Dogger Bank 09-13 May 2025 - Spring migration on a windfarm

I spent about a week on the Dogger Bank C development and once again there were quite a few birds to see. Maybe it had something to do with the size of the vessel (MUCH larger than the usual ones I work on) but the "island effect" was obvious with a disproportionate number of "good" birds compared to the commoner species.

A female Marsh Harrier sivhauk turned up on the evening of the 10th May and was present again the following morning.

Good numbers of insects and moths seen - the birds took advantage of these and seemed to catch quite a lot.

Gannet havsule - small numbers most days

Kittiwake krykkje - small numbers most days

Fulmar havhest - small numbers a few times

Marsh Harrier sivhauk  - female seen 09-10.05

Kestrel tårnfalk - a female present on 10.05

Peregrine vandrefalk - one hunting around the vessel on 12.05. Not the first time I've seen these on Dogger Bank - it could be that these birds regularly hunt far offshore?

Wheatear steinskvett (one male on the helideck 09.05)

Robin rødstrupe - one turned up on 13.05

Common Redstart rødstjert - a male onboard 12-13.05

Black Redstart svartrødstjert - a cracking male was seen on 13.05

Pied Flycatcher svarthvit fluesnapper - a female turned up on 12.05 and stayed until the next day

Tree Pipit trepiplerke - one onboard 12-13.05

Swallow låvsvale - one on 11.05

Willow Warbler løvsanger - one onboard 12.05

Chiff-chaff gransanger (including singing birds and a potential tristis) 2+ present daily

Common Whitethroat tornsanger  11-12-05

Reed Warbler rørsanger 11-12.05

Male Black Redstart svartrødstjert

Chiff-chaff gransanger with tick

Female Marsh Harrier sivhauk

Female Pied Flycatcher svarthvit fluesnapper

Some Racing Pigeons brevdue turned up as they so often do

Male Common Redstart rødstjert

Reed Warbler rørsanger with a freshly caught moth - I saw it catch several during it's stay onboard

Tree Pipit trepiplerke

Tristis Chiff-chaff sibirgransanger candidate. Looked good in every way but I didn't hear it call

A rare spring sighting! Normally these are an autumn thing....

A couple of the moth species seen onboard

Answers on a postcard please:)

Angle Shades (thanks Alf Tore!)

Norwegian Sector 04-18 September 2024 - North Sea Medley

A couple of weeks offshore in the southern Norwegian sector.

Didn't even get outside for the first few days and very little time spent on deck in general. 

I first made it outside on 07 September not far from Knarr, a Wheatear steinskvett, a Common Redstart rødstjert and a Kestrel tårnfalk all showed up. This proved to be the best day for migrants onboard for the entire trip.

Kestrel tårnfalk

Redstart rødstjert

Wheatear steinskvett

The next day near Snorre A several Wheatear steinskvett, a White Wagtail linerle and another passerine that evaded identification were onboard.

Gullfaks C

Snorre A

Wheatear steinskvett

The next several days were spent close to various Gullfaks platforms - no migrants but at times good numbers of seabirds. On 12 September a pod of Pilot Whales grindhval gave some good views.

Gullfaks A

Fulmar havhest

Great Black-backed Gulls svartbak

Gullfaks B

Fulmar havhest

GBBG svartbak

Pilot Whales grindhval

Towards the end of the trip Minke Whales vågehval were seen a few times and a Convolvulus Hawk Moth rested on the helideck for most of the day on 16 September.

Minke Whale "blow" next to a fishing vessel

The two big industries in the North Sea side by side....

Common Gull fiskemåke

Convolvulus Hawk Moth vindelsvermer

Brynhild (Norwegian Sector) 07-10 May 2020 - Offshore migration

Back to work again - good for the finances and bad for seawatching. But not quite birdless.

Spent 01-05 May jacked up in a fjord outside Stavanger and then headed out to sea to the Bryhild template. The transit produced a couple of Wheatear steinskvett on the helideck, a Great Skua storjo, Fulmars havhest and more but there wasn't really much of an opportunity to keep an eye open.

Female Redstart rødstjert taking a break onboard

The House Martin is just about visible in this "habitat shot"

The picture above this was taken from the same place, just zoomed in!

House Martin taksvale

On 07 May a female Redstart rødstjert turned up. The following day a House Martin taksvale spent some time onboard and alternately flew around hunting insects and resting. With my point and pray superzoom there was not much chance of a flight shot😀 Also brief views of a phylloscopus warbler and several Gannets havsule.

Sedge Warbler sivsanger - first of the year for me!

Chiff-chaff gransanger

On 09 May a Sedge Warbler sivsanger, a Chiff-chaff gransanger and one other phylloscopus warbler turned up. The Chiff-chaff even gave a brief burst of song - a totally surreal sound in the the middle of the North Sea with the background noise of the platform! A Great Skua storjo flew over and a selection of the usual seabirds turned up.

Giant barnacle thingy growing in huge numbers on the legs of the platform

Jack-up legs