As I sit and contemplate packing for a week long work trip to Sweden, I wonder if I will see any decent birds this week. I have been lucky over the years with some great birds such as Stellar’s Eider, Great Grey Owl & Bluethroat, rare birds too such as Greater Yellowlegs, Siberian Rubythroat & Baltimore Oriole. Nothing though could have been stranger than one particular bird. I was at a meeting with customer when all their Swedish Bird Alerts went off on their phones. An Alpine Chough was present in Halmstad, not a highland village at 36 feet above sea level. It was first found in the car park of a Lidl supermarket before relocating to some residential gardens. Our meeting was curtailed as we drove to Halmstad from Varberg a drive of about 40km. This was a trip when I did not take the camera with me so had to resort to Digibinning, or using my phone through my binoculars. A record shot indeed. I don’t think the record was accepted, still an interesting record never-the-less.
A Hen Harrier quarters over the reed heads near the reedbed hide at Getteröns nature reserve, Varberg.My second Baltimore Oriole in Europe, the first being in a garden in Kidlington, Oxfordshire feeding on oranges. This bird was Förslöv, Skåne, Sweden, again in a garden and being well fed from a garden feeding station, March 2023A White-tailed Eagle sits on a rock preparing to head to the feeding station at Getteron
One of the Worst days. A day with no camera and a performing Great Grey Owl – a World tick. No camera! Really? Yep, no camera. What we have here is an over-processed and zoomed in image taken from an iPhone and desaturated. Watching through my binoculars, my brain was calling out the shutter activations as if I had a camera with me. Never again!
In February 2024 I was back at Getteron for my usual late winter visit, the lakes had been frozen and were starting to melt. Six Smew were close to the hide and diving where there was clear open water but kept surfacing where the ice had started to melt and was more slushy. The males were more wary than the females.A male White-spotted Bluethroat singing on territory. This pair nested in the same area adjacent to a path for two consecutiveyears 2023 & 2024I have been the famous Common Crane staging area of Lake Hornborga many times over the years and it is a great spectacle to watch and especially listen. One particular year I witnessed Common Cranes and Whooper Swans duetting. The cacophonous duet was amazing. Then of course there was the April I went and it snowed heavily overnight, and made for challenging shooting conditions but the results were worth it.Once considered the most-wanted bird that UK birders wanted to see in BritainWho doesn’t love a Bee-eater? this bird was one of a flock of 20 birds that colonised a quarry.I had about 90 minutes at the end of the day one winter evening when the Bearded Reedlings didn’t car about my presence as they were far too busy trying to eat enough seeds to stay alive. Magical experience being so close to such confiding birdsHawfinch at a feeding station near Kalmar.Stellar’s Eider near Falsterbo. I climbed out along the groyne, risking the camera and lens but managed not to slip into the winter Baltic Sea. Amazing views, beautiful bird.Sweden’s 3rd record of Eastern Bonelli’s Warble on Öland at Möcklemossen and the first twitchable record. A day roosting Common Nightjar at Oland adjacent to the lighthouse and a popular bird.I conniver resist a Red-backed Shrike despite having seen stacks over the years. This one on Öland, Sweden.I have great images of a confiding Thrush Nightingale taken in the UK at a park in Hartlepool, this is the first time I have a bird show this well in all the time I have visited Sweden or the Netherlands. Taken on Öland at Ottenby.
Chris Galvin 