After a crazy wet and wild
night there was a steady NW wind through the day and most of the morning’s
birds were on Vågsvollvåien where a monster 1st year Glaucous Gull dropped in briefly with a
regular turnover of Gulls passing through, 2 Redshanks and a redhead Goosander
while the drake Garganey and the
drake Common Teal x Green-winged Teal were still present. The sea was fairly quiet with 400 Common
Gulls and 2 Kittiwakes north and 90 Common Scoter south while there were 2 Black
Redstarts near the lighthouse.
A walk round the coast then produced 15 Wheatears,
20+ White Wagtails and 8 Wigeon while in Lebeltet there was an increased 250+
Chaffinches and most of yesterday’s Robins, Song Thrushes and Blackbirds as not
much would have moved on during the foul night. My first Swallow of the year was then cruising around over Gunnarsmyra –
first seen yesterday.
- I read a few Gull rings on Vågsvollvåien as they
dropped in on their way through; two adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls stand out
with J8R8 ringed as a chick in 2007 way up in Troms in north Norway to where it
has been returning to breed once old enough, it has also been re-sighted at
Minsmere, Suffolk in March 2012 and at Milton Tip by Cambridge in November 2014
– dates that suggest it is just on passage through eastern UK between its
breeding and wintering sites.
The
second bird, J5T8 was ringed as a chick near Mandal, east of here in 2008 and has
been returning to breed on Rauna – an island just along the coast. It has been re-sighted during winter along
the north Spanish coast near La Coruna as well as on passage at Zeeland, The
Netherlands in August 2009. These two
birds, despite travelling in opposite directions to their breeding grounds
according to the life history revealed by the ring re-sightings were perched
happily next to each other this afternoon!
Black Redstart
White Wagtail
Wheatear
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