(not) LANDGUARD - 15th August

 A few hours spent at Bawdsey Quay first thing produced the only birds of note through the day which was highlighted by a lovely Wood Warbler at the entrance to the picnic site with a decent tit and warbler flock which also contained 9+ Willow Warblers, 12 Long-tailed Tits, a Treecreeper and a few Blackcaps and Whitethroats.    

Also of note here were at least 8 Yellow Wagtails, the Little Owl, again perched at its window and 7 Teal and a Whimbrel offshore.

Wood Warbler

Swallows at East Lane

SWEDEN - 31st July

A decent morning at Rysjön produced the ringing highlights of a cracking young Wood Warbler, a Marsh Warbler (the first one we’ve caught at this site), 2 Pied Flycatchers, a new Thrush Nightingale and plenty of Willow Warblers, Garden Warblers and Blackcaps.   

Other birds included the Smew still on the lake, a smart adult Honey Buzzard which flew right in front of the tower, 3 House Martins (surprisingly scarce here) and a family party of Red-backed Shrikes.   

Löten and Hammarmaden were then quiet in the warm afternoon as totals included 9 Ringed Plover, 2 juvenile Little Ringed Plovers, a single Dunlin, 2 Spotted Redshank, an epic 4 Moorhens along with at least 4 juvenile Water Rails on Hammarmaden and the Peregrine again unsuccessfully chasing everything in sight.

Wood Warbler

Comma - strikingly different to ours in the UK

SWEDEN - 11th July

Frequent showers through the morning was enough to cancel the ringing session but a little look at Löten in the morning produced the highlight of 2 Temminck’s Stints close to the watchpoint; other birds included 3 Little Ringed Plover, a Bar-tailed Godwit, 9 Ruff, 5 Curlew Sandpipers, 14 Dunlin, 14 Greenshank, 25 Wood Sandpipers, a Great White Egret and a distant White-tailed Eagle.   

The afternoon was spent in the forests in Garphyttan NP (40 minutes to the west) where the highlight comprised a juvenile Wryneck, a female Red-backed Shrike, 2 Black Woodpeckers, a pair of Wood Warblers carrying food (a Swedish tick!), a Sparrowhawk, 2 Spotted Flycatchers and at least 12 Tree Pipits.

Swallows

Wood Warbler

NORTH RONALDSAY - 26th August

A real mixed bag of weather with the light easterly breeze the only constant – it started off damp, drizzly and autumnal before thick fog moved in until mid-afternoon when the sun broke through to produce a couple of hours of very warm, sunny loveliness with the fog returning in the evening.   It was perhaps the first day of the autumn when birds were popping up throughout with a fine spread of migrants across the island; highlights included the Melodious Warbler still in the crop field near the Obs, yesterday’s Barred Warbler re-trapped at Holland and a Wood Warbler caught at Holland in the evening.   Other birds included a Red-throated Diver, the Hen Harrier, a Kestrel (first of the autumn), a Merlin, the ringed Little Stint still, 2 Whimbrel, 3 Swifts, 90+ alba Wagtails, 3 Whinchats, 175+ Wheatear, a Song Thrush, single Blackcap and Garden Warbler, 5 Willow Warblers, a Pied Flycatcher (first of the autumn) and the juvenile Common Crossbill still.

Wood Warbler

GEDSER - 9th September

A bit misty and murky through the morning with a much fresher westerly breeze; the slight change in conditions brought a few more birds to the nets with 65 new birds caught highlighted by single Red-breasted Flycatcher (the third of the autumn), Firecrest and Wood Warbler along with a Sparrowhawk, 13 Robins, 11 Chiffchaffs, a Reed Warbler, 5 Redstarts and 2 Pied Flycatchers amongst others.   Overhead passage was slightly reduced in the murky conditions first thing with a few Finches including Siskins and Crossbills but mid-morning when it cleared a bit there was a big pulse of 600+ Chaffinches which passed over the garden heading SW in a handful of big flocks.   There was a Hummingbird Hawkmoth very briefly on the Buddleia by the front door late morning but disappeared almost instantly!

