Observation:


Ringing:

Today was pretty windy, so I had to keep an eye on the nets and unfortunately had to close several of them during the morning as they became too exposed.

The first few rounds were interesting, as the first bird I caught for the morning was a beautiful female Red Crossbill (Lille Korsnæb) for the season! This was a new bird species ringed for me, and I had a lot of fun studying her and getting some practice on steel rings.

Red (Common) Crossbill female (Lille Korsnæb)

This female showed a brood patch, which is a patch of unfeathered skin on the underbelly made to facilitate the incubation of eggs, providing a warm surface. It was nice to see that we have some breeding pairs of Crossbills around! I hope to see some of their young when the time comes.

I also had the chance of catching another Starling (Stær).

Starling (Stær) 

Little tern project:

There were no observations for the Little tern project this morning due to the heavy wind and the army training.

At the station : Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong & Alix Bortolussi

Observation:

It was a really lovely day!

The morning started with the nice sighting of 12 grey seals [gråsæl] resting at the same time on the sandbanks. Then, over the three standard hours, there were plenty of red-throated loons [rødstrubet lom] and northern gannets [sule] on the count.
Finally, the observations ended with the call of the first cuckoo [gøg] of the season and, on the way back, the meeting with a common toad [almindelig tudse] on the dunes!

During the day, it was also a pleasure to see the house martins flying over the station :)

Highlights of the days :
Red-throated loons [rødstrubet lom] - 126
Northern gannets [sule] - 194
Common cuckoo [gøg] - 1 (heard)
Grey seals [gråsæl] - 12

Todays observations can be seen here.

A common toad [almindelig tudse] - Bufo bufo -  trying to be invisible... ! Picture by Clara


(Family ?) Gathering of grey seals [gråsæl] in the first hour of observations. Picture by Clara


Viola saxatilis subsp. curtisii - Dune pansy drawing. Picture by Clara 


Ringing:

Very slow morning with an average of 1 bird per round.

The highlight of today though is a gorgeous Sedge Warbler (Sivsanger) which is a pretty uncommon catch for Blåvand Fuglestation. This species favors reeds and swampy bushlands, which we don’t have very close to the nets at the ringing site. They winter in the south of the Sahara, and come in northern Europe to breed.

Sedge Warbler (Sivsanger). Photo Alix

Let’s hope tomorrow has a bit more birds in stock for me!

Little tern project:

Today was another slow day for the Little Tern project. Unfortunately, my wish from yesterday didn’t come true, because there were no little terns during today’s observation. Neither in flight nor resting on the shoreline. It seems they’ve chosen a different spot to nest this year. Hopefully I’m wrong and a few will return in the coming weeks.

At the station : Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong & Alix Bortolussi

Observations:

The highlight of this morning was spotting three arctic skuas – parasitic jaegers [almindelig kjove]. The first one was migrating south, whilst the other two were feeding near the shore before heading north.

I was really happy because this spring I’ve seen quite a few skuas flying over, and it was a first for me!
For my final week of observations, I’m still looking forward to spotting more of them – and why not another pomarine skua [mellemkjove] (we can dream, can’t we?) :)

Todays observations can be seen here.

Ringing:

My first ringing session alone went very well, though it was tiring to walk all the rounds alone, as the site here is quite big and spread out.

Not a big number of birds, but some highlights for me were a Starling (Stær) which was my first ever and it was really fun to study, as well as a partially leucistic Lesser Whitethroat (Gæardesanger).

Male Starling (Stær)

Partially leucistic Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger), with some white feathers on the crown and back. Very interesting individual!

Towards the end of the standard time, the wind picked up quite a bit so the closing time fit very well as it was becoming a bit too windy for my liking for the birds comfort in the nets.

I have now done all the computer work needed for the day and will go have a nap!!

See you tomorrow for more little birds!

Little tern project:

Compared to the past few days, today was a fine day for observing the little terns. It was a bit cloudy and the wind had picked up to 7 m/s.  A total of 6 little terns were flying around and landed in the fence 10 times. All of the landings took place on the north side of the enclosure, which is noteworthy, given that all previous landings had mainly occurred in the middle of the fence. Hopefully in the next few days their numbers of Little terns keep going up.

At the station : Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong & Alix Bortolussi

Observation:

A sunny and slow morning on the dunes of Blavand :) There were still quite a few northern gannets [sule] resting above the reef! I’m trying to make the most of these lovely sightings and the bird station because I’m leaving soon – in a week’s time now.

