Snow Day

Picture 1: Lighthouse in the snow

Today we woke up to a very snowy day, the snowstorm of yesterday had settled creating a white wonderland to explore. The lighthouse courtyard was rather snowy, so we prepared ourselves for the cold which awaited. We had some nice breakfast, put on warm clothes and walked into Skagen to get some food and have one last look before we leave the area tomorrow. It was a rather cold walk with snowflakes falling on our face but super magical to be out and crunching through the snow. Skagen and the Lighthouse looked beautiful with snowflakes making the area even more stunning. It is lovely to have snow again at the end of our stay. On our way we took a small detour to Batteriskoven were we saw a rather cold Blue Tit (Blåmejse).

Picture 2: House Sparrows (Gråspurv) in the snow.

We arrived in Skagen to Snowplows clearing the roads, it was a hive of activity.  It seemed that more snow had settled in the city with thick snow drifts along our route. The plan was to have a look round some shops, head to the bakery, harbour and collect some food for dinner, all these things we achieved. Before making a stop at our favourite Bakery we did some urban birding and found a few Tree Sparrows (Skovspurv), Brambling (Kvækerfinke),House Sparrows (Gråspurv), Green Finches (Grønorisk) and a rather unexpected Sparrowhawk (Spurvhøg) just outside the bakery so this really did call for some sweet treats. We headed indoors to shelter from the snow with some pastries and hot chocolate. Whilst we were in the bakery the snow increased so we stayed for a little to warm up and watch it fall from within.

Picture 3: Frozen Harbour

We decided to take one last look at the harbour for any Gulls (Måge) so headed there. Once reaching it we saw that the harbour was slowly freezing which was rather impressive. Boats were marooned within unbale to escape this frozen landscape. One of the most unusual finds was a Rock Pipit (Skærpiber) sheltering in one of the small boats, it looked rather lost and uneasy in this urban environment. We also counted three Guillemots (Lomvie) sheltering on the water.

Picture 4: Deer in Snow

After heading the harbour, we headed back to the lighthouse for a late lunch and to plan the rest of the afternoon briefly stopping to watch a flock of Waxwings (Silkehale). On the way, we spotted a Common Buzzard (Musvåge) hunting in the snow and a Roe Deer looking rather lovely in this winter wonderland.  It was a lovely walk and nice to be out and about in the snow.

Picture 5: Us at the lighthouse

We decided to head up the lighthouse for one last time and enjoy the snowy scenery plus do some bird watching with the scope. It was rather beautiful at the top with a white view of Skagen and the surrounding area, cool to see it covered in a blanket of snow. After losing track of the time, we ended up spending around an hour sitting and observing from the top with some of our highlights being a Kestrel (Tarnfalke), Common Scotter (Sortand), Eiders (Ederfugl) and three Black-throated Diver (Sortstrubet Lom) to name a few. A lovely hour spent at the top listening to the waves and watching the world go by.

We headed back to the observatory to warm up and complete some admin tasks ahead of a quiet and restful evening ahead of our departure tomorrow.

Highlights:

-  Black-throated Diver (Sortstrubet Lom) – Det Grå Fyr

-  Waxwings (Silkehale) – Skagen By

Link to Dofbasen here.

Observers: Thomas Weston & Eleanor Harris