Whale Twitch!

Today we woke with a plan to head to Råbjerg Mile, the largest walking dune. It was a beautiful sunny day but rather cold. We packed some lunch and headed into Skagen. Once reaching Skagen we checked the harbour but only one Eider (Ederfugl) and a Kittiwake (Ride) were seen resting in the rather choppy water. Simon phoned to say that our guest Jørgen had arrived so we scrapped the original plan and headed back to the station. It will have to wait till another day.

Once back Jørgen informed us that a Sperm Whale (Kaskelothval) had washed up on a beach in Ålbæk so we all decided to take a trip to visit the site.

Picture 1: Sperm Whale (Kaskelothval)

On the way we saw a passing glimpse of a Great Grey Shrike (Stor Tornskade) which was super cool as it was my first. We have been looking for one for a few days as there has been local reports of one in the area, but our find was unsuccessful, so it was great to see one on route.

Picture 2: Frozen Harbour

 We arrived in the main harbour area in Ålbæk and scouted the area for the whale. Once located it we saw that it was a drive away with crowds already gathering for a proper ‘Whale Twitch’ an impressive sight to see. The harbour was slowly freezing showing how cold it really was, impressive as we only went there a few days previously.

We headed to location which was already rather busy with parked cars! Walking to the beach there were around 100 or so people from young to old showing how unusual this beach find was. It made the news as the species is rare for the area and is the first to be stranded since 2016 with a length of 13.7 metres. An impressive, but also rather sad site to see but also a reminder of the fragility of our costal waters. You could see that the whale had visibly been damaged and knocked around with ice already forming on its tail and fins.

Picture 3: Afternoon Sunshine

We headed back for some lunch and a short walk to the Tip. On our way we saw found a freshly dead Razorbill (alk) so collected that which is know in the freezer. It was a beautiful afternoon with some sunshine much needed after days of cloud.

Picture 4: Night Sky

We made a quick dinner and headed over to Simon and Lisa to watch the final of Handball, Denmark vs Germany. A lovely evening was had and happy smiles all round with Denmark winning so a good day overall.

Highlights:

-    Sperm Whale (Kaskelothval)  

Link to Dofbasen here.

Observers: Eleanor Harris, Thomas Weston, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Jørgen Hulbæk