Rose and Sarah blitzed out to Kabeltrommeln to open the nets today. At sunrise Simon Jr. and I joined them. Because of the wind we did not open all nets, but we got a nice variety of species today. To our surprise, we caught 4 very cute Goldcrests (Fuglekonge) today and on our last round we caught a nice Pied Flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper). We also saw the young Goshawk (Duehøg) again and after we ringed the last bird a Temminck's Stint (Temmincksryle) flew over us. 

cute Goldcrest (Fuglekonge)

The Observation Team today, consisting of Cora, Markus, Louise and Knud, had to brave the strong wind at the beginning of the day. A bit later the wind slowed down and they briefly saw a first calendar year Mediterranean Gull (Sorthovedet måge) and some close Fulmars (Mallemuk).

After we all headed back, all except for Rose, Sarah and me had a nap directly or after lunch. Rose and Sarah went for their daily swim and meanwhile I showed my family, who were here today for a small break before they’ll continue their way to Sweden, the station, the Lighthouse and the area a bit, and we ate hotdogs at the parking place. Afterwards I went back to the station and started to prepare all my stuff, so that I have time in the evening and night to do some nightcatching and spend the last hours with all the nice volunteers I met here. With time all other volunteers got up from their nap and we did data entry. Cora and Simon cleaned the apartment, before we get a new guest tomorrow. In the late afternoon Simon Sr. arrived at the station, and we had the evening meeting to plan the next days. After that Simon Jr. and Sarah sewed a bird net and Cora prepared a delicious dinner.

sewing a net in the lighthouse garden

In the evening, two hours before sunset, we decided to open the nets at Kabeltrommeln again and tried to catch wagtails and swallows. Unfortunately we didn’t succeed but I was still motivated to catch something, therefore we left the nets open the whole night and I controlled the nets, with the hope to catch Water Rails (Vandrikse). But also the Water Rails didn’t want to come in our nets. But it was still a nice night.
Now its time for me to say goodbye to Skagen, but only for this year! I’ll come again next year. Once Skagen, always Skagen! I look back to three wonderful weeks here with many highlights: Storm Petrel catching and nightcatching in general, Worlds End migration count, Kabeltrommeln ringing and of course the awesome station team, with whom I have experienced so many great things! And with that another short stay for me at one of the best places in the world comes to an end.
Vi ses i 2026!

Highlights Observations:

1K Mediterranean Gull (Sorthovedet måge)

Temminck's Stint (Temmincksryle)

1K Goshawk (Duehøg)

Today’s observations by observers in the area of Skagen typed into DOFbasen can be found here

Ringing Kabeltromlen:

Gransanger 1

Fuglekonge 4

Jeg vågnede tidligt i morges, da jeg ville nå at tage afsked med Hannelie, inden hendes rejse hjem mod Tyskland. Det har været 3 gode, lærerige og sjove uger. Hanelie har især lært mig meget om kunsten at håndtere fugle i hånden! I sandhed en fornøjelse. 

Da jeg alligevel var vågen, drog jeg tidligt afsted mod Verdens Ende 3 på Grenen. De første af solens farvestrålende tunger begyndte samtidig at sprede sig over himlen. Temperaturen i dag var en smule lavere end i de seneste uger, og ligeså i Norge og Sverige. Derfor tror jeg på at vi vil opleve flere trækkende småfugle i den kommende tid. På morgenobsen havde Rose, Sarah og jeg selskab af Ragnar og Knud.

Solopgang fra Verdens Ende 3

I første omgang var der ikke gang i det store træk, men ved 7:30 tiden vendte vinden, og der var pludselig en snes Mallemukker der bevægede sig i Skagerrak. Kort tid efter stod jeg og spejdede indlands efter en ung Hede/Steppehøg, som jeg tilfældigvis havde fået et ultrakort glimt af, inden den gik lavt i terrænet. Desværre dukkede den ikke op igen.. Men! Alt imens jeg kiggede mod sydvest, hører jeg bag mig at Ragnar udbryder; ”Kjove!” i et tonefald der straks fik mig til at dreje teleskopet 180 grader. Hurtigt finder jeg fuglen, der et par hundrede meter væk er ved at passere nordvest om spidsen af Grenen. Jeg lægger mærke til at fuglen virker klejn. Kort tid efter konstaterer Knud at det da er en Lille Kjove!

