Hernar 03 May 2024 - First fall of the spring

Having spent Thursday seawatching in order to meet the regulars I was "forced" to do Hernar on Friday instead. Others had been out on Thursday and nailed a bunch of new species for the island this year. However, even more was present during my visit with highlights being a singing Wryneck vendehals and a VERY early and silent Icterine Warbler gulsanger.

The supporting cast included a Pied Flycatcher svarthvit fluesnapper, several Blackcap munk, three Shelduck gravand flying over, Cuckoo gjøk, several each of Willow Warbler løvsanger and Chiff-chaff gransanger, a Lesser Whitethroat møller and a Common Whitethroat tornsanger.

Lesser Whitethoat møller

Wryneck vendehals

Other stuff off the island included a displaying Black Grouse orrfugl.

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 Herdlevær 03-04 May - Back to reality

 Light winds, dry and sunny.

After the unprecedented social and birding activity over the weekend it was back to reality. Being early May all I wanted to do was hang out at Skogsøy but this was not possible.

However, some good birds to be seen. On 03 May breakfast at Tjeldstø produced a nice Tundra Beam Goose tundrasædgås. It has been a while since I saw this species in Øygarden and was not on the radar at all in early May - this species is normally a winter visitor here. It was seen alongside the long-staying Pinkfoot kortnebbgås which gave good comparison views albeit at long range.

I moved to my usual breakfast stop location and the goose came right past giving better photo opportunites.

Goldfinches stillits turned also up at Tjeldstø and a few migrating Golden Plover heilo joined the five of the usual breeding species of wader there.

Teal krikkand at Tjeldstø

Intial view of the Tundra Bean Goose tundrasædgås

It then joined the long-staying Pinkfoot kortnebbgås

And later on did a nice fly-by causing coffee and sandwiches to be thrown to one side....

Once home it was back to the computer but a few short random scans from the terrace gave a total of 950 Barnacle Geese hvitkinngås heading north and a couple of flocks of Red-throated Diver smålom totalling 17. It looked like it would have been another good day at Skogsøy....

On 04 May I took breakfast at Herdlevær before work. Here a half hour seawatch gave an adult White-billed Diver gulnebblom and 45 Red-throated Diver smålom. Another good Skogsøy day I will never have again....

One of a couple of White-tailed Eagles havørn at Herdlevær

House Sparrow gråspurv also at Herdlevær. Not exactly a species I take many photographs of despite their obvious charm.

Skylark sanglerke at Breivik

On the way home a Wryneck vendehals sang enthusiastically but I couldn't really stop to enjoy the experience very long. 

Hernar 29 August 2019 - Rain = migrants

I decided to take the risk of heavy rain and with southerly winds and light rain as I set off things looked promising....

Common Redstart rødstjert - looks like a first year male

Wryneck vendehals

The rain was not too bad, though I did hunker down for about an hour through the worst of it. Before the rain set in a Whinchat buskvett was one of the few grounded migrants I picked up. After the rain a nice Redstart rødstjert and a Wryneck vendehals were the pick of the sightings. A Garden Warbler hagesanger also showed briefly.

Predictably there were some waders passing with Golden Plover heilo the most numerous. Others included a flock of three migrating Greenshank gluttsnipe.

A Peregrine vandrefalk put in a couple of appearance, first going after Starlings stær and later seen chasing a Common Tern makrellterne. White-tailed Eagle havørn and most of the usual suspects meant there was always something to see.

Things turned sunny just before I left.....

A quick look at Tjeldstø later on produced the first Goldeneye kvinand of the autumn (very early), White-tailed Eagle havørn and a Sparrowhawk spurvehauk giving a good go at catching a Swallow låvesvale.

House Sparrow gråspurv in my garden - it seems to have been a good year for them with plenty of young birds present.

Still lots of Painted Ladies about - this one on a yellow budlia in my garden

Øygarden 01-03 June 2019 - BEE-EATER UNBLOCKED!

After being glued to the computer all day on 1st June I decided I just HAD to get away from work for an hour or so. I thought Hjelme might produce an interesting warbler or some other late spring passerine.

I had barely got out of the car when I glimpsed a silhouette of an interesting looking bird on a telephone wire and heard the briefest of calls - BEE-EATER bieter sprang to mind and after a short walk I managed to relocate the bird. It was rather flighty but thankfully quite vocal.

