Øygarden 19-20 September 2018 - The weather is here, wish I was out

Near gale force winds with only occasional short showers. In other words very nice weather to be out and about - but I have, as usual, been inside most of the time instead.

Common Scoter svartand

Juvenile Common Tern makrellterne

Dunlin myrsnipe

Migrating Oystercatcher tjeld

Ringed Plover sandlo

Rock Pipit skjærpiplerke

A quick coffee break at Herdlevær on 19th produced seven species of waders including Knot polarsnipe, a juvenile Common Tern makrellterne and enough action over the sea to make me want to stay a lot longer. Wheatears steinskvett and Rock Pipits skjærpiplerke were among the passerines seen.

A Kestrel tårnfalk put in an appearance over the house in the afternoon.

On 20th there was a steady passage of Gannets havsule seen from the terrace and a variety of waders were sheltering in the lee of the islands, including a Knot polarsnipe and a flock of Ringed Plover sandlo.

Great Skua storjo with Herring Gull gråmåke and Gannet havsule

Great Skua storjo chasing White-tailed Eagle havørn

Ten minutes at Tjeldstø in the evening provided a fantastic experience with first one, then three Great Skuas storjo beating up on the gulls and Gannets havsule feeding there and one of them even gave one of the two White-tailed Eagles havørn present there a pretty hard time. A bonus bird here was at least one dark phase Arctic Skua tyvjo. Fantastic!

This is only the second time I have seen Great Skua at Tjeldstø - the first time being 19.09.2018

Inner islands, NW Øygarden 15 July 2018 - Game on

Southerly winds and overcast to start with (rain during the night), hot and sunny later.

Two of this year's Common Tern makrellterne (left and right)

Note that the second bird from the right is an Arctic Tern rødnebbterne.

Two Common Tern chicks - fingers crossed!

Another day, another boat trip. The aim of the day was to check out potential tern colonies. Bad news for Arctic Terns rødnebbterne as we found no definite nests, although we did see a number of adults (and there ARE some pairs breeding in the area as I see adults with fish flying over my house every day). Common Terns makrellterne seem to be fairing better - another look at the site I checked in on yesterday revealed six fully fledged young and two chicks still at the nest.

Not the easiest of conditions today.....

Adult Knot polarsnipe

Young Oystercatcher tjeld almost "good to go"

Wader migration is now picking up with the first Knot polarsnipe of the autumn. Two flocks, one of eight and another of six were seen, though there is some potential for these being the same birds. As usual for this time of year the birds were adults. Two Dunlin myrsnipe migrating were also the first of the autumn. Plenty of Oystercatcher tjeld again - some young looking ready to go. It will only be a couple more weeks before these birds are migrating. The only other waders were a few each of Curlew storspove and Whimbrel småspove.

This Lesser Black-backed Gull sildemåke was colour ringed but flew a couple of seconds too soon to read the number :(

Merganser siland with young

Eiders ærfugl posing around the islands.....

More Eider ærfugl with young, a Merganser siland with eight chicks and a light but steady passage of Gannet havsule were among the other birds seen.

Øygarden 01-07 July 2018 - Ups, downs and autumn migration

The trend of not birding continues almost unabated. I have not yet given up properly.

I managed to take a 10 minute detour to the shops on 03.07, half an hour in the nature reserve at Tjeldstø on 04.07 and spent a whopping two hours seawatching at Skogsøy on 07.07.

One seriously bad piece of news was that yet another of the good overwintering sites for species like Water Rail vannrikse, Jack Snipe kvartbekkasin and similar has been destroyed - the second such site in as many years. This insidious destruction of small "unimportant" sites probably plays a massive role in the decline of many such species. Once gone these site will never ever save the lives of struggling birds in the depth of winter. I am considering start laying land mines in such areas, this is at least an acceptable activity in large parts of the world....

Quite a bit of age variation among the Common Tern makrellterne chicks....

Common Terns makrellterne feeding young

On the up side the terns - at least Common Terns makrellterne are doing well with breeding pairs at a number of locations. Other species that have managed to get young on the way include Lapwings vipe, Oystercatcher tjeld and quite a lot of Common Gull fiskemåke. Wheatear steinskvett, Meadow Pipits heipiplerke and many other species have fledged young now.

Curlew storspove

Meadow Pipit heipiplerke

Young Wheatear steinskvett

Seawatching at Skogsøy produced the usual summer suspects - Great Skua storjo, Gannet havsule and Common Scoter svartand in addition to some autumn migration - a flock of Whimbrel småspove.

As usual there is more age variation among the Gannets havsule during the summer

The most (and arguably best) picture here - a Great Skua storjo. Massively cropped.

Migrating Whimbrel småspove at Skogsøy

Greenshank gluttsnipe outside my house in the first two days of the month were another sign of autumn.

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.