I dag var min første dag tilbage på Skagen Fuglestation efter, at jeg ankom i går aftes. Det var et glædeligt gensyn med stationen og Skagen samt nogle mennesker jeg ikke har set siden sidste sommer. Dejligt at være tilbage!

Dagen i dag startede kl 05:15 hvor turen, efter en omgang morgenmad gik til Grenen for at kigge på trækfuglene. Morgenholdet bestod af Dante, Hebe og mig selv samt 7 andre birdere som brugte nogle timer ude på Grenen. Der var rigtigt godt gang i sortænderne og totallen nåede op på imponerende 21.200 eksemplarer! Derudover kunne vi også nyde synet af eksempelvis Duehøg, fjeldvåge, musvåger, traner, mange rødstrubede lommer mm.

Klokken 11 var jeg tilbage ved stationen og stod sammen med Niels for en guidet tur rundt i området. Vinden var taget til, hvilket vanskeliggjorde det lidt, men det lykkedes os da både at se traner, bjergvipstjert og lidt musvåger. Turens bedste oplevelse blev dog en gråmåge som fløj syd langs stranden ved fyret lige da vi var ved turens afslutning. Herefter sagde vi farvel til Niels, samt Gitte og Jens Peter.

Hebe og Dante lagde et hurtigt stop forbi havnen og lavede lidt indkøb på vejen hjem. Peter brugte dagen på lidt ringmærkning i fyrhaven hvilket bød på lidt forskellige fugle. Heriblandt kan nævnes: Grønsisken han, jernspurv, gråsisken samt blåmejse.

Omkring klokken 16:00 ankom Hans og Ida som vil bo i lejligheden den næste uges tid. De havde været så søde at tage mad med hjemmefra så aftensmaden var hurtigt klaret. Tak for det! De glæder sig begge til at følge stationens arbejde og opleve nogle af fuglene i Skagen.

Efter middagen holdte vi vores daglige aftenmøde og fik snakket om morgendagens aktiviteter, samt hvilke opgaver som skal klares i løbet af den kommende uge. Så var det ellers i seng tidligt så vi kunne være klar til nye eventyr næste dag!

Ringmærkede fugle i dag:

Blåmejse - 3

Musvit - 2

Jernspurv - 1

Grønsisken - 1

Gråsisken - 2

Bogfinke - 7

Folk på stationen: Peter, Dante, Hebe, Gitte, Jens Peter, Niels, Ida, Hans og Joakim.

Her ses en meget flot grønsisken han, som var en af de fugle der blev ringmærket i dag. Det er første gang i år at en grønsisken ringmærkes på Skagen fuglestation.

Her er det en blåmejse der er gået i nettet. Det er også første gang i år at en blåmejse ringmærkes på Skagen Fuglestation også blev det endda til hele 3 eksemplare.

Peter was up early for a day out with friends down south to see Tengmalm’s Owl/ and Nutcracker (unfortunately it turned out he saw neither!). Hebe and I had a nice morning at Grenen with Iceland Gull and Great Skua. After lunchtime Gitte, Jens-Peder, Hebe and I took a trip to Råbjerg Mile. What an amazing place and I would never imaged such a large and migrating sand dune in northern Europe! After a quick visit to Ålbæk Harbour, which was amazing, we met up with local birder Hans (can’t remember his last name!) and did some birding in the area. It was a bit windy but we still saw Cranes, Swans, Goldeneyes and a Peregrine. Thanks again Hans!

In the evening Joakim (a new volunteer who is here for 4 months) and Nils (a board member of the observatory who had had a meeting with several people from the lighthouse/exhibition earlier in the day) arrived. Hebe and Jens-Peder cooked chicken curry for dinner and it was great.

Råbjerg Mile top Ålbæk Harbour below

The weather was lovely this morning. Dante left  early as always, over to Grenen where he joined Rolf for the morning. At 06:15 Gitte and I headed out to Northstrand. Her company was short lived as i received a text from Peter telling us that he had birds in the nets at Fyrhaven! Gitte had been very excited for the chance to watch some ringmærking and so she hurried over to join in and scribe for Peter!  It was a really good morning for them, with 45 birds in the net!! Mainly being Grønsisken. Meanwhile, i was having a wonderful time out at Northstrand counting birds. Most excitingly for me, two groups of Halemejse!! I was also lucky to see a Porpoise and a great big bumble bee!!! LOVELY. Jens Peter who had been out for a walk, came to join me for a few hours which was great, and then we were both picked up by a very happy Gitte after the ringing was done. While we headed back to the obs, Peter went out to do a little observing too.

