A new arrival in the garden: The Snowdrops "Vintergæk" withered, but the Wood anemones "Hvid anemone" are flowering now! Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Morning observations:

I went to the morning observation at 6:45. It was a really nice morning, not windy and the visibility was great! I saw quite some Sandwich terns “Splitterne” this morning! They were diving in the sea and some were migrating. I also saw a flock of 30 Greater white-fronted geese “Blisgås”. After two hours, the migration started to slow down. But luckily, the Sandwich terns were still diving in the sea, so it was fun to look at!

Todays observations can be seen here.

After the morning observation I went to Hvidbjerg Strand again to collect some dead birds for Levi’s project. But unfortunately I couldn’t find any. Luckily the weather was really nice, I even took my jacket off because it was too warm.

The ringing:

So today the 2^nd of April and DMI did not fool us again, the weather was as it had forecasted it, low wind and sunny from sunrise on. Still very cold when I opened the nets. There must have been some moisture in the air during the night which froze on the nets. That made it a bit difficult to open the nets and in the first rounds, I still had some icy little parts in the nets the first rounds until the sun melted it during the morning. It was not a busy day, but I had quite a good round at 11:00, so I decided to do one more round before and then decide whether to close or not. It did not bring any new birds, so I closed at 12:00. My highlight of today was the fourth Blackcap “Munk” for the season. Like the three before, it was a male, I am curious when the first females are arriving.

Blackcap, male/ Munk, han. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

The Chiffchaff "Gransanger" was the bird that was caught most often today. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Now it is evening, the sun already went down, and we are trying for owls, there are no owls breeding at Blåvandshuk, birds coming out here are migratory birds, so it is okay to attract them by sound at that time of year.

Let´s see if we are lucky this time.

The moths:

There was one new moth species for me in the trap this morning. It was Cerastis rubricosa “Okkerrød Aprilugle”, two of it, we are at the very beginning of their flight season.

Cerastis rubricosa “Okkerrød Aprilugle”. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Besides that, I had again Xylocampa areola “Gedeblad-ugle”.

Little Tern project:

In the afternoon I deep cleaned Bents office because I wanted to move into the room – in the process I found a very interesting book. It looked very old - when I wiped off the dust I realized that I just found a hidden gem. It was the old landscape plan for Ribe. The maps and illustrations looked like they were handmade. I was quite intrigued by it therefore I started reading through the danish text. It is crazy to think about the fact that back in the 80’s there was no forest at Blåvandshuk at all.

After a nice cup of coffee and an italian lunch I went out to do some interviews. Today the Nationalpark was less busy then yesterday. I got answers from around 30 germans and 5 danes. It is fun to practice my broken danish and have conversations with the locals.

Before dinner I went out to see if there are any migratory birds over the sea – I was lucky enough to observe 35 scoters flying south. ;-) Additionally 2 Sandwich Terns blessed me with their presence. 

At the station: Joseph Stephan, Marit Nillissen and Hanelie Sidhu

Morning observations:

This morning looked fine at first for the morning observation. But there was not that much migration going on. After 1,5hours the visibility got really bad, I couldn’t see the sea anymore! So unfortunately I headed back to the station after 1,5hours.

Todays observations can be seen here.

The ringing:

We were expecting a beautiful morning when we checked the weather on DMI yesterday evening. It showed sun from sunrise the whole day and nearly no wind. When I went out to open the nets at 5.30, there was a thin icy layer on the poles and frost on the ground and on some of the nets. It was a cold start of the morning. When it got light, it turned quite foggy soon and from the station, I could sometimes hardly see the lighthouse. There were very few birds flying in this weather. In the first round, I had a few birds, among them a beautiful Redwing “Vindrossel”.

Redwing "Vindrossel". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

The second round brought just some recaptures and after, a few zero rounds followed. At least I saw two Cranes “Trane” flying over the station garden and disappearing in the fog, that was quite nice. In the last two hours it cleared up but there were not many more birds flying, so I closed the nets. Bent had arrived at the station and came with me to the lighthouse garden to put up two nets that fell down this morning when I wanted to open them, as the stabilizing ropes just slipped down on the icy pole. Now I have all the nets again for tomorrow which is good.

Bent was planning on going for a walk on the beach, but there was fog over the sea again, so he just did a short walk and found a pretty adult male viper “Hugorm” in the part of the bog that was open, just on the other side of the station.