Jeg får skudt et par dokubilleder, hvorefter der er tid til for alvor at ”opleve” kjoven i den håndfuld minutter vi endnu kan se den fra VE3.

Lille Kjove 1K trækker nordvest om Grenen kl. 8:03. Foto: Markus Kemp Clément

En snes minutter senere passerer en Storkjove ligeledes mod nordvest, og to Almindelige Kjover flyver lige hen over hovedet på os. Alle tre arter indenfor 20 minutter!

Ringmærkningsholdet havde ligeledes en ganske fin dag, med 25 nye fugle, fordelt på 8 arter. Heriblandt var 9 Løvsangere. At de små Løvsangere for alvor er begyndt at trække, taler godt for at vi kan få besøg af en Lundsanger inden længe. Jeg tror på at det kan lykkes os at kratluske sådan en frem!

Eftermiddagen blev ligeledes brugt på Grenen, i dagens anledning til en længere aftenobs. Vi havde solen i ryggen, og horisonten stod skarpt tegnet. Altså ganske udmærkede vejrforhold til havobs. Der var noget mere gang i trækket på havet, og i løbet af et par timer talte vi i omegnen af 250 Mallemukker. Derudover passerede én Almindelig Kjove og én Storkjove også forbi os.

Aftenobs på Grenen.

Ragnar stod for dagens aftensmad, en lækker pastaret med hjemmelavet tomatsovs, alt imens Sarah og Rose havde bagt en kage til dessert.

Highlights Observations:

1 Lille Kjove 

1 Storkjove

250+ Mallemuk

3 Almindelig Kjove

Today’s observations by observers in the area of Skagen typed into DOFbasen can be found here.

Ringing Kabeltromlen:

Solsort 1

Lille Gråsisken 2

Gransanger 1

Rørsanger 1

Gærdesanger 1

Løvsanger 9

Munk 5

Tornsanger 5

Total: 25

At the station:
Markus Kemp Clément, Simon Kiesé, Louise Buksti-Ladefoged, Sarah Partridge, Mio Brix, Cora Köberle, Rosemary Fricke, Ragnar Smith, Simon Sigaard Christiansen.

Cora, Sarah, Louise and I were up at World's End III today for migration watch, with lovely sunshine and calm seas. This meant very few seabirds, including a single Razorbill (Alk) resting near the shore, and four or less fulmars  (Mallemuk) per hour. Even the Gannets (Sule)were relaxed, with over 100 paddling around off the tip. To compensate for little seabird activity, there were over a thousand gulls resting on the beach, and we had regular appearances of waders, including first ever curlew sandpiper (Krumnæbbet Ryle)! We were also visited by a couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers (Stor Flagspætte) and a troupe of sparrows. Louise also saw a couple of breaching porpoises in the calm waters.

Meanwhile, this morning was Markus’ first time opening nets at Kabeltromlen, with seasoned expert Hanlie on her last(!) time opening (until we convince her to abandon her holiday plans and come back to the observatory…). Joined by Simon and Mio for the first round, they had a nice array of species today, starting off strong with a Lesser Redpoll (Lille gråsisken), and a fine example of a 1k male bluethroat (Blåhals).

Blåhals juvenile Male. 

Along with a Eurasian treecreeper (Træløber) in the hand there was another very exciting moment for them, sighting a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Lille Flagspætte)! This was a first Skagen species for everyone there, and the first recorded up here since 2020. They also had some Tree Pipit (Skovpiber) and Yellow Wagtail (Gul Vipstjert) migration and Common Buzzards (Musvåge).

Ringing totals from KAB:
Blåhals 1
Rørsanger 2
Kærsanger 1
Rørspurv 2
Tornsanger 11
Gærdesanger 3
Munk 1
Løvsanger 1
Lille Gråsisken 1
Træløber 1
Blåmejse 1
Solsort 2
Jernspurv 1
Gransanger 1
total: 29 ringed (+ 3 recaptures)

After data entry and a swim (for some), and food shopping (for the others), Simon arrived with Ragner, who successfully defended his bachelor thesis today, congratulations. We had the pleasure of our own academic session today from Hanlie, who gave a meticulously researched presentation on identifying Curruca warblers this evening, before leaving in the early hours tomorrow morning. Thanks to her for all her hard work here this summer, and for teaching us all so much (enjoy your holiday, Hanlie!!).

