Although the weather was not to good today, we still caught some birds. The highlights were a Redstart (Rødstjert; the first since a long while) and a Tree Pipit (Skovpiber). The mosquitoes were quite bad today, so we all walked around with a sexy accessorize. Our new intern Rasmus, who joins us for a week during a school internship, had his first working day. While Michéle, Joakim, Rasmus and me were ringing, Hebe and Dante went out to Grenen for some observations. They saw a lot of Hvepsevåge, found a new Stor Præstekrave nest and unusually many jellyfish. We really hope the Stor Præstekrave will have chicks soon!

After a chilled afternoon we had our daily meeting and afterwards our new guest Bruno and Lene cooked an amazing dinner for us. Thanks for that! And another nice day at the observatory comes to an end. Tomorrow Hebe and I are planning to search for Doppeltbekkasin chicks, so wish us good luck, we will need it.

Ringing (Sardinkrattet):

Skovpiber                            1                                       

Rødstjert                             1                                                       

Kærsanger                          4                                          

Gærdesanger                     1                              

Tornsanger                         2                                           

Havesanger                        1                                           

Munk                                   2

Gransanger                         1

Løvsanger                           1

Grå Fluesnapper                 1

Total:                                  15

Folk: Hebe Denny, Dante Shepherd, Joakim Matthiesen, Marie Heuberger, Michéle Pes, Simon S Christiansen, Rasmus Matthiesen, Bruno & Lene

After a late start I went out for a walk in the Bøjlevejen area. The first time I have worn a t-shirt outside my entire time here I think. I didn’t see very much, a few gulbug which are always nice to see for a brit. I also saw a camper van with my name on it! In the afternoon we got on with things back at the observatory such as catching up on dofbasen and ringing data. New guests Bruno and Lene arrived in the apartment. Marie cooked roast vegetables for dinner.

People: Hebe Denny, Dante Shepherd, Joakim Matthiensen, Marie Heuberger, Michele Pes, Simon S Christiansen, Jan Hjorth og Kristine Vik Kleffel, Asger Lykkegaard Møldrup, Lene og Bruno

This morning the weather is not good, it rains early in the morning.
Dante and Asger leave early to make observations in Grenen. Joakim and I wait for it to stop raining to be able to open the nets in Grenen. We open the networks at 6:30 am. A little later Dante joins us for the first check.
Let's take some birds, including some Robins, and some interesting recapture, but after a while it starts to rain again and at 8:30 we are forced to close the nets and return to the Observatory.

Immediately after Joakim reaches Hebe and Marie and together they capture and ring a pull of Lapwing.
Back home I set about updating the data on Dofbasen, and after the ringing data with Hebe.
Shortly after Asger returns to the observatory, happy with the observations made during the morning in Grenen, many species including Golden oriole and Pendulin tit.
After lunch we rest a bit and we gather at 16:00 pm to take stock of the situation and plan all the activities for next week.
After we are all invited out to dinner, Simon has booked at an Italian restaurant in Skagen, we are a group of 13 people including Morten and Anderss that I was pleased to review and greeting after a year.
Then we stayed to watch the Champions League match and drink some beer in the Skagen's pubs, a very fun evening!

Ringing (Sardinkrattet and Storsig)
- Gransanger – Chiffchaff                       1
- Rødhals – Robin                                   3
- Gærdesanger – Lesser whitethroat      1
- Tornsanger – Whitethroat                     1
- Vibe – Lapwing                                     1
Tot: 7

People: Hebe Denny, Dante Shepherd, Joakim Matthiensen, Marie Heuberger, Michele Pes, Simon S Christiansen, Jan Hjorth og Kristine Vik Kleffel, Asger Lykkegaard Møldrup.

Vejrudsigten så god ud. Derfor var vi spændte på, at se hvad dagen kunne bringe. Især da vejret de sidste dage ikke har været noget, at skrive hjem om. Derfor var nettene tidligt oppe kl 04:00. Ddet var Micheal og jeg, som stod for ringmærkningen i dag. Dante, Marie og Hebe stod for observationerne ude på Grenen.

Det var ikke fordi der skete der stor på obs-posten i dag og de 3 oberservatører drog derfor også tidligt hjem igen. Nogle tog ud og kiggede på de rastende fugle i området og andre tog en lur. 

