(not) LANDGUARD - 13th October

 Drove up last night for a dawn start at St. Aiden’s RSPB Reserve near Leeds; it was a lovely morning and it only took five minutes waiting at Astley Lake before the adult LONG-TOED STINT flew in with Lapwings to its favoured little island on the lake, a brilliant little wader, jumping around nervously as the far bigger Lapwings settled down looking like a miniature Pec Sand – great scope views but too far away for pictures!   

After watching for a while I went off wandering round this lovely reserve in the fine morning; birds included 2 Goosander, my first 2 Goldeneye of the autumn, several squealing Water Rails, 12 Curlew, 2 Black-tailed Godwits, 5 Ruff, 10 Dunlin, 18+ Snipe, an adult male Marsh Harrier, a Red Kite, 2 Kingfishers, 16 Bearded Tits which flew up high and headed off south, 65+ Redwings (which just started moving high west in small flocks as I was leaving), 4 Stonechats and a Grey Wagtail.   

I then drove across to Blacktoft Sands RSPB where the long-staying WHITE-TAILED PLOVER was stood right in front of Marshland Hide as it has for weeks now; the only birds present were all from this hide which included a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper with the Dunlin, Lapwings, Teal and Black-tailed Godwits.

Long-toed Stint (just)

White-tailed Plover

Ruff

Bearded Tits

Great-crested Grebe

SWEDEN - 9th September

 A Quail was flushed from the side of the track near the house on the way to a shortened ringing session at Rysjön which only lasted a few hours until a spell of heavy rain moved in; whilst there was few birds in the nets there were some highlights including 3 Red-backed Shrikes (two re-traps from three days ago and a new bird), a re-trap Bluethroat, the now customary 2 Dunnocks at this site, a Lesser Whitethroats and a handful of Willow Warblers and Blackcaps.   

There wasn’t too much time to look around but other bits did include a Sparrowhawk, a couple of Tree Pipits and several Bramblings over with a little flock of Chaffinches.   

The rain then lasted until early afternoon and it was one of those days that as soon as the rain stopped the wind rapidly picked up to a rough force 7; a walk round Oset was however, pretty productive through the afternoon with the highlights consisting of a battle-royal with a female Goshawk simultaneously fighting with two Buzzards and two Ravens (just a pity they were always distant) and a nice spread of waders including 2 Little Stints, 17 Dunlin, 6 Bar-tailed Godwits, 6 Ringed Plover, 11 Ruff, 2 Wood Sandpipers and single Greenshank and Green Sandpiper.   

Other bits of note included 144 Barnacle Geese, a Pintail, an Osprey, a Kingfisher, a Whinchat, 4 Wheatears, a Tree Pipit and 3 Hawfinches. 

Goshawk and Raven

Bar-tailed Godwit

Ruff

Barnacle Geese

SWEDEN - 27th August

 Birds in the nets at Fågelsjön in the morning (very cold start giving way to a warm day) included 5 Lesser Whitethroats and 2 Marsh Warblers while other birds of note comprised a Bluethroat flushed off the path, 3 Tree Pipits, a Fieldfare, a young female Peregrine chasing Jackdaws in the distance, 2 adult White-tailed Eagles over, 3 Ospreys, a Sparrowhawk, a good flock of 15 Spotted Redshank and 2 Greenshank.   

A walk round the reserve in the warm afternoon then produced a few migrants (mainly concentrated around Öby Kulle) including 6 Spotted Flycatchers, 2 Pied Flycatchers, 2 Whinchats, a Wheatear, 3 Tree Pipits and 10+ Willow Warblers while waders were highlighted by 19 Ruff with a steady stream of very high Crane flocks heading south – the sky was full of echoing honking, trumpeting calls, brilliant!   

Cranes near and far

Ruff

Spotted Flycatcher

SWEDEN - 13th August

 Fine weather again and while the nets at Rysjön were not super busy there was a great range of species trapped including a smart, juvenile Common Rosefinch (a Swedish tick!), another juvenile Savi’s Warbler, another 3 Red-backed Shrikes, 3 Marsh Warblers (including an adult), a new Thrush Nightingale and a Lesser Whitethroat; the 4 Slavonian Grebes were still on the lake along with 2 adult White-tailed Eagles mooching around at first light.   

The rest of the day was very warm so I didn’t go out again until late afternoon with a look at Löten producing 7 Spotted Redshank, 6 Ruff and a Ringed Plover before an enjoyable stint at the Hammarmaden platform produced a female Hen Harrier over the fields (another Swedish tick!) where there was an impressive 900+ Cranes – numbers building up everyday now towards the peak next month, a somewhat surprising flock of 34 Meadow Pipits (given that they were my first in Sweden!), some entertaining Marsh Harrier action with food passes and a juvenile which caught a Coot, some more waders including 9 Ringed Plovers, 6 Ruff, a Greenshank and 2 Spotted Redshank and 2 Great White Egrets.   

Common Rosefinch

Marsh Harrier

Food pass

Spotted Redshanks

Ruff

 

SWEDEN - 21st June

Sunny, warm and windy; limited observations today as we geared up for the first day of ringing tomorrow, a Treecreeper at the house was new for Sweden before the highlight was a look at the main Little Gull colony which, while there are only c6 AON there were c55 birds present (including four 2cy birds) – all calling and flying just overhead, wonderful birds!

Little Gulls

Ruff

NORTH RONALDSAY - 22nd August

A decent day, weather-wise with moderate winds and some bright sunshine until mid-afternoon when a nasty little weather front moved in, bringing strong winds and some driving rain; it was quiet birdwise but somewhat enlivened by the impromptu first dazzling session of the autumn, inspired by the rough weather when I managed to catch a cracking juvenile Little Stint on Gretchen along with single Ruff, Knot and Dunlin.   Other birds seen during the pleasant morning included 14 Whimbrel (a 3 and an 11) heading south, 2 Swifts and 2 Willow Warblers.

Ruff

Little Stint

Whimbrel heading south

Peregrine and Raven