A few days at Falsterbo were just brilliant! This was a timely reminder of just how good this place is for birding.
It was here, some decades ago that my interest in birding really kicked off. Staying at the observatory and being invited to join the ringers at Flommen and joining the counters at Nabben were one of three pivotal happenings in my birding career. This time around I met up with some of the key players who enabled this and also met up with the new counters who are probably the best birders in Europe.
The thing with Falsterbo and especially Nabben is that you are exposed to a huge variety of species. As a teenager I wanted to be those people who seemed to be able to pick up absolutely everything. Nothing much has changed there and Falsterbo is still the place to be during the autumn migration.
The social side of birding, at least at the heath was also great - meeting birders from Denmark, Germany, Netherlands and other places was just part of the Falsterbo charm. I've never understood why British birders seem to be so under represented here. It is really an advantage to know bird names in multiple advantages here!
We arrived on the morning of 25.08 with fresh southerlies and showers. Mostly a social day but the walk down the coast towards the lighthouse brought back many happy memories with flocks of Tree Pipits trepiplerke and Yellow Wagtails gulerle passing over continuously. A few Green Sandpiper skogsnipe on the pools along the golf course / Flommen were an added bonus along with Avocets avosett and many other species of wader. Wheatears steinskvett and White Wagtails linerle fed along the shore and a small number of raptors including a few Honey Buzzard vespevåk passed overhead.
A brief session on the heath produced Hen Harrier myrhauk, Marsh Harrier sivhauk, White-tailed Eagle havørn, Ospreys fiskeørn and more.
The next day was another "warm up" day with a lazy morning followed by a period on the heath. A male Montagu's Harrier enghauk, over 40 Honey Buzzards vespevåk, a dozen or so Marsh Harrier sivhauk, Great White Egret egretthegre, several Osprey fiskeørn, Peregrine vandrefalk, good numbers of Sparrowhawk spurvehauk and Kestrel tårnfalk and more.
A brief look at the pools to the north produced Spotted Redshank sotsnipe, Avocets avosett, Little Grebe dvergdykker and the usual selection of wildfowl including Shoveler skjeand and Pintail stjertand. All good birds back on the home turf:)
On 27 August I was up bright at early and headed to Nabben before dawn. Just incredible for a birder based in western Norway:) The variety of feeding waders and wildfowl was worth it before anything else happened (75 Avocet avosett, Temminck's Stint temminkssnipe, Curlew Sandpiper tundrasnipe etc etc). Highlights included Caspian Terns rovterne, Caspian Gull kaspimåke, Arctic Skua tyvjo, Ortulan Bunting hortulan, , a couple of Pallid Harrier steppehauk (including a nice male), Red Kites glente, Black Woodpecker svartspett, Honey Buzzards vespevåk, Merlin dvergfalk and much, much more. Thousands of Tree Pipit trepiplerke and Yellow Wagtail gulerle passed over along with good numbers of hirundines and even a Black Woodpecker svartspett put in an appearance.
After Nabben I headed to the heath where among other things I had several White-tailed Eagle havørn, 20+ Red Kite glente, a couple of Black Kite svartglente, 30+ Osprey fiskemåke, a few Common Buzzard musvåk, three Hobby lerkefalk, a male Montagu's Harrier enghauk, Stonechat svartstrupe and tons more. Just fantastic!!
Numbers from the Falsterbo observatory website here although this does not include resting birds.
The next day I was predictably back at Nabben before the sun came up. Another excellent morning with Caspian Tern rovterne, hundreds of Sparrowhawk spurvehauk, a breif glimpse of a Tawny Pipit markpiplerke picked up by the counters. Once again a good variety of waders, wildfowl, raptors and passerines. It was hard to leave....
I didn't really make an effort to count, just enjoyed the spectacle:
From the Falsterbo Observatory website for 28 August:
