This morning me Joakim and Hebe woke up early to open the mist-nets in Grenen at 4:00 am, the weather forecasts are good, it will not be a windy day and we are hopeful. A little later, Simon joins us.

Dante and Marie also wake up early to go to Verdens Ende, to Grenen, to count birds.

As we had hoped, the conditions are good and we catched a good number of birds, including a Northen wheatear and the first Marsh warbler of the season.

We close the nets at 11:00 am, with 21 ringed birds and 5 recaptures, and we return to the Observatory to rest a little.

In the afternoon I update the ringing data in the database, Hebe proposes a super adventurous experience: the exploration of one of the beach bunkers! We are all a bit disappointed, all except Marie, who feels a little at home. Afterwards we have fun helping Marie with an online species recognition quiz.

Later we have a meeting to plan next week's activities.

Shortly afterwards for dinner we welcome two new guests who will stay with us for a few days to do filming during our work, Daviel Krøyef and Alexander Brucki.

Ringing (Sardinkrattet)

- Gransanger - Chiffchaff                    5                        

- Gærdesanger – Lesser whitethroat  2           

- Kærsanger – Marsh warbler             1              

- Rørsanger – Reed warbler               2                                                                              

- Løvsanger – Willow warbler             2  

- Gulbug – Icterine warbler                 1   

- Rørspurv – Reed bunting                 1

- Tornsanger - Whitethroat                 5

- Stenpikker - Northen wheatear        1

- Havesanger – Garden warbler         1

                                                        Tot: 21

Folk: Hebe Denny, Dante Shephard, Joakim Matthiensen, Marie Heuberger, Michele Pes, Simon S Christiansen, Daviel Krøyef and Alexander Brucki.

Comparison between Reed warbler and Marsh warbler

Da vinden i dag var meget kraftigt, mellem 10 og 12 m/s gav det en sjælden mulighed for, at sove længe da nettene ikke kune åbnes, samt at der ikke er mange fugle i luften i sådan et vejr. Det var vi nogle der udnyttede imens andre trodsede den kraftige blæst og begav sad ud på Grenen til morgenobs. 

Som forventeligt blev det ikke til mange fugle på Grenen i dag. Dog blev der set lidt mallemukker, hvilket nu også forvenligt. Men det var dog rigtigt godt. Det var nemlig en helt ny art for Micheal så trods manglen på fugle var hans morgen rigtig godt. De seje morgenobsere vendte dog også tidligt hjem da de måtte indse, at de simpelthen bare var for blæsende. 

Dog skete der også noget ikke forventeligt i dag! Micheal og jeg havde en ringmærkningstur kl 12:00. Der var ikke mange deltagere, ja faktisk ingen, men der havde nu også allerede været en guidet tur kl 11:00. Men altså, nettene i fyrhaven var åbne og igen resulterede vinden i, at vi ikke fangede mange fugle. Vi fangede faktisk kun én. Men det var dog en lille glædelig overaskelse, som ventede os i nettet. Der sad nemlig en blåmejse MED ring i nettet. Det er jo altid sjovt, at fange fugle med ring, for det er jo lidt hele meningen med ringmærkningen. Det viser sig at blåmejsen blev ringmærket her på Skagen fuglestation i august 2017. Den gang var den en nyudfløjen unge. Nu kom den så tilabge næsten to år gammel som en flot han blåmejse. Det var dejligt, at den ville ligge vejen forbi og sige hej. Vi glæder os allerede til næste gang ;) 

Folk: Folk: Hebe Denny, Dante Shephard, Joakim Matthiensen, Marie Heuberger, Michéle Pes, Hans & Inger Meltofte, and Simon S Christiansen.

Blåmejse 3k han, som lagde vejen forbi efter og sagde hej i dag. Dejligt da vi allerede havde ringmærket fulgen i 2017. 

Today began with the usual cracker of a sunrise and only a little breeze in the air. Michael and Joakim headed out to grenen early, where they opened the nets ready for a morning of ringing. Marie and I arrived a little later to find hundreds of mosquitos waiting for us and the boys armed with repellent and some seriously sexy headnets! It turned out to be quite a quiet morning, but a lovely one, with Hans and Ida joining us for a short time, and relaxing in sunspots looking at insects, listening to Michaels vulture stories and watching out for passing birds in between rounds. We even spotted a beautiful Pirole flitting about between trees at one point! Marie had a very exciting end to the morning, with our last bird being a beautiful male Bogfinke which she had never seen in the hand before. They are incredible strong birds upclose, with so much vibrant colouring! Lovely. We also rung our first Rorsanger, which was a sweet suprise. 

