A Snowy End

Picture 1: Sun rise

Today felt like a full circle in the Skagen Bird Observatory world. Our first blog back at the start of January was aptly called ‘A Snowy Start’ with this blog at the end of our stay being similar conditions to when we arrived, hence ‘A Snowy End.’ However, things have changed since we arrived. During our stay we have gained an extra hour of sunlight with sun rise now nearer 8am, then the 9am darkness we had when we arrived. Not only that, but today we awoke to a gorgeous sunrise and for the first time this year it was not hidden behind the old Blink. The sun, slowly moving Northwards appeared over the bins, of all things, but felt warm and beaming.

Picture 2: Sun over the sea

We used our earlier start to take the opportunity to clean the rest of the apartment and to get bits and bobs ready for our departure. Finishing a little ahead of schedule we decided to go for a walk. We started with the sun over the sea and a small passage of gulls (Måge) all heading towards the tip but decided to go towards Ellekrattet as the snow was thick and twinkling in the sun. One of the first birds we saw along the way was a flock of very active and vocal Common Crossbills (Lille Korsnæb), the first ones we have seen this year in Denmark and in fact our 98^th species since arriving. Taking into consideration a few additional species Eleanor and I missed, but seen by other Skagen Fuglestation members, about 101 species have been recorded already this year which is impressive.

Picture 3: Bearded Tits (Skægmejse).

Moving on round, we went into the woods. They were lightened by the snow, and we quickly found a Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) in a small flock of Blue Tits (Blåmejse). They were actively foraging for food whilst a Jay (Skovskade) was being agitated by a bird of prey we could not see. However, we did find the remains of a Woodcock (Skovsneppe) which was very unfortunate but could have meant the bird of prey in question was something a little bigger. Carrying on round, we headed for Kabeltromlen. The reeds were quite clear of snow, and it was super surprising to find three Bearded Tits (Skægmejse) right next to the path! We left them in peace and continued our last walk round. Kabletromlen was surrounded by snow but looked glowing in the sun. We bumped into our regular Hen Harrier (Blå Kærhøg) and made our way over to Worlds End II.

Picture 4: Lighthouse for the last time, this time!

Dropping onto the beach it was nice to see our regular Eider (Ederfugl) and Common Scoter (Sortand) before reaching the observatory for an early lunch before Lisa arrived to pick us up. Thank you to Lisa for driving us to the station, we successfully boarded our train and have headed to Aalborg for a stay before our flight tomorrow – our birdy highlight being a pair of Goosander (Stor Skallesluger) on the river in Aalborg! However, it has been a great adventure and a very lovely and incredible trip in all ways. It has been great to help Lisa and Simon complete Bird Observatory tasks but also have a lot of time in this amazing location. We are looking forward to reading future blogs from the spring team. For those regular readers, it is only a few weeks before the next volunteers take our place and the migration counts, ringing and many more tasks begin! Good luck to the teams this year!!

Highlights:

-  Bearded Tits (Skægmejse) near Kabeltromlen

-  Common Crossbills (Lille Korsnæb) Ellekrattet

Link to Dofbasen here.

Observers: Thomas Weston, Eleanor Harris and Lisa Vergin