After crossing the famous Öresund bridge from Copenhagen airport, we arrive at our hotel in Höllviken just as a Red Squirrel scampers across the road ahead of our vehicle and into the hotel grounds! How about that for timing? Meanwhile, today’s bird sightings from the tip of the nearby Falsterbo peninsula look promising for our first visit tomorrow, with a total of 16466 birds counted, including highlights like 46 Ospreys, 3 Pallid Harriers, 286 Honey Buzzards, 1910 Yellow Wagtails and 1 Citrine Wagtail!
This morning, we begin at the Falsterbo lighthouse, Sweden’s oldest, built in 1795, where numerous Swallows, Tree Pipits, Yellow Wagtails and zooming Sparrowhawks are on the move. At 8.45am, we arrive at Nabben on the southern tip of the Falsterbo peninsula, where the brackish lagoon provides a waderfest which includes Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Grey Plover, Avocet, Greenshank, Redshank, Spotted Redshank, Wood Sandpiper, Knot and Bar-tailed Godwit, in addition to a variety of waterfowl such as Shelduck, Pintail, Wigeon, Teal and numerous Goldeneye, plus Eiders bobbing out to sea. As well as all the Sparrowhawks, a Marsh Harrier and a Kestrel make the sea crossing towards Denmark, while a skein of Greylags by the hundred approaches from the opposite direction. Moving on beyond the lagoon, we reach a sandy bay and find Common Sandpiper on the washed up seaweed, and Common Seals hauled out further along the shore. Back at Nabben, we arrive just in time to watch the only Honey Buzzard of the day float by at fairly close range on its long journey south, while a more distant Red Kite circles around the lighthouse. Apparently, we should have been here yesterday as “there were far more raptors passing by”, according to the local birders.
After a very nice lunch at the Flommens golf club, we head north to explore the Flommens nature reserve, where new birds include Barnacle Geese, Snipe, Curlew and a restless murmurating flock of around 500 Golden Plovers, still in breeding plumage with clearly audible piping calls. Moving on around the circular trail here, we also spot more Avocets, Greenshanks, Redshanks and Spotted Redshanks, as well as a posing Whitethroat and several Wheatears.
We end the day with a stake out of the vast Ljungen heath where the only raptor is a hovering Kestrel, although a very close juvenile Green Woodpecker poses very obligingly.
Today was a quiet day on the Falsterbo peninsula, with only 8411 different birds counted, compared with 16466 birds counted on the previous day, which highlights the vagaries of visible migration.
It’s another warm sunny day as we set off inland and begin with a visit to Hardeberga, where our quarry in the quarry is a pair of Eagle Owls, but despite a thorough search of the ledges, the owls are nowhere to be seen, so we make do with lovely views of Red Kites in lazy flight above the quarry face.
Next, we head a little further east to the Krankesjön area, and as we pass an area of mature Beech woods, I pull over saying “let’s have a try here for Black Woodpecker”. Within a minute of alighting from the vehicle, we hear the said woodpecker, and it lands in full view on a dead branch! Then it flies across open ground to an adjacent clump of trees followed by another of these impressive woodpeckers in hot pursuit! The two birds then fly by a couple more times before disappearing back into the woods. Wow, how lucky was that? Meanwhile, we hear the sound of not-so-distant heavy machine gun fire, and as we have not heard any news for several days, we hope it’s an army training exercise rather than a Russian invasion!
Moving on, we arrive at the nearby Vomb nature reserve where a scan of the wide-open meadows produces a distant Hobby actively hawking dragonflies, and then a skein of around fifty Cranes drops in to feed. After watching the Cranes for a while, we head to the southern end of Krankesjön, a large reed-fringed shallow lake surrounded by a forest of Oak, Beech and Pine, where a tall observation tower provides a panoramic view, with a row of six tanks at the opposite end of the lake! Meanwhile, another two tanks thunder past along a gravel track just thirty yards from the observation tower! Despite all the banging ‘bird scarers’, there is plenty more action on the lake, including almost twenty Great Egrets and loads of Mute Swans, Greylags, Gadwall, Wigeon, Shoveler and Great Crested Grebes, plus Marsh Harrier, Osprey and Caspian Tern, all hunting in front of the tower, until the Osprey flies away carrying a sizeable fish.
After lunch here, we move to the north end of the lake where we encounter an infantry platoon lurking in the woods and dashing across the track, so the whole exercise must involve dozens of personnel spread over several square miles! Despite all the hullabaloo, ten minutes after the infantry pass through, we hear another Black Woodpecker and then find it foraging at ground level on a fallen tree trunk, allowing amazingly close views at eye level, wow! Deeper into the woods, we also find Siskin, Treecreeper and the Scandinavian europaea race of Nuthatch, with white breast and belly, while calling Marsh Tits remain aloof. The trail leads to another observation platform where we get better views of fishing Osprey and Caspian Tern, as well as a Kingfisher, some Pintail and five Whooper Swans, three of which make a nice fly by.
Back at the hotel, a family of four Spotted Flycatchers put on a good show while darting back and forth from the same bare twigs, and several times we actually have three of them in the same scope view!
It’s our last day in the field and considerably cooler than the previous two days, with an overcast sky and a stiff breeze blowing across the sea from the northwest. We begin back at the old lighthouse, with plenty of White and Yellow Wagtails on the golf course greens. Arriving at the lagoon at Nabben at 8am, we find another smorgasbord of waders, supplemented today by the arrival of a Ruff, along with Curlew Sandpipers and Dunlin, making sixteen different waders here, including a flock of 103 Avocets! Meanwhile, a Marsh Harrier patrols back and forth above the reeds on the other side of the lagoon, an Osprey heads south across the sea towards Denmark, a few Sparrowhawks whizz by and a couple of Sandwich Terns fly by just offshore.
After elevenses in a nearby café, while a light rain shower passes over, we visit the central part of the Flommens nature reserve where we find more Barnacle Geese, another Wheatear, another Spotted Flycatcher and three handsome Whinchat.
After lunch back at the Flommens golf club, the weather improves and we enjoy another sunny afternoon on the heath at Ljungen, where we find two more Whinchat, while an adult White-tailed Eagle circles overhead before heading off with a calling juvenile following behind. Also over the heath, we spot three Ravens, plus numerous Common Buzzards, more Sparrowhawks, a few Marsh Harriers, a couple of Red Kites and a Peregrine Falcon which is new for the trip, making a total of ten different raptors, amongst a tally of 85 different birds, so that’s not too bad for three days’ birding.
