Herdlevær 12 July 2022 - Weather does it job

 Southerly wind and overcast.

Predictably the weather did what is was meant to do and dumped some waders down. It is early yet so this meant several Whimbrel småspove, an adult Bar-tailed Godwit lappspove, and a Redshank rødstilk among other things. For the first time in a while there were two mink hunting in the area, once again turning my thoughts towards that hunting license I keep meaning to get - just so I can buy a shotgun. Scope, camera, shotgun, I'm going to need a bigger rucksack:)

Adult Bar-tailed Godwit lappspove

Whimbrel småspove

On 11 August a Merlin dvergfalk buzzed past my terrace

Skogsøy 08 May 2022 - A very different seawatch

Another day predictably spent seawatching at Skogsøy, much lighter winds and altogether more pleasant to sit there.

Quite a bit passed further out and the make up of the species was rather different - more variety and rarely a dull moment - over 1220 birds were logged. A Manx Shearwater havlire was the best bird and the first for the county this year. The Whimbrel småspove passage was close to record breaking with 192 birds seen on the move.

The totals for an 8 hour seawatching marathon which flew by in great company were:

Red throated Diver smålom N 349

Great Northern Diver islom S 1 2cy

White Billed Diver gulnebblom N 7 (all adult as usual)

Manx Shearwater havlire N 1

Northern Gannet havsule N 75, S 12 (more today despite less wind!)

Great Cormorant storskarv N 20, S 5

Eurasian Shag toppskarv N 23, S 70

Greylag Goose grågås N 1

Teal krikkand N 1

Tufted Duck toppand N 12

Eider ærfugl N 3, S 14

Long tailed duck havelle N 28

Common Scoter svartand N 99, S 21

Velvet Scoter sjøorre N 14

RB Merganser siland N 9, S 4

Oystercatcher tjeld N 128, S 6

Whimbrel småspove N 192 (just shy of the record 218!)

Turnstone steinvender N 1

Arctic Skua tyvjo N 1 pale phase

Black headed Gull hettemåke S 2

Common Gull fiskemåke N 78

Great black backed Gull svartbak N 6

Black-legged Kittiwake krykkje S 9

Arctic Tern rødnebbterne N 3

Razorbill alke N 17

Atlantic Puffin lunde N 3 

A few LBBG sildemåke feeding in the area

Oystercatcher tjeld catching the first rays of the morning sun

Oystercatcher tjeld

Red-throated Diver smålom passed in good numbers again, although further out on average today

The rare two-headed form of Tufted Duck toppand was also noted

Obviously intent on obtaining better views of some migrating Velvet Sctoer sjøorre

A mega day for Whimbrel småspove migration!

On the way home a surprise find was an Osprey fiskeørn heading north over Tjeldstø. Result!!

Osprey fiskørn heading north over Tjeldstø

Skogsøy 15 APril 2022 - First Whimbrel

 Fresh SW wind

Rather less passing today during a 3.5 hour seawatch. Highlight was the first Whimbrel småspove of the year heading north. Later on it either came back or another one arrived and started feeding close to where I was sitting.

Other than that mostly the usual suspects plus a rather large (for these parts) flock of Wigeon brunnakke numbering around 45.

Red-throated Diver smålom N 3

Great Northern Diver islom N 1

Northern Gannet havsule N 17, S 15 

Great Cormorant storskarv N 23, S 1

Eurasian Shag toppskarv N 1, S 40

Wigeon brunnakke N 45

Long tailed duck havelle N 5, S 1

Common Scoter svartand N 31, S 3

Merganser siland N 3

Oystercatcher tjeld N 8, S 1

Whimbrel småspove N 1

Common Gull fiskemåke N 362

Great black backed Gull svartbak N 5

Common Guillemot lomvi N 5, S 2

Razorbill alke N 1

Great Northern Diver islom

Raven ravn

The first Whimbrel småspove of the year

Third year White-tailed Eagle havørn getting seen off by a Raven

A Goldfinch stillits flying over on the way back to the car was an unusual species for this locality.

Back home the rest of the day was spent at work but I did see a small flock of Twite bergirisk heading over the garden.

