Early this morning, we continued our efforts to catch Lille Stormsvale (European Storm Petrels) and Natravn (Nightjars) on the beach and near the lighthouse. We checked our nets every 45 minutes, hoping to find a bird in one of them, but unfortunately we were unsuccessful. A lot of interested people showed up to come with us on our rounds, which created a sense of community and helped us stay awake through the night. Mette even brought us some delicious cupcakes, which helped give everyone some extra strength.

It felt like no time at all before we saw the sun coming up in the east – at this time of year, the nights are so short that we only had a few hours of complete darkness in which to catch nocturnal birds. Although we didn’t catch anything, we hope to try again at some point!
Around 04:00, Lucas, Benjamin, Myrthe, and Seán headed out to Grenen to do some seawatching. Myrthe headed home a bit early, which turned out to be a wise decision – as soon as she left, the others were caught in a sudden rain shower and were forced to return to the lighthouse.
Later in the day, I went for a walk along the beach and saw two Almindelig Kjove (Arctic Skuas). There were also plenty of Fjordterne (Common Tern) and Almindelig Ryle (Dunlin). While I was out, Lucas and Myrthe visited the Natravn nest to remove some twigs that were in the way of the camera. The parent birds were still incubating eggs, which will hopefully hatch soon.
Finally, Lucas, Benjamin and I washed some of our bikes to keep them in good condition. Then Myrthe cooked us a delicious dinner, and we are now getting ready for ringing at the CES site tomorrow. Who knows what we might catch?

People: Lucas Corneliussen, Benjamin Bech, Asia Kane, Myrthe Van Brempt, Simon S. Christiansen, Mette Christensen, Seán Walsh, Ragnar Smith, Sakari Kauppinen, Nicolai Jeppesen, Mark Desholm & co 

 Link to today's observations

Hellow!

It was raining early this morning so we all slept in and took it easy. After breakfast I went for a nice walk to Grenen and North Beach when the sun was out. And guess what I encountered on the beach? A dead harbour porpoise!

Dead harbour porpoise on the beach.

In the afternoon I worked on the photo archive and so did Simon. Few days ago we have put a webcam on the nightjar nest and they are still doing good. We can see the female sitting on the nest, even though some branches fell down in front of the camera... Hopefully the chicks hatch soon! In this video you can see how the male replaces the female on the nest.

Knud Pedersen notified us about a Sandwich Tern (Splitterne) that was ringed at Agger Tange on the west coast of Denmark in 2020.This winter (february 2024) it was observed in Namibia! And now read again here at Grenen a few days ago! That's pretty damn cool, isn't it?

Matte and Sean are joining us tonight when we try catch storm petrels (Lille stormsvale) on the beach, so exciting! We had a lovely dinner together with Mette and the apartment guests (Mark & co) and then opened nets on the beach as well as the nightjar nests across the road.

Now we are eagerly waiting for storm petrels and nightjars in the nets while having a beer and watching football.

Let's all pray for storm petrels now!

Bye!

People at SKAF: Lucas Corneliussen, Benjamin Bech, Asia Kane, Myrthe Van Brempt, Simon S. Christiansen, Mette Christensen, Seán Walsh, Ragnar Smith, Sakari Kauppinen, Nicolai Jeppesen, Mark Desholm & co :)

Link to today's observations from observers in the area

Today once again started out quite late in the day. With not much happening on the ringing side, and only a few more days until the standard begins for daily observations, we took the time to sleep in and rest up. However, we got some great news recently! We finally received the funding to purchase new bicycles to support our withering stock. So around 11 AM, Simon arrived at the station to take us to town to pick up our new bikes!!! Hallelujah! They are fantastic. We got 2 new city bikes with baskets and three Mountain bikes (although one unfortunately did not arrive yet).

