Ja i kan jo næsten selv gætte jer til hvordan dagen startede? Nemlig! Morgenobs. Hebe og jeg sad ved Nordstrand og Dante og Anna sad på Grenen. Vejret var fint og vinden var lav. Det betød, at vi faktisk havde nogenlunde forventninger til dagen, men de vidste sig hurtigt ikke at blive indfriet. Det var simpelthen dødt ved Nordstrand, MEGET dødt. Vi brugte 4 timer ved Nordstrand, hvor højdepunktet blev én fiskeørn. Derefter prøvede vi med lidt rovfugle-obs, hvilket sådanset gik nogenlunde.

Brian og Kirsten, som bor i lejligheden kiggede forbi Nordstrand og fik set nogle af de få fugle, som faktisk valgte at ligge vejen forbi.

Imens vi gjorde dette havde Simon en guidet tur for en 4.klasse. De fik lært lidt om ringmærkning, trækfugleobservationer og fugle i det hele taget. Turen gik godt og børnene var meget interesserede. Måske vi ser dem heroppe i form af fuglekiggere eller måske endda firvillige på stationen i løbet af de næste år?

Da Anna desværre skal rejse videre onsdag, ville sige godt farvel til hende. Derfor drog vi til Skagen Bryghus og spiste en rigtigt fin frokost/aftensmad en drak en øl. Derefter gik vi alle en tur op i fyrtårnet, så Anna også fik den oplevelse med herfra. Derefter var der lidt praktiske ting som skulle ordnes. De blev dog afbrudt da to aftenfalke hanner havde valgt, at ligge deres rute lige hen over Det Grå Fyr. Hold nu op hvor er de fede!

Dagen sluttede med, at vi bagte en kage og spiste nogle is og bare generelt hyggede os, da det jo desværre desværre desværre var Annas sidste aften her.

 Anna, Hebe, Dante og Joakim, de 4 frivilllige på stationen lige nu, efter en tur i fyrtårnet. 

Folk: Joakim Matthiesen, Dante Shepard, Anna Moulin, Micheal Ancher, Simon S Christiansen, Hebe Denny, Jan Heilmann, Brian og Kirsten

Ringmarkening Det Gra Fyr: 

Munk -1, Gransagner - 2, Musvit - 1

Total 4

This morning started early again, with Dante and Anna, joined by Kirsten and Brean, headed out to Northstrand and Joakim and i went to Grenen. It was a really good morning for birds, particularly raptors, some highlights being: Steppehøg (Pallid harrier), Kirsten and Brian's first Sort Glente (Black Kite), Hvidnæbbet Lom (White billed diver), Mellemkjove ( Pomarine Skua), Ringdrossel (Ring ouzel) and 400 plus Spurvhøg. Later in the morning, i joined Simon on a ringing tour, Anna headed into town for some shopping and Dante headed to a different location for some raptor migration counting, where he spotted an Adult male Aftenfalk. (Red footed falcon)

In the afternoon, Joakim and i headed out for a wee bit of exploring and raptor watching and saw some lovely insects and birds! Anna got on with some things at the observatory and spoke to some Chinese guests as she has learnt some Mandarin! Simon spent the afternoon planning the Fugle Festival which begins next week!! Later in the evening his Dad arrived which was nice! 

After a delicious noodly dinner cooked by Joakim, we hit bed. 

Folk: Joakim Matthiesen, Dante Shepard, Anna Moulin, Micheal Ancher, Simon S Christiansen, Hebe Denny, Rolf Christiansen, Ian Heilmann, Brian og Kirsten

Ringmarkening Det Gra Fyr: 

Rodhals - 2, Sangdrossel - 2, Gransanger - 1

Total 5

Today I set out early in the pouring rain to give Simon his bike back. I can't say it was the most enjoyable ride, with the rain pelting down the back of my neck and the wind whipping across my face. However, the song thrushes (sangdrossel) were out in force, snapping up the earthworms as they struggled across the wet tarmac. I weaved in and out of them, watching the hares (hare) leap across the moors and the brave robin (Rødhals) belt out his melody.

For the others, a well deserved lie in allowed them to catch up on precious sleep, before they were up and joining me in the rain to put up some new nets in the old lighthouse garden for our guided tours that will be happening in the next week.
Other than this, our day was a fairly quiet one, focusing on data entry and planning our week ahead.

