We're "lichen" the Little Gulls

It was another very very soggy day today at the bird station but, because of how much we love birds, we all decided to venture outside into the tail end of Storm Amy to see what species we could find. Sarah, Miles and Florian headed to Worlds End 3 where, during an hour and a half of seawatching, they spotted some nice birds: lots of Little Gulls (Dværgmåge), Great Crested Grebes (Toppet Lappedykker), both Arctic (Almindelig Kjove) and Great Skua (Storkjove), and some lovely Goldeneye (Hvinand). They tried to cycle back to the lighthouse quickly before the heavy rain started but got caught out and had to take shelter under at tree at Kabeltromlen for a while.

Observers at Worlds End 3 staying positive through the heavy rain

Meanwhile Gabriel headed into Skagen town centre to do some food shopping whilst I headed on a walk past Jennes Sø and towards Nordstrand. Kitted out in full waterproofs and wellies, the rain didn’t bother me too much, and in the area around the old lighthouse I was rewarded with lots of passerines and some beautiful rainbows. My highlight was seeing the Northern European subspecies of the Long-tailed Tit / Aegithalus caudatus (Halemejse) for the first time. I’m from the UK so I’m used to seeing the British subspecies (Aegithalos rosaceus) which has the distinct black stripes on its crown, so seeing the birds here with a full snowy white head was super cool!

I also took some time to notice the lovely plants, fungi and lichens along the walk. I love the species shown in the picture below because in English we call it the Fairy Cup lichen (Cladonia sp.), so it always makes me feel like I’m walking through a magical forest when I see it. Lichens (lav) are actually not a single organism, but a partnership between a fungus and an algae or bacteria. They are really useful indicators of air quality and help with soil formation and soil nutrient cycling too. So, respect the lichens; they’re just as important as the birds in our ecosystems, and deserve more attention!

Lichen (lav) + rainbow

We all spent the rest of the day catching up on admin tasks, and then some napped whilst others did yoga or went running. It was also lovely to welcome back Lars Bo to the station as our guest this week and he joined us for our evening meeting today. But, of course, the highlight of our afternoon was when Matilde and Maciek from Blink restaurant came round to drop off some MUCH-needed lemon cake, and some lovely looking fish, salad and tomatoes too. Thank you! Let’s see what I can cook for dinner tomorrow night using these ingredients. I don't think there will be any cake left for tomorrow though, it's already almost all eaten! Now we're all about to sit down together for a delicious Swedish soup dinner cooked by Gabriel using a recipe from his Grandma; can't wait to try it!

Gabriel studying ALL the bird books in preparation for his presentation to us next week

Highlights from Worlds End 3 (1.5hrs):

Little Gulls (Dværgmåge) 23

Arctic Skua (Almindelig Kjove) 1

Great Skua (Storkjove) 1

Great Crested Grebes (Toppet Lappedykker) 5

Today's observations from the area can be seen here.

People: Gabriel Axelsson, Florian Hatt, Sarah Partridge, Amira Nuseibeh, Miles Scheuering, Simon S. Christiansen and our guest Lars Bo Jakobsen.