Skogsøy 13 December 2018 - Let the Seawatching commence

The new seawatching hide at Skogsøy

The long awaited seawatching hide at Skogsøy is almost ready so I had to check it out. Although not quite finished yet it still locked it looks very promising - a far cry from what I used back in 2006....

Hopefully this will mean more seawatching in worse weather and therefore more birds. Øygarden has some serious gaps in "birding infrastructure" and this will plug the biggest gap of them all. All weather seawatching will become a reality in the immediate future.

More seawatching hides can be seen on this page.

I didn't have time to do any actual seawatching but it was great to be out in glorious winter weather.

Elsewhere in Øygarden during the week there was the usual fare with Great Northern Diver islom, Woodock rugde, Purple Sandpipers fjærplytt, White-tailed Eagle havørn etc etc.

 As freshwater is starting to freeze it was no surprise that some Whoopers sangsvane dropped in to the "lagoons" at Skogsøy.

Øygarden 25-30 September - Broken Dreams

A few weeks ago I knew I was going to be at home in Øygarden and had high hopes of plenty of time in the field at this exciting time of year. How naïve I was! I have struggled to get out at all....most depressing - that'll teach me to have any optimism. Work must take most, but not all, of the blame - if it's not one thing its another.

Once again thoughts of golf or alcoholism seem tempting.

Gannets havsule at various places during the week

Part of the Heron gråhegre roost at Dåvøy

View to the north at Skogsøy on the evening of 30th September - a few hours AFTER the wind had started to abate,

On the up side White-tailed Eagles havørn have been more obvious with multiple daily sightings pretty much eveywhere - including from the house where I spend most of the time.

It has been a week of strong winds but I have only managed very short and sporadic seawatches.  A lot of the time the wind has been too strong for most stuff to fly in and too strong to seawatch in. Gannets havsule have been plentiful on both the sea and fjord sides of Øygarden.

A brief look at Herdlevær on 26th produced at least three Yellow-browed Warbler gulbrynsanger, a Lesser Whitethroat møller, Chiff-chaff gransanger and Willow Warbler løvsanger along with increased numbers of thrushes. A Jay nøtteskrike during a drive-by at Tjeldstø was another bird of note.

A lateish Greenshank gluttsnipe from my terrace at Nautnes was the best bird that day. A drive-by at Dåvøy showed that the Heron gråhegre roost there was already up to over 20 birds.

A lightening attempt at seawatching from Herdlevær on 29th produced little of interest over the sea in the short time I spent there. However, I did pick up a Jack Snipe kvartbekkasin and a Merlin dvergfalk blasted past on the gale force winds,

I literally ran out to Skogsøy for a one hour seawatch on 30th. Mostly just Gannets havsule in the strong onshore winds. Other stuff included a Kittiwake krykkje and small numbers of Red-throated Diver smålom.

Still plenty of Swallows låvesvale and smaller numbers of other migrants around - including Wheatear steinskvett.

Skogsøy 23 April 2016 - Enduro test

Sunny to start with, degenerating into hail and snow, sunny again then yet more snow.

Goodness only knows what the wind chill factor was today but it was COLD at Skogsøy. A fresh north westerly wind kept temperatures down and when the hail and snow started the going got tough. I waited an hour before giving up only to have the sun come back out not long afterwards so I turned back for more of the same until the hail and snow started again.....

The visibility wasn't up to much at times.....here a Barnacle Goose hvitkinngås is just about visible through the driving snow....

Cormorants storskarv "stalling" on their way north

Anticipating an against the sky shot this is somewhat overerexposed but gives a nice feeling of movement

Rock Pipit skjærpiplerke

The view during a lighter part of the snowstorm. There was no snow or frost when I arrived....

The best bird was the first Barnacle Goose hvitkinngås of the year heading north. There was some migration with well into double figures of Red-throated Diver smålom, Common Scoter svartand and Long-tailed Ducks havelle on the move as well as a couple of Puffin lunde, a Lesser Black-backed Gull sildemåke among the usual species on the move.

Other new species for the year here included Linnet tornirisk

A brief stop at Husvatnet on the way home produced the first two Swallows låvesvale of the year - an incongruous sight as they fed over the lake in yet another snow shower. A pair of Tufted Duck toppand were also present here.

