Storm Conditions

After a change in the wind direction today to the SW, as well as gusts between 30-40mph, it was rather mild and felt like the warmest day we have experienced for a while. The morning was cloudy to start but soon broke up leading to a very sunny day. It was lush!

Figure: My makeshift tripod for today, thanks Simon Jr for the photo.

Since Kabletromlen closed on Tuesday, Simon and I decided we would undertake the migration count. We were very keen to get out this morning and hoped for a nice range of species. The walk to Worlds End 3 was, as always, relaxed and Kattegat was rather calm which was odd to see after so many days of East winds. Three quarters along the beach and that sinking feeling that you may have forgotten something came over me. It was in fact I had forgot to pick up a tripod for the scope! By this point I had committed too much to head on back. However, when we got to Worlds End 3, I was able to improvise and even though it was a little unorthodox (see pic above), I still counted the auks successfully throughout the morning and saw everything else too.

Figure 2: Glowing.

The first couple of hours of migration count saw a nice passage of Razorbill [Alk], Guillemot [Lomvie], and Auk spp [Alk/Lomvie]. We had frequent flocks of Kittiwake [Ride] and a couple of flocks of Little Gull [Dværgmåge] that were rather nice to see. Between the second and the third hour we had quite a nice ten minutes where Simon Jr picked out a Sooty Shearwater [Sodfarvet Skråpe], 2 Arctic Skuas [Alumindelig Kjove], 2 Great-northern Diver [Islom] and his current favourite, the young Glaucous Gull [Gråmåge] that has been hanging around. The sun came out and everything glowed for a while which was lush (see pic above). Gustav joined us soon after in the third hour, but numbers of species and numbers of individuals had dropped by this point, so we did not complete a fourth hour today. Also, we were becoming part of the sand dune again, so we decided to head back.

Once back at the observatory we had lunch and spent the next couple of hours inputting Michael’s ringing data and the migration count data from the morning. A brief break occurred whilst Michael popped round to see Simon SC, but soon after we were back to inputting again. Gustav was in relax mode as he is leaving us on Saturday and Simon Jr began to watch a talk about Climate Change and the effects to Watermelon sweetness. Mathilde and I decided to head off to the shops by bike as we had run out of food. Strong winds and cycling don’t always work when you cycle into the wind, especially when it catches you off guard and you end up crashing into the other bike before falling sideways! Just my luck, but hilarious all round :0. A few laughs later and we eventually got to the shops. As with most shopping trips recently, cake was quickly added to the menu after a few days’ absence and the cycle back was very quick. On our return, Simon Jr was still watching his talk and had finally got the answer to the original question that watermelons will get sweater with climate change. Woop Woop! Just means we should all be enjoying some watermelon sugar.

Figure 3: Gustav migration counting recently (not taken today).

This evening I will be undertaking my session talking about Winter Warblers and the ageing of Blackcaps [Munk] and Chiffchaff [Gransanger]. In the meantime, Simon SC is preparing a leaving meal for Gustav. I can only speak from myself, but we are all going to miss Gustav. We have enjoyed his company, his laughs, his extreme hand catching skills, his self-proclaimed viking ways, and the fact that he is just a cool kind of guy. In the last three months Gustav has completed over 270 hours of migration counts which is dedicated to the extreme. I find it funny how cheese on toast was the most British thing I have made him, and his famous anti-cake period at the start of the month that lasted for three days! Good luck with the rest of your studies and travels.

Ringing totals

No ringing today.

Today’s observations on Dofbasen from observers in the area

People: Thomas Weston, Mathilde Ducroz, Gustav Nyberg, Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christiansen and Michael Ancher.