Curruca presentation by Hanelie.

This evening Simon, Mio and Ragnar went to World's End III, and saw much more activity in terms of seabirds than this morning. Not only with hundreds of fulmar (Mallemuk), 5 Arctic Skua (Almendelig Kjove), one Great Skua (Storkjove) but also a Baleen whale (unidentified but possibly Minke or Humpback) that was seen breaching three times going northwest!

All observations in the area from today can be seen here on DOFbasen.

Highlights from Kabeltromlen:
Eurasian Treecreeper (Træløber)
Bluethroat (Blåhals)
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Lille Flagspætte)

Highlights from Worlds End III:
Curlew Sandpiper (Krumnæbbet Ryle)
Baleen Whale unidentified

At the station:
Markus Kemp Clément, Simon Kiesé, Louise Buksti-Ladefoged, Sarah Partridge, Mio Brix, Cora Köberle, Hanelie Sidhu, Rosemary Fricke.

The first ones who got up today were Hanelie, Sarah, Rose and Louise, who started their day at Kabeltrommeln for ringing. They enjoyed this calm day a lot, and they caught a total of 22 birds today, so more than the days before. A very beautiful Coal Tit (Sortmejse) was caught in the last round, and all were happy about this nice bird. They were also happy to see the Adder (Hugorm) again, who is at the same place every day.

Coal Tit (Sortmejse) at KAB

Cora, Simon, Markus and I started our day a bit later for the migration count at World's End 3. There was not so much migration today, but we also enjoyed the day here completely. Even though the numbers were rather low today compared to the previous days, we had very nice species. In the second hour, Simon Jr. spotted a Manx Shearwater (Almindelig Skråpe), which was quite far out, but we all managed to see it. Especially for Cora this was the best bird of the day, because that was a new species for her congratulations! She mentioned directly after we saw the bird that we can look forward to something baked! What she baked, you’ll find out when you continue reading.
The other highlights of the morning obs were one Great Skua (Storkjove) and one Temminck’s Stint (Temmincksryle), which flew over us twice!

After this successful ringing and migration count morning, we all headed back to the station to have something to eat or to go to bed for a short, or sometimes when needed, longer nap. Cora, Simon Jr. and I decided to open the garden net, and by the second net check we recaptured a Whitethroat (Tornsanger), which Simon Jr. and I had caught two weeks ago at 1 AM by nightcatching.
Because the weather was so good, we played some ball games in the Lighthouse Garden in the afternoon and afterwards we went for a swim, which was very refreshing!

flexible datawork in the Lighthouse garden

In the late afternoon, Simon Jr., Sarah, Louise, Markus and Rose went to town to taste some Danish beers in a bar, and they had nice talks about everything there. Meanwhile, Cora started to bake a delicious milk bread at the station, which we can eat the next day at Kabeltrommeln or World's End 3.
After the others came back from their town trip, Markus started cooking, and we had a lovely dinner.
But the day was still not at its end. Simon, Cora and I changed the net size of the Nightjar net in the Old Lighthouse Garden and opened it afterwards.
Unfortunately, we didn’t catch a Nightjar today, but we will try again the next days.

KAB ringing totals:

Kærsanger 3

Løvsanger 3

Gærdesanger 1

Sortmejse 1

Tornsanger 9

Munk 2

Bogfinke 1

Gransanger 2

Total: 22

Highlight of the observations:

Manx Shearwater (Almindeling Skråpe)

Great Skua (Storkjove)

Temmincks Stint (Temmincksryle)

Today´s observations of observers in the area can be seen here.

People: Rosemary Frikke, Markus Kemp Clément, Simon Kiesé, Louise Buksti-Ladefoged, Sarah Partrige, Mio Brix, Cora Köberle, Hanelie Sidhu

Today we enjoyed a clear sunny day over Skagen. The excitement began last night when Mio and Cora captured two Dunlins (almindelig ryle) on their night walk to Grenen, and the rest of us were woken up around midnight for the ringing. They then completed another round to Grenen and caught one more Dunlin. These were all juvenile birds, and were given steel rings to last the wear and tear of life on the beach. We got to see up close the flexible bill tip characteristic of many waders, which is packed with nerve endings to locate food items while probing in the sand.