Lille fluesnapper 2k fra i dag

Tilgengæld gik ringmærkningen rigtigti fint, klart den bedste dag vi har haft i et stykke tid nu. Det var nu ikke fordi, at det vrimlede med fugle, men der var da fugle i nettene hver eneste runde. Det gode ved dagen var helt klart artsdiversiteten. Vi fik håndteret mange gode og forskellige artert. Heriblandt kan nævnes arter som skovskade, grå fluesnapper, lille fluesnapper, kærsanger, rørsanger, dompap og bjergvipstjert. Helt klart en mere end godkendt dag! Det er altid godt, at få noget erfaring med nogle af de arter, som vi ikke ser så meget i nettene.

Da vi kom tilbage stod Michele og jeg for en guidet ringmærkningstur i området. Der var 7 deltagere på turen og de var meget interresseret, hvilket altid er rart. Vi fangede en tornsanger på turen, så det var godt, at de fik en fugl i hånden at se. 

Herefter forsøgte Hebe, Marie og jeg, at fange enndu en af vibe-ungerne i området. De var dog ikke til, at finde i dag, så vi må prøve igen i morgen. 

Jan og Kristine, som bor i lejligheden lige nu brugte dagen diverse stedet i området og fik set en del forskellige fugle. Herudover stod de for middagen, som var yderst vellykket, tak for det!

Til sidst ankom også Asger Lykkegaard Møldrup, som bliver her weekenden over.

Ringmærkning på Sardinkrattet og Jennes Sø:

Bjergvipstjert: 1 

Gærdesmutte: 1

Rødhals: 1

Solsort: 2

Kærsanger: 1

Rørsanger: 4

Gærdesanger: 2

Tornsanger: 3

Havesanger: 2

Munk: 1

Gransanger: 4

Løvsanger: 1

Grå fluesnapper: 2

Lille fluesnapper: 1

Musvit: 2

Skovskade: 1

Bogfinke: 1

Dompap: 1

Total: 31

Folk: Hebe Denny, Dante Shepherd, Joakim Matthiensen, Marie Heuberger, Michéle Pes, Simon S Christiansen, Asger Lykkegaard Møldrup, Jan Hjorth og Kristine Vik Kleffel.

Some time after midnight, Marie and I sleeping at last, cosy in our beds.. were woken by an excited Dante telling us something about a Ride (Kittiwake).. Him and Joakim had caught a Ride in theyre wee hand held net down on the beach!!!! We all stumbled out of bed and hurried down to the lab, where joakim put a ring on the stunning bird. This was the first ride ever to be caught at the station, and it was quite an event for us! Aside from that.. what a gorgeous creature... it was something quite magic to see it so close, and look into those dark eyes. After releasing the bird back onto the beach, we all retreated back to out beds in awe. 

Only two hours later, we were woken this time by our alarms, and while Dante and Joakim cought up on some precious sleep, Marie, Michele and i made out way over to Jenne So for CES ringing. The weather was not so much on our side: wind blew and the rain was ready to fall, but it was a good morning, with 10 new birds in the nets, and 9 recaptures. A Grå Fluesnapper, Topmejse, Skovskade and Rorsanger were some of the highlights. The weather came in and we closed the nets, in time to meet Michael Anchor, who let us help him ring eight little Musvit chicks nestled in a nest box near the ringing site.. what incredible little beings!! once they were snuggled back into their nest, we headed back through the now very wild weather! 

Excited by the storm, Marie and I couldnt resist the waves and bobbed about in the shallows for a moment. This was by far our most exciting swim here yet.. the sea is so powerful and beautiful.. Anyway.. after this excitement, ringing data was entered and blog posts etc.. and we had a chat with Flemming downstairs.. and then had a good long nap!!

Our new guests, who arrived late last night, were just in time to see the Ride! and then after catching up on sleep, spent the day walking into town and heading out to grenen. After a delicious Pasta Carbonara from Michele, we all headed to bed. A full and brilliant day.

The beautiful outstreatched wing of the Ride.. so elegent!

dark eyes and freckled brow

Ringing at Jenne Sø and Grenen

Ride - 1

Rødhals - 1       

Rørsanger - 1           

Geardesanger - 1         

Munk - 1         

Gransanger - 1                 

GråFluesnapper - 1

Total 7

  People: Hebe Denny, Dante Shepherd, Joakim Matthiensen, Marie Heuberger, Michéle Pes, Simon S Christiansen, Jan Hjorth og Kristine Vik Kleffel

Today started calm, because of the windy weather, only Hebe and Dante went out to observe in the morning and the camera team went with them. The rest of us could sleep long. After a relaxed morning and sleeping until 7 o’clock, which is super late for us, I went out to watch lapwings (they are one of my favorite birds!). I found them quickly and watched them for a while. I saw two adults hanging around and chasing away some Kestrels (Tårnfalk) and Gulls. I tried to find out, where the Lapwing nest is. One time, I thought I found it, but when I walked there, there was nothing. So I went back to my observation point. And after a while a saw a chick! I was so excited to see it, I have never seen lapwing chicks before! Then suddenly another chick appeared. There two tiny and healthy Lapwing chicks!