After some lunch, i headed out to the birders club to update the notice board, and Gitte and Jens Peter went out for a walk just as the weather turned a bit wild! Once Dante came back, he and i entered the ringing data from the morning, and did some Dofbasen. While we did this, Peter did a very long shift in the attic and finished fixing the last of the nets!!!! EPIC.

Gitte and Jens Peter had a good walk, they saw lots of Gråkrage, Skarv and Trane and also a hugorm!

We had quite a chilled evening after all of this. Jens Peter made an absolutly gorgeous dinner with crepes and all sorts of lovelieness!! yum. And so after a quick evening meeting we all went to bed.

Another briliant day!!

One of the Bogfinke

Finging at Fyrhaven:

Rødhals - 1

Musvit - 1

Jernspurv - 2

Bogfinke - 7

Gronsisken - 34

With fog I wasn’t expecting much on my daily migration count at Grenen. However I was pleasantly surprised with a Great White Egret/Sølvhejre which I found flying in off the Skagerrak. A new speceis for Hebe who had come along with me! It was too windy to open the nets back in the garden so Peter put the traps out. Annoyingly for him the birds in the garden have becom used to the traps and they all outwitted him this time. When we arrived back Gitte had baked cinnamon rolls. They were wonderful!

In the afternoon Gitte, Jens Peder and I went to the cormorant lake/skarvsøen to see how they were getting on. Not much of an increase in breeding activity compared to Mondays visit but its always nice to get out there. Whilst the others were fixing nets in the evening Gitte and I cooked bolognese and roast cauliflower. It was Simons last evening before he heads off to Israel at midday tomorrow!

People: Dante Shepherd, Peter Denyer, Simon S. Christiansen, Hebe Denny, Gitte og Jens Peder Holm

Me out near the cormorant lake

Hebe, Dante og Rolf var tidligt afsted på Grenen og lave fugle obs. Deres bedste observationer i dag må være Duehøg og Lapværling.
Peter foretog diverse obs. ved Fuglestationen og stod for kl. 14 guidningen.
Om eftermiddagen blev alles obs. registreret på DOF-basen.
Alle deltog i den ugentlige rengøring. Jens Peder hjalp Dante med at reparere hans cykel og teleskop. Jeg bagte boller, og lovede Dante, at jeg vil bage kanelsnegle til holdet senere.

Simon har igennem hele dagen haft en del møder, bl.a. med Bjarne, Laura og Anne fra Aalborg universitet om strandfrøer. De vil komme igen til april, når frøerne er kommet frem; og med Kurt Rasmussen, Villy Hansen og Lene Kappelborg om planlægningen af Fuglefestivalen i maj.

Jens Peder og jeg gik den blå rute, hvor vi bl.a. så ravne i parringsleg; Traner, som lå og svævede rundt over området. Men det bedste obs. var en kongeørn, som viste sig fra sin mest pædagogiske side. Den svævede lige over os, så det var en flot oplevelse.

Der er ellers stor forskel på, at se på fugle i Rold Skov, hvor vi kommer fra; og så på Skagen. Det har jeg ikke tænkt over, før jeg sad på Grenen sammen med Dante den første dag. Da så jeg en stæreflok i kraftig vind, og de fløj nærmest hid og did i flokken, og ikke samlet, som man oftest ser dem. Man skal selvfølgelig også være kvikkere til at artsbestemme. Det er nemmere at genkende Hvinænder, når de ligger stille på Madum Sø, end når de komme på stor afstand over Grenen. Nå, det var et lille sidespring.

Peter lavede lækker suppe til aftensmad, og herefter kom Simon og gennemgik kalenderen med de frivillige. Vi sluttede af med aftensmøde.

Det er en stor fornøjelse at være gæster på Skagen Fuglestation. Hyggeligt og lærerigt.

