The storm is soon upon us

There is a storm approaching. That is what the meteorologists say and it will hit with full force during the evening. The officials recommend people staying inside due to the possibility of trees falling or debris flying around. It will probably be a Storm here in Gothenburg and that means gusts of up to 25 meters per second and they even think it might be a class 3 storm in Halland.

The storm is coming from the British Isle as usual and the only good thing I know about this weather condition is that it forces seabirds to come nearer land.

Yesterday I saw Northern Gannets for the first time in the archipelago here in Gothenburg and I wanted to see if I could find them nearer land today as the wind had picked up from yesterday.

So, I headed out to the furthest island that I can reach by car and ferry and that is Hönö.

I felt the heavy sea during the short ferry ride before I arrived at Hönö. I hoped that would mean some Gannets once I got out to the wind shields that have been built for birdwatchers on one of the points furthest out towards open sea.

This is a place that I normally only visit during winter, but I felt I had to give it a try this windy day. One have to walk almost one kilometer to get to the wind shields and the last 300 meters are over rocky terrain so you really have to watch your steps. I usually take out the camera to be ready before I approach the area, but the conditions today made me think otherwise so I kept the camera in the backpack until I saw something of interest.

I knew there would be many people there as the parking space almost was full, but I was surprised to discover people from Stockholm there. I chatted with them for a minute or two and they told me the Gannets didn´t come near shore. That dampened my spirit, but they could of course be mistaken so I walked out onto one of the most exposed rocks to get a good 360 degree view of the surrounding sea.

Not a single Gannet in sight for 10 minutes and the wind gust were really heavy making it hard to stand upright. This wasn´t what I had hoped for.

I felt it was no use in staying and started to walk back, but a Northern Wheatear made an appearance sitting really beautiful on some small rocks. I slung the backpack to the ground and brought out the camera to no avail as the bird took off before I was fully prepared. So, I decided to play the waiting game in hope of the bird to come back.

Nothing happened, but I could see the bird 50 meters away. I looked back towards the wind shields after 10 minutes of waiting as I knew that was the direction the Wheatear had flown. I could see how it walked just in front of the wind shields, but I also saw something else that caught my eye.

Gannets close to the shore. I grabbed my gear and almost fell over in my hurry to get to a better position. At last I would get the opportunity to take a couple of pictures of the subject of the day.

I found a great spot just a couple of meters from the sea where I could sit in shelter waiting for the Gannets to come nearer.

None of the picture of the Gannets was really good in my eyes, but they were all much better than the long shots from yesterday. It felt great to at least come home with something that I could show and it is great that I now know a good place just a couple of meters from the water edge where I can sit and photo from.

I must thank the Northern Wheatear that made me stay as I otherwise would have gone home without anything particular to show. Today also reminds me that I need to give a place time once I get there and not leave even if it seems dull.

I hope you can enjoy my pictures now that the storm is nearer.

Photo Gallery: The storm is soon upon us