Herdlevær 25 January 2026 - A flurry of activity

Another cold and calm day.  My second walk at Herdlevær this year started well but soon went back to something along the lines of same, same. However, stops on the way there and on the way home proved to be quite productive.

Almost the first bird to be seen at Herdlevær was a Kestrel tårnfalk being mobbed by Hooded Crows kråke. Other stuff here included a flock of 11 Fieldfare gråtrost, a Great Northern Diver islom and of course some White-tailed Eagles havørn.

Great Northern Diver islom

After this I did Breivik hoping to find some non-frozen ground which didn't work out well, but the first local Great Spotted Woodpecker flaggspett of the year, an obliging Wren gjerdesmett and small numbers of thrushes were seen.

Wren gjerdesmett

Compared to some previous winters there still seem to be "good" numbers of Wren surviving. Lets hope for mild weather in the immediate future!

Other highlights during the day included a couple of Common Snipe enkeltbekkasin, five Woodcock rugde at three locations, a Water Rail vannrikse and small numbers of Parrot Crossbills furukorsnebb.

I was on my way home with the light fading when I heard about a goose that needed checking out. It was "just" an albifrons Whitefront tundragås but always nice to see and a great find - the bird had been present for "some days".  As  was in the neighbourhood I checked Blomvatnet but this was frozen solid - however, a nice Goshawk hønsehauk made it all worthwhile:)

albifrons Whitefront tundragås at Blomvåg

Robin rødstrupe must also be struggling - but I see some a long way away from any kind of feeding and they seem to be making it so far....

Uber camo - one of the day's five Woodcock rugde. I'm wondering if we should start feeding them - not the kind of weather for this kind of bird at the moment

Skogsøy 13 August 2019 - Gannets

Fresh northerly winds had me hoping for a bit more than Gannets havsule. I sat for over 1.5 hours and notched up 110 northbound Gannets, mostly at close range. Little else passed other than a flock of 30 Knot polarsnipe - also heading north.

Gannets havsule

Lesser Black-backed Gull sildemåke

Rock Pipit skjærpiplerke

I ran into a couple of Wren gjerdesmett families on the way home.....

The previous day was spent guiding in even stronger northerly winds - but at Herdla rather than Øygarden. At least 12 species of wader, a couple of White-tailed Eagle havørn and a Yellow Wagtail gulerle were among the sightings.

Øygarden 09 October 2016 - Still given up.

Light SE and sunny.

Incredibly frustrating to not be able to get out and about in the fantastic conditions.

Starling stær feeding on the rapidly disappearing rowan berries

Plenty of Wren gjerdesmett moving through now

Lots of activity over the house around dawn with several species of finch, Grey-headed Woodpecker gråspett and so on. A Great spotted woodpecker flaggspett over the garden in the afternoon was the first I've had in Øygarden this year! Amazing that the occurrence of this species can be so variable - some autumns they appear in large numbers, others barely at all. A couple of adult White-tailed Eagles havørn also put in an appearance.

A quick walk with the dog at Herdlevær produced a small flock of Goldfinch stillits and generally lots about at first light but most stuff seemed to clear out quickly.

Dåvøy 24 December 2012

Fresh south easterly with snow. Nice.

 Cormorant storskarv

 Mallard stokkand

Wren gjerdesmett

Only bird of any note at Dåvøy was a Snipe enkeltbekkasin - with the weather forecast to turn milder soon this bird should have an easier time of things for a while at least.

A quick look at Solberg produced little - just a Velvet Scoter sjøorre and a couple of Otters.