Øygarden 04 November 2017 - Drive-bys

Brisk South-westerly winds, rain much of the day.

No time for anything other than a few brief drive-bys today - just as well as it would have been hard going at times today.

White-tailed Eagle havørn from the terrace (and elsewhere) and a Brambling bjørkefink in the garden.

At Blomvatnet just a couple of Wigeon brunnakke and four Goldeneye kvinand  - the latter species is still arriving with not many about yet.

At Harkestad a flock of Long-tailed Tits stjertmeis put in a welcome appearance - otherwise just small numbers of the usual thrushes and Starling stær along with a presumed Meadow Pipit heipiplerke - frustratingly many of the pipits about at the moment are not calling at all.....

Tjeldstø produced more Redwing rødvingetrost, Brambling bjørkefink, Blackcap munk and the usual suspects.

Herdlevær 03 November 2017 - The weather is here, wish you were lovely

Very strong south westerly winds with some showers.

1cy Northern Goshawk hønsehauk. I like to think of these pictures as atmospheric rather than just underexposed....

Not the best of conditions again but quite a productive day despite this. Highlights were a Glaucous Gull polarmåke, a movement of Little Auks alkekonge, a Goshawk hønsehauk and a Woodcock rugde. The supporting cast included a Curlew storspove, a Peregrine vandrefalk, a few White-tailed Eagle havørn and some duck on the move.

A very small part of the Fieldfare gråtrost flock

Some of the Common Scoter svartand seen today

A Cormorant storskarv with that Ibiza party feeling

A rather hooded Herring Gull gråmåke. Not the most extreme version I have seen but it made us look twice....

Redwing rødvingetrost

Birders in action at Herdlevær today. Photo: Roald Hatten

A large flock of Fieldfare gråtrost was pretty spectacular, smaller numbers of Redwing rødvingetrost, a late Meadow Pipit heipiplerke, a Willow Tit granmeis, a small flock of Parrot Crossbill furukorsnebb, a couple of late Greylags grågås, two Snipe enkeltbekkasin and a pair of Wigeon brunnakke were also seen here.

A quick look at Breivik was pretty much more of the same but more Redwing rødvingetrost and small flocks of Chaffinch bokfink and Brambling bjørkefink seen here along with a couple more Meadow Pipit heipiplerke.

Skogsøy 02 November 2017 - Little Auks but only just

Gale force northerly winds but sunny.

Cormorant storskarv struggling north into the wind

Gannet havsule

Long-tailed Ducks havelle

One of a number of Razorbill alke seen heading north

View to the south today - worth the walk in itself......

As usual couple of hours spent seawatching produced some decent birds. Technically I suppose three adult Great Northern Diver islom beat four Little Auks alkekonge but the former have been a lot more obvious of late than the latter - the first of the autumn for me.

Other than that it was the usual suspects with good numbers of Gannet havsule, some Common Scoter svartand heading south and small numbers of Kittiwake krykkje, Razorbill alke and Long-tailed Duck havelle also seen.

Perhaps the most interesting sighting given the weather conditions were some flocks of passerines coming in off the sea - most unusual with the wind in the north. The only flock positively identified were Redpoll gråsisik but the other flocks were also very likely this species. Perhaps arriving from Iceland....

The walk there and back produced the usual suspects - White-tailed Eagle havørn, Raven ravn, Crested Tit toppmeis etc along with a single male Parrot Crossbill furukorsnebb, a Meadow Pipit heipiplerke, three Willow Tit granmeis and a flock of around 40 Common Redpoll gråsisik.

Up close and personal with an Otter at Tjeldstø - I've managed to not take pictures on a number of occasions the last few days but it would have been downright rude not to have taken advantage of today's opportunity....

At Tjeldstø one or two Little Auk alkekonge put in an appearance alongside White-tailed Eagle havørn and an Otter oter - seen daily of late including on the shore in front of my house.

Øygarden 01 November 2017 - Clearout?

Strong SW winds and rain much of the day.

Significantly fewer birds about today - the flocks of thrushes in the fields and crossbills overhead were pretty much absent today.

Nuthatch spettmeis at Sæle

It was not completely birdless though with Blackcaps munk at Tjeldstø and Sæle, Snipe enkeltbekkasin here and there, White-tailed Eagles havørn, flocks of Starling stær more or less everywhere and still some woodland species about that are normally uncommon such as Willow Tits granmeis and Nuthatch spettmeis.

Rock Pipits skjærpiplerke were seen here and there but only one Meadow Pipit heipiplerke.