Sweden: the revenge

The news of the Great Grey Owl was too good to resist, so I made a 4.30am start on Friday to get there for dawn, knowing that I could have a good three hours on site and still be back by lunchtime. Public transport to Falsterbo from Copenhagen is pretty impressive, involving a train from Copenhagen to Malmo and then a bus from Malmo to Falsterbo. The train takes just 25 mins from Copenhagen, with trains running every 20 minutes from 0520 and then the bus journey from Malmo to Falsterbo takes 45 minutes, with buses leaving every 30 mins. I arrived on site at 0700 and there were no birders around so I began to search.. I easily found where it HAD been due to the smattering of pellets and droppings underneath a pine tree. However, the bird was nowhere to be seen and despite searching for the next three hours, with a gradually increasing number of birders, it wasn't found. The area is pretty extensive and it is very likely that it is still there somewhere, so I may be doing it all again next week...!

Despite the lack of Great Grey Owl, the morning was very enjoyable.. It was a fantastic spring day with blue skies and no wind. Walking through the woodland produced a Woodcock, a flock of 150+ Common (Mealy) Redpolls, including some fantastic-looking males, a Rough-legged Buzzard and my first singing Chiffchaff of the year. There was also a report of a Tengmalm's Owl found roosting in a pine near to the Great Grey Owl site although unfortunately that was later in the afternoon after I had made my way back home. In a sheltered spot I also found two Brimstone butterflies sunning themselves. The temperature was around 5 degrees so they were a bit sluggish but they posed nicely for the photograph below using a 100mm macro lens.

There was a Great Grey Owl reported at Falsterbo in the autumn and there is speculation that this is the same bird and has spent the winter in the area. From the pellets and droppings it certainly looks as if the bird has been roosting in that area for several weeks at least... and with the lack of birders searching the area at this time of year it is distinctly possible that this bird, despite its huge size, has gone undetected.

Photos below (click to enlarge): The tree where the Great Grey Owl was the day before; a Great Grey Owl pellet; some of the Common Redpolls in the roving flock; and my first butterfly of the year - a beautiful Brimstone.