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: Storskarv (Phalacrocorax carbo; Great cormorant)
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.
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.
October, 2023
Month cut short as my camera was recalled for repairs by Nikon for issues I never experienced. But better safe than sorry. Just got it back.
August, 2023
Another month with lots of rainy days (19). The birds in the woods have been quiet and my outings with a camera limited.
June (the remainder), 2023
A busy month concludes with grand kid duties at lake Yxningen and trips around that area as well as some birding around home.
2023-05-28–06-10 Brantevik / Österlen
Enjoyed a beautiful two early summer weeks in Brantevik, Österlen.
2023-05-25–28 Österlen deluxe
A luxury four day trip to beautiful Österlen with single room accomodation and breakfast + dinner included. Led by Henrik W, we observed around 135 bird species, but I was of course not able to photograph them all. And as usual, some of the ones I did get, are not identifyable by the image – you’ll have to trust us.
The Öland trip, 2022-10-06–09
A trip with “Tisdagsklubben” to the south of the Öland island in the middle of the migration season. A wonderful trip, that yielded eleven new “bildkryss” (species).