The company will send me for a firefighting course. I chose to take the course end of May hoping to get some nice spring/ summer weather.
When I finish my course in Gothenburg I will drive to Öland for a few days of bird watching before driving to Skåne for more bird watching. End of May and I will drive back to Gothenburg and the firefighting course on Öckerö in the archipelago and I hope to be able to see some exciting bird life there.
My Guide
No Guide required in Skåne
Land transportation
• Rented car
I have rented a Volvo from HERZ
Accommodations
Brösarps Gästgifveri, Österlen, Skåne: 17 May to 19 May
Hotel Ängavallen, close to Skanör/ Falsterbo: 19 May to 22 May 2019
Marina Plaza, Helsingborg: 22 May to 26 May 2019
Weather / climate
Sweden in April and May, could be summer and it can be winter, or anything in between. In the South I hope to have sunshine and the summer in good progress. And I might be lucky Skåne and Öland and I can walk around in shorts and shirt. But it can as well be winter and I need to pack a lot of clothes this time.
And coming to Skåne and Öland I might be lucky and I can walk around in shorts and shirt. But it can as well be winter and I need to pack a lot of clothes this time.
Weather in the spring
Visiting in the spring time and you really need to pack a huge bag. In the morning it is below zero so I have packed full winter equipment, parka jacket, warm hat and gloves. And of course warm socks. In the late morning you will have to change the winter clothing to “spring” clothing, a wind breaker.
If it is sunshine the temperature is easily reaching 20°C at lunch time and that can easily be almost 30°C. If you have a car it is no problem, just keep everything in the car and change as the day proceeds and you ae ready for any weather changes you will run in to.
Canon 5D Mk. III and Canon 5D Mk. IV
Canon EF 28-300/3,5-5,6 L IS USM
Canon EF 70-200/2,8L IS II USM
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens
Canon Speedlite 600EXII-RT flash
Canon PowerShot G7X Mark II
Panasonic HC-W585 video camera
Naturum - visitor centres in nature - A naturum is a visitor centre with activities and exhibitions, located at several of Sweden’s national parks and nature reserves. Here, you will be welcomed by friendly, knowledgeable staff who will answer your questions and guide you through the area’s sights of interest.
List of Swedish National Parks (With information about every park in English) from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, click HERE.
Fågelriket / The Avian Kingdom in Skåne - The Avian Kingdom is one of Sweden's premier bird sites. IN ENGLISH!! Excellent page. A must visit web page:
• Map with hotspots
• Maps
• Tour descriptions
• Eat & Sleep in The Avian Kingdom
• Guided tours in the Avian Kingdom
ebird - Find birding hotspots with bird checklists from all over the world
Avibase - is an extensive database information system about all birds of the world, containing over 25 million records about 10,000 species and 22,000 subspecies of birds, including distribution information for 12,000 regions, taxonomy, synonyms in several languages
Cloudbirders - Read birding trip reports from all over the world
Fatbirder - Linking birders worldwide... Wildlife Travellers see their sister site: WAND
Fatbirder is a fantastic web page with information from, I think every country in the world. My first stop when I plan for my bird watching trips. There is information about locations and guides, well, pretty much everything you need to know. Sometimes this is the only place I need to visit to plan my trip.
BirdingPal - find a birding Guide around the world
And the web page you cannot live without. I have been around the world looking for birds. I usually have a Guide, but sometimes it is not possible to find a Guide. So, well, I have lost count onhow many times I have had help to ID birds at BirdForum. Joining this forum have been very very good for my bird watching experience.
ClimaTemps.com is the place to learn about the worlds climates with more than 4000 locations documented. Each aspect of the climate is represented using colour enhanced tables and professional graphs so that data can easily be compared by switching between locations in different tabs in your browser.
Collins Bird Guide
The Collins Bird Guide is a field guide to the birds of the Western Palearctic.
