Swift update.

We're still quite busy with all things survey at the moment as all the spring work comes into it's crucial final stages. Ortolan Buntings are feeding youngsters, which is great news, we ringed a brood of 4 chicks last week and they luckily fledged hours before the farmer cut his grass. I was horrified to wake up to see the farmer had mown in the night. See below the open-topped nest remains. 

 

Ortolan Bunting after mowing, a sorry scene.

The Marsh harriers we have monitored through spring have hatched and look amazingly cute. There is a runt, but I'm sure they'll find enough food to equal things out as the adults are hunting non-stop throughout the day.

Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus. Photo; Strahil Peev

Heather has arrived and now work begins to start preparing the nets and net rides ahead of the ringing season; yesterday whilst fixing nets this little gem landed next to me. I was very, very surprised because I've always been told you need to flick-net for Swifts, maybe this one was a stupid individual. Though it was a stunning stupid individual and a very welcome ringing tick. I now know why Seumus told me his fingers were like pin cushions after handling many of them.

Swift - Apus apus

We also finished off the first round of "normal" nest boxes with a brood of Pied flycatcher. Heather also got to grips with a bit of mist netting and caught this known age Tree Sparrow. Ringed here 1 year ago (almost to the day) as a chick. He can now be sexed on his cloacal protuberance.

Heather and Mr Tree Sparrow - Passer montanus

Pied Flycatcher chicks - Ficedula hypoleuca

A few days ago we heard Long-eared Owl chicks near the house and after a short search I found the nest and climbed to it. The result, 3 Long-eared Owlets ringed. 

Long-eared Owl chicks - Asio otus

One of the chicks 8 days on.

Long-eared Owlet in nest - Asio otus

Worth a post.

First of all apologies for not posting in nearly 3 weeks. I was busy winning the bird race against Magnus. The final scores Craig 141 - Magnus 134. A combined total of 148 Species were seen during the "race" which took place between 9th and 31st May, the prize this year is only beer as after Magnus' dip in the Canal last year Anthrax was discovered on the banks exactly where he went in... He was therefore a bit worried last year and now won't jump back in! It was a nice competition this year anyway and we each saw "lifers". I had Broad-billed Sandpiper, Golden Oriole (bad but true) and Blue-winged Teal, Magnus had the latter and Glossy Ibis for his "lifers".

Other than the competition we've been busy surveying things all over the reserve. A project on Sedge Warblers is hotting up and the Ortolan's are getting down to their breeding business (a pair carrying food today was nice). I was supposed to be studying Savi's warblers but Kvismaren is reflecting the national trend this year and NONE have arrived. I'll keep listening for them though. Marsh Harriers are down on eggs now and all of our farmland surveys are completed. Highlights from there included finding 4 Dotterel which filled the scope on minimum zoom, stunning birds!!!

I've finished with the Starlings after ringing nearly 260 shitted up stinking chicks. I think I've ringed enough for a lifetime now?

Also we've ringed a lot of Blue and Great tit chicks with more to check up on soon. All of the Pied flycatchers are still on eggs but I've managed to lift and ring at least 5 females.

As part of the Ortolan project we were asked to try to catch a bird to take a feather sample for analysis, so late last night/early this morning I decided I would stay up all night and attempt to catch an unpaired male at dawn! I headed out a 3 am with mist net and playback lures and set a net near our unpaired guy, I narrowly avoided catching both a Fox and a Wild Boar the latter of which was running at full speed towards the net and grunting furiously. The conditions were against me and the bird not singing back to the song I was a little worried we were too late and he'd moved off? Less than 10 minutes after I'd set the net and started the playback, I saw what appeared to be a Bunting flitting around in a nearby bush... next thing, I looked and it was in! A stunning 2cy male Ortolan Bunting, definitely worth no sleep and a gorgeously gripping ringing tick!!! Below are a few shitty pictures of the stunning bird, the light was terrible and my excitement probably a bit too much to make any decent pics, but less excuses you can see how stunning he is!

                                          Emberiza hortulana 2cy male 

 

 

Magnus is back!

I'm very happy to see Magnus, my friend and co-worker from last year return to the Observatory this last week. He will work with us for 2 months and his knowledge and good humour make the work and the place feel very light-hearted. As last year, me and Magnus have decided to have a birding competition throughout May to see who can see the most species. For some reason I keep helping him out and now he is in the lead with some pretty hard to find species! So far the intense birding in the competition has produced a few nice birds, notable are Red Breasted Flycatcher (Ficedula parva) and Temminck's Stint (Calidris temminckii).

Whilst out on survey this morning I had an unforgettable experience! Stood alone in a marsh just after dawn I heard a deep nasal call coming from just inside the reed bed. I carried on with my work (Wetland survey) regardless until I started seeing birds flying up and out of the reed, obviously disturbed by something. I watched a little longer and was amazed to see a Moose walk out into the open about 200metres away. She then turned and walked straight towards me slowly over the thick mud of the marsh. I slowly reached for my camera and began to take pictures. This was until she got too close for comfort so I took my eyes away from the camera. She stood there around 5-7 Metres away totally still, she'd spotted me now surely. I stood up properly and actually shooed her away making little noise. She took about 15 steps back and then partially concealed by reed she stood and stared at me for around 25 minutes. I couldn't really concentrate knowing she was gazing at me. She settled to the idea that I wasn't going to hurt her and so she came back out into the open and feed, drank and looked awfully like a big dopey horse.

I got a few pictures of her before I had to leave...

Half an hour later at a different part of the reserve I had a Beaver swim right underneath me whilst I took a video of him. A decent day for birds, unforgettable however for Mammals.

shit. Just got a call saying Blue-wined Teal found on the Reserve! Wish me luck...

