SWEDEN - 15th November

 Back to overcast conditions again but with a stronger SW wind so I didn’t do any ringing; I only ventured out for a few hours to have a walk around Frystrandsfjorden to the north of the reserve where birds of note comprised a smart adult male Goshawk which flew north, a group of 6 Scaup with the Goldeneye at the mouth of the bay, a single Slavonian Grebe and a little trickle of 40+ Redpolls moving south in small flocks.

SWEDEN - 14th November

 A gorgeous morning, sunny and calm but the nets were very quiet, a couple of new Common Redpolls the only birds of note; there were a few birds around though in the fine conditions including 14 Whooper Swans, 2 Smew (both redheads which flew in from the north), a Jack Snipe flying around the reedbed with a good 30+ Snipe, obviously flushed from somewhere also flying around, a Greenshank (first one for a while), 2 Peregrines – the usual adult male and a 1cy male and 10+ Bearded Tits obvious in the reeds.   

Didn’t go anywhere in the afternoon despite the weather but a nice evening watching from the house over the bay produced another impressive corvid spectacular, as numbers comprised 1,309 Hooded Crows, 1,200+ Jackdaws and an impressive 420+ Rooks (these included a big flock of c300 which came in high from the SE to drop onto the airfield); also of note was another increased total of 1,452 Lapwings with a single Ruff and 5 Golden Plovers, 4 Shoveler, the Greenshank again and at least 7 Curlews which left high to the south at dusk, all the time calling loudly – classic migrating behaviour.

Pretty pink Redpoll

SWEDEN - 13th November

 Same yet again although the sun broke through for about an hour late morning, the nets were quiet with just a handful of Common Redpolls but there was plenty of other stuff to see.   

The highlight was finding a drake Green-winged Teal feeding just below the house, it hadn’t finished its moult yet (especially the flanks) so the pattern was indistinct so it was a case of grilling it to make sure the less-than-complete vertical white stripes were even on both sides and they were!   

Other birds included a redhead Smew flying high over the house, a Woodcock flushed from just outside the house, 14 Whooper Swans (including a new family party which flew in from the north), 14 Pintail and a Grey Wagtail.   

The point was quiet at lunchtime before a look at the mouth of the bay from Sillhallsvik produced the usual wildfowl including a female Scaup, 16 Shoveler and 15 Whooper Swans while a Bullfinch was new for me there, 3 White-tailed Eagles were feeding on something and a big female Sparrowhawk flew across the water from the north.

Green-winged Teal

Sparrowhawk

SWEDEN - 12th November

 Similar again, a touch of drizzle in the air but calm; the nets were decent with another 37 Redpolls caught (31 Common and 6 Lessers) with the added bonus of another fine male Hawfinch caught by the house.   Other birds seen through the morning comprised 13 Whooper Swans, a Ruff, 5 White-tailed Eagles, the now-regular adult male Peregrine and a Grey Wagtail.

Hawfinch

Messy eater Greenfinch

Had to look twice at some of the nice, white Redpolls, this one looks better in this photo than in real life - just a Common!

SWEDEN - 11th November

 A dreary, thinking-about-being-drizzly day but remaining calm throughout; the nets were quieter than of late but did include another handful of Common Redpolls and a Blackcap while other birds of note comprised a total of 64 Whooper Swans, 3 Little Grebes, 14 Goosanders and a Grey Wagtail.   

A walk round Sillhallsvik and then the Marina from lunchtime (although it was already pretty dark!) produced a single adult Bewick’s Swan with 41 Whoopers at the mouth of the bay where there was also big numbers of ducks and waders totalling 531 Mallard, 305 Teal, 23 Shoveler, 2 Pintail and a Ruff, also of note were 10 Little Grebes by the Marina, good totals of 95 Goldeneye and 55 Red-breasted Mergansers and a Treecreeper – the first I’ve seen out on the peninsula.

Bewick's Swan with the Whoopers

Whooper Swans

SWEDEN - 10th November

 Another carbon-copy day, calm and heavily overcast throughout; the ringing was again dominated by Redpolls as I managed to catch 51 Common and 6 Lessers but missed out as another Coue’s Arctic Redpoll was seen around the nets, feeding right underneath but failed to get caught, the only other bird of note caught was a distinctive Greenfinch – a massive adult male with a wing of 97 and a nice grey cast all over, unusual for an adult male, probably from way north and east!   

Other birds seen through the morning comprised a total of at least 96 Whooper Swans with flocks dropping in and moving off all day (I probably missed some though), 27 Shelduck (my highest count here), 2 Shoveler, 420+ Mallard, 385+ Teal, 14 Goosander, an increased 1,364 Lapwings in the bay, 3 Ruff, a Jack Snipe flying around the reedbed at dawn, a Sparrowhawk, 2 Peregrines, 4 Hawfinches (three high over and another single by the feeders) and a single Bullfinch.   

It was another epic night for Corvids in the bay just before dusk as I broke my previous record with a massive 1,261 Hooded Crows gathering in front of the house right up until it got dark – I don’t know when and where the subsequently go.

Inamongst the many nice, smart, white Common Redpolls have been a few of these huge billed, thick legged, long-winged, bulky, white but heavily streaked brutes - I wonder where they are from?

