported at sites either side as it went west. That's seawatching! Settled down quickly and enjoyed a two-hour spell that produced; fulmar (6), sooty shearwater (1), gannet (38), knot (1), pomarine skua (1K), great skua (6), kittiwake (65) and one little auk. But still no Leach's petrels or red phalaropes, so when a significant contingent departed for Båstad mid-morning I went too and this paid off handsomely.

This time a move to Båstad was inspired and we were quickly watching a close red phalarope, followed by my first Sabine's gull of the day, this little 1K beauty.

The first hour at Båstad was incredible. Arriving we were straight on to a red phalarope just off the pier. A 1K Sabine's gull followed quickly and then the first of two Leach's petrels. Great stuff. Also here seven brent geese (west), a scaup west, three little gulls and a close little auk.

At least seven fulmar through today, including this scruffy individual at Båstad.

During the morning someone told me that a Sabine's gull had been reported on a ploughed field east of Båstad. With a sinking feeling I presumed that it was on the fields along the access track to Klarningen [and this did indeed turn out to be the case]. So when Båstad had produced the goods I nipped up to see if the Sabine's gull was still there. It had gone, but the site's first little gull (an adult) had taken it's place. A quick look at the wetland revealed nothing untoward.

Last stop of the day was a quick 40 minutes at Eskilstorpsstrand, this proved to be inspired as I shared the beach with a fantastic 1K Sabine's gull that shuttled up and down the beach.

More signs of the windy weather and it's impact on birds at Eskilstorpsstrand; this razorbill was looking peeky and apparently there was a dead little auk further along the beach.

Sabine's gull number 2 was cruising up and down Eskilstorpsstrand and was very good value.

Sabine's gull waits just long enough

Nipped out to Båstad at dawn to check for waifs and strays after the big blow. Walked straight to the sea and there at my feet was yesterday's Sabine's gull. Superb. Poor light so poor photos...

1K Sabine's gull - always a favourite.

Mmmm - arty.

The bird saw me and started paddling away out to sea and managed to disappear presumably by flying whilst I was scanning hopefully for the Mediterranean gull (seen again to the north of BK yesterday). Short but sweet. A reasonably thorough search failed to relocate the Sabine's but did produce a rock pipit and three grey wagtails.

Picked up the team next and we had a walk around Gröthögarna. Beautiful weather for a change but not much on the move here. Highlights included a nice 1K hen harrier and another grey wagtail. Last stop of the morning was at Påarps Mal which produced another BK year-tick in the shape of two shag. Also here three 1K grey plovers roosting.

In the afternoon I dropped in on Klarningen, plenty of water on site now and wildfowl are responding slowly. At least 80 teal, 16 wigeon and a few geese around, and best of all two little grebes. The flooded fields to the south were good too with over 200 meadow pipits and 8 dunlin.

Vas a deferens a day makes! Apologies to Adams and Grever.

What a difference a day makes. Twenty-four little hours. Yesterday I was a happy-go-lucky kind of birder, gambolling around the patch and enjoying life. After today's vasectomy, well things are a little different... I hope to be back in the thick of it soon though. In the meantime, check out the Sabine's gull video from the 5th October and I will catch up with some overdue rarity descriptions and nurse my tender nuts.

Wrecked!

About 35-40 kittiwakes were feeding along the seafront at Båstad this morning. Drop outs after yesterday's big blow.

Today was always going to be challenging. Unlike yesterday I had the car, unlike yesterday I also had three kids and Ma B (the latter suffering from shingles). Conditions for sea-watching looked better than yesterday... In the end we made a decent go of it and I got another patch year-tick.

We headed to Båstad for a walk after breakfast, near the play-ground we found a large flock of unhappy looking kittiwake feeding just off the shoreline. I checked carefully through them for anything interesting and scanned the outer harbour. A gannet flew past close-by. As we played happily, the Cory's shearwater flew past an admiring gallery, just as I was pretending to be a dolphin probably. I am sure I am going to see this bird this autumn, but today was not the day (again). We walked on to check the inner harbour. But this time the nearby kittiwake flock included a superb, but very scruffy 1K Sabine's gull! Nice one.

1K birds outnumbered adults by 7 to 1.

Nothing beats a close-up view of a pelagic bird.

Very adolescent, the bird gave a pathetic begging call all the time.

The only flight view I managed. Nice though.

Unfortunately as we approached the harbour we met some birders, they gripped me rigid (Manx and Cory's shearwater) and I told them about the Sabine's gull. It seemed an unfair exchange of information somehow. From the pier I spotted four pomarine skuas, two fulmars and two sooty shearwaters. Things were obviously still very good. Moving the kids onto the beach, I hunkered down for ten minutes at Skansenbadet. I told the guys there about the Sabines's and most of them left to see it. Amazingly in the ten minute watch, I found a Leach's petrel, not a close one, but unmistakeable. So not a bad walk, just glad to have got out and been a part of it really. Leach's was my 7th patch year-tick in two days, bringing the BK year-list to 213. Last year I got 208, so I am chuffed to have raised the bar. It ain't over yet though and that Cory's is still out there...

The Sabine's twitch later in the day. I have found megas that got smaller total crowds than this.