hot and windy

 Dragonflies were the order of the day, despite the windy conditions and the fact that I would probably of been better off birding! My first Coenagrion puella were on the wing at a number of sites.

Out and about again today in the hot sun and windy conditions. Hit Drängstorp first hoping for Coenagrion armatum but instead had to settle for a huge emergence of Coenagrion lunulatum and my first Leucorrhinia rubicunda for the Atlas square.

 Coenagrion pulchellum

Next stop was Boarp, which was disappointing as the  water level in the ordinarily shallow and very good fourth pond was way up. Did get more puella here though and Coenagrion pulchellum, but very small numbers and no sign of any emergence at the site.

 Hovs Hallar produced at least seven migrating honey buzzards in a one-hour watch

Hovs Hallar for an hour in the middle of the day was good for honey buzzards (seven through) but the hoped-for rosefinches failed to sing. After lunch I had a quick look at the pool at Lönhult but it was too exposed for a reasonable odo-survey.

 Mute swan

Last stop of the day was another speculative listen for rosefinch at Öllövsstrand, again no joy, just a noisy thrush nightingale. The stars here though were two territorial map butterflies.

 Map butterfly

Driving out I glimpsed a male black redstart around the farm buildings at Öllöv and Number 1 and I returned later finding the nest-site and watching both adults shuttling to-and-fro with food for the hungry chicks. Nice find.

Last bird of the day was perhaps the best find, a breeding pair of black redstarts feeding young at Öllöv

Two hours at Dagshög

Target bird today was a black redstart reported a few days ago by a birding chasing the elusive water pipit at the site. Pleased to connect after two hours but should it show so much rufous wash in the underparts?

Had two-and-a-half hours in the field today and headed for Dagshög which netted me three year-ticks. First up was a song thrush over the car park as I got out of the car. Down at the coast I had a possible glimpse of the water pipit and two or three starlings were in the area. I walked south to Burensvik, hoping to reconnect with the pipit but failed. However on my return to Dagshög the black redstart (reported recently by others) was feeding avidly in amongst a mixed flock of rock and meadow pipits.

that flu by

Had yet another look at the 'eastern' black redstart at Rålehamn this morning, it looks in good health and was as confiding as usual, allowing a close approach.

Got out for the first time after eleven days laid up with 'real' flu, the whole team went down with it so it got pretty messy. Mrs B also contracted pneumonia and so the road to full recovery is looking long. The only bird noted whilst poorly was a garden tick stock dove blazing north on 23/2. But nice weather tempted us out for the first time today for some low-energy sitting in the sun and looking at birds.

Skylarks have successfully returned in numbers in my absence and both shelduck (13) and oystercatcher (14) made showy additions to the avifauna at Torekov rev. These three species are the earliest returnees every year. We tried but failed to find a ringed plover during the morning, another early bird. The rev also had a superb 2K peregrine sitting on it and fifteen bean geese migrated north overhead.

Moving on we checked out Rålehamn and found the eastern black redstart to be as obliging as usual. Driving round to Ripagården produced a great grey shrike at Norra Ängalag but Ripagården was quiet, although we were really running out of steam by this stage. Spring has begun though and hopefully we will soon be back in the thick of it.

White out

Went to see BK's long-staying rare again today. He is sporting a new ring and is apparently in good shape, despite the weather.

Had just half an hour in the field this morning, before the fog and snow sent me scuttling home. Spent my time watching the eastern black redstart at Rålehamn, it was feeding together with a number of pipits, a wren, and some robins and blackbirds. These birds have excavated a number of tunnels into the bank of seaweed and seem to be thriving. Checked Torekov rev briefly on the way home, it was completely iced up.

A casual glance along the beach at Rålehamn revealed no birds, but closer inspection showed that they were all under the seaweed in small feeding tunnels!

Back in time for BK MEGA

Despite very cold temperatures overnight, this eastern black redstart made it onto my BK list this morning. This race has an excellent chance of being split I reckon. Last autumn produced a bumper crop of this subspecies, with seven here in Sweden (if you include this individual) and the UK had it's first record too.

Tanzania was great but it caused not a little alarm when I realised just before I got home that BK was hosting a huge bird - Sweden's seventh eastern (phoenicuroides) black redstart! I need not have worried though as this morning it was behaving impeccably at Rålehamn to a small but appreciative audience. I checked out Torekov afterwards hoping for purple sandpipers, but came away empty-handed. Just white-tailed eagle (1) over on Hallands Väderö, two oystercatchers, a flyby black guillemot and a 2K shag.

Kattvik was devoid of gulls and I could not find the over-wintering chiffchaff. Last stop was Båstad where I watched with a certain amount of horror as an adult white-tailed eagle dispatched a male eider over 15 long minutes. The eagle kept harrying the eider, hooking a talon into it's head or neck whenever it could, until the blood loss and continual diving ensured an unpleasant drowning... At least 44 whooper swans sheltering here and the sea is starting to freeze already!

This white-tailed eagle killed a male eider at Båstad this morning. Killing the bird over 15 minutes and then waiting patiently for the corpse to drift into the shore.

Natty red

I was told about a singing black redstart in Sinarpsdalen last spring but never connected. I was not too surprised therefore, but still delighted, to find a pair of them on site today.

The Sinarpsdalen walk starts close to our house, so I left the car in the drive and walked down into the valley this morning. Over the house a low flock of 40 whooper swans split to avoid the TV aerial! Chiffchaffs have arrived in numbers this weekend, with 8 singing males recorded this morning on the walk. Hawfinches were in 'song' too, which looked and sounded painful. No sign of my target lesser spotted woodpecker but on the walk back up the road I bumped into singing male black redstart which lead me eventually to a female. Black redstarts used to breed in the factory in the village until they renewed the roof. It is tempting to think that the pair may have relocated here? Otherwise there may be more pairs lurking in the farmyards on the high ground? Yesterday I could not find a wheatear on the coast but today they were on territory, song-flighting. More evidence of the huge movement of birds that has taken place this weekend.

Number 2 had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon and the team gave me half an hour at nearby Klarningen before we went home. Plenty of new birds in here. Not only my much-wanted gadwall (2 at last!) but also shoveler (4), dunlin (1), ruff (4), green sandpiper (1), redshank (2), white wagtail (3) and chiffchaff (1).