Its authors are Lars Svensson, Killian Mullarney, Dan Zetterström and Peter J. Grant, and it is illustrated by Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterström (with two plates of North American passerines contributed by Larry McQueen). It has been described as "undoubtedly the finest field guide that has ever been produced", and "the last great bird book of the 20th century".
It was originally published in Swedish and Danish in 1999, and in English in hardback in the same year, and later in paperback. A large-format English edition has also been produced, as has a German and Dutch edition. The first edition was translated to 14 European languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch and German.
A second edition, revised and enlarged, was published in January 2010. A series of updates and corrections were made in 2015, with no change to the edition number.
The cover of the first edition, in all formats, depicts a barn owl. On the second edition, this was replaced by an arctic tern.
Eleven pages of introductory material are followed by the book's main content: 366 pages of text and colour paintings. The text for each species gives brief status notes, followed by a section detailing identification, and concludes with a section on voice. Accompanying most species accounts is a small colour map showing breeding, wintering and migrant range.
The guide is also available as a paid-for app, for iPhone and Android devices. The app includes all of the text and images from the print edition, as well as audio recordings. Additional data can be bought separately; the first such package being a set of distribution maps for 271 species, from the British Trust for Ornithology's Bird Atlas 2007–11.
All versions cover Europe, North Atlantic islands, much of North Africa and the Middle East.
Most of the species covered in the main part of the guide are regular breeding, wintering or migrant species in its area of coverage, although some vagrants are also included. There are additional sections giving brief accounts of (a) vagrants and (b) introduced breeding species and species recorded only as escapes.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Many bird watchers around the world know this book simply as “The Svensson”
Naturum - visitor centres in nature
Map over Sweden with all the naturum marked. Illustrator: Hans Sjögren.
Click HERE for bigger map
A naturum is a visitor centre with activities and exhibitions, located at several of Sweden’s national parks and nature reserves. Here, you will be welcomed by friendly, knowledgeable staff who will answer your questions and guide you through the area’s sights of interest.
All naturum visitor centres offer guided walks and demonstrations, slide-shows and theme nights. You will also find literature and multimedia here to immerse yourself in. In addition, there are brochures and information boards offering tips on beautiful nature trails and footpaths.
The nature experience starts at naturum
At naturum, you can learn almost everything there is to know about the region’s plants, birds, insects and animals. You can also learn about the cultural history and geology of the area as well as people’s relationship with nature and their impact on it. Information about the area’s national parks and nature reserves and why we need to protect and take care of our nature can also be found here. Join us on an activity in nature!
Opening hours and programmes
All naturum are open during the summer and many are open most of the year. Special demonstrations for school classes and other groups can be booked throughout the year.
Discover Sweden’s national parks
The map shows the locations of Sweden´s 30 national parks
Click HERE for bigger map
There are 29 national parks in Sweden. Find more information about each national park in the alphabetical list on Swedish Environmental Protection Agency´s web page, click HERE.
Places to visit
Skåne
Fågelriket / The Avian Kingdom
The Avian Kingdom is one of Sweden's premier bird sites.
The area has two lakes in the center, Vomsjön and Krankesjön, and has a number of nature reserves of both national and international interest. Located at just a 30 minute drive from Malmö and just over an hour from Copenhagen, The Avian Kingom attracts naturalists and other visitors from both near and far.
Fågelriket / The Avian Kingdom hotspot map
For the bird friends, there are, by Vombs ängar and Klingavälsån, several easily accessible observation towers. Aided by a brought pair of binoculars and the bird species charts by the tower, even children will recognize beautiful and strange birds like ruffs, curlews and storks.
An additiona tower and a beautifully crafted hide out is located by the nearby lake of Krankesjön. The hideout, a small building in the lake, is reachable through a narrow walkway bridge through the reeds.
The military training area, the Revinge fields also a Natura 2000-area. The next to pampas like field is the home to many species of plants and insects that actually benefit by the rampage of the tanks. Usually, considerably more docile creatures lives at the field. The year around, it is also home to almost 2000 heads of cattle that roam free over the vast areas. In addition, the Department of Zoo Echology has a research field station at the Revinge field.