Our new guests, Kirsten, Brian and Ian arrived, so we had some introductions to do, and got to know each other over a delicious stir fry dinner from Joakim.

After dinner I gave a talk on a subject that I am very passionate about; human dimensions in conservation management. Though not directly to do with birds, human dimensions focuses on how we are engaging and communicating with different groups of people- local communities, hunters, conservationists, researchers etc.- to ensure our long term goals and plans are agreed on with everyone effected, and thus avoid conflicts.

This Wednesday I will be off to my second stop on the Scandinavian Triple, Lista bird observatory, in Norway. This will be my last blog post, and so I would like to thank everyone in Skagen and the station for a fantastic and fascinating month. Thank you for having me, and for teaching me so much. I have been so lucky to meet all you incredible people, keep up the amazing work!

Skagen, it has been such a pleasure.

Folk: Joakim Matthiesen, Dante Shepard, Anna Moulin, Micheal Ancher, Simon S Christiansen, Hebe Denny, Ian Heilmann, Brian og Kirsten

Efter gårdagens store succes ved ringmærkningen på Grenen var vi oppe og tidligt afsted igen. Det var Hebe, Anna, Simon og jeg som stod for dagens ringmærkning. Nettene blev åbnet lige ved solopgang. Forventningerne var høje da der virkelig havde været gang i fx løvsangerne dagen før. Vores forventninger viste sig dog ikke at holde. Det blev til MEGET få fugle i ringmærkningen denne dag…. Ja faktisk kun 7 fugle på en hel morgen… øv øv. Dante kunne også melde om meget få fugle fra hans obs-post på Grenen. Skagen var simpelthen løbet tør fugle. Er det virkelig muligt? Det føltes godt nok sådan.

Det var dog ikke helt så slemt som jeg får det til at lyde, men sammenlignet med den sidste halvanden uges tid, som har været helt vildt fantastiske, ja så er det ikke meget at snakke om fra denne dag.

Det blev dog til en flot stor spurvehøg hun i ringmærkningen og Dante fik set arter såsom hvidvinget måge, dværgfalk og stor korsnæb. Senere på dagen lykkedes det da også Dante og jeg, på en lille tur rundt i området, at se både sort glente og kongeørn. Så lidt fugle havde Skagen dog gemt til os. Det kunne Hans og Birte også konstatere, da de fra morgenstunden var på cykeltur rundt i området og fik set lidt forskelligt der også.

Imens vores ringmærkning gik meget langsomt, havde Micheal Ancher en lidt bedre dag ved Jennes sø, som blandt andet bød på året første skovsanger!

Resten af dagen gik med diverse småopgaver. Simon holdte et møde med Micheal Ancher og Dante brugte noget tid med sin mor, som er på besøg i Danmark nogle dage.

Og for at svare på overskriften, NEJ, Skagen er ikke løbet tør for fugle.

Folk: Joakim Matthiesen, Dante Shepard, Anna Moulin, Micheal Ancher, Simon S Christiansen, Hebe Denny, Hans og Birte Christophersen.

Ringmærkning på Jennes sø:

Spurvehøg – 1

Musvit – 2

Skovsanger - 1

Løvsanger – 13

Gransanger – 7

Munk – 2

Gærdesanger – 1

Gærdesmutte – 2

Rødstjert – 2

Sangdrossel – 2

Solsort – 1

Bogfinke – 1

Lille gråsisken – 6

Rødhals – 8

Vindrossel - 1

Total 50

Skovskade fra Ellekrattet

The day began early as always! Joakim, Anna and Simon went out to the nets at Grenen and had a successful morning ringing! With a total of 69 birds, they caught some exciting ones!

Dante and I headed up to Grenen to observe with Rolf and a good number of other observers, as well as a camera man following Rolf for the mornign! It was a good morning for us too, lots of birds moving through. Some highlights being a beautiful male HedeHøg (Montegues Harrier), ( which Joakim was very excited to get a good veiw of too!! ) three female AftenFalk (Red footed Falcon), a Mosehornugle (Shorteared owl), some Skægmejse (Bearded Tit), Brushane (Ruff) and Ringdrossel (Ring Ouzel)! Our observations were cut short however by very exciting news of a Hvidhalset Fluesnapper (Collared Flycatcher) with a ring in Ellekrattet! Dante and I headed over and got some really gorgeous veiws of this bird..we were joined by Joakim, Anna and Simon -  this was a lifer for us all! Even Simon had never seen it within Denmark!

