SWEDEN - 6th July

Strong force 6 south-westerlies blazed across the area all day preventing any ringing and bringing numerous, heavy showers from late morning; there were plenty of new birds across the reserve though (probably because of the weather) with some excellent wader counts including 88 Bar-tailed Godwits (35 on Hammarmaden and 53 on Löten), a single Knot and 4 Curlew Sandpipers on Hammarmaden, 12 Dunlin, a juvenile Little Ringed Plover running around on the road, 17 Ruff, 3 Spotted Redshank, 24 Greenshank and 50+ Wood Sandpipers.   

Other birds during a good walk around in the morning included an adult Arctic Tern on Rysjön (a Swedish tick!), a single Whooper Swan (a Kvismaren tick!), c60 Little Gulls at the colony, a Hobby, a Peregrine and a very impressive performance by the 450+ Swifts – all feeding really low, whizzing close past you so you could hear the wings as they bombed past.

Swift

Common Tern

Heron

Hobby