SWEDEN - 9th November

 Calm again but heavily overcast and chilly; the nets had a few bits but not as exciting as yesterday with 18 Redpolls caught (12 Common and 6 Lessers) which were probably remnants of yesterday’s arrival rather than new birds along with 2 Chiffchaffs (the first since last month), a Reed Bunting (the first for over three weeks) and a Great-spotted Woodpecker.   

Other birds included a total of 44 Whooper Swans, with a few flocks coming and going through the morning, with two family groups noted, increases to 22 Pintail and 6 Tufted Ducks (both the highest counts I’ve had here), 4 Golden Plover and a Ruff with the Lapwings, 146 Dunlin and probably 4 Grey Wagtails.   

A walk round the point in the afternoon was quiet but some good counts feeding at the mouth of the bay from Sillhallsvik included 41 Whooper Swans, 363 Mallard, 321 Teal and 26 Red-breasted Mergansers.

Stonechat from yesterday

SWEDEN - 8th November

 Another good, calm morning with an excellent arrival of Redpolls again the highlight; ringing totals consisted of 89 Common Redpolls, 16 Lesser Redpolls and a beautiful, fluffy, snowball white COUE’S ARCTIC REDPOLL caught as pretty much the last bird of the morning which flew into the net beside me as I was taking other birds out!   

I didn’t really look around too much through the morning but there were other Finches evident with Bramblings, Chaffinches and Twite overhead (we also caught the first two Twite of the autumn) along with 4 Whooper Swans, 4 Sparrowhawks (moving south late morning when the sun came out), a Peregrine and a Grey Wagtail.   

Not much else to report although there were 2 Slavonian Grebes and a female Stonechat just to the north in Frystrandsfjorden in the afternoon.

Arctic Redpoll

Twite

SWEDEN - 7th November

 Calm again but his time it remained overcast throughout, a good morning’s ringing produced a nice range of species highlighted by the first decent arrival of Common Redpolls – I caught 25, along with four I called Lessers with another 20+ around; other bits caught included the first Blackcap for ages, 2 Goldcrests, a nice female Bullfinch and 2 Greenfinches.   

Other counts and birds around the reserve through the morning comprised 3,200+ Barnacle Geese, 7 Whooper Swans, 1,053+ Wigeon, 353+ Mallard, 8 Pintail, 330+ Teal, 1,033+ Lapwings, 2 Ruff, 158 Dunlin, single Greenshank and Redshank, a ringtail Hen Harrier and an adult male Peregrine.   

A little jaunt to the south just after lunch provided good views of 5 LESSER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE (all adults from the reintroduction scheme) feeding in fields with other geese including 17+ White-fronted Geese – I guess not strictly wild and self-sustaining but the closest I’ve seen!

Common Redpoll

Lesser Redpoll

Blackbird

SWEDEN - 6th November

 After some early morning murk, it was a beautiful sunny day but better still, it was wondrously calm, even more noticeable after a week of strong winds; the nets had the usual Robins, wrens and Blue Tits along with 7 Lesser Redpolls.   

Other birds included a total of 11 Whooper Swans (six in the bay at first light, three straight south and two more in the bay mid-morning – all adults) along with some Barnacles and Greylags moving south, 4 Buzzards which went south as soon as the sun came out, some Bearded Tits and a squealing Water Rail in the reedbeds, 2 Bramblings and a good total of 13 Yellowhammers overhead.   

From late morning I went down south to Rödskär where the highlight was again 5 Shorelarks briefly in the bay, there was also a hint of some passage including a Siskin, some high Blue Tits, a high flock of 19 Cormorants in formation and a big, very high flock of 150 Greylag Geese.

Red-throated Diver

Rock Pipit

Rook

Hooded Crow

SWEDEN - 5th November

 The strong winds continued, this time a blasting, almost straight westerly; I went back out to the point as always but this time focusing on taking pictures of any close stuff going past the rocks and not looking out to sea very much.   There were plenty of Auks passing close in but unusually the vast majority were Guillemots (Razorbills have been much commoner recently) and they were all going north which they aren’t supposed to do, the only bits of note comprised single Little Auk and Velvet Scoter.   

The weather closed in during the afternoon so nothing else of note was seen.

Guillemots

and Razorbills

SWEDEN - 4th November

 Still very windy, so I was back out on the point first thing but the wind had moved round to just north of west meaning cover was hard to find, pushing me to a poorer viewpoint which produced much reduced numbers including 2 Shoveler, 79 Eider, 21 Common Scoter, 2 Goldeneye, 2 Goosander, 6 Red-breasted Mergansers, an Oystercatcher, a Dunlin, 2 Guillemots, 15 Razorbill, 9 Kittiwakes, 7 Red-throated Divers and 9 Gannets while a Waxwing flew over the carpark and 2 Snow Buntings were milling around.   

A Spotted Redshank and 34 Grey Plovers were seen from the house before, in an attempt to escape the strong winds on the coast I had a wander around some places in town but it was pretty rubbish with just a Marsh Tit of note.

Common Scoter

Herring Gull

Red-breasted Mergansers

Eiders