                The afternoon reverted back to the warm, sunny, tropical weather of late but a look off the point late afternoon (1645-1815) was more productive than yesterday as quite a few Duck and Wader flocks headed south including 116 Wigeon, 10 Shoveler, 20 Teal, 6 Pintail, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 129 Dunlin, 2 Grey Plover and a Bar-tailed Godwit; other birds included 2 Arctic Skuas, 48 Sandwich Terns, 3 Common Terns and a Great-crested Grebe while a steady stream of c700 Swallows piled south.

 

Firecrest

Wood Warbler

Grey Plovers

Yellow Wagtail

 

GEDSER - 26th August

It remained hot and sunny but the now southerly wind was a bit stronger than yesterday and the nets were a bit quieter than yesterday; the 28 new birds did however include 2 Wrynecks (sixth and seventh for the autumn) and the third Wood Warbler along with single Spotted Flycatcher, Pied Flycatcher, Redstart, Icterine Warbler, Marsh Warbler and Tree Pipit.   It was quiet around the garden and overhead as well with a Sparrowhawk and a few Swifts the only signs of any migration.

                I went for a random drive around the fields looking for any raptors in the afternoon and after failing miserably to find anything I got back to the station to find a cracking juvenile Honey Buzzard flying around the garden!   This proved to be the start of a little burst of activity in the evening with 4 Marsh Harriers and 20+ Sparrowhawks coming in from the north – the harriers continued south out to sea but seemingly none of the Sparrowhawks were prepared to head out this late in the day and either turned round or angled off to the west across the fields.   Also in the evening a Temminck’s Stint flew low over the pond in the front field and two Knot flew west.

 

Wood Warbler

Wryneck

Snap shots of the Honey Buzzard

Sparrowhawks finally coming through!

 

GEDSER - 19th July

A similar looking day produced a few different little bits in the nets indicating some early passage including 7 Marsh Warblers (all adults and some had high fat scores showing them to be proper migrants on the way back south), 5 Icterine Warblers, a Wood Warbler, a Treecreeper and another juvenile Common Rosefinch while 2 Whimbrel and 2 Dunlin went over to the SE.

                We then had a very successful little jaunt across to Lolland where we had eventual good views of the GRIFFON VULTURE which has been present at the Naturepark just south of Maribo for the past few days – a real Danish rarity as prior to this record breaking year there had only been six other sightings!   It was also an incredible spot for other raptors with a brilliant 13+ White-tailed Eagles seen together around the main lake (8 sat in one tree!!); the most amazing thing though was seeing the Vulture soaring together with an Eagle and making the Eagle look distinctly average!

                Other birds seen included two female Red-crested Pochards (a Danish tick!) and a slightly unusual inland Caspian Tern roosting with Black-headed and Common Gulls.

 

Wood Warbler

The Griffon Vulture flew directly overhead at one stage although it was very high!

Female Black Redstart

and male Common Redstart in town this evening

 

17th August

Dry today with a brisk north-easterly wind, the nets were quiet but did include a smart Wood Warbler and a Spotted Flycatcher (the first one caught this autumn); the main feature of the day however was a good Goose movement with 2,785 Greylag Geese heading south with most of them passing in the first few hours of the day.   A few waders flocks were also moving as well as 70+ Swifts moving south offshore with 3 Peregrines and single Kestrel and Merlin also at sea but good numbers of waders were around including 53 Lapwings, 17 Ruff and 45+ Snipe while in Vågsvollvika there were now 3 Little Stints with 120 Dunlin.

                The coast was busier than yesterday with increased totals of 300+ Dunlin, 25 Knot, 6 Sanderling, another 4 Little Stints, 2 Spotted Redshanks, 125+ Redshank, 32+ Greenshank, 27 Common Sandpipers, 12 Turnstone and 90+ Teal while a few oddities included a single Grey Plover, a redhead Goosander and 2 Goldeneye all being hunted by 3 more Peregrines, a Merlin, a couple of Kestrels and 5+ Sparrowhawks.

                There was little to mention inland with 4 Whinchats, a couple of Yellow Wagtails and a build-up of 150+ Swallows.

 

Wood Warbler

Spotted Flycatcher

Little Stint

Redshank

Dunlin

Plenty of raptor action today including this Sparrowhawk with the remains of a Common Sandpiper

And this incoming Peregrine

There's always a bigger fish though, I'm guessing that a Goshawk was responsible for this half-eaten Sparrowhawk