Øygarden 21-23 March - Game over for now

With a lot of stuff to sort out before a return to a good old fashioned offshore trip I did not manage to put much effort into the birding.

Birdwise the highlights were new sightings of the two "new" neck-ringed Greylags grågås at Tjeldstø and a Black-headed Gull hettemåke from my terrace. Still plenty of White-tailed Eagles havørn though:)

Coooperative Grey Seal havert at Herdlevær

Greylag numbers have now reached around 200 at Tjeldstø - though these two neck-ringed birds have been around for a while now.

Nøvlingane 08 July 2018 - The Young Ones

Calm sunny and very nice weather to be out and about in.

This is nothing to do with the cult British TV comedy series from the '80s :)

We took a boat trip to look around the islands to check out what was going on.

Whimbrels småspove - a sure sign that autumn migration has begun.

Migration wise a flock of 8 Whimbrel småspove put in an appearance close to Nautnes.

One of a few families of Eiders ærfugl seen today.

Young Great black-backed Gulls svartbak

Grey Seal havert

Young Herring Gull gråmåke

Lesser Black Backed Gull sildemåke - by far in the minority out on the islands

One of several young Oystercatcher tjeld seen.

Adult Oystercatcher tjeld with limpit. Of more interest is that this bird is ringed....highly likely to have been ringed on the south coast of the UK if experience is anything to go by.

Raven ravn

Rock Pipit skjærpiplerke really living up to it's name

Shag toppskarv

Other than these it was just the usual breeding birds including a single Black Guillemot teist, several Cormorants storskarv among the local Shags toppskarv, Oystercatchers tjeld, Eider ærfugl and the usual gull species. There were plenty of young Herring Gulls gråmåke and Great Black-backed Gulls svartbak on several of the islands.

Other stuff included a White-tailed Eagle havørn, a couple of Raven ravn, Rock Pipits skjærpiplerke and a couple of Gannets havsule. Several Arctic Tern rødnebbterne were seen but none on the island that looked so promising earlier in the year.

As is so often the case a couple of Grey Seal havert were hanging around.

Bleikenøvlingen, Høgskjæret etc 30 June 2017 - Some good news and some bad

Took a boat trip around the islands in the north west of Øygarden in the cracking summer weather today. Very calm and very hot.

Arctic Tern rødnebbterne diving for fish

....catches fish that was either caught in, or hiding under jellyfish

....and flies off with the prize

A couple of second year birds with all black bills made me look twice......a pitfall for the unwary.

The good news that there is at least one decent Arctic Tern rødnebbterne colony on the go with possibly 50 pairs seeming to be on eggs. There also appeared to be a few smaller colonies. Lets hope they don't just get going and then give up as they so often do.

Gull numbers seemed down, though quite a few have downy young. Great Black-backed Gulls svartbak, Herring Gulls gråmåke and Lesser Black-backed Gulls sildemåke all breeding and a number of Common Gulls fiskemåke feeding on the island but not sure if they were breeding there.

A pair of Common Tern makrellterne at Nautnes

A few moulting male Eiders ærfugl were hanging out on the islands

This female was the only one seen with a chick. 

Several Grey Seals havert were relaxing in the sun and were typcially very curious

Four Whimbrel småspove - autumn migration has started.

Very few Eiders ærfugl with JUST ONE chick seen. And no Black Guillemots teist today. Several pairs of Shags toppskarv were on their nesting ledges, plenty of Oystercatcher tjeld and a few pairs of Rock Pipit skjærpiplerke were also seen. One or two pairs of Common Tern makrellterne were near Nautnes - no doubt the same birds that have been fishing in front of my house of late.

Other birds included a few Common Scoter svartand and a party of four Whimbrel småspove - probably returning birds that have either finished or given up on their breeding attempts.

Earlier in the day I had a quick look for the Trumpeter Finch trompetfink without success - the fields close to where it has been hanging out are in the process of being cut so it may have moved to a new food source along with the finches it has been associating with.