Dante meanwhile spent the morning sat out at Verdens end with Rolf and the other observers, and though it was a little quiet there too, he saw some exciting birds as always in Skagen..! The little bit lost Gåsegrib appeared again, aswell as 2 islom, 2 pirole, a Gulirisk and a sortglente.  

Back at the observatory later on in the morning, after doing some tasks for the day, and spotting the vulture through the obs window...!!!  Marie and i went for a quick and blissful swim in the sea, and then headed off for a wander in the beautiful sunshine and Joakim and Michael opened the garden nets to try to catch some birds for Hans and Ida to see some ringmaerking before they went home. Sadly nothing came to the nets, and it was time to say goodbye to Hans and Ida again. It was so lovely to have them back!! The wind started to pick up in the afternoon and so we all took the chance to take a nap and catch up on a little sleep. I tried to do this on the beach.. resulting in sand absutly everywhere and sunburn. oops. But it was lovely all the same.. i was woken at one point by the call of a Hepsevage passing over the sea.. and interesting suprise!! 

In the evening, our new guests Hans and Inga arrived, having travelled up to the Hirtshalls nature meeting, were simon also spent the past few days. They arrived to a very windy skagen!!! Simon came back a little later on and told us a little about what he had been up to the past few days.. teaching some school classes visiting schools, giving a talk about life vollunteering at Skagen Fuglestation! 

After battling the wind by bike into town for ingrediants, Michael created a delicious creamy mushroomy pasta for dinner and then after some evening wandering we eventually all got to sleep!

Another exciting day in skagen!! 

Sunrise shadows at the ringing tent 

Ringing (Sardinkrattet and Jenne So)

Bogfinke - 1

Tornsanger -  6

Rørsanger - 1

Gærdesanger - 6

Gaerdesmutte - 1

løvsanger - 2

Musvit - 2

Sum: 19

Folk: Hebe Denny, Dante Shephard, Joakim Matthiensen, Marie Heuberger, Michéle Pes, Hans & Ida, Hans & Inger, Rolf Christensen and Simon S Christiansen.

Today was a rainy day and that meant, that we could sleep long – which was really nice! So all of us just stayed in bed until 10 o’clock and after a chilled breakfast we went out to find the Turtle Dove (Turteldue), which was called on Zello. But we were not successful. Around midday our guests Hans and Ida arrived, and we opened the nets in the Garden and caught a Icterine Warbler (Gulbug)!

About the same time the news of the day: A Griffon Vulture (Gåsegrib) arrived in Skagen! It has already been seen yesterday, but about 10 km away from Skagen. First we saw it from the Garden and then it went over the sea. Hebe and I hurried up the Lighthouse, because we thought to have a better view from there and we had. The Vulture came back from the sea and we saw it gliding from above. It came really low and then it suddenly just sat down. Joakim and Dante ran to see it closer and so did we! Unfortunately Hebe and I had trouble to find the right way and then we just went cross-country through the reed. Luckily Hebe had wellies and she piggybacked me over the knee-deep water. After this adventurous part, we joined the other bird watchers – there was already a crowd of people. And by the way, all of them arrived dry there and didn’t went trough knee-deep water. But anyway, we did it! And the Vulture was so close, it was incredible! It just sat there and looked around, after a while it flew a few meters further. It was amazing to see it flying so close. It’s wingspan is bigger than I’m tall. It sat down again and now we only saw it’s head between the grass. After a few minutes some strollers came from the other direction and they didn’t saw the vulture until he flew away – just above their heads! They looked quite surprised :D

After this thrilling event Hebe and I went to town for a swim in the local swimming hall and in the evening Hebe cooked a delicious fish paella for us. The perfect end for another exciting day at Skagen Fuglestation! 

