WYKE BIRDING: 4th September

Friday 4 September 2015

4th September

An absolutely glorious day after days of rain, really calm and dry with sunny spells; perhaps surprisingly though the nets were pretty dead with a little male Sparrowhawk and a Redstart the highlights. The sea was also very quiet with nothing really of note but the rest of the area was full of birds and it was an awesome days birding; a Red-throated Pipit was the highlight around the lighthouse in the morning along with plenty of White and Yellow Wagtails while on the very flooded Vågsvollvåien / Gunnarsmyra area birds included single Spotted Redshank and Grey Plover, 2 Wood Sandpipers, 34+ Wigeon, 2 Pintail, 50+ Teal, 24 Ruff and 60+ Dunlin while 15+ Sparrowhawks and at least 3 Merlins bombed about.

There weren’t too many waders around the coast with the exception of a big flock of 73+ Ruff which flew past Karveneset but there was a big influx of 155+ Teal in Sevika along with 9 Shoveler while at least 6 Peregrines, the female Goshawk and more Sparrowhawks, Merlins and Kestrels kept everything on their toes. Inland the pick of the birds was a brilliant female BLACK WOODPECKER in Lebeltet Nord (the first of the year and hopefully the first of many!) while other things of note included 4 Redstarts, 8 Tree Pipits, 2 Red-backed Shrikes, 28+ Whinchats, a Spotted Flycatcher, 3 Lesser Whitethroats, 10+ Bramblings and an early Pink-footed Goose (and a Bar-headed Goose) with 300+ Greylags in Vatnemarka.

I was back out across the fields in the afternoon where the highlight was definitely at least one juvenile PALLID HARRIER cruising around – a second bird was present as well but I was a bit confused by it as plumage wise it looked close for another Pallid but it was built more like a Hen Harrier (I saw it with both the Pallid and a Hen Harrier through the afternoon to confirm this) I reckon its a hybrid; the best bit though was when the Pallid Harrier circled up high and had a massive dogfight with a GYRFALCON right over my head – unbelievable!!

A juvenile White-tailed Eagle was terrorising the Greylag Goose flock just beyond Vatnemarka (the first I’ve seen this autumn) while the Gunnarsmyra floods were brilliant in the evening sunshine, absolutely full of birds including 55+ Ruff (minus the one that was brutally nailed by a Peregrine pretty much before the rest of the flock had noticed!), a Black-tailed Godwit, a Spotted Redshank, 2+ Wood Sandpipers, 30+ Redshank and 30+ Yellow Wagtails.