This month included a shorter trip to lake Yxningen for a crayfish party and two weeks in Österlen in the south of Sweden. I will have to apologize for the quality of some pictures as I had the camera on people identification after I photographed the soccer team of one of the grandkids. Changed it to bird id as soon as I noticed, but e.g. the Common shelduck, Wood sandpipers, Sparrow hawk and Western marsh harrier didn’t turn out as expected.
Tag: Gråhäger (Ardea cinerea; Grey heron)
July, 2025
The main event this month was a two week trip to the island of Gotland. The weather was by far the warmest and sunniest this summer, make bird excursions a drag.
2025-05-01–04 Öland with Henrik
A four day birding excursion from Stockholm to the sothern part of island Öland. We were around 25 people in a comfortable bus and stayed at the Ottenby hostel. As usual, many early mornings.
This kind of trip often have birds far away from where we are and really requires a spotting scope, but I don’t own one and my longest camera lens is 840 mm (with the tele converter). (If I understand this corretly, that is about 30% reach as compared to a scope with 60 times magnification.) As a result I often have to crop the images significantly. Another problem is that a few photos were shot through the bus window, that does not help either. So you will have to excuse the quality of some pictures.
January, 2025
A mostly overcast, dreary month. We had freezing temperatures and snow at the beginning, but since the 7th it’s melted and rained away. I’ve been on two outings, one with the Tuesday club and one with Biofoto, the latter focusing on grey herons. Otherwise mainly been busy with upcoming relocation.
Outer Hebrides, September 21-28, 2024
Took a trip with my old friend, Johan, via Edinburgh to the Outer Hebrides. We traveled with a rental car via the ferry from Ullapool to the isle of Lewis. From there went to the northernmost tip, Butt of Lewis. Then we drove through the isles of Harris, North Uist, South Uist, Eriskay and Barra. Lastly we returned with a ferry to Oban and continued back to Edinburgh.
This was not the best time for bird watching, but I managed to capture four new species. It was also a bit late in the season as some tourist attractions were closed (e.g. the Arnol blackhouse). Most food shacks and lunch restaurants were also closed (and they are not plentyful to begin with). As we stayed in pre-booked hotels, we were at least treated to good dinners and breakfasts. Most of the hotels seemed to end their season in October.
Summer and Fall, 2024
My seven months old Windows computer died early September and was returned for service. After almost three months without the repairs getting completed, I received a new one through the guarantee. (Don’t ask me about my experience trying to have a dialogue with support!) My other excuse for not posting here is that we’ve been busy since early August trying to find an apartment so we can sell our house. It’s now finalized, even though the actual move is a couple of months away.
2024, May 27 – June 7- Brantevik & Österlen
Spent two weeks in Brantevik and visited numerous surroundings for walks and bird sights.
May, 2024, the first half
An early May update as I’m going on a birding trip. May has treated us well with the last eight days on +20 C and ony a single night with frost.
November, 2023
Things are slow this time of year. A few courageous species will be fighting the winter instead of migrating. And this was another month rich in precipation, the last couple of days in the form of snow.
September, 2023
After all the rain that fell in July and August, September has been dry and warm and mosquito infested. Not good for birding, but the insect eating birds should have hopes for the future.
Tavi's Birds 