It took only a few minutes for the other local birder from Øygarden to turn up but a lot longer to relocate the bird in rapidly failing light. Thankfully we got there in the end - finally unblocking this species locally for me as I have been away for both the previous sightings.

Bee-eater bieter swallowing a wasp of some sort

Grey-headed Woodpecker gråspett playing hide and seek on a telegraph pole

Unsurprisingly with this being only the third record for Øygarden the twitchers were on the scene early the next morning though only a few of them connected. I managed brief views shortly before 0600 but had to head into town to pick up a guiding client - I headed straight back and picked up the bird again around 0915 but despite others being around this seems to be the last sighting of the bird.

Other stuff in the area included singing Wryneck vendehals, Grey-headed Woodpecker gråspett, Woodcock rugde and more.

On 2nd June I picked up a singing Tree Pipit trepiplerke at Hatten (one of very few occasions I have heard this species sing in Øygarden), Garden Warbler hagesanger and Spotted Flycatcher gråfluesnapper at Hjelme, Swift tårnseiler at Nautnes and Tjeldstø and plenty more besides.

3rd June saw me guiding again with more of the same.

And that was pretty much the last of the birding for several weeks.....

Øygarden 26.05 - 27.05 The young ones and more seawatching

A very relaxing Sunday saw me and my youngest one out and about finding lots more young ones. Breeding Ringed Plovers sandlo at two locations - at least one of the pairs with four young, newly hatched Lapwing vipe at Tjeldstø and a Meadow Pipit heipiplerke nest with two young, a few Mallard stokkand with their young and hopeful were among the finds.

A very quick glimpse of the Meadow Pipit heipiplerke nest we found

Female Mallard stokkand leading her young to safety

An adult Ringed Plover sandlo keeps an eye on its young

Spotted Flycatcher gråfluesnapper

Wryneck vandehals

Other birds included a Wryneck vendehals seen very closely (but not photographed very well!) at Hatten, my first Spotted Flycatcher gråfluesnapper of the year.

On 27.05 with sunny conditions and a brisk northerly it was time to get back to Skogsøy for a couple of hours early morning seawatching before work. This resulted in the usual suspects in the form of a Great Skua storjo, 60 Gannets havsule, Kittiwakes krykkje, several Puffiin lunde and small numbers of Guillemot lomvi and Razorbill alke. Not quite as expected was a lone Temminck's stint temminkssnipe heading north. Just 17 Red-throated Diver smålom today.

A drive-by at Blomvatnet on the way into work produced a Sedge Warbler sivsanger and the usual suspects.

Hernar 12 October 2017 - More woodland stuff on the move

Mostly light westerly winds, but briefly rather strong. Largely dry but some showers.

Five keen birders trawled the island for migrants on the almost routine autumn Thursday visit. There were loads of birds about and plenty of activity - over 1000 birds of well over 50 species were noted. Nothing very rare in a conventional context but some decent Hernar sightings.

A probable Richards's pipit tartarpiplerke would have been the best bird if confirmed. THe best of the conventional migrants were a Wryneck vendehals and a Yellow-browed Warbler gulbrynsanger that eventually gave good views to most of us.

15 Blue tit blåmeis feeding in the scrub

Goldcrest fuglekonge

Long-tailed Tits stjertmeis

The main activity came in the form of a big movement of Blue Tits blåmeis with at least 700 heading west - probably a conservative estimate of the total passing. Smaller numbers of Great Tit kjøttmeis and Coal Tit svartmeis also moved through. At least one flock of Long-tailed Tit stjertmeis spent some time on the island too. In a Hernar context a couple of migrating Jays nøtteskrike may have been the best sighting of the day - seemingly a new species for the island.

A couple of WaterRail vannriskse, two Reed Bunting sivspurv, several Goldfinch stillits, around 60 Twite bergirisk, a Ring Ousel ringtrost, a Dunlin myrsnipe, a few Blackcap munk, at least one Chiff-chaff gransanger, over 100 Common Redpoll gråsisik and plenty of Brambling bjørkefink were also present.

Other sightings of interest included the first Long-tailed Ducks havelle of the autumn and a Peregrine vandrefalk that snatched a passing Snipe enkeltbekkasin out of the air with apparent ease.

Above two pictures from yesterday

The Yellow-legged Gull gulbeinmåke gained more cred today....

The Yellow-legged Gull gulbeinmåke put in an appearance at Harkestad later in the day.