Ringing (Det Grå Fyr and Jenne So):

Jernspurv -1

Sangdrossel - 1

Lovsanger - 1

Musvit - 1 

Bogfinke - 2

Skovpiber -1

Gulbug                                                 1

Tornsanger                                           1

Grå Fluesnapper                                  2

Total:                               11                     

Folk: Hebe Denny, Dante Shephard, Joakim Matthiensen, Marie Heuberger, Michael, Hans og Ida

The morning started very slow but that changed when the raptors started to come. Among the first wave of Musvåge a Blå Glente was found! After deciding it did not want to cross to Sweden it landed in a tree just near the Fuglestation along Fyrvej. It then continued to the south never to be seen again. Not long after a Gåsegrib crackled through on zello flying around near Flagbakken. Wow! Hitching a lift (thank you Nicolas) we raced down to a tower in the klitplantation to see if we could see it. After 15 minutes of desperate scanning there it was. A vulture in Denmark!  This is only the second time this species has been seen in Skagen and the first time since 1985. With good feels all around we headed back to the observatory and I cooked quiches for dinner. A really nice day with two very special raptors. 

Folk: Joakim Matthiesen, Dante Shepherd, Marie Caroline, Hebe Denny

Dagens blog bliver nok kortere end normalt. For skal jeg være helt ærligt, ja så skete der ikke meget denne dag. Faktisk skete der sådanset slet ingen ting. Vi var ellers endnu engang tidligt afsted. Marie og jeg var på Grenen og observere trækket imens Simon, Dante og Hebe åbnede nettene i Sardinkrattet. Fælles for begge stedet var, at der virkelig var fugletomt. Det var meget tåget og i perioder kunne vi ikke engang se fyret fra verdens ende. Det var kun de lokale fugle, som vi kunne se og hører. Det virkede altså ikke til, at der var kommet nogen nye fugle til i løbet af dagen. I ringmærkningen blev det også kun til omkring 10 fugle i løbet af morgenen. Derfor lukkede vi nettene tidligt og Marie og jeg gik tidligt hjem fra Grenen. Sådan er nogle dage bare!

Det var dog en fin nok dag, at det skulle være så stille på. For når det er onsdag er det RENGØRINGSDAG. Så efter en kort lur gik vi alle igang med at gøre hele lejligheden samt laborotoriet og birders club rent. Det kan være lidt hårdt, at komme igennem, men det er altid rigtigt godt bagefter. 

Folk: Joakim Matthiesen, Dante Shepherd, Marie Caroline, Hebe Denny, Simon S Christiansen,  Rolf Christiansen, Michel Ancher. 

Ringmærkning på Sardinkrattet:

Tornsanger: 5

Havesanger: 1

Gærdesanger: 3

Løvsanger: 1 

Total 10

Her en af dagens få ringmærkede fugle, en fin tornsanger.

The day started as it usually does... very early alarms for us here at the observatory!  Marie, My mum and I headed out to grenen to meet a familiar and beautiful sunrise. We joined Rolf and the big troup of other birders. The morning was pretty active, with many interesting birds passing through! Some particularly exciting ones being a Pirol, Tejste, Ride, Stor Tornskade, Hepsevåge, Fjeldvåge.. and many other wonderful things!! My mum was also very happy to at last meet Samantha fox! Who curled up at our feet for a little snoooze. 

A little later inter the morning, Jokaim who had been out doing some diverse observations along with Dante, came out to Grenen in the hopes of seeing a Pirol and he hasnt seen one yet! He came to us and chatted with us a while.. when Marie happened to look into her Scope.. searching for some Rorspurv.. a bird she really likes! But instead she spotted an unusual looking Sortstrubet Bynkefugl... upon Joakim and Rolf's confirmation it turned out to be a very exciting bird!!!! A beautiful male Sibirisk Bynkefugl. Much excitement ensued..!!! We were able to get some incredible veiws of the bird and it hung around for some time. Dante raced out to meet us and was able to get some gorgeous photographs. (Shown below.)  

After a seriously epic morning.. Marie, Dante and Joakim then headed back to the observatory where they joined Simon for a guided tour with some school children. Meanwhile My mum and i had a swim in the sea and got ready for her to head home to scotland. It was lovely having her here, and she so loved to see Skagens incredible birds and meet the wonderful people. After saying goodbye at the trainstation, back at the observatory Marie and I got on with some tasks and she began cooking an exciting exciting traditional german dinner. The boys meanwhile went out searching and saw the lille fluesnapper which was seen hanging out at the nets at Grenen. They then went out with Simon in his car to look for some birds elsewhere. 

We had an incredible Dinner from Marie.. and went to bed very happy and full from a brilliant day.

