Due to bad weather conditions, a lot of wind and some rain, we didn't open the nets. Although that gave Joakim and Michele the opportunity to show us, me and Martin, some important stuff we need to know about the observatory which we will practice on during our stay. Also, we did the data entry from the previous day of ringing and went through the amazingly organized photo archive of the station checking out pictures of past events, which looked really fun!

As soon as the sun came out, we jumped up and went out too! The plan was, first to go to the exhibition and then to the lighthouse! The exhibition was brilliant! Personally, I am planning to visit it again! It is full of amazing information on the migration of birds. Monitors all around showing beautiful pictures, graphs, maps and fun facts in an interactive way of learning. We went through every single one of them, reading and pressing buttons! After that, we went up 208 stairs, reaching the top of the lighthouse. The view was breathtaking. Of course, we did some birdwatching and were observing from the top some sandwich terns (Splitterne), common scoters (Sortand) as well as herring gulls (Sølvmåge).

Later in the evening, someone from us needed to go to the center to save the bike, which was left alone all night. In the end, we realized that we had the wrong key for the locker of the bike, confusing it with the key for the postbox (!!!). So, I went to get the bike, and the ride back was so relaxing.

In the afternoon we said one goodbye and one welcome. Sander left the house but with a huge smile on his face. After that, we said a big hello to Mark. We went to dinner together and then to the Skagen Festival. It was fun, a lot of music and beer. We returned to the house late hours…  

It was a long and good day! The most important though was that the moto of the Skagen Bird Observatory "Fugle, Oplevelser, Viden, Fællesskaber" ("Birds, Experience, Knowledge, Community") is accomplished!

People: Mark Desholm, Simon S Christiansen, Joakim Matthiesen, Sander HB Villumsen, Michele Pes, Martin Y Georgiev and Christina Ninou.

Today the day starts very early, we all wake up at 3:30 am to open the nets at Sardinkrattet.

Today is the first Danish ringing day for newcomers Christina and Martin.

It's a good day, the wind is weak and the weather is warm and sunny.

We catch a good number of birds, most of them arejuveniles  Whitethroath (Tornsanger) and Lesser whitethroath (Gærdesanger), but at 10:00 on the last check we catch two fantastic Lesser Redpolls (Lille Gråsisken)!

Christina and Martin are very satisfied with the morning, they already have good experience on handling birds, very well!

After a few hours of rest in the afternoon we organize a "moult session" with the new guys where we talk about the moult strategies of passerines, and the most common birds here in Skagen at this time of the year.

After with Christina and Martin we go to the town  to do shopping.

On the way back the misfortune falls on us, and the lock on one of the bikes decides not to open anymore! After 15 minutes of vain attempts, we understand that the best solution is to go home with two bikes, and return to retrieve the other tomorrow.

So Christina and I go back on one bike, Chiristina sitting on the back of the bike, but fortunately for her ass we have a pack of paper towels that she can use as a butt-saver!

After the comfortable journey we arrive home safely a little late, I find Joakim and Sander with the cramps of hunger, as if they were coming back from a famine, so immediately I am going to prepare a super-nutritious carbonara pasta for everyone!

After dinner we have a meeting  to decide the activities for the next few days.

Joakim manages to capture the pigeon who decided to illegally occupy the Birders club, to deliver it to Knud Pedersen who will take it with himm and make sure thats its taking good care of.

We end the day with a bit of relaxation and with some good guitar music.

People: Simon S Christiansen, Joakim Matthiesen, Sander HB Villumsen, Michele Pes, Martin Y Georgiev e Christina.

Ringing (Sardinkrattet):                                                       

- Tornsanger – Whitethroat    7

- Gærdesanger – Lesser whitethroat 2

- Lille gråsisken – Lesser redpoll                   2

- Rørsanger – Reed warbler  1         

- Kærsanger – Marsh warbler           1

- Musvit – Great tit     3

- Hvid Vipstjert – White wagtail          1

- Munk – Blackap       1

- Rødhals – Robin      1

Vind og vejr forsætter i dag, som det har gjort de sidste par dage. Meget blæst blandet med enkelte byger hist og her. Så derfor heller ikke nogen ringmærkning om morgenen. De betød at vi sov længe igen i dag (bare rolig, vi står tidligt op i morgen). Hver torsdag fra nu af har vi en guidet ringmærkningstur på engelsk. Det betød at Michelé, Sander og jeg åbnede nettene kl 10:30 og turen startede kl 11. Til turen kom der to personer fra England. De var rigtig søde og meget interreseret i vores arbejde da de selv havde forbindelser til nogle andre fuglestationer rundt omkring. Det var en hyggelig tur omend det mest blev inde i laboratoriet da vind og vejr ikke var godt udenfor. Derfor fangede vi heller ikke nogle fugle på turen og hev derfor nogle af vores frosne fugle op af fryseren. Sådan er det nogle gange og det er faktisk helt fint! Det var en rigtig god tur.

