A first outing at Beijershamn

Beijershamn, which is a Nature Reserve on the island of Öland, was the only place that I really wanted to visit during me and Marias three days on Öland.

We had passed by a couple of times during the vacation last year and we even stopped once, but the weather wasn’t nice then so we skipped the visit. My aim with the visit was to hopefully see and photo the Pied Avocet, and maybe a male Ruff, for the first time. I knew both could be found at Beijershamn and I felt luck would be on my side.

The morning started with a bang as I went out to check the surroundings while Maria hugged the cuddle a little more. It was a splendid morning that boded well for the trip to Beijershamn and I got off to a good start with decent photos of both the Common Shelduck, that just flew over my head before landing on a field nearby, and a Common Chiffchaff that was feeding during the early morning as most small birds do.

The best picture of the morning is this one.

European Hare Beijershamn — European Hare 130510

I like this one. It is probably the best picture I have taken of a Hare. I really like the momentum in the picture coupled with the spring green colors and the distant sky.

I saw the Hare in the field and it saw me, but when I crouched the Hare relaxed and started to feed. I sat still for more than five minutes and soon the Hare started to move towards me until it stopped and then took off. I got a decent series of picture, but this is the best one.

Maria got on the phone, after breakfast, to see if she could find a stable nearby to ride some horses. At last she found one, but their schedule didn’t seem to fit ours, but Marias was to think about it.

We arrived at Beijershamn after 11:00 so the sun was up creating a haze that ruined many of my pictures. Now we discovered that we weren´t the only people here, and during lunch we were told that Club 300 had an annual competition and was the reason so many bird watchers were here.

I soon discovered both the Pied Avocet, but also a big group of maybe 20 Ruff’s, but they were all female. This was of course nice, but sadly the water levels were low and that coupled with the midday haze ruined most pictures for me. This got my mood down, but thankfully Maria forced me out on the old landing stage that leads far out into the water. This really made the visit worthwhile for me.

Here we found both Lesser Whitethroat, but also Little Tern and Arctic Tern that were fishing. This made us stay here watching the agile Tern hunting technique. I got a couple of quality photos from this session and this is the one I like the most.

Diving Arctic Tern Beijershamn — Diving Arctic Tern 130510

The Arctic Tern has just located something eatable in the water and has turned into a dive bomber. I like the wingspan of the Tern coupled with the position of the long tail feathers that create a momentum in the picture. The sun is also shining through the wing feathers making everyone visible. I like it.

I hope you like my pictures from the day and I would like to give some advice for Beijershamn. Be there early. I expect the mornings to be really lovely there and I would myself be there at sunrise next time around. I would also explore the woodlands, which we didn´t do this time. I think that area could produce many good opportunities with the smaller woodland birds that breed there.