2nd June 2015
Staff: DWE, JMY, MBR, EKP, TMJ,
Weather: Rain, rain, wind, did I mention rain?
Projects: Great Reed Warbler, Ortolan, Night Census.
As predicted the main body of the day was wet and windy, with the morning giving the only real solace from the bad weather that has set in. It certainly isn’t feeling like June!
Last night, DWE, JMY and EKP went out to survey Östra and Västra Kvismaren on night census. Starting at roughly 22:45pm and finishing at 2:30am we recorded a good number of species and contrary to the daytime weather we actually had a very pleasant night!
Östra:
Sedge Warbler: 12
Eurasian Reed Warbler: 2
Thrush Nightingale: 1
Grasshopper Warbler: 1
Water Rail: 1
Redshank: 1
Quail: 1
Västra:
Sedge Warbler: 45
Eurasian Reed Warbler: 1
Great Reed Warbler: 2
Thrush Nightingale: 14
Savi’s Warbler: 2 (established individuals)
Grasshopper Warbler: 1
Cuckoo: 1
Water Rail: 5
Spotted Crake: 7 (possibly 8; good to hear a few more individuals than expected)
Garganey: 2
Temminck’s Stint: 2 (not for certain, but they were seen and could only be a small calidris sp, the likely candidate being Temminck’s.)
Redshank: 1
Snipe: 13
Bittern: 4
The Great Reed Warbler team were out in the morning, as were JMY and EKP who searched for Ortolans before the weather ended play around midday.
Frustrated by the miserable weather we went on a joint mission to purchase climbing gear, bike repair material’s and an outing to see the National park at Garphyttan in determination not to waste our time sat around mopping about the bad weather. Though it was rainy, it was nice to add some stereotypical Swedish countryside to contrast our stay in the wetlands and Black Woodpecker chicks were a very nice sighting (especially for us Brits, who don’t get the privilege of them in our blustery islands).
DWE