Back at the observatory, we all got on with tasks for the day and Dante got ready for his talk! In light of the Hvidhalset Fluesnapper having a ring, Simon, Joakim and I headed back to Ellekrattet with some Mistnets to try to catch the bird in order to read the ringnumber and learn about it's origin! After some hours of wading around through swampy waters and clambering through trees and one VERY VERY nearly  in the net moment, we had to give up and call it a day.

Meanwhile, Hans had spent the day observing at Storrclit, and him and Birgitte then spent the evening with some guests of their own. Back at the obs, Dantes Mmum arrived from London! and we all headed to down to listen to a really brilliant and very informative talk by Dante on gull identification! Then after a fun Barbeque dinner outside, we headed off to bed!

In other news in Skagen, a Upupa (Hoepoe) was spotted nearby! Nice!!

Simon And Joakim setting up the nets in Ellekrattet.

Ringing at Sardinkrattet:

Vindrossel - 1, Sangdrossel - 4, Rødhals - 8, Løvsanger - 39, Rørspurv - 7, Kvækerfinke - 1, Skovpiber - 1, Gransanger - 6, Fuglekonge - 2

Total 69

People - Joakim Matthieson, Dante Shepherd, Jane Shepherd, Anna Moulin, Hebe Denny, Simon S Christiansen, Hans and Birgitte Christopherson and Rolf Christiansen.

Today began with me, Hebe and Joakim heading to North Strand, and Dante to Grenen. It was a fairly quiet morning, with just a few Hobbys (Larkefalk) and Snipe (dobbeltbekkasin), so Hebe and I decided to head to Grenen to see how the raptors were there. We were rewarded with spectacular views of a female Red-footed falcon (Aftenfalk). Joakim (after a bit of mad cycling) also got to see her. We even got to see an incredible moment where the Red-footed falcon decided to steal prey from a passing Kestral (Tårnfalk)! After more views of other incredible raptors, such as two juvenile Pallid harrier (Steppehøg), we headed back to the observatory.

Simon spent the morning discussing the Friends of the Lighthouse, until we joined him for the daily data sort. The cloudy day meant it was a quiet day, until we got the call about two female red-footed falcons just on the road outside the observatory! We headed out and had even more beautiful views! I spent the rest of the evening watching our resident male Redstart (Rødstjert). I love you Skagen.

Folk: Joakim Matthiesen, Dante Shepard, Anna Moulin, Simon S Christiansen, Hebe Denny, Nids Ereksen, Søren Skov, Lene Kappelborg, Hans og Birthe Christophersen.

Morgenen bød på morgenobs hos alle mand. Hebe, Dante, Anna og Jeg var på Grenen. Trækket var noget sløvt, men alligevel fik vi set gode arter. Heriblandt kan nævnes hvidnæbbet lom og de første brushøns i dette forår. Simon var ude og gå en tur i terrænet og så her fx en bynkefugl. Hans fik set en stor tornskade på rigtigt kort afstand. Så selvom at det ikke vrimlede med fugle, som var på vej mod nord denne dag, ja så var det altså heller ikke helt fugletomt.

Senere på dagen endte vi alle sammen tilbage i skole… Simon holdte nemlig en lektion i fældningsstrategier hos nogle af de fugle vi kan forvente, at fange og ringmærke i den næste tid. Vi fik blandt andet kigget på arter som gransanger og rødstjert…. Og så kiggede vi også lige på steppeørn, bare fordi vi er rigtigt optimistiske. Herefter prøvede vi på, at fange og ringmærke to sortsrubede bynkefugle, som har holdt til udenfor Det Grå Fyr den sidste måneds tid, men desværre var de os overlegne denne dag. De er dog rigtigt spænende at følge og mon ikke de yngler et sted i nærheden? Hans og Birgitte lavede en rigtigt god aftensmad og derefter holde vi aftenmøde og planlagde næstedagens eventyr!

Folk: Joakim Matthiesen, Dante Shepard, Anna Moulin, Simon S Christiansen, Hebe Denny, Hans og Birthe Christophersen.

En rigtig fin tegning, tegnet af Hebe da det gik lidt sløvt på morgenobsen..

