Light NW, largely sunny.
Nice conditions but not much to report other than the usual suspects. Many / most species now have fledged young with some large flocks of Starling stær and lots of various thrush youngsters out and about. A couple of singing Lesser Whitethroat møller were the only things of even remote interest,
A couple of Red-throated Diver smålom and a small flock of Common Scoter svartand headed north whilst I ate breakfast but other than that it was pretty dead.
My morning coffee at Nautnes was quite entertaining as an Otter pulled a lumpsucker (rongkjeks) ashore and started to eat it. A Great Black-backed gull svartbak and a Hooded Crow kråke immediately joined in. The crow harried the otter constantly, pulling at its tail and dancing around it all the time. This obviously irritated the otter who moved a short distance - losing a few morsels of fish as it did so. This process was repeated until the otter got tired of the whole affair and swam off leaving the fish on the rocks - at which point the gull, who had done nothing other than patiently wait grabbed the whole thing leaving the hard-working crow with nothing. The crow was obviously a lot more scared of the gull than it was the otter....
Whilst I was away I missed out on some pretty good stuff - a flock of Bee eaters bieter, an Osprey fiskeørn, the first Icterine Warbler gulsanger of the year and just last night a Nightjar nattravn - first for Øygarden!
Nice conditions but not much to report other than the usual suspects. Many / most species now have fledged young with some large flocks of Starling stær and lots of various thrush youngsters out and about. A couple of singing Lesser Whitethroat møller were the only things of even remote interest,
A couple of Red-throated Diver smålom and a small flock of Common Scoter svartand headed north whilst I ate breakfast but other than that it was pretty dead.
My morning coffee at Nautnes was quite entertaining as an Otter pulled a lumpsucker (rongkjeks) ashore and started to eat it. A Great Black-backed gull svartbak and a Hooded Crow kråke immediately joined in. The crow harried the otter constantly, pulling at its tail and dancing around it all the time. This obviously irritated the otter who moved a short distance - losing a few morsels of fish as it did so. This process was repeated until the otter got tired of the whole affair and swam off leaving the fish on the rocks - at which point the gull, who had done nothing other than patiently wait grabbed the whole thing leaving the hard-working crow with nothing. The crow was obviously a lot more scared of the gull than it was the otter....
The Hooded Crow kråke kept the Otter moving....
It came in close and even pulled the Otter's tail
But when the otter had had enough it was the Great Black-backed Gull svartbak that won the prize
One of many Wheatear steinskvett seen today
Whilst I was away I missed out on some pretty good stuff - a flock of Bee eaters bieter, an Osprey fiskeørn, the first Icterine Warbler gulsanger of the year and just last night a Nightjar nattravn - first for Øygarden!