The military training field Revingehed is situated in The Avian Kingdom. Information signs about activities on the field is found at the roads entering Revingehed.
Vombsjön - Lake Vomb
(sometimes called Våmbsjön) is a lake in Scania, Sweden. It is located 20 km to the east of Lund and lies in the municipalities of Lund, Eslöv and Sjöbo. The lake has been the source of drinking water for Malmö since 1948. Its watershed is 447 km2.
Area: 12 km²
Surface elevation: 20 m
Shore length: 14.7 km
Primary inflow: Björkaån
Outflow location: Kävlinge River
Vombsjön - Björkaåns utlopp and I will not bother to come back here. For binoculars only as the birds was very far away. Behind the fishing tour´s house was a lot of different warblers. Otherwise it was a waste of time if you want to take bird pictures. But there were some rare Terns on the lake that people came to look for.
My eBird checklist from Vombsjön - Björkaåns utlopp, click HERE
This parking is for guests to the fishing tour company ONLY
Walk towards the lake from the fishing tour company
Walk towards the lake from the fishing tour company
Vombs ängar (Vombs Meadows) is actually a military training area, the Revinge fields. A huge area with a dust road cutting through the area. You will drive past two bird watching towers. There are many birds on the fields so drive slowly while watching the birds.
Krankesjön - Silvåkratornet and it is easy to make the mistake to turn left at Silvåkra´s inly intersection. Continue north for 100 meters or so and there is a sign saying FÅGELTORN (Bird watching tower) on your right hand side and you turn left.
Drive towards the parking and it should be no problem to find a parking place.
Krankesjön - Silvåkratornet
Leave the road when you see the sign FÅGELTORN
Reaching the parking area
Leaving the parking area - Hide, go right and Bird watching tower, go left
Directions
There are place for BBQ and a privy. Go to the left, 50 meters and you reach the bird watching tower. Take to the right and walk until you reach the boardwalk taking you through the reeds. And there are Bearded reedlings in the reeds.
From the hide you can see birds and I was not disappointed as it is a beautiful view from the hide. But it is a little bit too far away for any pictures.
But there are places to sit down on the boardwalk and you can sit there to look for birds in the reeds.
Bird watching tower
Boardwalk
Boardwalk
Reaching the hide
My eBird checklist from Krankesjön - Silvåkratornet, click HERE
Bird checklist
I never use any bird lists, but since I try to make it in to Cloudbirders. A very helpful site when planning your birding trips. But they ask for a bird checklist, and if I use their service, of course I want to contribute as well. My two first bird watching trip reports was rejected by Cloudbirders.
So I started to take ideas from the reports I found on Cloudbirders. So I have started to use bird lists, eBird generate one for me and I can post it on Cloudbirders. I will post my birds on eBird and on my different “BIRDS THAT I HAVE OBSERVED” pages.
Check lists can come in handy to find out the local name of the bird etc. And Avibase have a list with pictures and sounds, excellent!
So I will post bird checklists here and if my Guides provide me with checklists I will also post them here.
Avibase is providing you with bird checklists from all over the world. And I´m impressed by their web page. Select country and area and you get the bird checklist. Like the PDF files I got from Avibase on the links above. You also get the checklist with pictures and sounds.
The best part is that you get the local names of the birds and the online checklist gives the names in English plus the language you have selected. But it seems like the PDF cannot handle some alphabet.
For example the Japanese language so it is blank in the PDF checklist. But it worked excellent with Swedish. But you get them in the local language on the online version.
Bird list
I only listed birds I have got on picture before I started with eBird in November 2019. Now I record all the birds that I can identify. Before that see the DAY TO DAY reports and my lists of observed birds in different countries.
Took me about one hour to reach the mouth of River Björka. Driving along small roads, it was not hard to find, but it was not like it was signed. But I managed to find the place and I parked the car.
