After morning observations ended about 10 days ago, today marked the official end of the spring season, as it was the last day of bird ringing. Unfortunately, we didn’t finish with a bang. The weather wasn’t on our side – it was already raining heavily in the morning, so no ringing took place. It was a bit of a sad way to wrap up the season.

It’s been a strange season, where most of us have felt that things were rather slow – especially in terms of bird numbers, both in the nets and during the morning observations. However, it’s also been a season filled with truly exciting sightings, such as the Barred Warbler “Høgesanger” in spring, Leach’s Storm-petrel “Stor stormsvale” passing by, and generally quite a few notable “green” species – and of course, the one “red” species: the Iberian Chiffchaff “Iberisk gransanger”, for which we are still awaiting final DNA confirmation.

So, while the season may have been slow in terms of numbers, there have been several highlights to look back on. Moreover, the community at the station has been fantastic, with the season largely driven by young people. We’ve had a great time together, both during observations, the ringing sessions and generally in the station.

Now the bird observatory enters a quieter period, but several people will still be present at the station right up until the autumn season begins. Joseph will also remain in the Blåvand area over the summer to monitor the Little Terns “Dværgterne”, so there will still be some ongoing work and research.

From all of us at the station: thank you for this season! After a short summer break, we’re already looking forward to what we hope will be a fantastic autumn season, kicking off in mid-July.

The ringing

It was very windy this morning and wind gusts were even heavier. So, we left the nets closed and waited until later in the morning, at 09:15 we opened some nets in the station garden. We ringed two 1K Great Tits “Musvit” and two Icterine Warblers “Gulbug”. We also had an Icterine Warbler “Gulbug”, that was ringed in 2022 by Menno. At noon, Lise had to say goodbye as her Flextaxi picked her up to the train station. But she is already excited to be back at the station for one month from late August on!

Great Tits/ Musvit 1K. Picture: Lise Mastrup

Also Frida left the station today, but she will for sure be back to visit Joseph and enjoy Blåvand and its birds.

The moths:

I had 14 different moths species in the traps and flying on the gras today. I will show one that you can observe quite often flying in the gras during the day from this time of the year on until early September.

Camptogramma bilineata "Okkergul bladmåler". Picture Hanelie Sidhu

At the station: Lise Mastrup, Marit Nillissen, Levi van den Os, Emma Gray, Joseph Stephan and Frida, Hanelie Sidhu

The ringing:
I dag ringmærkede Hanelie, Anne og jeg sammen. Vi håbede vi ville have nok fugle til at vi alle kunne få mulighed for at ringmærke nogle nye - det lykkedes heldigvis:)

Vi blev desuden hurtigt enige om at i dag måtte være store baby-dag, for vi havde flere forskellige unger i nettet; rødhals, jernspurv, musvit, dompap og sortstrubet bynkefugl. Sidstnævnte landede i nettet med hvad vi må tro er dens far.

Stonechat "Sortstrubet Bynkefugl" 1K and 2K male. Picture: Anne Hjortlund Hansen

Robin "Rødhals" 1K. Picture: Anne Hjortlund Hansen

Bullfinch "Dompap" 1K, picture: Anne Hjortlund Hansen

Afternoon activities:
Til eftermiddag var der friskbagte småkager fra Emma og vi fik sagt på gensyn til både Marits mor og Anne, som begge vendte hjemad igen. I morgen er min sidste dag på stationen for nu, så jeg håber på der kommer en enkelt mere lille fugl eller to i nettet.

The moths: 

It was quite good with moths today, I had 23 different including one caterpillar. One was new for me, Cleorodes lichenaria "Lille lavmåler".

Cleorodes lichenaria "Lille lavmåler". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

At the station: Lise Mastrup, Anne Hjortlund Hansen, Levi van den Os, Joseph Stephan and Frida, Henrik Bøhmer, Thomas Kristensen, Emma Gray, Marit Nillissen and her mom, Hanelie Sidhu  

Morning observations:

We usually see that the days after strong winds also provide good birds, and after yesterday’s windy conditions, today was no exception. The observations started 5.00 and at first glace, it looked to be a quiet day. Thomas joined Henrik at the observation ten to six, and as he arrived, two adult Mediterranean Gulls flew south just at the shoreline, and shortly after we had a nice Black Guillemot. This species is not annual at Blaavand and definitely a good sighting. A little after 7, the female Surf Scoter passed south with a group of Common Scoters and provided great views again today. Around this time, the number of Scoters had increased, and they came in showers from the north. Of course, it is the huge numbers of resting birds moving around, but then again, more than 11.000 birds passed south today. Also almost 200 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and almost 70 Velvel Scoters passed during the morning. 

