Øygarden 30 December 2012 - New Year Bird Race Day 1

Southerly gales, heavy showers at times. Woken up by heavy thunder and a heavier hail storm my sanity was questioned as I left for Skogsøy. ...

Breivik 29 December 2012 - Strange gull?

Southerly gales, some light rain. Mild. Thawing fast. Only bird of note was a single Woodcock rugde .  Smaller, darker gull (top left) with ...

Herdlevær 28 December 2012 - Goldie again

Strong southerly winds slowly increasing. Mainly dry, some thawing. Golden Eagle kongeørn mobbed by Raven ravn . The split in the white win...

Tjeldstø 27 December 2012 - More Blackcap

Fresh north westerly wind with snow showers.  Female Blackcap munk on one of the feeders Amazingly yesterday's female Blackcap munk wa...

Tjeldstø 26 December 2012 - Blackcap

Calm and mild. A walk around the reserve produced little of interest although the family of five Whoopers sangsvane flew over - obviously h...

Tjeldstø 25 December 2012

Calm, mild and raining all day. Took things very easy today. A stroll around the reserve produced a Snipe enkeltbekkasin and a Woodcock rug...

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 enk...

Hjelme West 23 December 2012

Strong SE wind, cold A quick trip to Hjelme West produced a Goshawk hønsehauk chasing a Woodcock rugde out over the sea as the best sighti...

Tjeldstø 22 December 2012 - Parrots?

Another cold and sunny day, well below freezing.  Large billed Common Crossbills grankorsnebb ? Not much about today, though a flock of Cros...

Solberg 21 December 2012

Calm sunny and very, very frozen  Heron gråhegre at Dåvøy Raven ravn at Solberg A quck check at Solberg produced very little - the usual O...

Skogsøy 20 December 2012

Calm, sunny and cold. A return to freezing conditions again after a welcome break.  Whooper Swan sangsvane family at Skogsøy Eider ærfugl T...

Ljøsneset 19 December 2012 - Black Grouse

Another calm and mild day. Nothing much of interest other than a male Black Grouse orrfugl - the first I've seen for some time. Back at...

Hjelme West 18 December 2012 - Calm conditions pay off at last

Calm and mild again though most fresh water still very frozen. The conditions were pretty much ideal for picking up stuff on the sea and, un...

Øygarden 17 December 2012 - Otters

Calm and mild - the thaw continues - even insects hatching today.  The four pictures above were of an Otter than surfaced close to where I w...

Tjeldstø 16 December 2012 - F*****g Cats!

The main aim of this blog is to provide the latest bird news from Øygarden. Today I feel obliged to put the cat among the pigeons so to spea...

Herdlevær 16 December 2012 - thawing fast

Southerly winds with light rain showers. A rapid thaw has set in with almost all snow gone but freshwater still very much iced over. A fairl...

Tjeldstø 15 December 2012 - Jack Snipe

Near gale force easterly wind, milder without feeling it. Roadside  Jack Snipe kvartbekkasin at Hatten Some thawing taking place today but ...

Øygarden 14 December 2012 - Water Rail

Southerly winds, still cold. A couple of short walks with the dogs and the usual household errands produced some quality birds in a short sp...

Hjelme Vest 13 December 2012

Light south-east and "mild".  Woodcock rugde are facing an ever harder time of it - hoping for a thaw SOON With some almost-sun s...

Skogsøy 12 December 2012 - Whoopers

Light southerly winds with some light snowfall  Some of the Whoopers sangsvane feeding in the saltwater lagoons at Skogsøy Here the entire f...

Tjeldstø 11 December 2012 - Still winter

Calm with light snowfall much of the morning. Slightly milder than of late but still very frozen so many species still having a hard time of...