Adult male viper/ Hugorm ad han. Picture: Bent Jakobsen

Interviews Little Tern Project:

While Bent was out taking a walk, I gathered all the material that John F. gave me two weeks ago (flyers, nationalpark guides and uniform) as well as the printed versions of the interview sheet. The questions asked were discussed before with all the stakeholders of the project. 

Marit and Hanelie were kind enough to help me with the interviews to do the job in the most efficient way. We positioned us at the most northern entrance of the Nationalpark. We did 1h of interviews which resulted in a total of 41 tourists and 3 danish locals - that we asked 8 questions each, about their knowledge regarding dog leashes and their experience with the info signs as well as the fencing for the Little Terns.

Interviewing tourists; Photo: Hanelie

It was very fun and I am thankful that Marit and Hanelie joined. The Nationalpark Vadehavet uniform is fitting all of us quite well. Thank you John! :-)

For dinner Hanelie prepared a delightful vegetarian dish and salad that we enjoyed with every single bite - it carried us to our well deserved beds.

Let’s roll the dice and see what tomorrow’s got in store!

At the station: Bent Jakobsen, Marit Nillissen, Joseph Stephan, Hanelie Sidhu

Morning observations: 

Today it was a really nice weather out here. There was not much wind and it was sunny. On 07:00 I was at the beach for the morning observation, after about an hour Joseph also joined me.
We saw a Herring gull “Sølvmåge” with a coloured ring, so Joseph went down to read the ring. In the meantime, I saw 6 Barn swallows “landsvale” flying over! We also saw a lot of Northern gannets “Sule” in the back of the sea foraging and diving, which was really cool to see! It was a really nice morning.

Today’s observations can we seen here.

The ringing:

There was very low wind today so I could open all nets again. It became sunny soon and I had less birds in the nets than I expected. A nice one was a Reed Bunting “Rørspurv”, the first for the season.

Reed Bunting "Rørspurv". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Else I had many Chiffchaffs “Gransanger” today.

In the afternoon, Kim came to the station and discussed some things with Joseph about his thesis project about the Little Terns “Dværgterne”.

After, Joseph, Marit and I climbed the lighthouse and to the bog together after.

Hanelie, Marit and Joseph on top of the lighthouse. Picture: Joseph Stefan

We did not see many birds but some mating toads, the Great Silver Water Beetle “Stor vandkær” and I found the Creeping water bug “Vandrøver” crawling on the path near the pond. It can crawl quite fast. Marit found a Common Lizard "Skovfirben".

Creeping water bug “Vandrøver”. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Common Lizard "Skovfirben". Picture: Marit Nillissen

Marit and I went into two Bunkers after. In one of them we found the dead remains of possibly the Daubenton´s bat “Vandflagermus”.

Possibly the Daubenton´s bat “Vandflagermus”. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

At the station: Joseph Stephan, Kim Fischer, Marit Nillissen, Hanelie Sidhu

Morning observations:

When we were checking DMI yesterday evening the weather did not look so promising. DMI forecasted a very windy and a bit rainy day. Marit wished a day of sleeping in and Joseph needed to be at the station latest at 09:00 to welcome Kim, John, Svend Aage and the other fence volunteers. It did not really look like Rasmus and I could open the nets in the morning, so we agreed to do the Morning Obs today. We went to Sydhukket but did not stand in the shelter of the bushes, as I also wanted to have a good view to the north. Instead, we went a bit further down the dune where it was quite windy. There were not so many birds migrating, we saw some Gannets “Sule” foraging some Common Scoters “Sortand” and some Red-throated divers “Rødstrubbet Lom”. Many of the migrating birds were going north. My highlight of the morning observation was a Sandwich Tern “Splitterne”, as it was the first I saw this year. We also had some Red-breasted Mergensers “Toppet Skalleslugger”, one male and one female were resting very close to the shore which was nice. In the last hour it started to rain, in the last 30 minutes the rain was quite bad and we did not see much. So I proposed to go down to the beach and count the resting birds. The rain on the scopes did not make it easy. At ten we were happy to go back to the station. We were surprised by buns and cake on the table, which the fence volunteers had brought. We enjoyed them a lot after our windy and rainy morning.

Todays observations can be seen here.