In the bushes and bog, there were few other birds than the local ones, but nonetheless there were 6 Red-backed Shrikes, 3 Marsh Warblers and a female Bluethroat.

Red-backed Shrike Picture: Henrik Böhmer

The ringing:

Anne predicted correctly yesterday that we would get 10 new birds (and nine recaptures). One of them was a nice Spotted Flycatcher “Grå Fluesnapper”.

Spotted Flycatcher “Grå Fluesnapper”. Picture: Anne Hjortlund Hansen

We had quite many juvenile Crested Tits “Topmejse”. Most of them were already ringed but there was also a new one.

Crested Tit "Topmejse". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

One Common Whitethroat “Tornsanger” that we recaptured and aged as 3k+ was ringed in 2021 as 2K.

In the afternoon I mowed the gras in the station garden, it is growing fast that time of the year.

The moths:

I did not have many moths today; hope it will be better tonight. I will show Plutella xylostella “Kålmøl”, a small and quite common one.

Plutella xylostella “Kålmøl”. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

At the station: Henrik Bøhmer, Thomas Kristensen, Levi van den Os, Joseph Stephan and Frida, Emma Gray, Anne Hjortlund Hansen, Lise Mastrup, Hanelie Sidhu, Marit Nillissen and her mom

At 3 o´clock in the morning I was downstairs and checked if the weather was really as bad as DMI showed it. First I went to the moths traps and while there was only a light drizzle when I went out, it turened into a heavy rain soon. When I was on my way back to the station from the moths trap at the lighthouse garden, I got completely soaked. I set down to indentify the moths and went out several times to check on the rain, but every time I got wet, so the nets stayed closed this morning.

I had four new moths species today, pictures below.

Rhodostrophia vibicaria "Lædermåler". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Gynaephora fascelina "Hedenonne". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Leucania comma "Kommaugle". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Evergestis forficalis "Kålhalvmøl". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Nevertheless, I stayed up the whole morning and was quite productive, after doing the moths I did some data work and it is all finished now. At nine, when the house slowly got awake, I went to bed again and had a good sleep until about 12:00.

While I was fast asleep, Henrik and Thomas went out with their skopes and had a Surfscoter „Brilleand“ and a Black Scoter „Amerikansk Sortand“. Congrads!

In the evening, Anne arrived, she will stay over the weekend, now we are nine people here!

Tommorow morning looks good again for ringing, let´s hope for some birds.

 At the station: Henrik Böhmer, Thomas Kristensen, Lise Mastrup, Emma Gray, Levi van den Os, Joseph Stephan and Frida, Hanelie Sidhu, Anne Hjortlund Hansen, Marit Nillissen and her mom

The ringing:

Three new birds and three recaptures today. A female Black Redstart “Husrødstjert” was the last bird ringed today. Think it was the one jumping around in the garden yesterday but not flying in the nets. Now it did, let´s count that as a success for that slow morning.

Black Redstart "Husrødstjert". Picture: Lise Mastrup

Wildlife around Blåvand:

Today Marit and her mom went on a trip out of Blåvand. On their way back they had a great observation of a wulf “ulv” next to the road!

A wulf "ulv" next to the road! Picture: Marit Nillissen

The moths:

Not many moths today but I had two new ones for me, Diacrisia sannio “Rødfrynset bjøn”  and Dioryctria simplicella “Fyrrekoglehalvmol”, the last of the two is not so common.

Diacrisia sannio “Rødfrynset bjøn”. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Dioryctria simplicella "Fyrrekongehalvmøl". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

At the station: Henrik Böhmer, Lise Mastrup, Emma Gray, Joseph Stephan and Frida, Levi van den Os, Hanelie Sidhu, Thomas Kristensen, Marit Nillissen and her mom

The ringing:

In the I woke up for normal opening time and went through the garden, but it was very windy and I decided not to open the nets. I hoped the wind would slow down within an hour, if so, it would still have been a day of standardized ringing, but at 5.15 it was as windy as before. Lise had come down too. I took the moth out of the traps, I was surprised that I had caught a few in that rainy and windy night, and stayed downstairs a little longer to identify and release them. Then it was time for bed again. At ten I started opening the nets, the wind had slowed down. Emma and Lise joined me on the rounds. Bent, John Frikke and Henrik had a meeting with Peder Bach Thøgersen from Naturstyerlsen and we caught enough birds to show him some.