Lake Vomb and the mouth of River Björka
I find the mouth of River Björka and I park the cat on the parking lot. PLEASE!!! DON´T USE THIS PARKING!!! The parking is for customer to the fishing tour company. And it is not for bird watchers. But I was lucky, no one told me until I was going to leave the area. So don´t use this parking.
Today´s track
I walked down towards the beach and I could see some bird watchers and instantly, I knew that this was noting for me. People with huge binoculars looking out over Lake Vomb trying to find the rare Tern.
I learned that they see rare birds here every now and then. But there wa snot one single bird for me to look at. I could see the Terns but they were only like small dots over the lake. Later on one of the fisher men told me that they had seen the rare tern from the boat.
I cursed myself for not coming up with the idea to have a boat to go out to look on the birds from a boat on the lake. There were many different warblers behind the fishing boat company. But I could only identify one of the warblers.
Bird watchers with telescope looking for terns
I left the fishing boat company and I drove around the area to have a look for birds along the river before continue towards West. Driving to the bird hide and tower at Krankesjön and I pass Vombs ängar. (Vombs Meadows)
Vombs ängar
Coming from the east and I have to drive across a military training area, the Revinge fields. And the gravel road accross the field is a birding hot spot called Vombs ängar (Vombs Meadows) in ebird. Passing a few warning signs and I was soon passing a bird watching tower/ platform.
Today´s track at Vombs ängar
I could see another bird watching tower a few hundred meters towards west. There are a lot of birds along the road and people were watching birds using telescopes. And a telescope is required but there are some small birds along the gravel road.
Many people come here to watch raptors and I could see at least one Red Kite at a distance. Reaching the other tower and there is a small stream where you can find some birds.
Continue for a bit and you turn right to reach the Krankesjön. Lucky that I was not driving a tank as they are not allowed on the road. I leave Vombs ängar (Vombs Meadows) behind and I drive towards Krankesjön.
No tanks alowed on the road
I turned left at the first intersection and this was a mistake so I had to drive back again and I find the parking area at Krankesjön (Lake Kranke) and I skip Silvåkratornet, the bird watching tower. I walk straight to the bird hide and I walk through a reed field to reach the bird hide.
Krankesjön (Lake Kranke) - Silvåkratornet
Today´s track Krankesjön - Silvåkratornet
There are information boards on the boardwalk to the hide and I can read that there are Bearded reedlings living in the reeds. And the Bearded reedling is a bird I really want to see. There are benches on the boardwalk so I was sitting there looking out in the reeds hoping to see the Bearded reedlings.
I could see Red Kites and a Common Reed Bunting but no Bearded reedlings. I continued on the boardwalks towards the hide.
I can see the bird watching tower from the board walk
Common Reed Bunting
Red Kite
It was a very nice bird hide overlooking the Krankesjön (Lake Kranke) Waterbirds swimmng outside the hide, a wee bit too far away, but it was OK. We could see a White-tailed Eagle over the lake.
A swan couple and the beautiful Tufted Duck. Terns and coots were busy on a small platform in the lake in front of us. I could also see Cormorants around the hide. I was joined by a bird watched and his daughter and we had a talk about the birds and bird watching and it was a beautiful afternoon in the hide.
Mute Swan
Tufted duck
I left Krankesjön (Lake Kranke) at 3 o´clock in the afternoon and I started to drive towards the SW corner of Skåne. I will stay at Ängavallen Hotel. I will stay for two nights while doing bird watching at Skanör / Falsterbo.
Leaving the Avian Kingdom behind and I was getting hungry, really no time to eat today so I was looking for a place to eat and I ended up buying picknic dinner at a service station. I enjoyed my picnic lunch in a field on the way to Ängavallen Hotel.
And you will be able to find out everything about Ängavallen Hotel and the birds at Skanör / Falsterbo at my Bird Watching Trip report from Skanör / Falsterbo HERE as soon as the report is ready.