Arriving back at the station around noon we made a quick lunch (Pølse from the kiosk!) before opening the Fyr Havn nets for the tour (no one came). This gave us the opportunity to fix the nets that needed fixing and take down a net with extreme damage. The rest of the afternoon was filled with chores which needed to be down around the station. We had been procrastinating fixing the holes in some of the waders, only to find all three pairs had holes in the boot and were beyond repairable. What a shame. Myrthe, Benjamin and I then headed out to Kabeltrommelen to go and check the nets after the storm and fix the tent. Thank goodness it was in decent shape. Mark made dinner tonight which consisted of potatoes and vegetarian sausage! It was very good. Thank you Mark! And so, another day passes - what will tomorrow bring? We will have to wait and see.

Vi Ses!

People at SKAF: Lucas Corneliussen, Benjamin Bech, Asia Kane, Myrthe Van Brempt, Simon S. Christiansen, Mark & co :)

Link to today's observations from observers in the area

Hej alle sammen,

I dag stod vi op kl. 03:45 for at komme ud til Grenen, fordi vi tænkte, der ville komme nogle spændende fugle ude over vandet efter så mange dages stormvejr. De første 30 minutter var fine nok; der var nogle mallemukker (fulmars) og 5, måske 6, alm. kjover (arctic skua), og så dagens højdepunkt: 7 dværgryler (little stint), som kom flyvende ind fra vandet og fortsatte mod sydøst.

Efter det var der ikke meget at skrive hjem om. Der kom en bjergvipstjert (grey wagtail), og det var det. Lucas ventede lige en times tid med at gå hjem, mens mig, Myrthe og Asia tog hjem, spiste noget morgenmad og lagde os til at sove igen. Lucas så en sølvhejre (great egret) i den time, han var der, ellers så han ikke noget.

Photo: Knud Pedersen

Efter vi havde sovet til middag, tog Lucas og Myhrte ind for at handle alle de mange ting, vi ikke havde, så nu kan vi også få mad i denne uge . Jeg havde ikke så meget at lave, nu hvor jeg ikke engang kunne se Tour de France i dag. Her til aften har vi været ude og sætte et vildtkamera op nede ved en natravnrede. Det var mega fedt! Da den lettede, endte den med at skide på mig, så i morgen kommer vi til at se noget godt (hvis I forstår sådan en lille en).

Vi ses!

People at SKAF: Lucas Corneliussen, Benjamin Bech, Asia Kane, Myrthe Van Brempt, Simon S. Christiansen, Knud Pedersen, Mark & co :)

Link to today's observations from observers in the area

It’s an understatement to just say it is windy today; it is crazy windy! You literally get blown away when you walk outside and so are the sandwich terns (Splitterne). It is very nice to watch them play in the wind though. They are working so hard to get a yummy meal.

We all slept in this morning and took it easy today. I went for a walk to Grenen and did some morning yoga on the beach. It felt really good except for the wind sandblasting my legs and hurting my eyes. ;p

Photo: Benjamin.

Even though it is so windy outside, the sun is still out sometimes and it is actually a pretty nice day. We all relaxed in the afternoon and went for a walk out once in a while. Asia enjoyed a really good view of a common tern (Fjordterne) and the surprise of a frog crossing the road. Benjamin took his camera outside and got some great photos of sandwich terns while Lucas worked on some data. I took the opportunity of free time to paint some birds for my bird sticker project while listening to a podcast. And then our new guests arrived in the apartment next doors, welcome!

Little bird paintings I made for my bird sticker project. Let me know if you have a bird request :)

After filling our stomachs with a lovely pasta made by Lucas, we discussed our plans for tomorrow. Luckily, it is going to be a way more eventful day than today. Oof! At least we will be rested well and can concur the coming week of early set alarms for counting and ringing. Great times are coming!

As every day, there were some common eiders (Edderfugl) and a common guillemot (Lomvie) roosting on the bunker. Look at that juvenile sandwich tern (Splitterne) photobombing :)

Now, we are about to start a game of birds every birder gets excited about: wingspan! Let’s get the bird cards out and lay some eggs.

Chiao!

People at SKAF: Lucas Corneliussen, Benjamin Bech, Asia Kane, Myrthe Van Brempt, Mark & co :)

Link to today's observations from observers in the area

The weekend began bright and early. Myrthe, Asia and I woke up at half past 03:00 AM and we found ourselves waiting for the morning rain to pass before we headed out to Worlds End 3. Benjamin was feeling ill and decided not to join us this morning - rookie mistake. And so, the three musketeers left Det Grå Fyr for the morning. Arriving at 04:30 AM, we watched several Almindelig Kjove (Arctic Skua), harassing the terns at the tip of Grenen before continuing their migration.