This morning, myself, Rosemary, Markus, and Simon were joined at World’s end III by Ragnar, and we spent a windy morning counting. We saw many fulmars (mallemuk) migrating, over 400 during the count. We were also happy to see a long-eared owl (Skorvhornugle) flying over the sea fairly close to us. We also saw some nice waders including  oystercatchers (strandskade), redshanks (rødben), Hjejle, Dobbeltbekkasin, and one brushane. Simon, Markus, and Ragnar continued counting after the standardized hours, while Rosemary and I went to read some colour rings in the gull flock.

Hanelie, Louise, Mio, and Cora went out ringing today at Kabletromeln, where it was a bit breezy but they could open most of the nets for the morning, and then opened the rest as the wind died down. They had some highlights including a fuglekonge, grå fluesnapper, and jernspurv. They also got to see some young adders resting in the bushes near the ringing table.

The afternoon was warm; some of us went swimming and most of us had long naps after lunch. We tidied up the apartment together, completed data entry for the day, and feasted on Rosemary’s Famous mac n cheese, which fueled Mio’s current cheese obsession. Louise went out with her mum and kindly brought us back some delicious pastries. I went for a small walk with Mio and Simon, and Rosemary went up the lighthouse tower where she happened to catch a swift (mursejler) and brought it back down to the lab for ringing, where we got to see its amazingly long flight feathers and charming little face.  

Just now the others have caught two natravn and are bringing them back to the lab for ringing; it is already the start of another exciting night!

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area.

Ringing totals:

Ringing KAB today:
Gærdesanger 1
Kærsanger 1
Rødhals 1
Jernspurv 1
Grå Fluesnapper 1
Munk 1
Tornsanger 3
Rørspurv 1
Fuglekonge 1
Gransanger 2
Total: 13

No wind and sunshine accompanied us this morning at Grenen. The lack of bird migration was compensated for by good conversation and company. It was the first morning Ragnar joined, who will be here for a couple of days. But we still managed to see some nice birds including a young Goshawk (Duehøg) and a Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove).

Counting at World's End 3

A yellow legged gull took our attention, but a more detailed look into the primaries revealed its identity as a Herring Gull (Sølvmåge) – the yellow legged omissus-type. 

Herring Gull (Sølvmåge) omissus type

After finishing the count, we headed to Kabeltromlen. The ringers had a very satisfying day, that started with a young Bluethroat (Blåhals). This species was quite rare in the ringing, but numbers increased this year. Some new birds including a Pied Flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper) gave some of the volunteers the nice opportunity to gain ringing experience and get a new bird species in the hand. While the ringers closed the nets we counters saw several Adders (Hugorm) and I caught this nice Heath Grashopper Chortippus vagans (Steppegræshoppe), that is just spread in Skagen area up to Ålbæk in Denmark.

Heath Grashopper Chortippus vagans (Steppegræshoppe)

Ragnar found a Silver Spotted Skipper Hesperia comma (Kommabredpande) just south of the lighthouse. That is a very nice record, since this species is usually just seen south of Skagen By. A good day for SKAF entomology!

Back at the station we enjoyed a variety of food including a tasty and spicy soup Sarah made.

In the afternoon we watched the Danish award winning movie Another Round (2020), which is about the both positive and negative affect of alcohol. We celebrated the midday movie with a wine. Just kidding, but it was a chill group activity.

In the evening we headed out again and Ragnar found a Black-thorated Diver (Sortstrubet Lom) and Mio a Little Gull (Dværgmåge). The wind is picking up now and – like always – we are looking very forward to the next days. We will be ready to welcome some new birds in Skagen!

Ringing (Kabeltromlen):

Blåhals (Bluethroat) 1

Kærsanger (Marsh Warbler) 2

Løvsanger (Willow Warbler) 1

Gærdesanger (Lesser Whitethroat) 2

Broget Fluesnapper (Pied Flycatcher) 1

Gulbug (Icterine Warbler) 1

Munk (Blackcap) 3

Tornsanger (Common Whitethroat) 9

Rørspurv (Reed Bunting) 2

Gransanger (Chiffchaff) 3

Total: 25

Highlight of the observations:

Little Gull (Dværgmåge) 1

Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) 1

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area.

