Ulysses and me opened the nets at Kabeltromlen at 5:30 o’clock today, we had a successful morning with a lot of birds. We had some local visitors at the ringing site, Jan Spiermann, Jørgen Kabel his wife Agnete and their dog Igor as well as Erik Christophersen. Kirsten got to ring her last bird of her stay, a beautiful male Redstart (Rødstjert) she will leave us tomorrow after she stayed at the lighthouse for one week and helped us with the ringing. Rosalina went out observing with Knud and they counted some Razobills (Alk) and Red-Troated Divers (Rødstrubet Lom).

In the afternoon we cleaned the apartment and the laboratory after that we had our evening meeting and finished our planning for our mission to catch and ring some Storm Petrels (Lille Stromvale) tonight.

Ringmærkning – Kabeltromlen

Rørsanger – 3

Gærdesanger – 4

Løvsanger – 9

Tornsanger – 4

Skovskade – 1

Rødstjert – 3

Skovpiber – 2

Munk – 1

Broget Fluesnapper – 1

Ringmærkning - Fyrhaven

Rødstjert - 1

Total – 29

Folk på stationen: Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre, Augustin Sticksel, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Kirsten Bregn, Erik Christophersen, Jan Spiermann, Jørgen Kabel.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

What an eventful day!! It was the best day at Jennes Sø (the Constant Effort Site we visit every 8 to 10 days) so far this year with a whooping 49 birds over the 6 hours. Crested tits (topmejse), redstarts (rødsjert), a Eurasian jay (skovskade), many chiffchaffs and willow warblers (gransager og løvsanger).

However, we had an incident in the first round with a nest of wild wasps that had settled next to one of the mist nets since the last time we were here. Rosalina got stung on the leg and was escorted back to the lighthouse by Kirsten. Oluf was also stung 4 times: being allergic, Simon rushed him home and called an ambulance. At the end of the day, scares but nothing severe. Both wasp attack victims are safe and sound and ready for another day at Skagen Fuglestation.

Moments before the wasps...

We are sad to report that a saboteur has been cutting some of the nets, affecting our ringing project. Let’s hope this does not happen again and we’ll put up signs to remind people that the ringing we accomplish is a scientific project that should not be tampered with. Any modification on the nets can be harmful for the birds.

Mathilde left us after a month and a half at the station, migrating in her own way back to university in the UK.

Ringmærkning – Jennes Sø

Rørsanger – 2

Gærdesanger – 5

Gærdesmutte – 1

Løvsanger – 8

Gransanger – 9

Tornsanger – 3

Blåmejse – 1

Skovskade – 1

Rødstjert – 4

Havesanger – 1

Musvit – 2

Skovpiber – 1

Munk – 1

Lille Gråsisken - 3

Ringmærkning - Det Grå Fyr 

Tornsanger - 1

Total –  43

Folk på stationen: Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre, Augustin Sticksel, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Kirsten Bregn, Oluf Lou, Philip og Jaenette.

I dag var en mere succesrig dag på Kabeltromlen end i går, i hvert fald ift. antallet af fugle. Kirsten, Augustine, Mathilde, Simon og mig selv var ring-holdet i dag, og det var en meget fin og succesrig tur, hvilket var heldigt da det var min første tur på Kabeltromlen. De andre var meget behjælpelige og jeg følte mig meget tryg og var også beæret da jeg fik lov til at skrive data ned i mappen – det kunne jeg godt lide.

Kirsten, Simon, Augustine og Mathilde ringmærkede 35 fugle i dag og iblandt dem var bl.a. en smuk Stenpikker, og en lille Gærdesmutte.
Et par stykker af de andre var var på natfangst natten til idag dog uden resultat, men de kom meget tæt på en dværgryle. Måske bedre held i morgen nat? Til gengæld gav morgenobsen Ulysses og Knud omkring 60 Storkjover.

Og så fandt Simon på dagens gode ide – et bælte som kan bruges til at bære fugleposerne:

Ringmærkning Kabeltromlen:

Solsort - 1

Rørsanger - 1

Løvsanger - 13

Gulbug - 1

Blåmejse - 2

Gærdesanger - 3

Broget Fluesnapper - 2

Rødstjert - 3

Tornsanger - 1

Gransanger - 3

Stenpikker - 1

Total - 31

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre, Augustin Sticksel, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen and Kirsten Bregn.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

this morning me and Rosalina were observing with Knud at the top of Denmarks. Over night a big lake formed on the beach and we could observe many waders, for example, little stints, grey plovers and oystercatchers. We also saw some seals and two black-tailed godwits on the beach. Ulysses, Mathile, Kirsten and Simon were ringing Kabeltromlen, unfortunately, there were not many birds in the nets today.

In the afternoon Simon took Mathilde and me to town because Mathilde had a covid test for her flight home the day after tomorrow. Afterwards we looked for butterflies and wasp spiders. Me and Ulysses are going night chatting with the new Thermalscope at the lake on the beach and hopefully catch some waders.

Ringmærkning – Kabeltrommlen

Gulbug – 1

Rørsanger – 1

Gærdesanger – 1

Løvsanger – 1

Tornsanger – 5

Skovpiber – 2

Stenpikker – 1

Total – 14

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre, Augustin Sticksel, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen and Kirsten Bregn.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

In the late evening, Augustin and Simon went out night catching. No birds were caught. However, they had fun trying out the new thermal binocular whith which they saw bats, a fow, some waders and a seal. This meant a long outing. Ulysses and I woke up to check the weather to see whether ringing would be possible, sadly too much wind meant today we had to miss out on ringing.

