19th July

Again breezy at dawn but unlike yesterday the wind dropped to almost nothing very quickly; single Manx Shearwaters and Bonxies went north at sea with 2 Ruff and a Wood Sandpiper on Vågsvollvåien and the highlight in the nets being a smart juvenile Whinchat in amongst a mob of not-so-smart young Starlings!  

The coast was quieter than yesterday with a lot of the waders having moved on; birds included 4 Teal, 5 Velvet Scoter south, 7 Common Sandpipers and 5 Green Sandpipers before rain for most of the afternoon put an end to proceedings.

 

Peregrine

Velvet Scoters

Just some of the many darvic ringed Gulls in the area; a really high percentage of birds are actually colour ringed giving a reason to scan through the flocks - reading the rings is usually far more interesting than the actual Gulls themselves!

 

18th July

Breezy from the SW first thing but I still managed to get some nets open for 20 new birds including some fledgling Lesser Whitethroats and Blackcaps as well as a 4 year-old re-trap Lesser Whitethroat; the sea was ridiculously quiet with the only bird being a 2^nd summer Arctic Skua which unusually came in and headed inland!   There were a few bits on Vågsvollvåien including 3 Ruff, a Wood Sandpiper, 2 Green Sandpipers and single Teal, Wigeon and Heron.

                Still a sprinkling of waders round the coast but mainly different birds than yesterday including 10 Sanderling heading south, 3 Knot, 6 Dunlin, an adult Little Stint in Sevika, 17 Redshank, a Greenshank, 7 Common Sandpipers and 8 Green Sandpipers with a female Tufted Duck on Fuglejønna, an adult male Peregrine and the pair of Red-backed Shrikes in Vatnemarka acting suspiciously.   The weather really closed in during the afternoon with the now force 7 SW wind bringing rain with it so not much else was seen apart from a build-up of several hundred Gulls in Vågsvollvika.

 

Can't resist taking pictures of the Adders I find!

Tufted Duck

 

17th July

A brilliant, flat calm start to the day but it wasn’t long before the now easterly wind started to pick up becoming pretty strong by mid-morning; managed to get the nets open for the first few hours where there were the usual spread of juvenile birds plus a House Martin (only the second I’ve caught here) and a couple of dispersing Willow Warblers indicating that autumn is fast approaching!

                There was a scattering of waders around the coast from late morning as totals included 10 Green Sandpipers, 6 Common Sandpipers, 2 Wood Sandpipers, 2 Greenshank, a Sanderling, 8 Redshank, 3 Dunlin, 2 Whimbrel and 3 Golden Plover.   The only other things of note were 2 juvenile Fieldfares in Lebeltet (probably locally bred), a handful of Lesser Whitethroats including some juveniles, 2 Teal, a Wigeon, a Great-northern Diver south and a Bonxie north.

A late Skylark still feeding chicks

Juvenile Whinchat

Wood Sandpiper

16th July

Still very windy, still northwest!   A juvenile Tystie close inshore was the only bird of note over the sea while there were 2 Ruff, 2 Green Sandpipers and 2 Common Sandpipers on Vågsvollvåien.   A walk round the coast late morning was pretty quiet with a further 6 Green Sandpipers, a Peregrine and a nice family party of 4 or 5 very young fledgling Spotted Flycatchers in Lebeltet Nord.

                The smart red male Bar-tailed Godwit was still in Vågsvollvika late afternoon with a single Common Sandpiper.

One less Shelduck chick.......

This fledgling Spotted Flycatcher was hiding away nice and safely though

15th July

No change in the conditions with the howling NW wind preventing any nets being opened on the first day of the autumn campaign proper; there wasn’t too much of interest on the sea either with 150 Common Scoters, a Tufted Duck and 6 Dunlin of note.   Round the coast there were 5 Green Sandpipers, a Common Sandpiper and a big female Peregrine chasing Starlings.

                The Red-backed Shrikes and Wrynecks were still active in Lebeltet along with 2 Spotted Flycatchers and a Lesser Whitethroat while out in the fields the pair of Blue-headed Wagtails were still collecting food and a nice male Grey-headed Wagtail in Gunnarsmyra was probably a returning migrant.   A look in Vågsvollvika late afternoon then produced an adult Little Stint, a Dunlin and a Bar-tailed Godwit.

 

Very confiding baby Chaffinch hopping around my feet!

Swallows making use of the WWII bunkers

Grey-headed Wagtail

Cormorant

 

 

14th July

A quiet day with the blazing NW wind the dominating feature; a Little Stint flew along the shore with 2 Ringed Plovers first thing while offshore there were 70+ Common Scoter, 5 Tufted Ducks north and a Bonxie.   There was then a Bar-tailed Godwit, a Golden Plover and 2 Common Sandpipers in Vågsvollvika and at least 6 Wrynecks in Lebeltet – most of which were juveniles.

 

The Diver sp. seen over the last few days at Kviljoodden (I saw it on Sunday) has now been confirmed as a 1st summer PACIFIC DIVER after many experts were consulted and is a first for Norway!

 

The drake Eiders are looking nice and black velvety in their eclipse plumage now

 

13th July

Walked round the coast first thing but there was unfortunately no sign of last night’s wader sp. it was pretty quiet in fact with birds of note just being 3 Teal, 4 Green Sandpipers, a Common Sandpiper and c14 Crossbills in Lebeltet Nord.   I also saw one of the juvenile White Wagtails which I colour ringed out at Karveneset which I thought had all been depredated!

There were 4 Wrynecks (three juveniles) and the agitated Red-backed Shrike pair in Lebeltet mid-afternoon with the pair of Blue-headed Wagtails still collecting food out in the fields before a look in Vågsvollvika produced 3 Bar-tailed Godwits, 5 Dunlin, 2 Common Sandpipers, 9 Redshank (including a juvenile)  and a juvenile Ringed Plover.

 

Redpoll

Bar-tailed Godwits

White Wagtail

Another grabbed shot of a Hare running past me

This time though it was obvious why it was running!