Mølen

It was time for a Vestfold tour today with Rune Zand only my second ever trip to Mølen. We chose a bad day for it with very string W/NW winds making viewing conditions quite difficult - tears in the eyes and shaky tripods.
The year ticks ticked in during the day even though we had only one scarce species which was Bearded Tit. Great Grey Shrike count was a mediocre two.
Mølen produced Rock and Meadow Pipit and Skylark which are all species that are not to be found around Oslo at this time of the year but seem to be able to find enough food only 2 hours drive to the south. A Shag was also a species that whilst regular here would be a major rarity closer to Oslo. We failed to find the Great Northern Diver that others saw amongst the Velvet and Common Scoters and Eiders.
We checked another couple of shallow bays without adding anything too exciting except for a roadside Great Grey Shrike and then went to Rakke. This is a small headland with shallow bays that looks to be a very exciting location during migration periods. We had to be content with a Red-throated Diver and another Shrike.
With all the driving it was now starting to get dark (the days are over at 4pm at the moment) so we headed for Presterødkilen in Tønsberg where we had a chance of a few year ticks. We couldn't locate either Black Duck or Smew but did have Wigeon and the highlight of the trip was hearing 2+ Bearded Tits and a Water Rail in the extensive reedbeds here.
Final bird of the day was a few Rooks in Horten after sunset.