People: Rosemary Frikke, Markus Kemp Clément, Simon Kiesé, Louise Buksti-Ladefoged, Sarah Partrige, Mio Brix, Cora Köberle, Hanelie Sidhu, Ragnar Smith.

My day started at 2 AM  because we woke up to see the young Nightjar (Natravn) which was catched in the old lighthouse garden. After seeing this beautiful bird I went back to bed to get some more sleep before opening the nets at Kabeltromeln. 

1K Nightjar (Natravn)

Today Mio and I went to open the nets at Kabeltromeln and Simon JR.joined us for the first round. We had a really good day of ringing today. We already caught good numbers of birds onthe first rounds. On the third round we caught a nice 1K Treepipit (Skovpiber) and a very beautiful 1K Pied Flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper), the first one of the autumn ringing season. We also caught two young Yellow Hammers (Gulspurv), a Blue Tit (Blåmejse),  a Great Tit (Musvit) and many Marsh Warblers (Kærsanger).

1K Pied Flycatcher (Boget Fluesnapper)

In total we ringed 39 birds and almost all of them were young birds which hatched this year. This morning also Jørgen Kabel and Igor visited us at Kabeltrommeln, it was very nice to see them again. 

On our way back to the station we saw six Great White Egrets (Sølvhejre) flying out to Grenen. 

Back at the station we met the observers who had a bit of a slower day. Their highlight was a resting Little Gull (Dværgmåge). Another highlight was two Arctic Skuas (Almingdelig Kjove). 

After lunch the most of us took a good long nap.

Later Hanelie, Markus, Sarah and Rosemary went out to change the position of some nets at Kabeltrommeln. They did a great job and now the reed nets will maybe catch a bit more than before.

While they were out Simon Sr. and Ragnar passed by the station before they went out to do some seawatching at Nordstrand. Ragnar will stay at Simon's place the next few days and will help us with some migration counts.

Simon also told us that one of the Kestrels we ringed an tagged near Tårs in July made it up to Skagen, which you can see in the data points below. The tags are from the Max Planck Insitute of Animal Behavior in Radolfzell and are distributed out to danish Ringers by The Natural History Museum of Denmark. Hundreds of juvenile Kestrels has this summer been equipped with tags all around Denmark. 

Map with signals from of one of the tagged Kestrels (Tårnfalk)

Later Simon Jr. and I did some datawork and Mio prepared us a delicious dinner.

Ringing Kabeltrommlen: 

Munk 2

Gærdesanger  4

Gransanger 11

Tornsanger 8

Rørsanger 2

Kærsanger 7

Blåmejse 1

Skovpiber 1

Gulspurv 2

Broget Fluesnapper 1

Total: 39

Ringing Det Grå Fyr:

Natraven 1

Highlight of the observations:

Little Gull (Dværgmåge) 1

Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove)

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Rosemary Frikke, Markus Kemp Clément, Simon Kiesé, Louise Buksti-Ladefoged, Sarah Partrige, Mio Brix, Cora Köberle, Simon S. Christiansen, Hanelie Sidhu, Ragnar Smith.

As is often the case here at the Observatory, last night brough a very special guest. A storm  petrel (lille stormsvale) was caught in our nets and it was ringed just before midnight. Between net checks, Simon, Mio, and Cora also spotted two bitterns (rørdrum) migrating southwest. What a fantastic surprise! After such a successful evening, both Simon and Cora could head to bed.

The storm petrel ringed last night. 

This morning was a CES day, so Hanelie, Mio, and I made out way to Skarvsø. We had an absolutely brilliant session, ringing a total of 48 birds and catching 2 recaptures. This was especially exciting for me, as I’ve never had a ringing day with more than 15 birds before. It was so busy I didn’t even have time to finish my breakfast/lunch. The day ended on a high note when the last bird of the session turned out to be a stunning adult male bearded reeding (skægmejse).

bearded reedling

Meanwhile, Makus, Rosemary, and Sarah headed out for morning observations. The calm weather made for some pleasant views with the highlights from their watch included several yellow wagtails (gul vipstjert), 1 great white egret (sølvhejre), 2 arctic skuas (almindelig kjove), and 1 bloated dead seal. While chatting with curious tourists they also noted plenty of redshanks (rødben) and some guillemots (lomvie).

