The colder, the better!

 Winter on the Faroe Islands is usually rainy, windy, cold and dark, with snow usually limited to the mountainstops. But the recent coldspell caused by winds from the SE had pushed plenty of continental birds towards Faroe Islands. 12/2 I was doing surveys on behalf SEV and Tjóðsavni concerning the placement of windmills on the island of Sandoy. On the mountains we found several Snow Buntings and by Sandsvátn we found 3 Northern Lapwings, 3 Skylarks, 1 Eurasian Shelduck, all scarce visitors! Saturday me, Bartal and Silas decided to go to Suðuroy to see if the cold at pushed anything of interest to the island! We hoped for White's Thrush, Great Bittern and Blue Tit. Though none of that came true, we still managed to see some interesting birds. Highlights were Mistle Thrush, 14th record, Tundra Bean Goose, 22nd record and Little Grebe, 18th record, though my personal favourite was a 1st winter Kumliens' Gull that Silas found at Lopra. Other highlights were 4 Northern Lapwings, 5 Skylarks, 26 Great Northern Divers and the sheer amount of thrushes, with a estimate of 30-40 redwings of both ssp. iliacus and coburni, 15+ Fieldfares, 2 Song Thrushes and of course the Mistle Thrush, with the bulk of the thrushes being found in a single village, Porkeri. The bean goose was found while searching for the lapwings and the little grebe was found by a local birdwatcher!

Skylarks are very scarce to scarce visitors, with almost all records from autumn. 8 individuals in february is quite the number

Song Thrush is also a quite scarce species, that is almost always found during influxes, but two in february is quite the records

The star of the show! My second Mistle Thrush on Faroe Islands, with the last being in 2016

It doesn't get more faroese than this

Officially the most boring rarity to find on the faroe islands.

Autumn has been begun on the Faroe Islands

 8/9 I went to Suduroy with Bartal G. Simonsen and Silas Olofson for a two day "raid" as the weather and reports from further south could indicate that there might be some waders. The ferry which can yield some impressive seabirds was not noteworthy with a few Great Skuas flying around. When hit land we immediately drove to Hvalba, one of the northern villages, also one of the best birding spots on the Faroe Islands. We drove past "Kjógvavatn" a freshwater lake near Hvalba, nice hotspot for waders and other waterbirds and we could loads of waders walking around. We stopped and immediately Silas spotted a Curlew Sandpiper! 5th record for the Faroe Islands, hot in heels of the fourth found 5/9 by Silas also. Silas and Bartal went down the shore to take pictures and pulled out the scope to start checking all the other waders, where spotted a second Curlew Sandpiper!!! I couldn't document it due to the wind, but I saw a small calidris fly towards us, close to Silas and Bartal, I looked at it and it was a Little Stint!!! 12th record for Faroe Islands! Wow, less than 30 minutes into the trip and already three rarities. Both species were well-documented, feeding along each other and the many Common Ringed Plovers, Sanderlings, Dunlins and Red Knots. We got into the car and drove to Hvalba and started birding where we found a Ruff, a scarce visitor, Common Reed Warbler and a not so obliging Sedge Warbler, a quite rare species with less than five records a year on the Faroe Islands and when. And when we went back to Kjógvavatn where a Little Gull had appeared, yet another very scarce visitor! 

Can you find the Little Stint and the Curlew Sandpiper?

After Hvalba we went to Famjin, the only village on the western coast, which yielded a Sand Martin, another very scarce visitor, some Willow Warblers and plenty of waders. We then immediately drove to Sumba, the southernmost village on the Faroe Islands and another rarity hotspot. The wind made it impossible to check the gardens for passerines, but the shoreline was loaded with waders and of course I found another Curlew Sandpiper, this one was almost more obliging than the other ones as it was standing on the seawall along with the many Sanderlings, Ruddy Turnstones, Rock Pipits and another two Ruffs. As the sun now was setting we went to house we were staying at and spent the evening watching tv and then went to bed. 

Next day we went directly to Sumba again, where the amount of waders was much less, but there were passerines in the gardens. 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Barn Swallow and Silas and Bartal saw a Common Rosefinch, another very scarce visitor. Seeing that there had been an arrival of passerines and the wind had died down a bit we decided to check all the small villages on the east coast. Starting at Porkeri, where we had a few Willow Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler and Garden Warbler, we then went to Hov, another small village, where we split the village and checked each our part. I managed to find a handful of Willow Warblers and a Blackcap, before getting a message that Silas had an interesting acrocephalus-warbler! We went to the garden he was inside of and spoke with him. It was a possible Blyth's Reed Warbler and spent the next hour trying to get better views and photos and in the end we got some nice views and photos and heard it call with a hard teck-call, confirming it was a Blyth's Reed Warbler, the 8th record for Faroe Islands and the earliest autumn record ever for Faroe Islands.

Blyth's Reed Warbler

We then drove to Hvalba and we went to the lake from yesterday to check the waders again, with plenty of them still around. We check the grassy fields in the lake and to our surprise there weren't two Curlew Sandpipers, there were now four of them! Wow! We got some ok photos and the straight to Hvalba again, where we had the Sedge Warbler from yesterday again, along with two Reed Warblers and four Willow Warblers and a continuing Ruff. With limited time left we then went straight to the ferry and sailed back, happy with the results! As a bonus we saw blue-finned tuna from the ferry, first time they have been this close to the islands.

Skulky Sedge Warbler

And less Skulky Reed Warbler.