From Windy seas to Woodcock fields

Another windy morning meant that Lise, Florian, János and I headed to Nordstrand for this morning’s migration count. The migration was probably the slowest it’s been since I arrived in Skagen but still it was a very entertaining and pleasant morning in our sheltered seawatching spot. In terms of rarities, the highlight was definitely a nice Great Northern Diver (Islom) which flew in front of us before landing on the sea. We also had a couple of Taiga Bean Geese (Tajgasædgås) flying by and several flocks of Whooper Swans (Sangsvane), which always make us look up and smile. Interestingly, we’ve been noticing the flocks transitioning from being made up of mostly adults to mostly juveniles now.

A Great Grey Shrike (Stor Tornskade) was nice to see and a great surprise was a Chiffchaff (Gransanger) which flew up from the bushes behind us and into the grass tufts just in front of our observation spot, and later a Sparrowhawk flew up from close in front of us too! The slow pace of migration meant there was time for practicing identifying Auks (Lomvie/Alk) from a distance which I found challenging with all the “flimmer” (which I’ve learnt means haze in Danish/German) but was still fun nonetheless. 11 dark chocolate rice cakes later, we’d finished the migration count and cycled back home to drop off our warm boiler suits before our afternoon outings.

Florian made a trip to Grenen where he saw his usual two Stonechats (Sortstrubet Bynkefugl), and many Snow Bunting (Snespurv) and Gulls (Måge sp.). He then cycled to the harbour where he joined János for some “gulling”. They tried to entice in the gulls with some sliced bread but unfortunately didn’t spot any rare species this time, but they were lucky enough to see three Turnstone (Stenvender) pottering about which was quite cute.

Miles had a quiet morning doing some office tasks, going for a run and battling with sparkly ribbon in an attempt to make some star-shaped decorations for our Christmas tree. In contrast with my disastrous attempts last night, Miles managed to produce two beautiful little shiny green stars which now hang on our tree, alongside a lovely Goose-shaped decoration which was a gift from Mathilde. Then, in the afternoon, he cycled into town (and saw a Woodcock (Skovsneppe) on the way in Batteriskoven) and met Lise for some shopping, including a visit to the charity shop, where Lise found some excellent bargains.

After our evening meeting, János and I wrapped up warm and cycled out to Bankes Marker to try and catch some Woodcock (Skovsneppe). Although we failed once again, it was super cool to see nine Woodcock in only the couple of fields that we checked! They are such funny looking birds and nightcatching is one of the only times we’re able to see them so well, even if we didn’t manage to catch any in the net this time. Now, we’ve just enjoyed a winter-y dinner of spinach, potato and tofu stew cooked by Lise; it was so delicious!

Standard ringing finished

Link to today’s observations from the area.

People: Miles Scheuering, János Schadl, Florian Hatt, Amira Nuseibeh, and Lise Mastrup.