Skogsøy 20 December 2015 - A lucky break in the weather

Skogsøy sunset

Gale force southerly winds and rain most of the day but went out to Skogsøy in the afternoon anyway - for the walk if nothing else. The weather changed just a we got all the way out and rewarded us with a decent sunset.

Birdwise nothing special to report - just the usual White-tailed Eagles havørn,, Rock pipit skjærpiplerke etc

Skogsøy 17 May 2015 - Ja vi elsker....Skogsøy!

Light SW with occasional squalls early on. Calm and sunny after around 0800.

I celebrated Norway's national day in my own special way. I started with a one man, one dog parade (without flags and, sadly, without the brass band) shortly after 0500. I arrived at the lookout and settled down to watch a procession, not of schoolchildren, scouts, various sports clubs etc etc, but of Skuas, Divers, seaduck and other seabirds.

So, in my own special way, not unlike the average Norwegian at all!

On the way to Skogsøy I stopped briefly at Breivik and had a singing Reed Bunting sivspurv and at least two Sedge Warblers sivsanger.

Although it was fairly quiet to start with it was far from disappointing. Highlights were a total of 13 Pomarine Skuas polarjo, six Arctic Skua tyvjo, a Great Skua storjo (amazingly my first of the year), three White-billed Diver gulnebblom and a decent passage of Barnacle Geese hvitkinngås.

This all looks very nice at a distance but was somewhat less comfortable when it got up close and personal....

A seawatcher's view.....

I have no idea where this surf came from - the calm winds could in no way have caused this.

Some Barnacle flocks passed in front of me.....

...others tried to sneak past behind me (looks like they are flying in the wrong direction!)

....others came directly overhead

..whilst this thing set the pulse racing briefly . just a partial albino and NOT the Snow Goose I thought it might have been for a second or two!

Common Scoter svartand

Gannets havsule

Some Gannets havsule came VERY close

Twite bergirisk

In the end I sat from 0545 to 1230 and had the following (not an exhaustive list):

Red-throated Diver smålom: 40N
White-billed Diver gulnebblom: 3N
Gannet havsule: 72N, 13S
Shag toppskarv: 2N,13S
Barnacle Goose hvitkinngås: 429N (+another 305 on the way back to the car!)
Common Scoter svartand: 34N, 5S
Long-tailed Duck havelle: 7N (ALARMINGLY LOW yet again - it should be peak passage for this species now and there are VERY few passing)
Oystercatcher tjeld: 32N
Whimbrel småspove: 2N
Turnstone steinvender: 3N
Pomarine Skua polarjo: 13N
Arctic Skua tyvjo: 6N
Great Skua storjo: 1N
Kittiwake krykkje; 4N, 6S
Arctic Tern rødnebbterne: 10N
Guillemot lomvi: 1N
Razorbill alke: 6N
Puffin lunde: 2N

The Black-tailed Godwit svarthalespove was still present at Tjeldstø

What better place to celebrate Norway's national day than watching the best that south-west Norway has to offer?

Gratulerer med dagen folkens!

Skogsøy 03 April 2012 - Morning after the day before

Light northerlies and sunny after a few days of unsuitable migration conditions.

 Cormorant storskarv

 Above and below: 3rd year Iceland Gull grønlandsmåke

 Above and below: A steady stream of Oystercatcher tjeld passed during the first few hours

Part of a flock of Shelduck gravand

A perfect migration day and the birds took advantage of it. Aiming to hit such days is not always easy but today was never going to go wrong. A very hard frost and temperatures below freezing for the first couple of hours meant I was glad I had plenty of warm clothes. In a little of five hours of seawatching I logged the following (among other things):

All heading north:
Common Gull fiskemåke 1200
Oystercatcher tjeld 900
Cormorant storskarv 285
Iceland Gull grønlandsmåke 1 (3 cy bird - pale eye)
Red-throated Diver smålom 21
Shelduck gravand 5

There was some auk passage today too, however, most passed at long range. Those identified included small numbers of Puffin lunde, Little Auk alkekonge, Razorbill alke, Guillemot lomvi and a single Black Guillemot teist.

All in all a much more typical early April seawatch than a couple of days ago!