Some rain at the beach

Today I went out to the observations at worlds end 3 where in the gull flock at the tip there were two seals, a larger number of Lesser black-backed Gulls (Sildemåge) which had arrived, and a Black-legged Kittiwake (Ride) and Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) both roosting in the flock which is very unusual. We ended up getting rained on for awhile which brought down fog over the ocean blocking line of sight to the distant Northern Fulmars (Mallemuk). After the rain cleared some raptors started to come out including a few very close Western Marsh Harriers (Rørhog). A little later in the distance came a pair of White-tailed Eagles (Havørn) and a mixed raptor flock with Black Kite (Sort Glente), Red Kites Rød Glente), European Honey-buzzard (Hvepsevåge), Common Buzzard (Musvåge) and Eurasian Sparrowhawks (Spurvhøg) along with two Common Cranes (Trane) and a very distant White Stork (Hvid Stork).

Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) photo Andrew Jacobs

Western Marsh Harrier (Rørhog) photo Andrew Jacobs

A seal (roosting) on the beach photo Andrew Jacobs

When we came back to the station we settled in for some data entry and got back some ages for some of the colour ringed gulls that we had been seeing one of which being a 9^th calendar year Great Black-backed Gull (Svartbag) that seems to spend a lot of time in the Netherlands.

In the evening we went to the black summerhouse near the Skarvsøen to look for swallows where we saw a few Common Swifts (Mursejler) and heard a Marsh Warbler (Kærsanger) singing away, then it immediately started raining so we headed back to get ready for tomorrow.

Ringing totals

Greater Whitethroat (Tornsanger) 1

Eurasian Blackcap (Munk) 1

Common Reed Warbler (Rørsanger) 1                                                    

Total 3

Highlights from around Skagen today

White Stork (Hvid Stork)

Eurasian Golden Oriole (Pirol)

Black Kite (Sort Glente)

Observations in the area today on Dofbasen

 People: Lucas Corneliussen, Cora Köberle, Tue Baaner, Simon Sigaard Christiansen, Andrew Jacobs, Rasmus Mattiesen-Juhl, Knud Pedersen, Jørgen Hulbæk, Kirsten