Resten af dagen var meget indenfor med diverse småopgaver på computeren samt lidt organisering af biblotekets bøger. 

Lige inden aftensmaden ankom Martin og Kristina, vores to nye frivillige på stationen. De vil introducere dem selv her i dagbogen i løbet af de næste dage. De var spændte på at komme i gang her på stationen og vi er spændte på at få dem vist det hele her. Det skal nok blive sjovt. 

I morgen ser vejret flot ud, så det ender nok med en morgen i ringmærkningen. Det glæder vi os til!

Folk: Simon S Christiansen, Joakim Matthiesen, Sander H B Villumsen, Michelé Pes, Martin Y Georgiev og Kristina. 

Sådan ser det meste af vores ringmærkningsudstyr ud. Vi viser frem og fortæller om det hele på vores guidede ringmærkningsture. Nogle gange er vi også heldige at fange en fugl eller to, men det er nu ikke afgørende for en god tur overhovedet. 

Even today the wind is very strong but the sun is shining!

This morning we are planning a Danish ringing tour, so we open the most wind-protected nets in the garden, hoping to catch a bird for the tour.

Fortunately Joakim and Sander find a Munk (Blackcap) on the net.

The Tour starts at 11 am there are two very nice participants. An hour later at the end of the tour we say goodbye to the two participants, who go for a fresh beer at Christel and Flemming 's Cafe, happy and satisfied with the tour.

Immediately after the tour we have to do the cleaning!

Let's start with the Birder’s club, where Simon when he opened this morning, found us in a domestic pigeon that he sneaked in last night to sleep in the warmth, and that he naturally shit everywhere.

But fortunately today is the cleaning day so we settle everything in a short time.

Shortly afterwards we have special guests for a short visit, Julian and Juliet from the Prespa Wetland Reserve with a fellow Nature Interpreter Jorgen and his wife Kirsten Stubgaard, Simon shows them the structures of the Observatory and describes how he manages the logistics part, they are fascinated and very interested in the visit.

After the visit we meet for the daily meeting, to plan the activities of the next days.

Later for dinner two very nice guests arrive, Ole Shruppeltrang and Oluf Lou, today it's a special dinner, in fact Simon cooks us soiole, one of the best fish in existence!

Delicious!

People: Simon S Christiansen, Joakim Matthiesen, Sander H B Villumsen, Ole Skruppeltrang and Oluf Lou, Julian and Juliet, Jorgen and Kirsten Stubgaard.

Ringing (Fyrhaven):

- Munk - Blackap   1

Min fødselsdag i går bød på meget vind. Lidt træls, men det kan vi jo ikke selv styre... desværre.

Der er dog ikke noget, som er så skidt, at det ikke er godt for et eller andet! Det gælder også den hårde vind. Får når vinden er så kraftig er det godt til at se på havfugle. De bliver nemlig blæst ind mød kysten. Derved kan man se nogle af de havfugle som man ellers ikke normalt ser. Det er jo dejligt! Så det skulle vi da også prøve i dag. Sander, vores ny epraktikant kom i går. Så han var selvfølgelig klar på at tage med ud og se om der skulle ske et eller andet ude i Kattegat! Så Sander, Michelé og jeg drog afsted.

Vi havde snakket noget om, at det kunne være, at vi var heldige så der kom en almindelig skråpe over aftensmaden i går. Vind og tidspunkt på året passede nemlig helt perfekt. Skråperne bliver skuppet ind i Kattegat i hård vind også når vinden lægger sig lidt skal de ud igen. Og vinden lagde sig nemlig et par timer i dag. Så derfor skyndte vi os ud! Det viste sig at vores håb og drømme gik i opfyldelse!

Hurtigt fik vi et par storkjover i teleskoperne. De er heller ikke helt normale på denne tid af året så det var vi glade for. Ikke langt tid efter kom skråpen! Virklig fed! Hurtigt efter igen kom der 2 mere! 2 på en gang! OG de kom tæt på kysten maks 200m ude! Hold nu op det var fedt! Det lykkedes således at se hele 6 Skråper ved at bruge 4 timer ude! Det er IKKE normalt så det var helt perfekt. Vi er meget glade nu. Både storkjove og almindelig skråpe var nye arter for Sander så det var bare perfekt. 

