Øygarden 07.07-17.07.2026 - A new species for Øygarden!

Not often I manage to get a new species in Øygarden these days but it happened this week.

As usual I spent all day working on 7th July with just the usual stuff from the terrace including a nice Whte-tailed Eagle havørn. Much the same the following day but a shot lunch break produced a Grey-headed Woodpecker gråspett at Hjelme along with a couple of Lesser Whitethroat møller.

Adult White-tailed Eagle havørn photographed from the home office

Several Common Tern makrellterne chicks were still present at Dåvøy on 8th July. These were well on the way to being fledged and were almost ready to fly. An Arctic Tern rødnebbterne chick at the same place was much younger and nowhere near flying....

In the evening a report of singing Quail vaktel at Tjeldstø made me leave the house but there was nothing going on in the half hour I had time to spend there. I returned early the next mornig and had better luck with at least two birds singing. These were no doubt birds displaced by meadows being cut - and ironically just a couple of days later this very productive field was laid bare and all the birds, including the Quail moved on. They just do not have a chance.

Quail vaktel singing at Tjeldstø - a new species for Øygarden!

After the early mornng Quail I headed to Hernar for the morning. There were painfully few warblers with a few of the usual suspects not seen and only just over 30 species seen. An Arctic Skua tyvjo was the best bird.

Young Wheatear steinskvett on Hernar

From Thursday afternoon in addition to getting back to work I was also dog sitting a non birding dog. But it was enough to get me away from the computer for a little bit each day:)

The dog walk on 11th June produced a couple of Swift tårnseiler at Tjeldstø - never a common species in Øygarden and something I see only a few to several times a year. In the reserve at Tjeldstø the Redshanks rødstilk obviously had young as they were very distressed when I passed by with the dog.

Concerned Redshank rødstilk parent at Tjeldstø

By this time at least one of the Quail vaktel had relocated to Sture where I heard it singing whilst three birders from town were twitching it,

I was barely out of the house for some days so it was more of the same until 16th when I managed a few very brief drive-bys. A dead tern at Dåvøy was likely to have been an Arctic Tern rødnebbterne based soley on where the nests / young had previously been. A single pair of Common Tern makrellterne were still looking after a well grown chick. A couple of larger Starling stær flocks were seen including around 120 at Breivik.

A pair of White-tailed Eagles havørn were unpopular with the local Common Gulls fiskemåke on 12th July

A couple of the Common Gull fiskemåke chicks at Husvatnet, Tjeldstø. At least some young are almost good to go:)

Common Tern makrellterne at Dåvøy

One of this year's Redshank rødstilk at Dåvøy

On 17th July all I managed was a couple of minutes at Husvatnet. Best birds here were a couple of Sand Martin sandsvale - clearly migrants as this species does not breed locally. Fully fledged Lapwing vipe and Redshank rødstilk were also present - good to see that there has been at least some success.