Værøy 2018 Day 2

A day of changing weather. It started very windy from the west but in the early afternoon there was hardly any wind before we had a storm from the north by the late afternoon. We also had heavy rain but also periods of sun. In the morning there were birds in the air and there was a feeling that it might be a good day, but that feeling had disappeared by lunchtime.

I did get to check gardens in the south for the first time and ended the day with double figures of Chiffchaff, 6 Blackcap, 3 Garden Warblers and 3 Yellow-browed Warblers so there were some birds to see. I missed the OBP that others saw though.

An Otter family that showed at very close range without initially being aware of my presence was probably the highlight. Once they did smell me though they actually ran towards me as their den was under a large pile of wood that was between me and them.

The birding highlight (and this shows how desperate I was) came from a couple of very different Redwing that were feeding together which I assume must have been an Icelandic (ssp. coburni) and a Scandinavian bird together.

The weather forecast looks more favourable for the next two days and on Friday (when I leave in the late afternoon) it actually looks promising.

Otter family

this is when mum smelt me (not surprising as my wet jacket does not smell very pleasant)

here they are running back to their den

Redwings (rødvingetrost) - the top pale bird is presumably a normal scandinavian bird whilst the lower bird is slightly larger, noticeably darker and has a much more extensive red patch meaning it is most likely an iceland bird (sub species coburni)

Yellow-browed Warbler