The Little Tern Fence:

After Hanelie and Rasmus returned from the morning observation, Svend, John, Kim, Anders, Connie, and I headed to the beach to set up the fence.

Fueled by coffee, "rundstykker" (bread rolls), and "kanelstanger" (cinnamon sticks) kindly provided by the Nationalpark Vadehavet, we loaded the trailer with tools, poles, and the new electric fence.

Todays team loading up the trailer, Photo: Joseph

Upon arriving at the beach, we divided into teams to work as efficiently as possible. We kept at it nonstop until we were pleasantly surprised by Hanelie, Rasmus, and Marit, who were thoughtful enough to bring us freshly brewed coffee and a boost of motivation. It made for a wonderful lunch break in the sun.

Lunch break, Photo: Hanelie

By the end of the day, we successfully set up the fence and "perimeterhegn" (perimeter fence), although we plan to readjust the westernmost border of the fence next weekend. Just as we were about to wrap up and head back to the bird station, we spotted a beautiful flock of 55 Purple Sandpipers resting just north of the fence - a perfect reward after a long day’s work on the beach.

John and Kim setting up the fence, Photo: Joseph

We're excited to finalize the fence next Saturday and to put up the fence on Fanø on Sunday - in two weeks, we'll continue on Rømø. The Nationalpark Vadehavet will provide two more breeding fences at these locations.

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to help today, as well as to Kim and John for organizing the entire process, including the new fence, food, and supervision.

The ringing:

After a break and a chat with Henrik, who came to the station to bring us some new tools and other things for the station, we visited the fence people. The wind had slowed down a bit and the rain had stopped, so Rasmus, Marit and I opened some nets in the station garden for a bit. We were not very successful, but Rasmus got to handle one last bird before he left home, a Robin “Rødhals” that we recaptured.

Ringing totals

Rødhals: 0/1

Robin "Rødhals". Picture: Rasmus Tranberg

People: Joseph Stephan, Marit Nillissen, Rasmus Tranberg, Svend Aage Clausen, John Frikke, Kim Fischer, Henrik Böhmer, Anders Myrtue, Connie Olesen and Hanelie Sidhu

Morning observations:

Henrik and I started the morning observation at the autumn spot. After about an hour we moved to the spring migration spot, because most birds were migrating north, so we could see them better.
unfortunately we didn’t see that many ducks as we where hoping. But it was still a good day. We saw a Little ringed plover “Lille præstekrave” which was really nice!

Today’s observations can be seen here.

After the morning observation I went to Hvidbjerg Strand. I was looking for dead birds to collect for Levi’s project. I found three Guillemot “Lomvie” so I brought them with me.

The ringing:

Today I was joined by Rasmus in the ringing. He arrived yesterday evening and has received his X-license in February. It was his first day ringing passerines. Luckily, we had a good day with a good number of birds, enough that there were some to practice but not too many so there was time to show things. After practicing taking out birds of the net and holding them in different grips, Rasmus also got his first birds to ring, four Blackbirds “Solsort” and a Robin “Rødhals”. I was again surprised by the Blackcaps “Munk”, because after the first one yesterday, we had two more today, they have arrived, and we will get them in the nets regularly from now on. It was a nice sunny day with very low wind, and we had the nets open for a bit more than two more hours after standard time.

Bullfinch "Dompap". Picture: Rasmus Tranberg

In the afternoon, both Rasmus and Joseph went on walks in the area. Joseph was in the bog and found 17 Common toads “Skrubtudse” near a pond, some of them were mating.

Mating Common toads “Skrubtudse”. Picture: Joseph Stephan

He also took a nice picture of a Water beetle, which is probably the Great Silver Water Beetle “Stor vandkær”.

Water beetle, probably the Great Silver Water Beetle “Stor vandkær”. Picture: Joseph Stephan

In the evening Kim arrived to do some preparations for putting up the fence for the Little Terns “Dværgterne” tomorrow, but he was missing one tool, so in the end he had to leave to Fanø again and will be back tomorrow morning.

People: Henrik Böhmer, Joseph Stephan, Marit Nillissen, Rasmus Tranberg, Hanelie Sidhu and Kim

Morning observations:

This morning I was with Henrik at the morning observation. We were hoping to see a lot of duck, because the weather conditions looked promising. Unfortunately we didn’t see that many, other than some more Common scoters “Sortand” than the other days.
Tomorrow the weather conditions are looking better, so maybe we are more lucky to see a lot of ducks!

