Calm and cold again with southerly winds.
Todays's very brief foray away from the home office was to Dåvøy. Here it was very much situation normal with a Slavonian Grebe horndykker on the sea, a small flock of Purple Sandpipers fjæreplytt, a White-tailed Eagle havørn or two, a few Parrot Crossbill furukorsnebb and most of the usual suspects including a feeding Otter.
Other stuff today included a few Snipe enkeltbekkasin (thank you to the road work people for stopping me from driving to my house for 15 minutes) and a Water Rail vannriske. I really should not be allowed to drive a car as it cannot possibly be safe to spot stuff like this from a moving vehicle if one is paying any attention to the road.
A more saddening observation was also at Dåvøy. Whilst photographing the Red-breasted Mergansers siland I noticed a dead diver floating in the sea. I went down to investigate and it was, as expected, a Great Northern Diver islom. Likely cause of death: drowning in fishing gear. This is the the second Great Northern Diver that I know has died this way since the New Year and it is pure luck that I know even this much. With the apparent policy of building as many marinas and cabins to get yet more people out hobby fishing with nets as humanely possible in addition to those who do this as a way of life there is no way this problem is going to go away.....With the current spate of good weather the amount of gear currently deployed has increased....
Herons gråhegre roosting at Dåvøy - picture taken whilst waiting for Mergansers to resurface.
Red-breasted Mergansers siland.
I don't often bother taking pictures of this common species but they are really cool. The females remind me somehow of my misspent youth at the Mayfair Rock nightclub in Newcastle back in the '80s. Kind of reminds me of how the rock girls looked....
Random Otter shots
Redwing rødvingetrost FINALLY getting the idea that there could be food on the shoreline
One of a few Snipe enkeltbekkasin seen today. This one at least seemed to be finding some food. Bring on the thaw that hopefully is just around the corner. That way they can find food more easily and get away from the local cats who are now routinely patrolling such areas. I miss my dog.
Short video of Common Snipe enkeltbekkasin
It really should not be possible to spot this Water Rail vannrikse from a moving vehicle.
With a bit of patience and a little cropping this was the result.
Todays's very brief foray away from the home office was to Dåvøy. Here it was very much situation normal with a Slavonian Grebe horndykker on the sea, a small flock of Purple Sandpipers fjæreplytt, a White-tailed Eagle havørn or two, a few Parrot Crossbill furukorsnebb and most of the usual suspects including a feeding Otter.
Other stuff today included a few Snipe enkeltbekkasin (thank you to the road work people for stopping me from driving to my house for 15 minutes) and a Water Rail vannriske. I really should not be allowed to drive a car as it cannot possibly be safe to spot stuff like this from a moving vehicle if one is paying any attention to the road.
Dead Great Northern Diver islom
A more saddening observation was also at Dåvøy. Whilst photographing the Red-breasted Mergansers siland I noticed a dead diver floating in the sea. I went down to investigate and it was, as expected, a Great Northern Diver islom. Likely cause of death: drowning in fishing gear. This is the the second Great Northern Diver that I know has died this way since the New Year and it is pure luck that I know even this much. With the apparent policy of building as many marinas and cabins to get yet more people out hobby fishing with nets as humanely possible in addition to those who do this as a way of life there is no way this problem is going to go away.....With the current spate of good weather the amount of gear currently deployed has increased....
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