SWEDEN - 29th and 30th September

 A frustrating couple of days ringing wise with two attempts made to ring at Ason but despite (or because of) the super flat-calm conditions, persistent, thick, very wet, drizzly fog forced us to close the nets both morning’s after a short time; there were signs that there were birds around as well with a trickle of Goldcrests and Robins caught in the time the nets were open adding to the frustration.   

It was a bit better on the 30th with the sun trying to force through which it did later in the day but not quick enough to prevent us having to stop ringing for the day and the season and a few bits did move south including a flock of 12 Northern Long-tailed Tits.   

A walk over to Vallen in the very fine and warm afternoon produced a great array of raptors with at least 5 Rough-legged Buzzards floating around (there could have been more as there seemed to always be a couple of the horizon as well as birds flying overhead!), 12+ Buzzards, a ringtail Hen Harrier, 2 Marsh Harriers, 2 White-tailed Eagles high in from the north and a Kestrel as well as good numbers of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits.   

Rough-legged Buzzards

28th January

A walk along the River Severn from Buildwas to Leighton first thing was quiet with the highlight being a Redshank on Leighton Flats (scarce in the winter) along with 7 Goosander, 10 Herons and 2 Little Grebes; on the way up to Spurn I called in at Stainforth near Doncaster where unfortunately it had clouded over and was now pretty dark, the wintering Rough-legged Buzzard showed well though albeit distantly.   I then spent an hour at Skeffling late afternoon where birds included a ringtail Hen Harrier, a Peregrine causing havoc in amongst a huge Woodpigeon flock far to the north and a big flock of 140+ Pink-footed Geese.

Redshank

Rough-legged Buzzard

18th January

A glorious, sunny (but with a very chilly wind), relaxed day in Norfolk; started off at Sedgeford where we unfortunately failed to see the Eastern Yellow Wagtail but boxing Hares and a run-through Chinese Water Deer kept us entertained.   A look at Thornham at high tide then produced a good selection of waders, wildfowl and gulls, highlighted by two adult Mediterranean Gulls (one of which had a green darvic but it was far too far away to read) before a Woodcock showed brilliantly well by the centre during a brief pit stop at Titchwell for a coffee.    

A look at Burnham Overy was then full of Pink-footed Geese with several hundreds in the fields and lots of small flocks going over in amongst which were 3 Tundra Bean Geese while the many birds down on the saltmarsh included a Barn Owl, a Great White Egret, loads of ducks and geese and big wader flocks of Dunlin, Lapwing and Golden Plover.   We then popped along a bit further where the awesome Rough-legged Buzzard was sat in his bush on the outskirts of Wells (a magnificent bird!) and another Barn Owl showed very well hunting across the fields before heading back to Titchwell for the Harrier roost with a brilliant 40+ Marsh Harriers and a ringtail Hen Harrier dropping in to the reeds.

Rough-legged Buzzard (just)

Woodcock

Barn Owl

Chinese Water Deer

GEDSER - 25th October

A lovely day, sunny with the light wind switching round to the north; the nets, although open all day in the fine conditions were fairly quiet with 154 new birds caught including 3 Northern Bullfinches and a Great-spotted Woodpecker.   A Norwegian ringed Goldcrest was also of note.

                There wasn’t too much passing overhead either with a few decent flocks of Jackdaws the only obvious migrants although little bits included a Woodlark and 2 Grey Wagtails; the middle of the day when it was at its sunniest saw excellent numbers of Common Buzzards high over the garden, I’ve no real idea how many there were as they were forming big kettles drifting out and drifting back in, moving south then north etc. but at one stage there were 60+ in a big circling flock over the garden.   There were 5+ Rough-legged Buzzards and a Red kite mixed in with the flocks; a Great Grey Shrike was also in the garden during the afternoon but it avoided all the nets.

 

Sparrowhawk

Brambling

Tree Sparrow

Rough-legged Buzzard

 

GEDSER - 24th October

A perfect ringing day – calm, partly cloudy with some sunshine in the afternoon but the totals were reduced from the previous week as we seem to have broken the back of the crazy Goldcrest migrations; the total of 351 new birds through the day was still very decent but it was nowhere near as hectic as it has been.    There was still a trickle of 192 Goldcrests caught (mainly in the morning) along with 64 Robins and 27 Wrens while the highlights included a Firecrest, 3 Treecreepers and a female Northern Bullfinch.

                Overhead passage was also much reduced despite the fine weather with just a few small flocks of Finches, Woodpigeons, Rooks and Jackdaws moving through; a flock of 120 Cranes also went over while a few raptors included at least 9 Rough-legged Buzzards, 2 Red Kites, 15 Common Buzzards and quite a few Sparrowhawks.  

Other little bits around included my first Long-eared Owl of the autumn in the trees by the house, 2 Hawfinches over, a flock of 20 Pintail heading south, the first Great-spotted Woodpecker for a while and in the much quieter afternoon a great flock of 16 Red Kites which flapped lazily over the garden late afternoon and 2 Red-throated Divers calling as they flew east.

 

Rough-legged Buzzard

More Goldcrests in the grass

Long-eared Owl

Hovering Common Buzzards - this behaviour seems much more regular over here than amongst our Common Buzzards back in the UK

 

GEDSER - 26th September

Warm and tropical still with light winds and some high cloud which thickened by late afternoon; another good total of 111 new birds were caught through the morning with the highlights consisting of 2 Firecrests and a first winter Red-breasted Flycatcher, these came in amongst a good arrival of 63 Chiffchaffs whereas a total of 22 new Robins was relatively low (many of yesterday’s birds were re-trapped).

                Overhead passage was quite light through the first half of the morning but a few raptors started to appear by mid-morning so I had a little watch from the NW corner of the garden (1040-1240) which produced a steady trickle of birds including 12 Rough-legged Buzzards, 6 Honey Buzzards, 23 Sparrowhawks, an adult male Hen Harrier, 4 Red Kites, 7 Common Buzzards, a Merlin and 5 Kestrels; there were also many passerines (and others) heard overhead including Chaffinch (with the typical rush of birds late morning with c550 today), Brambling, Siskin, Skylark (the first day with multiple birds going over), Meadow Pipit, Coal Tit, Yellowhammer, Swallow, White Wagtail, Grey Wagtail (one), Dunlin, Grey Plover and Ringed Plover.

                Re-opened some nets in the afternoon and finally finally caught a Yellow-browed Warbler (it certainly took its time with the hundreds and hundreds in Western Europe at the moment!) along with a few more Chiffchaffs, Robins and Chaffinches while another 3 Rough-legged Buzzards went over the garden.

 

Yellow-browed Warbler

Second year female and first year male Sparrowhawks

Rough-legged Buzzards