In the afternoon, while some of us enjoyed a well-earned nap, Makus, Mio, Simon, and Cora explored reservatet, looking for both birds and insects before making their way back via Nordstrand. Reservatet was bustling with life. Among the many birds, they spotted another great white egret (sølvhejre), a honey buzzard (vepsevåge), and a goshawk (duehøg).

A few brave souls even attempted a swim, though the waters were full of jellyfish (after all, what’s a swim without a little risk?) hopefully, we’ll see fewer of them over the coming days.

Tonight’s dinner duty fell to Simon, who treated us to a delicious vegetarian curry with homemade naan bread, served in the lighthouse garden. We shared the meal with plenty of good stories and laughter. Others went up in the lighthouse to see the sunset and do some birding. Here they saw a great skua (stor kjove).

Dinner in the lighthouse garden with all the volunteers

The evening wound down with data entry from the day’s activities and preparations for another round of storm petrel (lille stormsvale) and nightjar (natravn) netting. Tonight, Rosemary and Sarah are on watch. Wish them luck.  

Here is a little video of the storm petrel from last night, where you can see it flying around just before it flies into the net!

Ringing at Skarvsø: 

1 Musvit

5 Kærsanger

27 Rørsanger

1 Rørspurv

3 Gærdesanger

1 Skæjmejse

3 Munk

4 Tornsanger

3 Gransanger 

Total: 48 birds

Ringing at the Grey Lighthouse: 

1 lille stormsvale

At the Station: Hanelie Sidhum Rosemary Fricke, Sarah Partrige, Mio Brix, Louise Buksti-Ladefoged, Markus Kemp Clément, Simon Kiesé, Cora Kørberle, Simon S. Christiansen. 

This morning, Rose and I went out to open the nets at Kabeltromle. We were joined by Markus for the first round. It was his first day in the ringing and he got to extract and ring his first birds. We did not have many birds in the nets. The first round only brought one bird, but it was a nice one: A juvenile Tree Pipit “Skovpiber”. Simon also came by for a bit at the ringing and saw the Pipit.

 Tree Pipit "Skovpiber".

Ringing totals Kabeltromle:

Løvsanger 1

Gransanger 1

Skovpiber 1

Jernspurv 2

Tornsanger 3

Kærsanger 1

Total 9 

Then he went to the observers at Verdens Ende 3, where he found some Orcas “Spækhugger”.

Orcas on the sea, observed from Verdens Ende 3.

The observers saw them for quite a while but unfortunately we did not see them from Kabeltromle. But it sounded like a really nice observation day with Little Gull “Dværgmåge” and three Great Scuas “Stor Kjove”. 

In the afternoon Sarah and Rose went for the Fulmar survey. They did not find any dead Fulmars “Mallemuk”and also no dead birds in good condition to put in the freezer.  But they found a tooth from an animal, probably a deer. Also a little statue of a Santa Claus. But the highlight was definitely a fossilized banana. We did not expect a banana to fossilize and are wondering how long it took so it looked like that. 

Treasures from the beach.

This evening we are trying for Nightjars and Stormpetrels “Stormsvale”. 

 High expectations for tonight at Det Grå Fyr.

Highlights Observations

Stor Kjove

Spækhugger

Mallemuk > 300

Dværgmåge

Highlights Ringing

Skovpiber

Today´s observations of observers in the area can be seen here.

At the station: Rosemary Frikke, Markus Kemp Clément, Simon Kiesé, Louise Buksti-Ladefoged, Sarah Partrige, Mio Brix, Cora Kørberle, Simon S. Christiansen, Hanelie Sidhu

Førend vi når til dagens begivenheder, vil jeg lige slå et slag for Kiesé og Cora’s succesfulde natfangst i går. Efter solnedgang begav de sig ud på en runde om Grenen, hvor det, ved brug af den termiske kikkert, lykkedes at fange hele 2 fugle: 1 ung Fjordterne og 1 ung Sanglærke.

