Little Friday

There is a German saying that says: "Eine Schwalbe macht noch keinen Sommer", one swallow does not make a summer. That is certainly true. But maybe 20 or so? ...At least they are really arriving now. Today Manuel and Robbe were able to observe several migrating Barn Swallows Landsvale and House Martins Bysvale during the morning observation. For the most part, however, it remained fairly quiet in Grenen. Three migrating Whooper Swans Singsvale and a few Wheatears Stenpikker in the dunes were nice observations. Otherwise, there was not much migration to observe today. At least the beautiful Kentish Plover Hvidbrystet præstekrave was sitting on the beach in Grenen today, but only Hans was able to see it at close range - and managed to get an arty shot.

The weather forecast for the next few days remains sunny and clear. This is of course very nice for being outside, even if the wind is still quite cold. But for birdwatching, it would actually be good if there were a rainy day. When the weather is clear, the birds just move up and through and you don't get to see much of them. When the weather changes, fog or rain, they avoid long distances and come down to rest. That's better for the birdwatchers, of course. But this spring has been very dry so far and there has been exceptionally little rain so far. The sunny weather continues to attract beautiful butterflies to the sun, with Camberwell Beauties continuing to show themselves.

The fact that the birds are not in the bushes to rest can also be seen from the ringing figures: In five hours, only 25 birds were in the net, including another day without any excitement. But even with the Willow warbler Løvsanger, Chiffchaff Gransanger or Blackcap Munk, you always have to look very closely to see where the moult limits can be found in order to accurately determine their age.

In Batteriskoven there are still some Pied Flycatchers Broget fluesnapper around and in the afternoon Anders managed to get some decent shots.

In the evening Birte and Hans cooked for us, there was delicious lasagne with a great salad for the big group. Over the weekend Anders (also a board member) is also a guest, so we have a full house at the lighthouse. At the table we talk about Pink Floyd's early work, Anders' band, our language skills and what it's like to live in Aalborg.

(Pictures by Hans Christophersen & Anders Brinkmann)

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area

People/Folk: Knud Pedersen,Simon S. Christiansen, Hanelie Sidhu, Alice Scalzo, Manuel Tacke, Robbe Cool, Anders Brinkmann, Rasmus Due Nielsen, Thomas Kjær Christensen, Jesper Pedersen, Birthe Drustrup & Hans Christophersen.