Mennesker: Bjarne Huus Jensen, Laura og Anne fra Aalborg universitet, Kurt Rasmussen, Villy Hansen, Lene Kappelborg, Dante Shepherd, Peter Denyer, Simon S. Christiansen, Hebe Denny, Gitte og Jens Peder Holm

Kongeørn

Ringdue

Dante, Gitte and Hebe were up and out at Grenen by 6.15 or so this morning. Today was looking like the least windy day of the week so I opened some nets in the morning, and tried some crossbill calls for an hour on the off chance , but quickly changed it to redpoll. I caught a few birds, mostly redpolls, with one male blackbird and a great tit. Jens joined me most of the morning, before working on the bike I’d punctured the day before and changing the seat on it. At some point I assume he’s going to relax and actually have a holiday! We’re very grateful for both his and Gitte’s efforts though.

I had a bit of a kip after this, as the others made their way home. Hebe started work on the diary post, whilst Dante entered DOFBasen. Later in the afternoon a golden eagle was reported in Skagen so Dante and I dashed outside for a bit, I may have seen it briefly, but I think I got onto a white tailed eagle instead. Dante then went into the newsroom to chat to visitors, whilst I helped Hebe with entering the blog in the correct location on the Obs computer. Gitte took over the kitchen early afternoon, cooking and cleaning the kitchen as she went. At 3pm Knud turned up to take Dante, Hebe and I to look for Bewick’s swans. Whilst we sadly didn’t see any of those, we had a great afternoon with peregrines, white fronted geese and cranes in some flooded fields.

When we returned Gitte and Jens had laid on a fantastic spread with quiches and a fantastic danish cake. We devoured it all which saw the cake getting less attention than it should have done because we were so full! 

 People: Peter Denyer, Hebe Denny, Dante Shepherd, Jens Peter, Gette

The field trip team! 

Sangsvane, blisgås, grågås and Sølvmåge.

As usual, Dante was out of the Obs by 06:15, this time, him and Rolf were joined by Gitte at Grenen. They had a very windy morning, but with much excitement for Gitte, as she saw five danish species for the first time!

Meanwhile, with it being too windy for ringing, Peter and I got up a little later and headed out on our bikes in the wind to the Skarv site.There he showed me how to count and photograph the birds and theyre nests etc. From now on, we will take turns to moniter their progress each week. I was excited to see Coots for the first time! Not something that hangs around back home! On the way back, Peters bike got a puncture, ARGH! so while he made the windy walk back to the obs, i raced if to get some shopping for the house.

Back at the observatory, after me and Peter had entered the Skarv data and Dante had done some "bird maths", Peter and Dante had a rest and caught up with some DOFbasen and I went out to do some laundry.. cleverly forgetting my code for the door.. and phone.. and spending the next hour and a half learning danish bird names from a book in the ringing lab and trying to get the attention of Peter and Dante through the window !!! oh dear... eventually Peter rescued me, so we then spent some hours carrying on with net fixing.

Gitte and Jens had a productive afternoon, Jens fixing the taps in the apartment (thank you!) and then the two of them heading into Skagen and seeing lots of Sule and Ederfugle!

The evening brought us an incredible clear sky and an absolute stunner of a sunset and so, Peter, Dante and I went out to enjoy it for a while before dinner. I wandered out to the tip of Grenen where I saw a seal pup heading back out to sea and lots and lots of Sandløber.

After dinner, Peter went out in the hopes of hearing the Natugle, but sadly no luck!

Anyways, another great day!!

 People: Peter Denyer, Hebe Denny, Dante Shepherd, Jens Peter, Gette

The seal pup and Sandløber at Grenen

Most of the observatory were quite late up due to the proceedings the night before. However, Hebe and I were up on time and had a nice morning at Grenen with nearly a thousand Whooper Swan/Sangsvane, 3 White-tailed Eagle/Havørn and an adult Mediterranean Gull/Sorthovedet Måge which we found but unfortunately got no photos as it was too distant. The council meeting finished at lunchtime and all of the members left for their respective observatories. 

In the afternoon we finally finished the dreaded net which took way too long, 8+ hours probably! New guests Jens Peter and Gette arrived in the afternoon. There was lots left over from yesterdays meal so dinner was just heating things up. 