De to fugle blev, under påsyn af samtlige frivillige, ringmærket i laboratoriet.

1k Sanglærke ringmærket ved Det Grå Fyr. 

1k Fjordterne ringmærket ved Det Grå Fyr. 

I morges cyklede jeg, til synet af en utrolig lyserød solopgang, ud ad Sandormsporet til min hidtil køligste morgenobs ved Verdens Ende 3. I selskab med Cora, Rose, Kiesé, Mio og Knud holdt jeg opsyn med Skagerrak og Kattegat. Der var færre fugle end i går, men alligevel nok til at holde os underholdt gennem alle fire timer.

Blandt andet talte vi 165 Mallemukker der trak mod NV, samt 3 Storkjover. Det er virkelig en fornøjelse at have mulighed for at opnå erfaring med havfugle jeg sjældent har set på Sjællands nordkyst, hvor jeg indtil nu har kigget på havfugle. I den seneste uge har jeg set ca. 1.000 Mallemukker! Derudover havde vi efterårssæsonens første indtrækkende Fiskeørn, en gammel hun der kæmpede sig ind fra havet på trods af en hård modvind.

I de tidligste timer af morgenobsen lagde jeg desuden mærke til en specielt udseende sejlbåd der rundede Grenen ude i horisonten. Det lignede en båd der var bygget til kapsejlads, og den havde ganske vidst også virkelig meget fart på. Efter lidt research viser det sig, at det var en af de både der deltager i det netop igangsatte The Ocean Race Europe, hvor første etape går fra Kiel til Portsmouth. Det var sjovt lige at få synet af en sådan båd med på morgenobsen.

Kapsejladsbåden Team Amaala, der deltager i The Ocean Race Europe, rundede Grenen i de tidlige morgentimer.

Grundet megen vind havde vi blot 120 net meter åbne ved Kabeltromlen. Derfor var fangsten begrænset til 6 ringmærkede fugle, fordelt på Gransanger, Munk og Løvsanger. Kiesé, Cora, Mio og jeg brugte efter morgenobsen lidt tid omkring Kabeltromlekrattet på at eftersøge græshopper og spiselige bær. Der er fortsat en del velsmagende Havtorn, Hindbær og Brombær i området!

Tilbage i haven ved Det Grå Fyr havde vi nettet åbent i løbet af eftermiddagen. Det viste sig spøjst nok at være mere frugtbart end at have nettene åbne ved Kabeltromlen. Vi fangede nemlig 7 fugle, herunder en smuk ung Skovsanger. Det er i min optik den fineste hjemmehørende Phylloscopus-sanger vi har i Danmark og jeg er glad for at have set den i hånden.

Da ældre fugle gennemgår deres komplette fældning i løbet af deres overvintring i Vestafrika, syd for Sahel-regionen, vil disse forventeligt have en slidt fjerdragt på dette tidspunkt af året. Da vores ringmærkede fugl havde en frisk fjerdragt, kunne den bestemmes til en 1K.

1k Skovsanger ringmærket ved Det Grå Fyr.

Highlights Morning Observations:

165 Mallemuk

3 Storkjove

3 Almindelig Kjove

1 Fiskeørn

Highlights Ringing Det Grå Fyr:

1 Skovsanger

1 Sanglærke

1 Fjordterne

Eftermiddagen blev brugt på at spille brætspillet Klask, samt på at studere lidt fugle.

I morgen skal jeg for første gang for alvor give mig i kast med ringmærkning ved Kabeltromlen, det ser jeg frem til.

Inden da må jeg dog se mig nødsaget til at hoppe en tur i bølgen blå, her kl. kvart over ti. Jeg har nemlig endnu ikke har været i vandet i dag. Da jeg har sat mig for at skulle en tur i havet hver eneste dag i løbet af mit ophold på stationen, må jeg nu en tur ud i mørket inden sengetid.

Today’s observations by observers in the area of Skagen typed into DOFbasen can be found here.

Ringing totals Kabeltromlen:

Gransanger 4

Løvsanger 1

Munk 1

Total 6

Ringing totals Det Grå Fyr

Gråspurv 3

Skovsanger 1

Havesanger 1

Tornsanger 1

Fjordterne 1

Sanglærke 1

Total 8