The morning continued, and fortunately, the weather held so we were able to get a few decent hours of observations in before the forecasted weather arrived. Our efforts were rewarded with a Storkjove (Great Skua) flying southwest. What a nice bird! At 0600 AM, Asia and Myrthe decided to head back to the station while I continued for another hour in the brutal wind. Birding with a new companion, I could feel the lack of migration in my bones. With the rain rapidly approaching, I too headed home after a three hour session in the cold. 

The only sun we saw all day

Midday at the station was slow today – all of us took a nice long nap to rest up and “defrost” from the morning and we said goodbye to out absolutely wonderful guests: have a great trip home Linda og Jeppe! Please come again soon! The rest of the day was filled with torrential rainfall for 99% of the afternoon and evening only letting up for 10 minutes maximum around 9 PM. Myrthe then made a very nice soup for dinner - Good Soup! And so another day passes at SKAF, what will tomorrow bring? We will have to see.

Vi ses!

People at SKAF: Lucas Corneliussen, Benjamin Bech, Asia Kane, Myrthe Van Brempt, Jeppe & Linda.

Link to today's observations from observers in the area

The start of the start began when the clock struck midnight. Myrthe and I enjoyed the music festival in town with Lisa and Simon and then we cycled home to Det Grå Fyr after a very nice evening of festivities. Arriving back at the lighthouse at 12:30 AM, we decided we would head out to Grenen in the hopes of catching some Dunlin (Ryle) on the beach. Unfortunately, despite our efforts, the weather conditions were not in our favor and the birds were able to detect us long before we were able to get close enough to them. Arriving back at the station around 03:00 AM, we went to bed defeated.

The sleep we got tonight was unfortunately undeserved, but needed nonetheless. Myrthe and our fabulous guests, Jeppe and Linda, went for a walk out to Grenen in the mid-morning only to be rained on by a strong thunderstorm. The story of the day - lots and lots of random periodic rain. Although, despite the rain, we still were able to complete a task that we had been procrastinating for the past week: FIXING THE BIKE! We finally did it (with the help of ‘Batman’ - otherwise known as Simon). Thank you for the help Simon!

The afternoon from my perspective was compromised of rest and studying of the moult patterns of the species we could possibly catch and ring in the coming weeks! Then the fun came, Jeppe and Linda took Benjamin to Netto to buy what he needed for dinner, PIZZA! We all made some great home-made pizzas which were quite nice and watched the Germany-Spain Euros match, What a great game. Tomorrow we head out for  morning observations at dawn - we will have to see what we find.

Vi Ses!

People at SKAF: Lucas Corneliussen, Benjamin Bech, Asia Kane, Myrthe Van Brempt, Simon S. Christensen, Jeppe & Linda.

Link to today's observations from observers in the area

Hello everyone,

Today was a quiet day with not so much to do. There was bad weather in the morning, with rain and strong winds, so we decided to sleep in a bit. Then we tried to fix some waders and repair a broken bike. Unfortunately, the waders turned out to be damaged beyond repair, so they will have to be used as scrap. As for the bike, we had some trouble fixing it, so we’ll have to come back to that later.

We’ve also been working on adding strings to the world map to connect every pin with Skagen. Our world map shows where all of our volunteers come from, and up to this point we’ve had volunteers from 3 different continents. I put the finishing touches on it today, and I must say I think it looks quite nice now!

Lucas and Myrthe went into town for the music festival and spent several hours enjoying the music. While they were gone, Benjamin and I had dinner with our lovely guests, Jeppe and Linda. Afterwards, we walked along the beach and saw a ringed Rødstrubet lom (Red-throated Diver), which came close enough for us to get some excellent views. It would be interesting to know where this bird was ringed, but we couldn’t read the number.