Todays observations can be seen here.

The ringing:

I did not expect a very good day this morning, it was a bit windy and cloudy, but I was surprised, there were quite some birds in the first to third round. Then it slowed down but after 8:00, I had just one bird in the round, which was a male Blackcap “Munk”, the first for the season. This was a nice surprise and a quite early one.

The first Blackcap "Munk" for 2025! Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

There was another surprise in the morning, we heard a Green Woodpecker “Grønspætte” calling in the station garden. We also have a very nice recording for it on BirdNETPi, the AI that is identifying bird calls recorded on a microphone in the garden. It was a bit exciting, because when I went on a round, I saw the Green Woodpecker when it hit a net, but it did not get caught. I tried with sound after standard time, but it did not work, I did not even hear the Woodpecker responding. Maybe it will stay in the area, and we are lucky tomorrow!

The moths:

I also got a new moth species today, Biston strataria “Broget vintermåler”, a really pretty one, I think. Besides that, I had my daily Xylocampa areola “Gedeblad-ugle”.

Biston strataria “Broget vintermåler”. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

At the station: Joseph Stephan, Marit Nillissen, Hanelie Sidhu, Henrik Böhmer and Henrik

Morning observations:

Today I was at the morning observation with Joseph and Henrik! We saw some pretty nice birds this morning which we don’t see every day, like the Arctic skua “Almindelig kjove”, Glaucous gull “Gråmåge”, Common tern “Fjordterne”, Horned larke “Bjerglærke” and even a White tailed eagle “Havørn” came by!
The Yellow-legged gull “Middelhavssølvmåge” was also there again resting on the beach. There was also somebody with us at the observation this morning, because he really wanted to see this gull.

White-tailed eagle "Havørn" at the beach. Picture: Marit Nillissen.

Todays observations can be seen here. 

The ringing:

It was less wind than yesterday morning so more nets could be opened but they just caught four more birds than yesterday. I decided to make this a picture blog, because there is not so much more to say.

 The little Goldcrest "Fuglekonge" did not understand that it was free when I wanted to release it and sat on my hand for a while until I gently moved my hand to make it fly away. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

I thought there are not really many pictures we take af Wrens "Gærdesmutte" in hand, so I decided to take one for the blog. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

The moths:

Yesterday evening, I went to check the traps and that was a good decision, else a new one for me would maybe have left, it was Agriopis marginaria “Grågul frostmåler”, that was on the window of the lab in the lighthouse garden by my small trap.

Agriopis marginaria “Grågul frostmåler”. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

In the morning, I found another new one in the trap, which was Orthosia gothica "Gotisk forårsugle".

Orthosia gothica "Gotisk forårsugle". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Today I will do a list again and I hope also in the next days I will have enough moths that it is worth to do a list.

In the afternoon Henrik made us some danish Smørrebrød. Later I (Hanelie) went to Grønningen by bike, hoping to find a yarelli or a Ring Ouzel “Ringdrossel”. I did not but I saw my first Wheatear “Stenpikker” for the year for me, so it was worth the trip.

Joseph got picked up by Bent and they went on a meeting about the protection of breeding shore birds.

At the station: Marit Nillissen, Henrik Böhmer, Joseph Stephan and Hanelie Sidhu

Morning observations:

Today I had some company of a harbour seal “Spættet Sæl” at the morning observations. It was playing in the water by the shoreline, which was nice to see. At the first hour of the observation, there were not that many birds. After that is was a nice amount of migrating birds, but the last hour was also not that many. Around 09:00 I went back to the station.

Todays observations can be seen here.

In the afternoon I went for a little walk on the beach where I found two bones! One is probably from the spine from a marine mammal, probably a porpoise “marsvin”. The other one looks like a jawbone. We asked some specialist if they can determine for us, so we can be sure from what species it is.

Spine of a marine mammal. Picture: Marit Nillissen

Probably a jawbone. Picture: Marit Nillissen

The ringing:

DMI showed 8 m/s for this morning but it felt like it was more. During the morning it slowed down a bit. I did not have so many nets open and they did not catch so many birds, it was mainly Blackbirds “Solsort”, most of them females.

