A Birding Adventure

Picture 1: ‘Black -bellied Dipper’ (Vandstær)

Today we woke up bright and early to begin our birding adventure with Simon. The plan was to explore areas beyond Skagen and see some birding highlights. We packed our stuff including some food and warm clothes ahead of our Danish Tour. Our first stop was to see a ‘Black -bellied Dipper’ (Vandstær) in Blindslev Gl Elværk, this was very exciting as they are slightly different from the ones we get in the UK.  On the drive to the site, it was interesting seeing some more of the Danish countryside and exploring new areas. We reached the site and quickly found the Dipper we were looking for in the icy water. It was rather cold with icicles lining the river and we all could feel a chill so headed back to the car to warm up and continue our journey. What a great encounter ahead of our adventure ahead.

Picture 2: Crested Lark (Toplærke)

We continued our journey to Hirshals with the plan to walk around the harbour and explore the local area. Stopping on the outskirts, Thomas spotted some Fieldfare (Sjagger) so we pulled over in a local car park and went for a short walk. Some of the other highlights in the area were 24 Snow Bunting (Snespurve) and 2 Brambling (Knækerfinke) which all were found thriving in a somewhat industrial area showing how important these are for our wildlife.

The real reason we were here was to see the last Crested Lark (Toplærke) in Denmark. This Lark thrives in an urban area, so the Harbour was the perfect place to go looking. Once we reached the site the lark was easily located hanging around the car park and showed nicely. After a short time, it flew in the opposite direction away from us. It was amazing and special to see this species my first but also a little sad to think that this is the last in Denmark. This record really does show how species need safe havens to thrive and the impact of our behaviour on the environment.

Picture 3: Simon and Thomas Observing the Harbour

A spot of gull feeding and observation was needed so the plan was to entice some of the local gulls with some bread. We arrived at an excellent site and first observed the harbour. It was great to see a new area and a new harbour. There was a good number of gulls, so we grabbed the very English white bread out of the car to see if any were interested in a free meal. When we arrived, we saw some of them attempting to eat Starfish unsuccessfully, it really did look a challenge! We manged to attract Great Backed Gulls (Svartbag), a Comon Gull (Stormmåge) and Herring Gulls (Sølvmåge), all of which were very pleased with a tasty free meal. A great success all round!!

Picture 4: Eleanor and Thomas completing maintenance

We all were getting a little cold so decided to head back to Skagen via a few errands. We headed to Albæk our last stop on our tour. We arrived in the sunshine and had a short walk and explore including the harbour and beech. This is an area that both me and Thomas would like to explore more plus potential go to the seaside sauna!! Heading back to Skagen we quickly stopped at one of the traps to do some much needed maintenance which involved some logistical challenges and resulted in me climbing onto Thomas’s shoulders!!! Once complete we heading back to Skagen where Simon completed a few errands including a car wash and we went to visit the Great Northern Diver (Islom).

A great day all round and some lovely species and exploring. It was a very lovely day so thank you Simon for taking us on a birdy tour.

Highlights:

-            Crested Lark (Toplærke)

-            ‘Black -bellied Dipper’ (Vandstær)

-            Brambling (Kvækerfinke)

-             Great Northern Diver (Islom)

Link to Dofbasen

Observers: Eleanor Harris, Thomas Weston and Simon S. Christiansen