Winter Sweden 17-22 Feb 2020

A winter photography trip with the excellent Daniel Green of birdsafarisweden.com, with whom I have done several previous trips. He has several winter hides set up, with feeding stations, and equipped with heaters and toilets! It has been an exceptionally mild winter in Sweden, as in the UK, and no snow was on the ground in southern Sweden in mid-Feb which is most unusual and unlike my previous winter trips. Because of this, some spring passage was already under way, and we saw flocks of Bean Geese and Whooper Swans moving north. Common Buzzards had also returned early to their breeding areas, which meant that Rough-legged Buzzards had moved and unfortunately we didn't see this species from the customised hide in a converted barn. The Eagle hide is a similar impressive set up with a view over a forest clearing visited by both White-tailed and Golden Eagles. The first day we spent in the hide was beautiful sunny day, and no eagles visited although we had distant views of White-tailed in flight. The second day was a frosty start some mist, then light rain later, and 6 or 7 White-tailed Eagles were in the clearing at dawn (we were in the hide before first light, in order not to flush these very wary birds). We then had some nice flight views of both adult and immature birds, before a subadult bird came down to the bait and spent an hour or so feeding. Superb views of its subtly beautiful plumage and immense size and power. Two subadult Golden Eagles were also around and flew over a couple of times, but did not come down. Excellent to have such prolonged close views of the White-tailed Eagles. A great experience in the hide, with these majestic birds on view for most of the day. The following day I spent alone in the Goshawk hide, overlooking a forest clearing. After a 2 hour wait during which I could hear the Goshawk calling, the male bird suddenly swooped in, and after glaring around for a few minutes proceeded to feed on the bait. a most impressive bird at close quarters. It fed for over an hour! The other big attraction in the Black River Valley area is wintering Owls, numbers of which vary greatly from year to year. This winter, a fairly reliable Hawk Owl has a territory in a forest clearing ad we visited the site on 3 occasions, having views of the bird at times a fairly close quarters. Very atmospheric sitting on a stump in the fading light of a winter evening, its colours cryptically blending in with the spruce stumps. the other attraction is Great Grey Owl, which has a small breeding population in this area, the southernmost in Sweden - we were fortunate to find the bird out hunting one evening, and have views of the amazing facial disc at close quarters. The final highlight before returning home was a bird feeder near a small river valley, near to Vasteras, frequented by a variety of species, but including up to 7 Hawfinches and also a male Brambling. The Hawfinches were surprisingly accommodating if we kept still, perching in the birches and very unobtrusive for such a big finch. A most worthwhile trip. And we did also see a flyover Rough-legged Buzzard!