SWEDEN - 27th July

A steady ringing session at Fågelsjön with the definite highlight being catching 2 Bluethroats – a female with a big brood patch and a 2cy male in serious heavy moult and missing a tail; the only other thing of note were the 3 Great White Egrets leaving their roost with the increasing numbers of Cranes at dawn.   

A good long walk round the reserve in the afternoon was very productive, especially the excellent numbers of waders on Löten (probably due to the heavy rain overnight) which included 2 Little Stints (both pristine juveniles – a Swedish tick!), 46 Dunlin, 5 Curlew Sandpipers, 3 Spotted Redshank, a juvenile Little Ringed Plover, 28+ Snipe, 50+ Wood Sandpipers, a Greenshank, a Curlew, 5 Ruff and 13 Redshank (my peak count so far) while a 2cy Common Tern was also of note and new in.   

I was back at the tower when a little shower moved through and almost instantly a flock of 6 Grey Plover and 14 Bar-tailed Godwits dropped in, circled several times, decided that the shower wasn’t too bad after all and continued high away to the south.   

Other bits of note seen included maybe 3 Honey Buzzards (one over Fågelsjön and then two together over the fields near the bridge – the pale one was carrying a large chunk of honey-comb, maybe indicating nearby breeding?), two adult White-tailed Eagles in their usual tree, at least 5 Ospreys, a pair of mating Baltic Hawkers (a new Dragonfly species), a big Eyed Hawkmoth caterpillar and a dead Water Shrew.

Bluethroat #1

Bluethroat #2

How does it fly when its in this heavy moult

Blue-headed Wagtail also in heavy moult

Honey Buzzard

SWEDEN - 22nd July

Another quiet morning ringing at Rysjön with the singing Savi’s Warbler again the highlight of birds seen through the session.   

A walk round the eastern section of the reserve which backs onto the woodland at Sörön where birds included great views of a dark Honey Buzzard overhead, a male Red-backed Shrike and a Wryneck feeding along a bank.

Honey Buzzard

Osprey

Common Tern

Brown Hawker

SWEDEN - 18th July

The early highlight came as we were driving to Rysjön for the ringing session as we heard some young Long-eared Owls begging in some trees at the side of the road, one of which showed briefly later in the day after the ringing.   

The ringing itself was quiet with some big flocks of Black-headed Gulls heading south at first light, a 2cy White-tailed Eagle and 2 Great White Egrets of note although a new juvenile Thrush Nightingale was trapped.   

In the afternoon I walked some woodland roads just to the north of Kvismaren where the highlight was great views of 2 Honey Buzzards overhead, one of which was calling repeatedly; it was quiet for other birds with just 2 Ospreys, 2 Tree Pipits and a flock of 7 Golden Plover over to the west of note but good for Butterflies, including four species of Fritillary – Dark Green, Silver-washed, Heath and Queen-of-Spain.

Honey Buzzard

Great-spotted Woodpecker

NORTH RONALDSAY - 13th May

Another great feeling day with a brisk SE wind and increasingly overcast conditions finally giving in to heavy rain late afternoon; the highlight round the Obs census route included a female Red-backed Shrike I caught in T5, yesterday’s Honey Buzzard which flew south down the west coast until it met the Raven pair who forced it out over the sea from where it carried on south and away, my first Wood Sandpiper of the year which flew south over the Obs, my first Cuckoo of the year flushed out of Holland and my first Garden Warbler of the year by T3.

                Other birds included a Sedge Warbler, a Willow Warbler, 3 Chiffchaffs, 4 Collared Doves (including three heading south out to sea), 20 Wheatears, a Barnacle Goose flying round Holland, 2 Black-tailed Godwits and the Kumlien’s Gull hanging around The Lurn.   Also of note were the first 2 Red Admirals and 3 Silver Y’s of the year – all promising signs for a bit of drifty migration!

Red-backed Shrike

Ravens making sure the Honey Buzzard left!

Willow Warbler

Kumlien's Gull

NORTH RONALDSAY - 12th May

Misty and murky with a few spots of rain and a brisk SE wind – perfect birding conditions on here but yet again it was still disappointingly quiet; there was a singing Sedge Warbler in Ancum Willows with 2 Chiffchaffs on the way up to the north end while there were 38 Bar-tailed Godwits and a single Barnacle Goose on Ancum Loch.

                The highlight of the day came later with great views of a very dark male Honey Buzzard which flew over my head going south over Senness (it was later seen well around the airfield); other birds included a female Stonechat at Quoybanks (the first one since 7^th April), 2 Sparrowhawks, a single Chiffchaff, plenty of waders on the short grass around the lighthouse and 600+ Arctic Tern on the rocks.

A dark bird against a dark grey sky - the Honey Buzzard pictures were always just going to be silhouettes!

Shoveler

Bonxie

The first Greylag goslings were out on Garso

NORTH RONALDSAY - 26th May

A stunning day, calm, warm and sunny; it started off excellently with a pod of 3 ORCAS feeding in Nouster Bay, by the time I got down there they had moved off in the firth halfway to Sanday but any Orca sighting is a good sighting!   The Hooking census route was then quiet in the fine conditions with still good numbers of waders on The Links including 80 Ringed Plover and 120 Sanderling but the only other migrants were a Blackcap at Scotsha and a Spotted Flycatcher at Holland.

                The quality all came in the afternoon as we raced up to Westness to look for a Honey Buzzard which had been lost to view behind the rocks on the point; it was all quiet when we got to the point but some Common Gulls started mobbing something hidden in the rocks and when we got out there the Honey Buzzard flew out from our feet and showed amazingly well as it flew and landed out on Trinley.   The day’s other highlight were 2 Little Terns in Nouster mid-afternoon – a North Ronaldsay and Scottish tick for me!

Honey!

GEDSER - 30th September

Same same again with strong winds and clouds coming and going but with occasional heavy showers scudding through in the afternoon; the ringing was even quieter with only 8 new birds caught including a young male Sparrowhawk.   There was more activity overhead though with several each of Tree Pipit and Grey Wagtail with decent flocks of Chaffinch, Brambling, Siskin, White Wagtails and Meadow Pipits passing over the garden.

                I headed off mid-morning for a walk up the coast but I failed to find any eastern vagrants but there were good flocks of Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests in the forest which contained pretty much nothing else; there was more passing south along the coast though with big flocks of Siskins the main feature (3,000 were counted at the point through the day) along with a few Crossbill flocks amongst smaller numbers of other Finches and Pipits.   An Osprey and 4 Honey Buzzards also went south while there were several Rough-legged Buzzards and Red Kites across the fields just drifting about.

                Little else through the afternoon with 3 Black Redstarts in the harbour and another couple of each of Honey Buzzard and Rough-legged Buzzard during a drive along the lanes criss-crossing the fields to the north of Gedser.

 

Honey Buzzard

Black Redstart

Kestrel

Baby Grass Snake

Red Admiral