Excitedly I zelloed the others and Simon told us, we can ring it. Joakim and Michéle hurried to me and we tried to catch it. After one failure, we changed our strategy. I watched the chick through the telescope and told the boys via Zello where to go. And with this strategy we caught the chick! We hurried to ring it to keep the disturbance as short as possible. It was only 91,8 g heavy.  

Ringing (Storsig):

Vibe                1

Total:              1

Folk: Hebe Denny, Dante Shepherd, Joakim Matthiensen, Marie Heuberger, Michéle Pes, Simon S Christiansen, Jan Hjorth og Kristine Vik Kleffel

Hebe and I heard a Thrush Nightingale at Ellekrattet in the morning. What a beautiful song! At the ringing site Michael, Joakim and Marie caught nice variety of warblers including Garden and Icterine. On the last round they caught a Red-breasted Flycatcher! The rarest bird caught in the ringing this year which was enjoyed by a group of assembled birders who came to see it. In the evening Hebe, Joakim and Simon went south to have a guided tour on waders. 32 people showed up and enjoyed a Grey Plover, some Dunlin and lots of seashells!  I cooked pasta pesto for dinner.

Folk: Hebe Denny, Dante Shepherd, Joakim Matthiensen, Marie Heuberger, Michele Pes, Simon S Christiansen, Daviel Krøyef and Alexander Brucki, Jorgen Hulbeck

Ringmarkening Sardinkrattet: 

Rorsanger - 1 

Gulbug - 2

Gaerdesanger - 4

Tornsanger - 1

Havesanger - 3

Munk - 1

Gransanger - 1

Lovsanger - 1 

Lille Fluesnapper - 1

Total 15

This morning me Joakim and Hebe woke up early to open the mist-nets in Grenen at 4:00 am, the weather forecasts are good, it will not be a windy day and we are hopeful. A little later, Simon joins us.

Dante and Marie also wake up early to go to Verdens Ende, to Grenen, to count birds.

As we had hoped, the conditions are good and we catched a good number of birds, including a Northen wheatear and the first Marsh warbler of the season.

We close the nets at 11:00 am, with 21 ringed birds and 5 recaptures, and we return to the Observatory to rest a little.

In the afternoon I update the ringing data in the database, Hebe proposes a super adventurous experience: the exploration of one of the beach bunkers! We are all a bit disappointed, all except Marie, who feels a little at home. Afterwards we have fun helping Marie with an online species recognition quiz.

Later we have a meeting to plan next week's activities.

Shortly afterwards for dinner we welcome two new guests who will stay with us for a few days to do filming during our work, Daviel Krøyef and Alexander Brucki.

Ringing (Sardinkrattet)

- Gransanger - Chiffchaff                    5                        

- Gærdesanger – Lesser whitethroat  2           

- Kærsanger – Marsh warbler             1              

- Rørsanger – Reed warbler               2                                                                              

- Løvsanger – Willow warbler             2  

- Gulbug – Icterine warbler                 1   

- Rørspurv – Reed bunting                 1

- Tornsanger - Whitethroat                 5

- Stenpikker - Northen wheatear        1

- Havesanger – Garden warbler         1

                                                        Tot: 21

Folk: Hebe Denny, Dante Shephard, Joakim Matthiensen, Marie Heuberger, Michele Pes, Simon S Christiansen, Daviel Krøyef and Alexander Brucki.

Comparison between Reed warbler and Marsh warbler

Da vinden i dag var meget kraftigt, mellem 10 og 12 m/s gav det en sjælden mulighed for, at sove længe da nettene ikke kune åbnes, samt at der ikke er mange fugle i luften i sådan et vejr. Det var vi nogle der udnyttede imens andre trodsede den kraftige blæst og begav sad ud på Grenen til morgenobs. 

