A trip to Getterön in Halland

Marias been working this weekend so on Friday I decided that I should drive to Halland and Getteröns Nature Reserve on Saturday to see what surprised it could bring. I looked at Svalan, the Swedish bird site, and I saw that they had seen a Short-eared Owl on Friday so I hoped I could be lucky.

I visited Getterön, in Halland, the first time during the winter just to see how it all looked. There were some permanent hides and I thought of trying the smaller one of them when I arrived. The trip went really smoothly and there were almost no traffic at all on the motorway so I arrived just after 8 in the morning.

It is summer, even if the temperatures don´t say so, so the caravan park was filled with Mobile Homes but still it could have been more. I think the summer this year must have been hard for many tourist cities, like Varberg were Getterön is situated.

When I walked to the hide I could see another person that was walking to the other hide which is much bigger. I didn´t want to try that hide this time of the day because one would have the sun straight into the eyes and that isn´t good at all.

The smaller hide was empty when I arrived so I could choose whatever I wanted. When I looked out onto the patch of water there were many birds. Most of them seemed to have had a successful breeding and I could see young Grey Herons, Gadwalls, Northern Shoveler and Coots so it must have been a productive season here.

What caught my eye were the Herons that were searching for food. I focused on them even if they I would have liked them to be nearer. There was some fighting among the juvenile Herons but I didn´t get any good photos of them.

Soon I got joined by two other photographers and one of them where from the area so he told me and the other photographer, who had travelled from Kungbacka, about the different species here. I picked up two goals and that was the Bearded Reedling and the Water Rail. Both of them could easily be seen just outside of the hide if one was lucky.

After 3 hours in the hide I could say that I had gotten some decent pictures. The one of the Bearded Reedling and the Water Rail isn´t the best ones but I just got one try each.

The Bearded Reedling just appeared and stayed for 5 seconds so I got 3 photos of it. It is a juvenile but you can still easily recognize the species. I had hoped for an adult but this will do for the moment. I would have liked a sharper picture but I didn´t have time to do anything else than point and shoot.

Unfortunately that was also the case with the Water Rail.

It appeared just in front of the hide and moved quickly over the open water from left to right. It stopped briefly on this little patch of green. This picture is also a little soft and I should have raised the shutter more than I did. Still an okay picture but not one to die for.

The one that I like the most are the Heron pictures. It was really nice when they moved in to the area just in front of the hide and this picture of it just before it lands is really nice.

The pictures of the Gadwalls casing the Great Cormorant are also interesting. One of the Gadwalls was on top of the Cormorant before it picked up the speed. Intresting interaction.

It was a really productive morning in Halland and I will surely travel there in the next couple of weeks when all the Wader appears on their way to the continent.

Photo Gallery: A trip to Getterön in Halland