A Productive Day

Picture 1: Lighthouse in the stormy weather

Today was a very windy and wet day to start. The wind was whistling through the windows, so a slower start was needed. János went out to do some observing for an hour but it was very quiet and rather cold, so he turned back. The highlight was a Velvet Scoter (Fløjlsand) amongst a small flock of Common Scoters (Sortand). Meanwhile we both decided that the weather called for some indoor cleaning and organising tasks. Whilst it was wet, we set about cleaning both the obs and the apartment. This took a good couple of hours of hoovering, spritzing and dusting to get it ‘ship shape’.

Picture 2: Snow Bunting feeding area

After a tasty lunch of rye bread and fried eggs inspired by smørresbørds yesterday we came up with a joint plan for the afternoon. We gathered some seeds for the Snow Buntings (Snespurv) and went to the usual spot but it was flooded by the sea and meltwater. Not good! However, we relocated the site and set up a new feeding area altogether. Hopefully, they will be a little happier now as we saw two flocks totalling up to 30 Snow Buntings (Snespurv) flying towards the general area.

Picture 3:  4k+ Caspian Gull (Kaspisk Måge)

We checked the gull flocks and found two adult Caspian Gulls (Kaspisk Måge), and had nice view of Gannets (Sule), flocks of Cormorants (Skarv) and a Velvet Scoter (Fløjlsand) too…

Picture 3: Little Auk (Søkonge)

...plus, the remains of a Little Auk (Søkonge) and a Razorbill or Guillemot (Lomvie/Alk). On our way back, we walked down the now slightly flooded Sandormen track to Ellekrattet which was a new area for János. One of our walk highlights was a Treecreeper (Træløber) which was a rather unexpected surprise. It was starting to get dark, so we decided to come back for some tea and a cookie plus a game of matching pairs which János won.

The plan for the evening is to have some food and maybe do some net sewing, we will see what happens later whilst the storm passes!

Link to Dofbasen here.

Observers: Thomas Weston, Eleanor Harris, János Schadl, Simon S. Christiansen