People: Simon Sigurd Christiansen, Hebe Denning, Dante Shepherd, Morten Christensen, Eva Noer Kondrup, Mette Mourits, Knud Pedersen, Inger Pedersen, Tage Legaard, John Frikke, Henning Ettrup, Hans Lind, Mark Desholm, Jens Peter, Gette

Me counting Whooper Swans above

Dante and Hebe were up and out at Grenen this morning, Dante with Rolf on Worlds End and Hebe got to meet and learn from Knud on Worlds End 2. I was up intending to do some ringing, but the wind was not conducive. So I did an hour and half’s migration watching from the ringing lab. After this I headed back inside (grudgingly as it was a good morning) to answer some emails and to put together a Facebook post about our recent redpoll recoveries. I also managed to get some photos on the photo archive before the other two came back. The ladies in the apartment were leaving today also so it was nice to be on hand to see them off.

Hebe came back first because she needed to move into our room as were having some guests coming today. Dante arrived a bit later and got on with entering DofBasen. Hebe and I put together her diary for the previous day and then went down to the Newsroom in the lighthouse to answer any questions the visitors might have about the observatory or bird migration as a whole.

During this time the Observatory Council meeting was taking place upstairs with representatives from the ringing union, Blavand and Gedser bird observatories and Mark from DOF taking part. Simon was cloistered in this meeting all afternoon. When it was finished we all sat down to dinner in the apartment, joined by Morten Christensen and Knud and Inger Pedersen. The dinner was provided by Christel and was absolutely superb. It was an enjoyable evening and the stories (and wine!) flowed well. I took an evening meeting after this with the remaining guests before heading out for a night catching session in the rain with Hans and Henning. We got soaked and didn’t see a bird but it was a good effort!

People: Simon Sigurd Christiansen, Hebe Denning, Dante Shepherd, Morten Christensen, Eva Noer Kondrup, Mette Mourits, Knud Pedersen, Inger Pedersen, Tage Legaard, John Frikke, Henning Ettrup, Hans Lind, Mark Desholm

Skål! 

Danish Bird Observatory royalty, from left, Johe Frikke, Hans Lind and Henning Ettrup

The day began at 5:45 AM, with Dante and myself planning to head over to Grenen to do migration count, Peter planning to do some ringing and Simon still away. On our way out of the Observatory though, Dante noticed a group of BEAUTIFUL Halemejse in the garden bushes!! Of course we were very excited and as was Peter who hurried down to open the nets… just in time as all 13 Halemejse flew straight into them (as well as a gulspurv a little later!). After some fiddly extractions, the birds were rung by Peter and Dante and we were joined our guests, the lovely Heidi, Eva and Mette who were able to watch for a while before Heidi, headed off to the train station. Eva was even lucky enough to have one land on her head!

So, after this excitement, Dante and I headed over to Lands End Two, where we met Rolf who told us lots of interesting things about the birds and about finding amber on the beach! After a good morning of observing, and having a look at a gorgeous grey seal pup resting on the beach, we headed back to find Peter, who had spent the rest of the morning doing some observation himself, had had a visit from Jørgen Kabel and Michael Anker (who told him about some natugle near by!) and went looking for a sumpmejse, where he saw a storspove fly over.

After saying goodbye to Heidi and looking at the Halemejse, Eva, who writes music for piano, spent the rest of day composing, while Mette went out for a walk and later on into town for some supplies.

After a bit of lunch, I headed out to buy supplies for dinner (my turn to cook uh oh!) and Peter and Dante headed down to the visitor centre to talk to the visitors. The three of us then returned to the dreaded net!! And spent some hours fixing away.

Dinner was a questionable spanish omelette and beetroot salad thing which the boys were very polite about! While Mette and Eva made a traditional Danish meal for their dinner: Rye bread soaked in sweet beer, with sugar, cinnamon and cream!! Sounds pretty epic!

All in all, another utterly brilliant day.

People: Dante Shepherd, Peter Denyer, Simon S. Christiansen, Hebe Denny, Heidi Jørgensen, Mette Mourits, Eva Noer Kondrup

Birds Ringed

Halemejse - 13

Gulspurv - 1

Halemejse!