Som forventeligt blev det ikke til mange fugle på Grenen i dag. Dog blev der set lidt mallemukker, hvilket nu også forvenligt. Men det var dog rigtigt godt. Det var nemlig en helt ny art for Micheal så trods manglen på fugle var hans morgen rigtig godt. De seje morgenobsere vendte dog også tidligt hjem da de måtte indse, at de simpelthen bare var for blæsende. 

Dog skete der også noget ikke forventeligt i dag! Micheal og jeg havde en ringmærkningstur kl 12:00. Der var ikke mange deltagere, ja faktisk ingen, men der havde nu også allerede været en guidet tur kl 11:00. Men altså, nettene i fyrhaven var åbne og igen resulterede vinden i, at vi ikke fangede mange fugle. Vi fangede faktisk kun én. Men det var dog en lille glædelig overaskelse, som ventede os i nettet. Der sad nemlig en blåmejse MED ring i nettet. Det er jo altid sjovt, at fange fugle med ring, for det er jo lidt hele meningen med ringmærkningen. Det viser sig at blåmejsen blev ringmærket her på Skagen fuglestation i august 2017. Den gang var den en nyudfløjen unge. Nu kom den så tilabge næsten to år gammel som en flot han blåmejse. Det var dejligt, at den ville ligge vejen forbi og sige hej. Vi glæder os allerede til næste gang ;) 

Folk: Folk: Hebe Denny, Dante Shephard, Joakim Matthiensen, Marie Heuberger, Michéle Pes, Hans & Inger Meltofte, and Simon S Christiansen.

Blåmejse 3k han, som lagde vejen forbi efter og sagde hej i dag. Dejligt da vi allerede havde ringmærket fulgen i 2017. 

Today began with the usual cracker of a sunrise and only a little breeze in the air. Michael and Joakim headed out to grenen early, where they opened the nets ready for a morning of ringing. Marie and I arrived a little later to find hundreds of mosquitos waiting for us and the boys armed with repellent and some seriously sexy headnets! It turned out to be quite a quiet morning, but a lovely one, with Hans and Ida joining us for a short time, and relaxing in sunspots looking at insects, listening to Michaels vulture stories and watching out for passing birds in between rounds. We even spotted a beautiful Pirole flitting about between trees at one point! Marie had a very exciting end to the morning, with our last bird being a beautiful male Bogfinke which she had never seen in the hand before. They are incredible strong birds upclose, with so much vibrant colouring! Lovely. We also rung our first Rorsanger, which was a sweet suprise. 

Dante meanwhile spent the morning sat out at Verdens end with Rolf and the other observers, and though it was a little quiet there too, he saw some exciting birds as always in Skagen..! The little bit lost Gåsegrib appeared again, aswell as 2 islom, 2 pirole, a Gulirisk and a sortglente.  

Back at the observatory later on in the morning, after doing some tasks for the day, and spotting the vulture through the obs window...!!!  Marie and i went for a quick and blissful swim in the sea, and then headed off for a wander in the beautiful sunshine and Joakim and Michael opened the garden nets to try to catch some birds for Hans and Ida to see some ringmaerking before they went home. Sadly nothing came to the nets, and it was time to say goodbye to Hans and Ida again. It was so lovely to have them back!! The wind started to pick up in the afternoon and so we all took the chance to take a nap and catch up on a little sleep. I tried to do this on the beach.. resulting in sand absutly everywhere and sunburn. oops. But it was lovely all the same.. i was woken at one point by the call of a Hepsevage passing over the sea.. and interesting suprise!! 

In the evening, our new guests Hans and Inga arrived, having travelled up to the Hirtshalls nature meeting, were simon also spent the past few days. They arrived to a very windy skagen!!! Simon came back a little later on and told us a little about what he had been up to the past few days.. teaching some school classes visiting schools, giving a talk about life vollunteering at Skagen Fuglestation! 

After battling the wind by bike into town for ingrediants, Michael created a delicious creamy mushroomy pasta for dinner and then after some evening wandering we eventually all got to sleep!

Another exciting day in skagen!! 

Sunrise shadows at the ringing tent 

Ringing (Sardinkrattet and Jenne So)

Bogfinke - 1

Tornsanger -  6

Rørsanger - 1

Gærdesanger - 6

Gaerdesmutte - 1

løvsanger - 2

Musvit - 2

Sum: 19

Folk: Hebe Denny, Dante Shephard, Joakim Matthiensen, Marie Heuberger, Michéle Pes, Hans & Ida, Hans & Inger, Rolf Christensen and Simon S Christiansen.