Apart from wind, the weather was very nice which meant observations were still on. Augustin and Rosalina headed out at half five to World’s End 3 to meet with Knud. I joined them at half seven. The observations were successful with the usual hundreds of scoters (sortand) and gannets (sule). There was also a surprising number of fulmars (mallemuk) and great skuas (storkjove) out today. Some highlight species were 2 resting ruffs (brushane), 1 black guillemot (tejst) and 2 artic skuas (almindelig kjove). A grey seal was also spotted. I took some time off from observing to take some pictures of birds. The flock of sanderlings were being very tame and photogenic.

In the afternoon, we had a second session on moult, particularly on moult cards and split moults. It was really nice to be able to go through and it be explained in more detail. Ulysse and Rosalina set up two extra nets in reeds in the hopes of attracting sedge warblers (sivsanger) and other reed dwelling birds. Kirsten is making diner tonight and Ulysse is making desert for Augustin’s birthday.

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre, Augustin Sticksel, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen and Kirsten Bregn.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

While the night catching that Mathilde and I went on was sadly unfruitful, we caught a lot of birds this morning for our short but intense ringing session. It included my first redstart (rødjstert) of my stay and numerous willow warblers (løvsanger). We, unfortunately, had to stop early as Simon had to leave early.

In the afternoon we had a small quiz about bird identification and watched a video on moult and aging in local passerines. A very useful insight from Simon for the upcoming migration in autumn. We also learned about a new aging technique regarding the skull of juvenile birds.

Today we also welcome our new volunteer, Rosalina who will stay with us for a few months: she will be mentored by Augustin for the first week so that she can learn what she needs.

Kærsanger – 1

Gærdesanger – 5

Løvsanger – 10

Rørsanger – 4

Munk – 3

Tornsanger – 6

Rødstjert – 1

Rørspurv – 2

Total 32

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre, Augustin Sticksel, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen og Kirsten Bregn.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

Last night two of my friends from my hometown arrived here and we went night catching but unfortunately didn’t catch anything, we only saw a seal pup on the beach. They joined us this morning when we went out observing, after that we went grocery shopping and took a nap. After our early evening meeting, we cleaned the apartment and I went out to the beach with my friends, they left before dinner to catch their ferry to Sweden where they will go canoeing for ten days.

Simon went to the beach to record some videos for youtube with Pernille Roed and her three children. In the afternoon Kirsten, our new guest in the apartment arrived she will be joining us in the ringing during her stay at the station and I prepared some spinach lasagna for us.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre,  Augustin Sticksel og Kirsten Bregn.

Last night’s night catching wasn’t able to take place because of the great weather: cloudless and windless night. This changed in the morning where the wind was strong and rain clouds were coming in. The bad weather meant we all got to sleep in. The rest of the morning was filled with admin work: sorting out the picture archive, analysing the sound recording and sorting out data inputting errors. Saturday also meant cleaning day: the lab and flat. Augustin and Ulysse went out each to cut the reed and shrubs around the nets and paths at Jennes Sø and Kabeltrommlen. I went out to the tip to try and photograph some of the waders present.

In the evening, Augustin and I went out to see if we could find some lesser black-backed gulls. We tried to see  if any of them had rings but most were sitting or the flowers blocked the view. We did manage to catch one of the previous ringed plover chicks. It was nice to see them doing well. While we were out, Ulysses prepared dinner: pizzas. Two of Augustin's friends arrived to stay the night.

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre og Augustin Sticksel.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen

Today we… went ringing again!! Augustin and Mathilde opened the nets, and we all found a beautiful surprise in the first rounds: a juvenile barred warbler (høgesanger), the first of the season. Sadly, even though the cloudy weather was supposedly very adequate, the ringing was very slow placed: only 14 birds found their way to our nets.  

Simon animated a ringing tour for 2 families in the beginning of the afternoon to demonstrate and explain ringing techniques to the public. The nets of the old Lighthouse Garden were opened, and a single whitethroat (tornsanger) was ringed over the hour.

It rained for most of the afternoon, so we were not able to go out to Kabeltromlen to trim the growing vegetation around some of the mist nets and make way for a new net in the reed area.

If the weather doesn’t clear too much, Augustin and I will probably go night-catching around the tip of Grenen, looking for waders (vadefugle) or terns (terner).

Ringmærkninge – Kabeltrommlen

Høgesanger – 1

Tornsanger – 3

Munk – 1

Rørsanger – 3

Løvsanger – 5

Kærsanger – 1

Solsort – 1

Gærdesanger – 1

Ringmærkning - Fyrhaven

Tornsanger - 1

Total – 17

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre og Augustin Sticksel.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen 

The day started slightly later for Augustin and me as Ulysse volunteered to open all the nets by himself. The morning started off well with half a dozen birds at each round but it was sadly cut short because of rain coming in. No special birds but the first pied flycatcher (broget fluesnapper) was seen close to the nets! We also got very excited about a Norwegian ringed reed warbler (rørsanger).

As it was raining, this meant nap time for us! The after was spent entering data, analysing the night recording, checking data and sorting out the photo archive. In the evening we opened the nets and so far have had 3 birds. The guests were kind enough to make us diner: corn on the cob, tortilla and pancakes.

Ringmærkninge – Kabeltrommlen

Havesanger – 2

Tornsanger – 6

Munk – 2

Rørsanger – 2

Løsanger – 4

Kærsanger – 4

Gærdesmutte – 1

Gulspurv – 1

Ringmærkninge – Fyrhaven

Tornsanger – 2

Gulspurv – 1

Total – 25

Folk på stationen: Mathilde Ducroz, Simon S Christiansen, Ulysse Reverre og Augustin Sticksel.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra Dofbasen af fugle i Skagen