Skogsøy 09 October 2021 - Geese!

Southerly gale.

A great seawatch - and the longest I have done for ages. We sat from 0830 to 1400 and although things slowed down towards the end there was almost always something passing.

The highlight was undoubtedly a decent movement of geese, things kicked off with a couple of flocks of hrota Brent Geese ringgås and then went over to the more expected Barnacle Geese hvitkinngås. All heading south from Svalbard to their wintering grounds in the UK and Europe.

A good variety of other species passed, largely wildfowl which included a Pintail stjertand, Velvet Scoters sjøorre and Long-tailed Ducks havelle. A single Great Northern Diver islom passed along with small numbers of Red-throated Diver smålom.

The totals were as follows:

Red-throated Diver smålom S 31, N 5

Razorbill alke S 8

Gannet havsule S 36, N 41

Lesser Black-backed Gull sildemåke S 4

Herring Gull gråmåke S 25

Great Black.backed Gull svartbak S 17

Cormorant storskarv S 10, N 2

Shag toppskarv  N 16

Common Gull fiskemåke S 20

Common Scoter svartand N 1, S 28

Kittiwake krykkje N12, S 6

Velvet Scoter sjøorre S 18

Long-tailed Duck havelle S 6

Tufted Duck toppand 2

Teal krikkand S 3

Pintail stjertand S 1

Brent Goose ringgås S 36 

Barnacle Goose hvitkinngås 452

Grey Plover tundralo S1

Guillemot lomvi S2

Wigeon brunnakke S 22

Great Northern Diver islom S 1

 

Leucistic Barnacle Goose hvitkinngås

Some of the over 450 Barnacle Geese hvitkinngås that headed south including a leucistic bird that got the pulse racing for a few seconds.

A small flock of Brent Geese ringgås

Common Scoter svartand

Gannets havsule

Guillemot lomvi

Kittiwakes krykkje

Lesser Black-backed Gull sildemåke

Wigeon brunnakke