Øygarden 05-06 May 2021 - Ticking over

 A pre-breakfast drive-by at a few locations on 04 May produced a Greenshank gluttsnipe at Tjeldstø along with the usual wader species.

A flock of 15 Golden Plover heilo fed with Lapwing vipe at Breivik.

Part of the Golden Plover heilo flock with one of the Lapwing vipe

At Kollsnes I managed to read a colour-ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull sildemåke which was interesting. The bird was ringed as a chick on Fedje (just north of Øygarden) back in 2013 and since then the only sighting reported was from Portugal in 2018 before it showed up here:)

Reported sightings of J037H

Colour ringed LBBG sildemåke

Two Wryneck vendehals singing on the way home today.

Wryneck vendehals

From the terrace displaying Common Sandpipers strandsnipe, Otter and the usual.

In the afternoon I had to make a shop run and a very slight detour gave me my first local Hawfinch kjernebiter of the year.

On Thursday 06 May I spent the morning on Hernar. It was quite a productive morning despite many migrants still not showing. My first Ring Ousel ringtrost of the year turned up along with some other migrants including a couple of Goldfinch stillits, some Whimbrel småspove dropped in, a Skylark sanglerke flew over (late for this species to be migrating). Strangely I saw no Robins rødstrupe and no Wrens gjerdesmett....Around 45 species present meant that it must have been a reasonable day:)

Linnet tornirisk were the second commonest finch after Twite bergirisk on the island

Plenty of Wheatear steinskvett settling in

A male Ring Ousel ringtrost dropped in briefly

Whimbrel småspove taking a break to feed up for the next leg of its migration

I returned home to see the first Common Tern makrellterne of the year fly past the terrace:)

Tjeldstø and Skogsøy 08-09 July 2020 - Summer stuff

A walk around the reserve at Tjeldstø gave little in the way of migrants - though a Spotted Flycatcher gråfluesnapper here was a relatively unusual sighting at this locality.

Waders and passerines with young - the woods are full of Lesser Redpoll brunsisik, Crested Tits toppmeis and Willow Warblers løvsanger all with families. 

Crested Tit toppmeis

Lesser Redpoll brunsisik

With light westerly winds on 09 July I gave Skogsøy another go - nothing remarkable but a couple of Arctic Skua tyvjo and 14 Puffins lunde heading north meant it was not a waste of time. A couple of Whimbrel småspove also rested here.

Song Thrush måltrost

Tree Sparrow pilfink

Whimbrel småspove

Even though the White-tailed Eagles havørn are now in "stealth mode" I picked up an adult near a breeding location on the way home.

Øygarden 14 May 2020 - A day off / the young ones

I took a break from seawatching today and had a look around at various localities.

Several singing Lesser Whitethroat møller at various localities, Cuckoo gjøk, Skylarks sanglerke seemingly breeding at three different places.

Siskin grønnsisik singing at Herdlevær

Whimbrel småspove at Tjeldstø

White Wagtail linerle

Otherwise it was a days of nests and young ones. A Blackbird svarttrost nest at Alvheim held almost fully fledged young whilst a Song Thrush måltrost was still adding some nest lining only a few metres away. A Ringed Plover sandlo watched over at least one newly hatched chick at the usual place.

At Tjeldstø a few Whimbrel småspove took a breather in one of the fields.

From the house a couple of White-tailed Eagle havørn, two pairs of Oystercatcher tjeld and one of Curlew storspove breeding close by, Common Sandpipers strandsnipe displaying and a pair of Twite bergirisk establishling themselves. Meanwhile the Starling stær parents are in shuttle traffic feeding their young in the nestbox I put up last year.

Herdlevær 21 April 2019 - Fall conditions

Finally a dull and very slightly wet start to a day.

Jackdaw kaie

Pied Wagtail svartryggerle

I opted for a short walk at Herdlevær which produced the first Jackdaw kaie of the year, my first local Goshawk hønsehauk of the year, a Pied Wagtail svartryggerle and a selection of the usual migrants.

On my way to Herdlevær I stopped at Husvatnet where a flock of seven Sand Martin sandsvale were the first of the year as was a lone Whimbrel småspove.

Greylag grågås VJ3 is still in the area.....

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.