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Birding sites near to Arlanda! (1 Viewer)

lazza

Well-known member
Hi all...

I fairly frequently travel to Sweden on business, ususally with meetings in and around Stockholm, Uppsala and Södertälje. I almost always fly into and out of Arlanda airport, and a few times I have had quite a long wait for a flight home.

So I am wondering if anyone can recommend any good (or even half-decent) places near Arlanda airport to go an search out birds. Anything within 30 minutes would be great.

I have tried a few random trips to what appear to be nearby forests, with trails and paths, but not had much success (although the suit and tie has not helped with exploring...!), the best so far being a few crossbill and goldcrest up near Uppsala.

Thanks!
 
Random trips to forests can occasionally be great, but more often than not you don't see anything at all... fickle places! ;-)
Anyway! Some good places near Uppsala on the Arlanda side would be:

Årike Fyris
The stretch along the Fyris River south of the city. The meadows here are very good for many different birds, especially in the spring. Now, in the winter, there are fewer birds around but Rough-legged Buzzard is almost guaranteed, along with Goshawk and Peregrine. Look for Arctic Redpolls in the flocks of Common Redpolls. The place is very popular with Uppsala's birders (and ordinary people enjoying a day out) so more often than not you'll meet someone else here.
Map: http://tinyurl.com/845dzws (Just drive down Vindbrovägen and park at the end.) You can also go to the other side of the river, (check the map for how to get there) and drive down Vindbrovägen on that side. If you stop the car about 50-100 meters before the sign with the handicap parking, check for a small path up into the forest. About 20 meters in there is a good feeding place where you often see Crested Tits.


Lövstaslätten/Laggaslätten (The Lövsta/Lagga plains)
That large piece of farmland just outside Uppsala that runs sort of parallell to the big E4 to Arlanda. In spring, good for raptors and some years the melting snow floods the fields attracting waders. In winter it is often worthwhile searching any large flocks of Yellowhammers for Lapland Buntings. Just stop anywhere and scan the fields.
Map: http://tinyurl.com/76ggwbk

On the other side of Arlanda, closer to Stockholm, is Lake Fysingen which is very nice. I haven't been there that much but it is a good place, and the local birders there are friendly and helpful.
Map: http://tinyurl.com/7gabgyf (I put the pin where the bird tower is located).

There are probably many more places, but those are the ones I usually visit (I can usually be found at Årike Fyris at least once a week, more often in spring...).

EDIT: Oh, and check this link for birds that have been seen lately in Uppland.
http://artportalen.se/birds/todays.asp?landskapskod=13&dag=0&filter=mall&sortering=senaste
(You can click the little blue "i" symbol at the end of each report for a map to the location.)
 
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Fantastic! Thanks Enji... I'll be sure to take my binoculars with me next trip! Crested tits would be a good reason to make a diversion!
 
Well, had a quick look at the Årika Fyris site you mentioned after a meeting in Uppsala this afternoon and see that it could be very good at the right time - it was probably a bit late in the day when I was there. But still, an impressive number of great tits, and also several blue tits, woodpecker (greater spotted?) and a treecreeper. Also, I'm not good at identification by song or call, but several unseen and unidentified birds calling with a mournful, rising, "chuu" whistle...possibly siskin....or redpoll?
 
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Well, I'm back from my trip.... 2 days, 4 client meetings, 13 species! Nothing too unusual, I guess, although several unidentified calling birds which - to me - were not birds I was familiar with here. Aside from the woodland birds above, a few species on the water at Södertälje, including goosander and tufted duck, and a large flock of bullfinch in a tree in Huddinge.

Oh, and watched a beautiful - and seemingly unconcerned - brown hare in the woods near Uppsala for about 15 minutes
 
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Managed some brief birding on another business trip to Sweden this week.

Highlights were:

- a small flock of barnacle geese in a field by the motorway near Salem
- a noisy and unconcerned flock of tree sparrow at Ostertäalje station
- watching several goldcrest in a wood next to Arlanda airport

In fact, I was pleased to find this last location. As I had 3 hours to wait for my flight, I decided to go for a walk out of the terminal, and came across a small wood, stream and pond just 10 minutes walk from Terminal 2 (shown on this map). There were great spotted woodpecker, dozens of great tit and house martin, several goldcrest, and a couple of other unidentified species (possibly redpoll and chaffinch), plus also one very loud chu-chu-chu-chu-chu call that I did not recognise at all, that may have come from a plump, bullfinch-sized, pinkish-brown bird see only briefly. (The only similar call on xeno-canto is a wryneck, but I am not sure if that is likely in this area...)
 
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My trips to Sweden have become rather less frequent, but a visit last week allowed me an hour at the feeding station in Årika Fyris in very warm conditions. The river banks and feeding station were buzzing with birds, including singing yellowhammer, dozens of greenfinch, 4 great spotted woodpecker, nuthatch, and best of all 4 superb hawfinch! A red squirrel feeding on the spilt seeds below one of the feeders no more than 5m away also added to the general feeling of being surrounded by wildlife! On the river were goldeneye and mallard with several small groups of (unidentified) geese flying downstream low over the water (greylag, I think), while the fields across the river held two roe deer.

Also had nice surprise after a meeting further south in Södertälje. As I headed back towards the motorway a circling raptor caught my eye, and as it got closer, its white tail feathers became clear: my first ever rough-legged buzzard.
 
If you ever go to Stockholm, there is a lot to see in the only urban national park in the world; Ekoparken.
Yesterday morning, for example, we saw 33 species in two and a half hour by Lappkärret close to the Museum of Natural History. Tawny owl, hawfinches, grey herons, goshawk, long-tailed tits and many more.

(I'd love to meet birders from around the world, so don't hesitate to ask if any of you want company.)
 
Yesterday I visited Ekoparken in Stockholm - a wonderful place. Ticked 40 spieces incl. Reed Bunting, Gadwall, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Hawfinch, Lapwings, Redwing, White Wagtails, Green Woodpecker, Wren
 
(I'd love to meet birders from around the world, so don't hesitate to ask if any of you want company.)

Hej Marie! I'm from the U.S. (though I live most of the year in Aspudden). I've just gotten into birding (while in the U.S. -- actually I started before I left Sweden, but didn't get very far). This time of year, if I wanted to go birding near Stockholm, do you think Lappkärret would be the best place to go? I've done some digging around and gather there are actually lots of places that would be excellent, but right now, early June? Easy access without an automobile would be handy, too.

And yes I'd love company, though going on my own is fine as well.

Brian
 
It's been a while since i was last in Sweden,but a trip just before Christmas allowed me a little time after a meeting in Uppsala to head to the small feeding station at Årike Fyris, and I finally came up trumps. In just over an hour, I had the pleasure of very close encounters with treecreeper, green woodpecker, willow tit, marsh tit and.... crested tit (only my 2nd ever sighting for this last species), plus a very curious red squirrel.
 
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