The Ortolan's return

Many hours have been spent over the past weeks have been spent listening for Ortolan bunting's in suitable habitats around Kvismare. After a preliminary study last year found Ortolan's to still be breeding here. Only around 100 territories still exist in this area of in south-central Sweden, spanning much of Närke and Västmanland. The Ortolan's have declined massively in the past 2 decades and the population in Närke is now a fraction of it's former self. The Ortolan population in northern Sweden however is esitmated to be around 6000 pairs.

Ortolan Bunting (Emberiza hortulana)

 With the Ortolan population decreasing so rapidly across much of northern Europe action is being taken in many areas. Here at Kvismare, we aim mainly to provide suitable breeding areas for the birds. The Bird Observatory and Ornithological Society of Sweden have subsidised farmers in the local area to leave parts of their land unsown next to outcrops of woodland/rocks and in strips at the edges of fields; this is not only to provide the black soils which is a niche for breeding Ortolans', but also to aid the birds feeding habits.

So out and about this week we have now found 3 Singing Ortolan males around the areas where they were seen to breed last year. So far all is looking good and the land still seems suitable. Our aim over the next few weeks is to monitor these birds and distinguish whether they can breed successfully here. We will visit nests and count and measure chicks, undertake feeding counts and study the adults behaviour if/when nesting occurs. We will also make several attempt to catch insects at various points in the survey area to understand more about the Ortolans' needs.

I will update on progress when there is any, but for now we hope for decent weather and plenty of Ortolans'.

Grim up North

With spring late to arrive here in Central Sweden it's been a slow couple of weeks bird wise. The main work at the moment comprises of wetland surveys and Starling nest box checks. The wetland surveys however are very enjoyable and there's always the hint of mystery at what might turn up? I was surveying some marshland last week and here I came across an oddity, not a big rare in terms of British or even Swedish birding but a 3cy Caspian Gull was the first record for Kvismaren and the first I've seen in a while. The Ferruginous duck is still present on the reserve looking rather smart amongst the Tufted's and many other ducks are starting to move through in good numbers now. Goldeneye, Pochard, Teal and Wigeon mainly with well over 1000 of the latter two species.

Wintry wetland survey.

With help arriving this week (Maggie from Germany) we were able to put up some large nest boxes around the reserve. These boxes are mainly for Goldeneye and Tawny Owl although lots of Starlings seemed interested whilst we were putting them up. It's too late this year for the Tawny's but the Goldeneye's are still passing through, pairing up and looking for nest sites.

Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) Box

We've also caught a few birds this past couple of weeks, nothing mega in terms of numbers but it's nice to pass the time watching mist nets (even though they're often empty). Highlights include a cracking male Kestrel and today a Woodpigeon (not a rarity, but not often caught). A Long-eared owl has been seen around the house for the past 3 days and we've flushed it from the side of net rides more times than I care to recall! Hopefully it'll either jump into a net on it's own soon, or I'll set up the big nets and annoy it until it's caught.

Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) 2cy Male

Time to blog?

Since my last "update" I've not really had much time to blog.

The first week here I've just been up at dawn and counting wildfowl and waders using Kvismaren as either passage or breeding sites, it's really nice to be out at first light and I've seen some great things this week whilst being out and about. A first for me was a Lesser black-backed gull (intermedius) though I don't class this as a species I'd still never see 'one' before. Also I saw a male Ferruginous Duck (Aythya nyroca) which again I'd never seen before. I've seen a female before but it was way back through some horrible binoculars (which have been lovingly likened to "like looking through cardboard" by my ringing trainers and group). So after stunning view of both of these a male Long-tailed duck turns up and again giving great views, I've not seen these so well since a memorable trip to Iceland a couple of summers ago with Kane, Chris and Ciaran.

So enough of that. Other decent birds this week: 3 Osprey, White-tailed eagle, Green sands (here there and everywhere), Rough-legged buzzard at least 4, 2 Hen Harrier (Female and 2cy male, hunting together). 20+ Marsh Harriers, 200 Bean Geese (inc 2 Anser fabalis rossicus) 25 Pinkies, 80 White-fronts (all albifrons) , 20 Barnacles. Hundreds of Meadow pipit in a roost. 1000+ Cranes (Grus grus). Lots of Roe Deer around the house, a hare and today I almost fell over a Beaver before it slapped it's tail and with a glug disappeared out of site.

I've also started ringing in the garden.

1 Great Tit.
1 Chaffinch.
1 Robin.
1 Kestrel.

Sorry about the lack of photos with my laptop dead I'm reduced to the old fashioned office PC here at Kvismaren.

Update - A post for Mummy.

It's been a while since I last blogged and in that time I have had various outings within the Fylde ringing and birding, most can be read about on my friend Seumus' blog "Fleetwood Birder", see link at side. I have however now left England for 8 months to work as Surveyor and Lead Bird ringer at Kvismaren Bird Observatory (until October) and later Lead bird ringer at Gedser Bird Obs in Denmark.

So I arrived in Sweden on the 12th April and already I'm getting stuck into the work! I am alone in the station at the moment but I have had a nice beginning to the season with a relaxed workload (for now) and lots of catching up with the birds and the neighbours.

At the moment the work is mainly surveys of the Wetland birds around the reserve and checking of the Starling boxes around the reserve. When other personell arrive however the workload multiplies many times over. A brief meeting with Bo (The Boss) revealed more about this years' surveys and I must say I am very excited to be involved in some hopefully ground breaking work.

For now though it's just a "I got here safely Mummy" and a few snaps from the first couple of days.

Nuthatch (Sitta europaea europaea) - Nest building outside the kitchen window.

Grass snake (Natrix natrix) mating, Female is the larger snake. 2 Males are squabbling to mate.