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

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.

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.