This morning Hanelie, Robert and Morten left us. It was really nice to meet them. We started the season together with Hanelie; back then it was really cold and we used to wake up later too, haha! I really enjoyed the lovely time together at the station :)

Todays observations can be seen here.

Ringing:

This morning was the goodbye of my dear Hanelie, Robert, as well as Morten who had all been helping me and teaching me everything I need to know about the station since I arrived.

I took the last two rounds alone and will be continuing the ringing for the rest of the standard season alone as well. I am looking forward to seeing what I’ll be able to catch, and hope for some challenging and interesting species from time to time!

This morning the ringing was once again rather slow, but we had the chance of starting the first round with the first bird caught and ringed being a Northern Wheater (Stenpikker). A beautiful adult female.

Adult female Northern Wheatear (Stenpikker)

We then had our usual visitors such as Lesser Whitethroats (Gærdesanger) or Willow Warblers (Løvsanger).

I’m looking forward to my first fully independent ringing session tomorrow morning, as I feel I have been well prepared by my predecessors :)

Little tern project:

Observations : 

Not much to report today! It was quite quiet - with few wind -, though there were still some flocks of red-throated loons [rødstrubet lom] and common/arctic terns  [fjordterne/havterne] migrating north.

There have been fewer little terns fishing near the shore over the last couple of days; we hope they won’t fly off to another breeding ground!

Todays observations can be seen here. 

Ringing : 

This is my last blog entry today; tomorrow will be the big goodbye day. I will leave the station after nearly two and a half months, also Robert is leaving after two weeks, and Morten is leaving too. But Morten might be back later this spring, as he did not get as many blood samples of Long-distance migrants as needed. It is difficult to write a last blog, especially of this spring season, as it was a tough one for me. Now we are on 935 newly ringed birds for the season, the best day, which was in mid-April, brought 64 birds, this nice day was followed by two days in which we reached 40 birds, apart from that, numbers were very low and I can´t deny, that got me down. A very early Nightingale “Sydlig Nattergal” and a Grasshopperwarbler “Græshoppersanger” were a bit special birds this season – maybe rarities are coming now in the last weeks of the season, I will leave them for Alix and Xenia. Nevertheless, the season had some very nice moments. I especially remember a nice trip with Mathilde and Clara by Flextaxi to Nyeng, the birdwatching trips with my mother, Clara and Morgan around Easter, and the trip to Fanø to visit Joseph together with Clara and Jorn. And it was nice to meet some old acquaintances, in April Rose and now in May, Robert at the station. Maybe my favourite animal this season was actually not a bird, but a bat, Myotis daysceme, the Pond bat, that I found in the bunker together with many Myotis daubentoni, Daubenton´s bat. Daysceme was a new species for me. But Spoonbill “Skestork” and Grashopper Warbler “Græshoppersanger” were also great birds.

I nearly forgot to write something for today: We caught the first Icterine Warbler "Gulbug" of the season, that was the highlight of the day.

Beautiful Icterine Warbler (Gulbug)

Little tern project : 

There were no observations for the Little tern project today.

Moths of the day

Today 16 different species and one new for the location: the Shuttle-shaped Dart (Frønnet Landman, see picture). Tomorrow Hanelie and I will leave Blåvand Fuglestation. A pity that the birds were not really abundant this spring. We caught 48 different moth species, I do not know whether that is a low or a high amount, because I have never been at this station before.

Hope you liked what we were writing about the moths. Nowadays it is less difficult to figure out which species you see. There are 3 apps that can help you and they are not difficult to use. Arter is a Danish orientated app. Obsidentify is an European oriented app and Inaturalist a world orientated app. If they give the same species name one can be sure it is the right species. I think Arter and Obsidentify use the same kind ofalgorithms and Inaturalist a different one. If you start looking into moths a completely new world will be opened for you. In my garden in Gjerrild (Djursland) I now have  found almost 700 different species. Had no clue of the high diversity before I started.

Shuttle-shaped Dart (Frønnet Landman)

At the station : Robert Luttik, Hanelie Sidhu, Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong, Alix Bortolussi & Morten Jenrich Hansen.