People: Myrthe Van Brempt, Lucas Corneliussen, Benjamin Bech, Asia Kane, Jeppe and Linda, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin

Link to today's observations from observers in the area

I dag startede det med at vi skulle ud klokken 03:00 fordi vi skulle ud til  Sarvsøen og lave CES ringmærkning. Vores gæster Linda og Jeppe tog med os ud for at se hvordan det er at ringmærke. Simon kom og hentede de ting vi skulle have med og tog også Asia og Myrte med, mig og Lucas kørte med Jeppe og Linda vi åbnede nettene kl 04:00. der var ikke så mange forskellige fugle i nettet i dag de 2 primære arter var rørsanger (reed wabler) tornsanger (whitethroat) vi aflæste også en gærdesanger (lesser whitethroat) som var ringmærket i 2017 som en 2k hvilket vil sige den er omkring 8 år i dag! Det er faktisk meget gammelt. Den ældste registrerede Gærdesanger på verdensplan er 10 år. Vi hørte en Karmindompap (Rosefinch) kunne høres synge derude mellem runderne.

På Grenen var der melding om at gårdagens Lille Kjove (Long-tailed Skua) stadig var på plads. Da vi kom hjem, spiste vi noget frokost. Lucas meldte alle vores fugle fra ringmærkningen ind og efter det tog vi alle sammen en velfortjent middagslur. Da vi vågende kom Simon og vi meldte alt det andet vi havde set ind og tjekkede om vi havde overset noget. Asia lavede aftensmad som smagte virkelig godt. I morgen går vi en lidt kedelig dag i møde med en masse blæst og regn så vi kan ikke komme ud og ringmærke, men tilgængelig kan vi jo tage ud og se hvad der sker ude over havet.

Det var alt jeg havde på hjerte for i dag

Vi ses


Ringmærkning (CES Skarvsøen)
Gransanger (Chiffchaff) 1
Solsort (Blackbird) 1
Tornsager (C. Whitethroat) 7
Rørsanger (Reed wabler) 1
Munk (Blackcap) 1
Gærdesanger (Lesser Whitethroat) 2

Sum: 13

Folk på fuglestationen:  Myrthe Van Brempt ,Lucas Corneliussen, Asia Kane, Benjamin Bech, Jeppe & Linda, Simon S. Christiansen

Today’s observations in Dofbasen from observers in the area.

Hello folks!

We started the day with a beautiful sunrise and some cool observations at Grenen. Already on our way in, Lucas spotted a male serin (Gulirisk)! And so this wonderful day began.

We (Lucas, Benjamin and I) started counting at 4:05 am and Asia joined us a bit later. There were many Kittiwake (Ride), some red-throated loons (Rødstrubet lom) and surprisingly few Northern Fulmars (Mallemuk) flying over today. It was lovely to see a bunch of foraging gannets (Sule) and also sandwich terns (Splitterne) were feasting on fish.

The usually present reed bunting (Rørspurv) was again singing loudly as well as a yellowhammer (Gulspurv). We counted for 2 hours and just before we were heading back to the station, we enjoyed the view of a Red-backed shrike (Rødrygget tornskade). 

Lucas continued to World ends 3 and spotted 3 arctic skuas (Almindelig kjove) who went along the beach to harass some terns. He also observed few black-throated divers (sortstrubede lom), a Common Rosefinch (Karmindompap) and the first long-tailed skua (lille kjove) of the autumn!

Photo: Knud Pedersen

What a great start of the day! In the afternoon we all took a little nap. Benjamin and I went to visit the exhibition and climbed up to see the view from the lighthouse.

Our lovely guests in the apartment, Jeppe and Linda, had a relaxing day at the beach before going grocery shopping. Then Benjamin showed them how to use the telescope and they got some good views of the common eider (Ederfugl) and common ringed plover (Stor præstekrave). Benjamin also tried to catch some butterflies but sadly it was too windy.

Right now, the house is smelling amazing as Jeppe and Linda cooked us a delicuous dinner. We prepared our equipment for ringing tomorrow morning and that’s a wrap for today!

People: Myrthe Van Brempt ,Lucas Corneliussen, Asia Kane, Benjamin Bech, Jeppe & Linda, Simon S. Christiansen

link to today's observations from volunteers and local observers.