Blackbird, female/ Solsort hun. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

On the way down from the station garden I found a quite chunky Common Frog “Butsnudet frø”, which was a welcome change on a slow morning.

Common Frog “Butsnudet frø”. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

In the afternoon, Joseph came back to the station from Copenhagen and while we had dinner, Svend Aage, Bent, John and Svend had a meeting.

At the station: Marit Nillissen, Joseph Stefan, Hanelie Sidhu, Bent Jakobsen, Svend Aage Clausen, John Frikke and Svend

To begin with, a little update on last night: First, we did not catch an owl, unfortunately. Second, our “UFO” on the nightsky comes from the launch of a Space X rocket and has been observed by many people last night. Find more information here.

Morning observations:

This morning at the observations I saw the first Common tern “Fjordterne” and a few Little gulls “Dværgmåge”! Also the 3K Yellow legged gull “Middelhavssølvmåge” was again resting at the beach. There were a few diving Northern gannets “Sule” again, which was really cool to see! The variety of species this morning was really good, so it was a nice morning!

Todays observations can be seen here.

The ringing:

Chiffchaff "Gransanger". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

There was much time between the rounds today, I had very few birds. But a little surprise in the closing round: When I arrived at the first net at Krattet I thought I would first check all the four nets in the little forest if there were any birds and then close them from the back. That was a good idea, because when I was closing one of the other nets, a Collared Dove “Tyrkerdue” flew in the first net and got caught. I immediately ran to the net and had the Dove in my hand. We see them every day in the gardens but they do not get caught so often, so it was a fun catch. Just when I was sitting with the Dove in the lab, Bent came in the garden and together with Marit we were admiring the bird with its red eyes, after it got its ring.

Collared Dove "Tyrkerdue". Picture: Bent Jakobsen

At the station: Bent Jakobsen, Marit Nillissen and Hanelie Sidhu

Morning observations:

The weather was much nicer this morning at the observation, as it wasn’t that windy anymore. The Great Northern diver “Islom” is still resting in the water. It has been here for a few days now. I did saw a lot of Common scoter “Sortand” this morning!

Today’s observations can be seen here.

The ringing:

Yellowhammer "Gulspurv". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

To my great joy, the wind had slowed down a lot and it was perfect conditions for ringing again. I could open all nets and went on the rounds with a bag of freshly washed bird bags. I think all of these bags got used today, as I had quite many birds especially in the first two rounds. There was a little flock of lesser Redpolls “Lille Gråsisken”, one of them a recapture, ringed by Morten in 2023. Else I had a good number of Dunnocks “Jernspurv” and also Robins “Rødhals” and the biggest number of Chiffchaffs “Gransanger” this spring season, it was five of them. I recaptured a Wren “Gærdesmutte”, that was ringed by Merit in 2022, it is nice to see that these little fellows can live quite some years. My highlights of today were a Bullfinch “Dompap” and a Yellowhammer “Gulspurv”.

Bullfinch "Dompap". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

When it had slowed down in the nets, I had time to go to the observation spot because Marit had found the Great Northern Diver “Islom” again, it was resting in the water approximately at the same spot as the last days and I was happy that I have now also seen it.

 Besides birds I also had other animals in hand, that I found in the gardens, one was Xylocampa areola “Gedeblad-ugle", I had seven of them in the trap and on the wall by the trap in the lighthouse garden. Unfortunately no other moth species.

Another animal in hand was this beautiful Common toad “Skrubtudse”, that went out to sunbath.

Common toad “Skrubtudse”. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

In the Helgoland trap I do not have birds do often (but today I actually caught a Robin “Rødhals” in it), but I could admire a Heath bumblebee “Hedehumle” which was feeding on the young catkins in the trap. I like these fluffy insects. Sometimes they a so busy with feeding nectar from flowers that you can gently strike over their fur. But that one already noticed me, when I came to take a picture with the phone, so no bumblebee petting today.

Heath bumblebee “Hedehumle”. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Now in the evening, we are trying to catch owls with sound in both gardens, we did not have luck so far, but there is still the closing round…

On one round, we saw a very weird looking unidentified flying object in the night sky, this is no photoshopped picture and we are still wondering, what it was…

UFO in the sky over Blåvandshuk. Picture: Marit Nillissen

People: Marit Nillissen and Hanelie Sidhu