Observation:

The first sighting was of a grey seal [gråsæl] resting in the waves, in front of my telescope – perhaps to say hello and wish me good luck?-
But the first two hours were fairly quiet and I was on my own. Yet, somehow, the last hour turned out to be good!
Numerous groups of common and arctic terns [fjordterne/havterne] flew past behind and in front of the reef. And during the last 10 minutes, I spotted a pale-morph arctic skua [almindelig kjove] heading north, then chasing a small tern, then it turned out it was being chased away itself by a herring gull !
Meanwhile, two fins broke the surface of the waves… belonging to two porpoise whales [marsvin]! It had been a long time since I’d seen any. We used to see far more of them at the start of the season from the automn spot.

Highlights of the day : 
Common tern/arctic tern [fjordterne/havterne] - 584
Parasitic Jaeger - Arctic skua [almindelig kjove] - 1 pale morph
Northern gannet [sule] - 101

Todays observations can be seen here.

Ringing:

Redpoll "Lille Gråsisken". Picture by Alix.

There was not so much happening in the gardens today. We caught another Woodpigeon "Ringdue", two Redpolls "Lille Gråsisken"and the usual ones, but only few of them. During the mornig, Morten went to town to send the bloodsamples to Copenhagen. 

Yellowhammer "Gulspurv", picture by Hanelie.

Little tern project:

There were sadly no observations this morning due to the military training.

Moths of the day:

Today we had slightly more species. In total 13 different species and one new for the location: the Golden-rod Pug (Gyldenrisdværgmåler, see picture). A rather inconspicuous species. In addition I have added a picture of the Small Chocolate-tip (Chocoladeplet).

Small Chocolate-tip (Chocoladeplet) and Golden-rod Pug (Gyldenrisdværgmåler)

At the station : Robert Luttik, Hanelie Sidhu, Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong, Alix Bortolussi, Morten Jenrich Hansen, Bent & co (his friends).

Observation:

Today was a rather quiet day for birdwatching. There was little wind and few birds... though there were still some northern gannets [sule] heading north and resting! – but not as many as on Monday. - 

So, as I had time to watch the herring gulls resting on the shores, I was able to identify and read a ring on an adult bird. It was a yellow ring on the gull’s right leg with a 4-character alpha code beginning with ‘V’: ‘VKXA’. This corresponds to the same ringing project carried out in Denmark as the two previous ones we had identified with Hanelie and then Jorn.

Yesterday I drew a common ringed plover [stor præstekrave] sitting on its eggs to send out some positive vibes.
In fact, the nest that Joseph and Jorn had identified inside the little terns’ fencing has been empty for a few days now – see photo below in the blog. The four eggs have certainly been taken by a predator. So I thought that drawing a picture might bring back the hope of seeing these same birds and others breeding again soon!

Todays observations can be seen here.


Common ringed plover's nest. Drawing by Clara

Ringing:

Ringing was very slow today; we caught 10 new birds. Alix was happy about a Woodpigeon “Ringdue” and a Treepipit “Skovpiber”, two new hand species for her.

Little tern project:

Today was a very slow day for the Little tern observation. In the two hours I was there, I only saw 2 Little terns flying, and one of them made a landing in the fence. Besides those 2 little terns, I have seen 5 Common ringed plovers walking and scraping in the fence, which was nice to see. That reminded me to go and check the nest of the ringed plover we saw on one of our first days, but sadly it was empty. I also couldn't find any traces in the surrounding area (probably because of the wind). 

The empty Common ringed plover nest, Picture by Jorn de Jong.

After checking for the nest, I noticed a part of the electric fence wiring was broken. I contacted Joseph about it and fixed it so the chances of predators coming in wouldn't be increased.

Moths of the day:

Today we had again 8 different species, but no new ones for the season. This time only a picture of the Muslin Moth (Grå Tigerspinder).

Muslin Moth (Grå Tigerspinder).

 At the station : Robert Luttik, Hanelie Sidhu, Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong, Alix Bortolussi, Morten Jenrich Hansen and Bent.

Observations:

The northern gannets [sule] are on their way! Today, 223 migrating north and 33 over the reef!

Later in the morning, Jorn joined me! It was nice to have some company and we were able to spot a magnificent arctic skua [almindelig kjove] – dark morph.

Todays observations can be seen here.

Ringing:

Bogfinke han, picture by Alix.

Not many birds in the nets today so with four people in the ringing, there was not much to do. Alix got to know the gardens and we looked together at data entry and where spare rings are. Morten kept the nets in the station garden open in the afternoon, but did not catch any birds at all. He heard a Wryneck in the neighbouring garden, but it did not come close to the nets.