People: Joakim Mattieson, Dante Shepherd, Marie Heuberger, Hebe Denny, Becks denny, Simon S Christiansen, Rolf Christiansen

This morning we tried to ring at Grenen, but we had the nets open for only half an hour, because it started to rain then. But we caught a Pied and a Spotted Flycatcher (Broget & Grå fluesnapper). In hope that the rain would stop soon, we all squeezed into the tent. But instead of stopping, the rain got stronger, so we went back home. After a cozy morning and some more sleep at home, we started to ring in the Lighthouse garden and again: Flycatcher! This time we had a beautiful mal Pied Flycatcher.

 Dante was meanwhile doing diverse observations. Hebe and her mother enjoyed their last day, as Hebe’s mother will leave tomorrow. They went to the big sand dune nearby and had a nice day. As a goodbye, she cooked Haggis for us, a Scottish specialty. We were all kind of skeptical, but in the end it was delicious!

Ringing:

no ringing today

Folk: Joakim Mattieson, Dante Shepherd, Marie Heuberger, Hebe & Becks Denny, Simon S Christiansen

It was a beautiful day with calm winds and sunshine. The birds did not disappoint with a Skagen record of 6 Nordlig Nattergal as well as 3 Lille Fluesnapper and 10+ Skovsanger among the many grounded migrants. Joakim had a guided tour about the life project of the area which went really well. He even found a Black Kite during it which the participants enjoyed. The family and Lisa and Daniel left around midday. We hope you enjoyed your stay! In the afternoon Joakim went to twitch one of the Lille Fluesnapper which had been seen in the town park. He got it! 234 for his ever growing year list. In the evening a report on Zello came through of a Mellemkjove migrating to the north-east from near the harbour. We all rushed out and after 5 or so minutes it came past the lighthouse very close. A really nice dark morph adult with spoons.

Picture of the Mellemkjove by Mikkel Høegh Post

Folk: Joakim Mattieson, Dante Shepherd, Marie Caroline, Hebe Denny, Simon S Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Daniel Bloche, Rolf Christiansen, Michel Ancher, Jorgen Kabel, Ingo Ludwichowski, Doufa, Morten, Nora and Eva Rian.

Ringmærknings Jennes Sø:

Rødstjert - 3

Gærdesanger - 3

Tornsanger - 5

Havesanger - 6

Løvsanger - 6

Grå fluesnapper - 1

Broget fluesnapper - 1

Musvit - 1

Bogfinke - 2

Total 28

I dag var nettene åbne kl 04:30 og morgenobsen startede kl 04:45. Dagen startede med en del tåge, som tog noget tid for at forsvinde. Det lykkedes dog til sidst. I ringmærkningen var det løvsangere som dominerede, men også arter som spurvehøg og gulbug lagde vejen forbi nettene. 

På Grenen skete der ikkke det store. Af de bedste arter kan nævnes tejst, gråmåge  og bjerglærke. Tilgengæld var der fint gang i de gule vipstjerter som nok blev morgenens højdepunkt med op imod 800 trækkende. 

Dog skete der noget helt andet et helt andet sted. Pomeransfuglene var nemlig nået op til os heroppe nordpå. Et flok pomeransfugle blev spottet på den kendte 'rasteplads' for netop denne art. Området hedder troldkær og denne dag bllev der set en fin flok på 10 pomeransfugle. Vi ville selvfølgelig gerne se fuglene og drog derfor til troldkær og så de flotteste pomeransfugle på en mark med traner, spover og hjejler. Det var en rigtigt fin oplevelse. 

Og nå ja .. så fangede Micheal Ancher en fin nordlig blåhals ved Jennes Sø. 

Folk: Joakim Mattieson, Dante Shepherd, Marie Caroline, Hebe Denny, Simon S Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Daniel Bloche, Rolf Christiansen, Michel Ancher, Jorgen Kabel, Ingo Ludwichowski, Doufa, Morten, Nora and Eva Rian.

Ringmærknings Jennes Sø and Sardinkrattet.

Spurvehog - 1

Gaerdesmutte - 1

Nordlig blåhals - 1

Rødstjert - 1

Solsort - 1

Rørsanger - 2

Gulbug - 1

Gærdesanger - 4

Tornsanger - 3

Munk - 2

Gransanger - 4

Havesanger - 2

Skovsanger - 2

Løvsanger - 32

Grå fluesnapper - 1

Broget fluesnapper - 2

Musvit - 1

Bogfinke - 1

Lille gråsisken - 2

Total 75

Der kigges på pomeransfugle