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Tuesday, 3 May 2011

Road Trip Vestfold

I had high hopes for today with rain forecast - I hoped this would bring down some migrants rather than allowing them to fly over as they have been doing for the last few weeks.
Up at 4am and in the car heading for Vestfold to the south west of Oslo. First stop at 0530 was Borrevannet where at least 2 Spotted Crakes have been singing for the past week or so. Maybe they have gone, maybe it was too late in the day (they usually sing at night) or most likely it was too cold (with a northerly wind blowing it was only about 4C first thing). Anyway no sign of them and little else. Highlights were 2 singing Redstarts, a singing Pied Flycatcher and a male Marsh Harrier. A couple of Rooks seen in the nearby town of Horten were new for the year and come from the colony in the town which I believe is the only colony in southern Norway.
Next stop was 0730 was Møringa where I hoped to witness a strong passage up the Oslo fjord. Not a single bird seen migrating! A Whimbrel going south was a year tick.
It was clear that there was not much happening today but I still had the rest of the day ahead of me (it wasn't 8am yet) so decided to visit other sites which I have never graced with my presence before.
I continued south towards Larvik and first went to the shallow bay of Klåstadkilen which is supposedly attractive for waders and had hosted a Black-tailed Godwit yesterday (would have been a norwegian tick for me). Well, the godwit had gone but I did have a few Greenshank, 4 Little Ringed Plovers, a Stock Dove, 2 Osprey and a pair of Shovelers.
Mølen was next port of call. This is a renowned migration hot spot but of course only in the right weather conditions. Today was not one of those days although I could easily see why the site is so good - it reminded me a bit of Dungeness. A few Lesser Whitethroats and a single Common Whitethroat were singing from the bushes and on the sea around 80 Velvet Scoter and a couple of Common Scoters.
Time to start driving back towards Oslo but I had time to stop at Gjennestadsvannet where I had seen a pair of Cranes from the motorway on the way south. They had moved on now and there was little else to see. Checking the net in the evening I found out there was a trip of 3 Dotterel only a couple of km from the lake which would have been a nice find.
Final stop of the day was Ilene by Tønsberg. A male Ruff was the highlight here and a year tick to add.

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