Reed Warbler/ Rørsanger. Picture: Lise Mastrup

Marsh Warbler/ Kærsanger. Picture: Emma Gray

News of the station:

Frida arrives at the station today and will stay with us until Monday. Spring season is almost finished but for its last days, the station is crowded with people again!

A cozy Tree Sparrow "Skovspurv" Picture: Levi van den Os

The moths:

I had nine different moths species in the traps today. One was new for the year, Båndet tyv “Oligia fasciuncula”.

Båndet tyv “Oligia fasciuncula”. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

At the station: Bent Jakobsen, Henrik Bøhmer, John Frikke, Thomas Kristensen, Levi van den Os, Emma Grey, Lise Mastrup, Joseph Stephan and Frida, Hanelie Sidhu, Marit Nillissen and her mom

Ringmærkning:

Hanelie og jeg stod for dagens ringmærkning. Det var ikke mange fugle det blev til, men der var blandt andet en bysvale, som jeg ikke før har haft i hånden. Dens korte, pjuskede ben var simpelthen så søde. Vi havde også en virkelig fin 1K gulspurv.

Yellowhammer/ Gulspurv 1K. Picture: Lise Mastrup

House Martin/ Bysvale. Picture: Lise Mastrup

When Joseph was out at the tern fence this morning, he had a great observation of a cookoo Cuckoo "Gøg" on a bunker. Picture: Joseph Stephan

Ovenpå en middagslur havde vi en hyggelig, rolig eftermiddag. Jeg bladrede lidt i fuglestationens gamle logbøger fra 60'erne, hvor der er flere sjove skriv om livet på stationen dengang. Nu er Hanelie ved at lave zucchini ragout til os - det dufter dejligt!

The moths:

Ten different moths species this morning and yesterday evening. Siona lineata "Hvidvingemåler" was new for the season.

Siona lineata "Hvidvingemåler". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

At the station: Thomas Kristensen, Joseph Stephan, Lise Mastrup, Emma Grey, Levi van den Os, Hanelie Sidhu, Marit Nillissen and her mom

The ringing:

Today Thomas and Lise joined me in the ringing. There were not many birds but getting more 1Ks was a pleasure. Besides 1K Crested Tits “Topmejse” and Tree Sparrows “Skovspurv” we had a 1K Blackbird “Solsort”. As many birds before their first moult, Blackbirds “Solsort” have spotted body and wing feathers. They are quite pretty and cute in that plumage, I will show you a picture.

Blackbird "Solsort" 1K. Picture: Thomas Kristensen

In the afternoon, Emma and I exchanged a broken net in the station garden. Lise in the meantime cut some bushes that were growing into the netlines. To see if we had done our work well, we had the new net open for a very short time. It seemed like the net worked very well, because a 1K Crested Tit “Topmejse” flew in immediately.

The moths:

I had 11 different moths species today, I got a very pretty new one, Oecophpra bractella.

Oecophpra bractella. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

At the station: Joseph Stephan, Emma Gray, Thomas Kristensen, Lise Manstrup, Hanelie Sidhu, Marit Nillissen and her mom

The ringing:

It was a quiet but nice morning with very low wind. I got some 1K birds. While in the first rounds I thought it would be a similar slow day as the last days, but actually, the morning improoved and I cought in total 22 birds, quite some of them 1Ks. Also a nice White Wagtail couple was in the net, I will show a picture of the male.

White Wagtail male/ Hvid Vipstjert han. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Stonechat/ Sortstrubet Bynekefugl 1K. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

The moths:

A quite good number of moths today, 22 different plus two caterpillars. My goal would be to reach 30 species in one of these last days of the season, let´s see if I will succeed. I will update the blog with a list of all of today´s moths tomorrow.

Hylaea fascaria "Nåleskovsmåler". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Tethea or "Bogstav-uglespinder". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

News from the station:

In the afternoon, Marits mother arrived, she will stay with us for about a week and in the evening, Lise arrived, who will be here until the 9^th of June.

 At the station: Henrik Böhmer, Lise Manstrup, Joseph Stephan, Emma Gray, Thomas Kristensen, Levi van den Os, Hanelie Sidhu, Marit Nillissen and her mom