Her ses en af dagens almindelig skråper. Selvom den ser ud til at være langt væk på billedet så er den det IKKE. Det er sjældent man overhovedet får chancen for at tage et billede! Vi er meget glade!

Ud over det lavede vi også lidt praktisk arbejde i form af at ryde op og oranisere divers ting både i lejligheden og på loftet! Det skal også gøres ind i mellem jo!

Imens vi så på skråper deltog Simon i en begravelse for Brian Zobbe i Frederikshavn. Han har været en rigtig god ven af fuglestationen og doneret utallige bøger og ikke mindst mange af hans flotte tegninger til stationen. Hans værker vil også i fremtiden hænge og pryde væggene på stationen til minde om en fantastisk fuglekigger, fuglekunster og ven.

En af Brian Zobbes utroligt flotte tegninger i et af stationens værelser.

Folk: Michelé Pes, Simon S Christiansen, Joakim Matthiesen og Sander H B Villumsen

Today the wind is really strong, we took the opportunity to sleep a little more.
It's Joakim's birthday, which today reaches the venerable age of 21!
Simon prepared a special breakfast to celebrate the event, with lots of Danish flags, super fun!
Later Joakim devotes himself to the tasks of the PC, while I go to welcome tourists in the LAB and Birder's Club. There are many visitors and lots of people in Skagen, the summer has arrived!
Later on, joakim and I go to town to celebrate with a super ice cream, and go shopping for dinner, which I'll have to cook tonight.
I also propose to prepare Tiramisu, a famous Italian dessert. We buy all the ingredients, but we don't find the Tiramisu biscuits. Joakim proposes to try with macaroons, and I naturally accept without flinching.
Upon our return home, I am going to prepare tiramisu, but when it's time to add the biscuits I realize that there is something wrong with it, after a while it becomes a complete disaster. The result was a liquefied Tiramisu with the taste of macaroon, unwatchable.
I promised that I will work hard to find the right biscuits and prepare an excellent tiramisu, to remedy this liquid version.
After the dessert we gather for the meeting to plan the activities of the next day at the Observatory.
Tomorrow will be another very windy day, but there will be a moment when the wind will give up a little, and it could be very good to see some shearwater, so we decide that tomorrow in the late morning we will go in search of shearwaters!

Michelé og jeg tog imod det gode vejr og åbnede derfor nettene i Sardinkrattet. Dog skulle vinden lige ligge sig lidt først så det blev kl 05:00 at de nettene var oppe. Der var umildbart fugletomt i området ikke meget rørte sig i buskene og der var heller ikke megen sang rundt omkring. Det skulle dog vise sig ikke at gøre noget overhovedet. For vi havde faktisk en af de bedste morgener, som vi har haft i lang tid. Da var pænt med fugle. Primært var der 1k fuglene som dominerede, altså ung-fugle fra i år. Men det var skam fint. Det var arter som tornsanger, gærdesanger og musvit vi fik i nettene. I alt blev det til 29 nymærkede fugle og 6 genfangster hvilket er rigtigt fint på denne tid.

Vi fangede og noget uventet en vindrossel. Den burde ikke være i Danmark nu, da det er en art som ikke yngler her. Vi ser den således kun om efteråret og om vinteren, samt under forårstrækket. Alligevel var der altså en som var blevet i Danmark og som hilste på os denne morgen. Det gjorde os nu slet ikke noget.

Imens vi ringmærkede måtte vi også sige forvel til både Marie samt Jesper og Anne. Marie har været på stationen i 2 måneder og vi kommer til at savne hende rigtigt meget. Anne og Jesper har været gæster den sidste uge og det har været rigtigt sjovt og hyggeligt at have dem boende på stationen. Vi håber at vi både vil se Marie samt Jesper og Anne igen en anden gang! 

Folk: Marie Heuberger, Michele Pes, Joakim Matthiesen, Anne and Jesper Sandfeld.

Ringmærkning Grenen:

Topmejse - 2

Blåmejse - 1

Gransanger - 1

Vindrossel - 1

Musvit - 4

Rørsanger - 2

Gærdesanger - 5

Tornsanger - 12

Grønsisken - 1

Total: 29

Her en af dagens ungfugle, en gærdesanger

We can't open the nets in Grenen this morning because it's too windy.

I take this opportunity to sleep a little more and put some things in the Observatory.

During the morning I cut the grass from below the nets we placed around the observatory, which we use for ringing tours.