By far the highlight of the day for me was a male Citrine Wagtail in the lake at Grenen. A big relief to finally find my first rarity committee species for Denmark. Joakim and I also saw a Shorelark and a Wryneck. Hebe, Anna and Simon ringed at Grenen and caught 32 birds including the first Blackcap of the year. At midday Joakim went out for a skywatch to look for the 3 Spoonbills and 5 white storks which were reported over the city. He was successful! In the afternoon I went back out to Grenen to see if the citrine was still there but it wasn’t. 

People: Joakim Mathiesson, Dante Shepherd, Anna Moulin, Simon S Christiansen, Hebe Denny, Hans and Birgitte Christophesen

Ringmarkening Sardinkrattet:

Gaerdesmutte - 3, Rodhals - 11, Sangdrossel - 1, Munk - 1, Gransanger - 9, Lovsanger - 3, Fuglekonge - 2, Bogfinke - 4

Total 34

Today, was an exciting, busy day!! 

It beganas usual, with an early start for all of us here at the observatory. Anna and Joakim went with Simon to Grenen to do some ringing, Dante headed off to observe with Rolf, Nicole and Henrick headed to to observe and i cycled out to Nordstrand. 

The ringing was good, with 23 birds rung, including an the first Løvsanger in the net for the year. Theyre ringing was cut short by the exciting news of a Blå Glente at Grenen!! Dante had had a good veiw of it that morning, aswell as of a Citrinvipsjert! Joakim and Anna saw the kite attempt migration and Simon saw it once it had returned to Grenen again, much excitement all round! 

Meanwhile at Nordstrand, i missed the kite but was very happily counting birds migrating over the sea! 

Simon and Joakim then went off to do a Raptor tour, and then we all headed back to the obs for lunch. After lunch we bid farewel to Henrick and Nicole, Dante got on with some date inputting, including the Rapter summary report and later cleaned the bird lab with Anna. Guided by the stream of excited Zello calls, i headed out on my bike in search of the Blå Glente! Our paths crossed at last at Buttervej! I was joined by Knud and we had some really incredible veiws of the bird!!! Lovely. On returning back to the obs, i headed out to join Joakim where he was watching a beautiful Borget Fluesnapper that he had found earlier that day. I sadly missed it, but instead was lucky to see a gorgeous wee Munk!!! 

Anna and i then headed into to town to pick up supplies for a "sunday roast"! We arrived home to find that our new guests, Hans and Birgitte had arrived! They had spent the day travelling up from south of Aalborg and had had a lovely time, seeing the kite as they arrived in Skagen!!

While me and Anna got on with cooking, Hans and Birgitte headed out for a walk and spotted lots of lovely birds, including a Mosehornugle and a Vendehals!  

After dinner, we braved a piece of Anna and mines chocolately buttery easter cake creation of doom and then headed to bed!!!

A real stunner of a day. 

People: Joakim Mathiesson, Dante Shepard, Anna Moulin, Simon S Christiansen, Hebe Denny, Henrick and Nicole, Hans and Birgitte Christophesen, Knud Pederson and Rolf Christiansen. 

Ringing at Sardinkrattet and Jenne So:

Skovskade - 1, Vindrossel - 1, Rødhals - 6, Rodstjert -1, Gærdesmutte  - 2, Løvsanger - 2,  Musvit - 1, Bogfinke - 2, Fuglekonge  - 2, Gransanger - 9, Musvit - 1, Gronirisk - 1, Lille Grasisken - 10, Rorspurv - 2

Total 41

Today began with me, Dante and Joakim heading to Grenen for an extraordinarily quiet, and beautifully still, morning, and Hebe to North Strand. After watching a pod of over 20 porpoises, we eventually got some views of white-tailed eagles (havørn) and other raptors.

After a quiet afternoon strolling around the observatory, we met back at the observatory for the daily data input. It seemed like an uneventful day, until one of our guests, Henrick, spotted an Alpine Accentor (alpejernspurv) just in the observatory garden! One of only 15 ever found in Denmark, and the fourth for Skagen, this little bird attracted a lot of attention! Within minutes, we were sitting by the beach watching it hop from rock to rock as the sun set. Another incredible day.

Folk på Stationen: Joakim, Hebe, Simon, Dante, Anna, Henrik, Nicole, Michael

Ringmærking at Jenne Sø:

Rødhals - 20

Gransanger - 2

Lovsanger - 1

Gaerdesmutte -2

Jernspurv - 1

Bogfinke - 2

Sangdrossel- 4

Lille Grasiksen - 39

Blamejse- 1

Sum- 72