New blog - now in english...

My name is Ingar Støyle Bringsvor and I’m 27 years old. I live on the northwest coast of Norway in a place called Sandsøya in the county of Møre og Romsdal. This is for me the best place on earth. And for a keen birder like myself, this is the ultimate birding spot. On the islands were I live, at Sandsøy and Voksa, we have many different habitats, all frome cultivated farmland to big areas of coastal heath, shallow shorlines and more… In short termes this means that all kindes of birds can show up. So far the total of bird species recorded at Sandsøya and Voksa is around 230. My personal number is 225. Hopefully this number will increase in the years to come.

In this blog I will write about the rare birds that I encounter. For the most part on my Islands, Sandsøya and Voksa. I will also write about the field work I do at the bird cliffs of Runde for the Norwegian Ornithological Society of Møre og Romsdal, on behalf of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. In addition to this I also have a couple of personal projects that I will keep you updated on. Since 2010 I have monitored the Common grasshopper warbler (gresshoppesanger) on my islands, and the surrounding areas. Sandsøya and Voksa has shown them selves to be one of, if not the best locations for the Common grasshopper warblers in Norway. I also started a project on the European stonechat (svartstrupe) in 2014. At Sandsøya this species nests nearly each year, as one of the few places in Norway. At the most here were about 8-9 pairs on the island. Unfortunately after a hard winter with cold weather, and a lot of snow, this number decreases drastically. Most, if not all, of the wintering stonechats will die under conditions like that… To learn more about these species, is for me very rewarding. Yes, it’s as good as finding an extremely rare bird, if not even better!

Common grasshopper warbler (gresshoppesanger), 2cy+ male, Remøya 26. May 2015

European stonechat (svartstrupe), juvenile and adult male, Sandsøya June 2015 

I also use a lot of time on seagulls. So far I have seen 13 species of seagulls at Sandsøya. Many of which are extremely rare in Norway. Fore example I have the northernmost recording of Yellow-Legged Gull (gulbeinmåke), and the second northernmost recording of Caspian Gull (kaspimåke) in Norway. In the winter here is also usually many white winged gulls around. Then I’m talking about Iceland- and Glaucous gulls (grønlandsmåke og polarmåke). The reason that Sandsøya is a really good location for gulls, is that we have a fish landing site at Sandshamn. This attracts a lot of gulls. On the best days we are talking about thousands and thousands of gulls, and endless possibilities.

Caspian gull (kaspimåke), 3cy/3rd winter, Sandshamn, Sandsøya 19. October 2012

Yellow-legged gull (gulbeinmåke), 5cy-type, Sandshamn, Sandsøya 18. September 2015

I will update this blog as often as possible, so stay tuned!