Marie got up early this morning to spend her last morning in Grenen.

Late afternoon I decide to take a walk near the beach, there is a lot of wind.

Later, Anne and Jesper prepared us a delicious dinner, a typical Danish dish, accompanied by an exceptional dessert the Fløderboller!

Tonight is Marie's last night here, which will leave early tomorrow.

The more we decide to go and ring tomorrow morning in Grenen, we hope it's a good day.

People: Marie Heuberger, Michele Pes, Joakim Matthiesen, Anne and Jesper Sandfeld.

Goodbye Marie! :)

The morning started even earlier than usual, because we went out for CES ringing at Jennes Sø. But this is the last time we have to open the nets at 03:15 am, from now on it will get later and later! When I decided to go to Scandinavia, I haven’t really thought about the long days up here, but it’s only dark for three hours every night! At least it is also much darker in the winter, so you can catch up with some sleep, which you’re missing from the summer.

But anyway, although the mosquitoes were quite bad this morning, we still caught some nice birds – some young ones, who just started flying around and a Skovskade (Jay), such a beautiful bird. Our lovely guests, Anna and Jesper, also joined us shortly, but they got chased away from the mosquitoes. So instead they went to Nordstrand for a walk, a mosquito-free zone. And by the way, do you remember the Hvid vipstjert (White wagtail), who started breeding at Jennes Sø? She has five cute chicks now!

Back home we caught up with some computer work and Simon left us for the weekend. I enjoyed the rest of this amazing day at the beach. When I came here, two months ago, the sea was so incredible icy and after only a few seconds your whole body started to burn and only a really hot shower could warm you up again! But now you can swim in there for ages and it’s not really cold and even sunbathing afterwards is possible. So while I was sunbathing, I watched the Splitterne (Sandwichterns) flying by from time to time and listened to the endless song of a Sanglærke (Skylark), wondering why it was singing so late in the day. Maybe it hasn’t found a mate yet, so it is desperately searching for one?

Later in the day, we had an amazing BBQ at the beach. I’m pretty sure here is the best view for a BBQ you can get in whole Denmark. The Bysvale (House Martins) were flying over our heads and the gulls headed to the harbor of Skagen to spend the night there.

This is my last blogpost, as I’m leaving Skagen tomorrow. I can’t really believe, that my time here is already over. It passed by so fast! I have met so many amazing, lovely people here and I’ve learned so much about birds! I’m very grateful for my time here and I’m definitely not ready to say goodbye yet... but I have to. So thank you Skagen for all those unforgettable memories and please let this only be a “see you later” and not a final goodbye!

Ringing (Jennes Sø):

Solsort 1, Rørsanger 1, Gærdesanger 1, Tornsanger 1, Munk 2, Gransanger 2, Musvit 1, Skovskade 1, Bogfinke 1

Sum: 11

Folk: Marie Heuberger, Michele Pes, Joakim Matthiesen, Simon S Christiansen, Anne and Jesper Sandfeld

For en gangs skyld sov vi længe i dag. Sådan rigtig længe! Klokken blev jo næsten 12 inden alle var oppe. Det er nu forståeligt nok idet vi jo først kom i seng 04:15 pga af nattens natravne tur.

Så dagen startede altså sent, men den startede godt! Nemlig med en omgang rengøring. Normalt er onsdag rengøringsdag, men vi havde simpelthen for meget andet, at se til, så vi flyttede det til i dag i stedet. Så det brugte vi altså lige 1 1/2 time på først. Herefter gik vi ud og nød det gode vejr! Der er ikke så tit at vi har haft det så godt og varmt her i Skagen, som altid er koldere end resten af Danmark. Så det skulle lige nydes lidt. Jesper og Anne gik sig en tur rundt i området og fik blandt andet set skovpiber/tree pipit. 

Sidst på eftermiddagen gjorde vi klar til CES dagen som skal afholdes i morgen. Det glæder vi og altid til. Det betyder nemlig ringmærkning ved Jennes sø og det er da bare et fantatsisk fedt område, at få lov til, at bruge sin morgen ved. Vi håber på mange fugle i nettene! 

Og nå ja! Simon og jeg var lige et smut i byen og kigge efter vores ståjlne cykel. Vi fandt den desværre ikke... så lige en ekstra opfordring til at holde øje med den rundt omkring i byen. I kan se et billede af den nedenfor. Tak!

Folk: Marie Heuberger, Michele Pes, Joakim Matthiesen, Simon S Christiansen, Anne and Jesper Sandfeld

Den ståjlne cykel, som vi så venligt fik foræret sidste år