Little tern project:

Today was a short day for little tern observations because the military was unexpectedly training this morning. I wasn’t aware of this, so I was only able to observe for 45 minutes before I was asked to leave. During that time, I saw a total of 12 little terns flying, which landed in the fence 22 times.

Moths of the day

Today we had a few more moth species, 8 different ones, but still not many as I would normally expect at this time of the year. Two were new for the location for this year: see the bold marked name in the table. The Common Carpet Moth (Almindelig Bladmåler) and the Silver Y (Gammaugle). Both Common moth in Denmark (see pictures). The first generation of Silver Y’s migrate from the South to here and lay eggs and the second generation goes back to the south again.

Common Carpet Moth (Almindelig Bladmåler) and the Silver Y (Gammaugle).

 At the station : Robert Luttik, Hanelie Sidhu, Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong, Alix Bortolussi and Morten Jenrich Hansen.

Observations :

Today I was on my own for the morning observations. It was a shame for the others, because this morning hundreds of northern gannets were flying past non-stop before my delighted eyes.
They were coming from all directions, appearing on the horizon as large silhouettes gliding above the waves, but also really close to the shore - you could easily have observed them with the naked eye.
There were birds of all ages (except the juveniles, of course) for my great delight. I enjoy so much to age the northern gannet !
The wonder didn't end there, indeed, in the all morning, I've seen 6 arctic skua - parasitic jaeger [almindelig kjove], 2 pale morph and 4 dark morph. They all came quite closed, 5 of them coming from the south so i had plenty of time to observe them. At some point, a skua chased some little terns. Hence its well-known name, as it also steals the catch of certain species of gulls and terns, which is how they got their name. [from what i've seen, it  didn't manage to steal their fishes]. 
Besides these wonnderrfulll observations, there were also a lot of sandwitch terns migrating north ! 
 

Highlights of the day : 
Northern gannet [sule] - 309
Arctic skua [almindelig kjove]- pale morph : 2
                                                     dark morph : 4 
Sandwitch terns [splitterne] - 77

Todays observations can be seen here.

Ringing : 

Moths of the day

Today we had only 5 different species, but not strange because of the long rain period during the night and the wind in the morning. Two were new for the location: see the bold marked name in the table. It is called the Angle Shades (Agatugle) a species which can be seen throughout the year (see picture) and Ipsilon Dart Moth (Ypsilonugle) a species that flies from May till November (see picture).

Angle Shades (Agatugle) and Ipsilon Dart Moth (Ypsilonugle)

 At the station : Robert Luttik, Hanelie Sidhu, Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong, Alix Bortolussi and Morten Jenrich Hansen.

Observations :

There were no observations this morning due to the thick fog.

Instead, I walked around the inland areas looking for species to see or hear... apart from the common ones... I didn’t spot any other special birds. However, I did have time to watch some deers for quite a while. At first, two of them were resting on the dunes. Later, a whole herd crossed the road just a few dozen metres away from me. It was magnificent to see their antlers covered in velvet.

Here are a few sketches from my field observations :

A deer standing over the dunes, drawing by Clara


A hare resting in the inland, drawing by Clara


Ringing : 

When we came down from our bedrooms this morning, we could already see the fog in the light of the lighthouse. Foggy days also mean days with low winds, but as long as it does not suddenly clear up, they usually do not bring so many birds. That was also the case today, but we did get some nice ones and two firsts for the season: A Sedge Warbler “Sivsanger” and a Garden Warbler “Havesanger”. Also a Wryneck “Vendehals” in the net.

Sedge Warbler "Sivsanger". Picture by David.

Garden Warbler "Havesanger". Picture by David.

Wryneck "Vendehals", picture by David.

After ringing, Robert and I exchanged a net in the lighthouse garden. It is ready now to catch many birds again!

Yesterday evening, I went to the bog and watched and listened the Bluethroat “Blåhals” singing just for me.

Bluethroat "Blåhals". Picture by Hanelie.

Moths of the day : 

Today we had only 13 different species. One was new for the location: see the bold marked name in the table. It is called the Obscure Tortrix (Clepsis senecionana, no Danish name) and this species you can find in the picture below.

Obscure Tortrix (Clepsis senecionana)

At the station : Robert Luttik, Henrik Bøhmer, Hanelie Sidhu, Thomas Kristensen, Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong and David Manstrup.