Today I took the day off work and visited Hernar for the first time this year. The weather forecast was good and there was wall to wall sunshine all day.
With the conditions over the last few days I was in no way certain there would be much about but with no meetings or other commitments I took the chance to be out all day:)
The first round of the island was hectic with Goldfinch stillits, Pied Wagtail svartryggerle, a flock of 10 Snow Buntings snøspurv and a flock of Woodpigeon ringdue seen. Things slowed down after that but I ended up on about 36 species which is pretty much the Hernar average away from the autumn.
Other migrants included a few Meadow Pipits heipiplerke, Snipe enkeltbekkasin and Woodcock rugde (though both these species may have been overwintering birds), lots of Blackbirds svarttrost, a couple of Goldcrest, the first Chiff-chaff gransanger of the spring, migrating Skylark sanglerke and more.
The sea was a bit on the quiet side with only small numbers of seaduck present.
A number of the local breeders were holding territory - Rock Pipits skjærpiplerke, Oystercatcher tjeld, Greylags grågås, Starling stær and more. At least one pair of Greenfinch grønnfink were busy with nest building.
I misjudged two things - the state of my camera battery and the whereabouts of my spare battery. Shortly after taking pictures of the Snow Buntings my camera died. However, in true Hernar style help was on hand and I managed to recharge the battery:)
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