Stabby Backe, the feeding station is in the clump of trees behind the gate.
In the afternoon drove to Storvreta, just outside Uppsala, where a huge flock of Goldfinches mixed with Redpolls had been seen. Saw two cars with birders parked by a small road, so drove there, and immediately got on to a Merlin up in a tree. Brilliant! It got chased off by a Kestrel after a short while, and started to hunt the large finch flock there. I've never seen so many Goldfinches in my life, there were at least 500 of them, probably more. And earlier in the day there had been as many as a thousand! Amongst them were loads of Common Redpolls, and we managed to find one certain and one possible Arctic in the flock when they landed in a tree. A Rough-legged Buzzard also passed by.
Merlin (Falco columbarius), Lilla Skärna, Storvreta. Very bad picture, it was the best I could do at a distance and freezing my fingers off!
Drove on a little bit and took off onto a small road on the other side of the main road, and drove along it a kilometer or two. At the end of the road found another birder I know, and chatted a bit while watching a Rough-legged Buzzard in a tree. A male Pheasant looked cold under a bush, a few Roe Deer where hiding in the snow, and then suddenly the finch flock appeared with the Merlin in close pursuit. The falcon managed to separate a Goldfinch from the rest of the flock, and chased after it at breathtaking speed and agility. The Goldfinch managed to escape into a tree though and the Merlin landed in top of a larch looking rather disappointed. Very cool to see it hunt at those speeds, and very close to us.
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