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.

The day began with a bittersweet morning. Before the sun rose over Grenen; Simon, Sean, Myrthe and I headed out to Worlds End 1 (Grenen) for one last morning observation together. Unfortunately, 1 of the four bikes we have had a flat tire so Simon made the walk out to the point enjoying the area for the last time for the foreseeable future. 

We as a collective arrived a few minutes before 04:00 AM and began counting. The number of Northern Fulmars (Mallemuk) were decent within the first hour totalling close to 60 individuals. Small numbers of three species of auks flew by the point at various points of the morning and a beautiful, bright red, singing male Common Rosefinch (Karmindompap) sang atop a small tree. 

As Simon and Sean needed to be back at Det Grå Fyr to pack their remaining belongings and prepare for the southerly journeys, we made our way back to the Lighthouse. By 10:00 AM, the departure of our esteemed volunteers came and we said goodbye to Sean and Simon! We wish you both luck in Aalborg and Germany respectively! Ill miss you guys. The next few hours of the day consisted of preparing for the arrivals of the new volunteer crew and finalizing data from the spring season.

The afternoon arrived and so did Benjamin, our new 15 year old volunteer for Fyn who will be here for the next month as well as Asia, who arrived from the UK and will be here until the middle of August. 

Later in the afternoon, Simon led an introductory meeting and introduced us all to each other before beginning to review the necessary documents and Simons famous guidelines for working at Skagen Fuglestation.

Simon teaching his new disciples

Myrthe made a nice meal for dinner and Benjamin went out in the evening and found a nice Arctic Tern (Haveterne), Sortstrubet Lom (Black-throated Diver), and a pair of Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove).

And so, another day passes at SKAF! Welcome to the new volunteers - lets find some good birds!

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

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

Hi everyone!

Like all good things, also the stay of the last spring-team volunteers comes to an end. To celebrate for one last time together, we four volunteers, Mette and my family (who is visiting right now) went to watch the football match between Denmark and Germany. After a short period the game was stopped due to a thunderstorm. In the meanwhile, the weather in Skagen was great so we used the break to go on top of the lighthouse for one last time. The view was beautiful!

Afterwards the match continued. There were some close off-sides, which kept it tensioned until the german team did, what Isis and I hoped, they will do – they scored a goal! Finally, they won. The disappointment from our danish fans flew away quickly and we continued our party with some beers, music and good mood until 01:30 am.

While we were watching the game, Lisa had a guided tour at Sandmilen. Two adults joined with three childreen to hear, see and learn about Nightjars (Natravn). It was super succesfull – the nightjars showed up well, so they could see them flying and sitting. The highlight was one, clapping its wings. It is a great species and I am sure, this amazed not just the childreen.

After a long sleep I woke up and decided to take a shower. While undressing me, Simon Sr. called. For a second I was not sure if I should take the call or ignore it, but I took it. This was the right decision, because he told me that the Rosy Starling (Rosenstær) at Gyvelmarkerne was seen again.

Séan and I were the only volunteers awake and Lars had two seats free, so we directly left. A few minutes later we arrived at the spot and there it was: my first Rosy Starling (Rosenstær)!!! The beautiful adult bird was foraging with Common Starlings on the ground of the wet field. It was super good to see, but unfortunately it disappeared soon after. Later Lucas arrived and also got a short glimpse of the bird.

Thanks to Werner Larsson, that we can show you his great pictures of the bird here!! He also got one in flight:

Simon Sr. even managed to get a sound recording of its higher pitched call:

That’s cool, isn’t it?

At Gyvelmarkerne we met some Locals, who became good friends over the season. It was a good opportunity to say goodbye to them. Knud told us, that the Pigeon we gave to him yesterday is doing well and started feeding, after being very tired yesterday. That’s good news!

In the noon, my family and I went to Skagen Bakery, since they did not know the typical danish Strawberry Cake. They – me included – really enjoyed it. This bakery is great!

Back at the station Seán had a session about the ageing of Common Whitethroats (Tornsanger). This was very helpful. We already learned much about the species during ringing in spring, but now in summer ageing gets more difficult, since the feature are less visible due to incresingly worn feathers. It is always fun to discuss ageing of birds, because it helps you a lot to improve your skills.

Then Simon Sr. and I had my final talk. We reflected the season and thought about ways to improve the station life. In my opinon this Fuglestation is already a fantastic place and it is really nice, that it is „alive“ and open for new ideas. Since it is the last complete day for me here, I had to finish some tasks, we cleaned the apartment and Seán wrote into the Guest Book. Nice new guests arrived and we had our last evening meeting with them. We just finished a nice dinner and in twenty minutes, we bring Isis to the train station. It feels so weird to leave soon.

Isis on her way to the train on her migration to Canada with stops in Belgium and Panama. Have a really good trip!

Those are the last words, I will write here for now. My time at Skagen Fuglestation is over, but I’m sure I will be back! After 8,5 months at this place it is time to go back to normal life, to study and deal with „normal human stuff“. Looking back on this time, there are many great birds to remember. Super rare birds like Sandhill Crane (Prærietrane), Steppe Eagle (SteppeØrn) or my best ever selffound (together with Hans) – Denmark’s first ever Eastern Yellow Wagtail (Østlig Gul Vipstjert). Rare birds in the hand like Blyth’s Pipit (Mongolskpiber), Great Snipe (Tradækker) and European Stormpetrel (Lille Stormsvale). Super pretty birds like the adult male Pallid Harriers (Steppehøg) or the Citrine Wagtail (Citronenvipstjert). Nature events like Nothern lights. Pretty birds in hand like Greenish Warbler (Lundsanger) and Short-eared Owl (Mosehornugle). All those amazing memories would not be the same without one factor – the amazing (!) people at the Bird Observatory! Thanks to all the volunteers I could spend short or long time together, thanks to the locals and thanks to Simon Sr. for your great job - you make all this fun possible! Sharing those great birds and moments with you was the best! I can’t wait to see you all again, whereever that will be!

Wow, this was enough sentimentally – to end my last blog here I will share some of my humour with you: Pranks we did to Simon Sr. (and some of them he did not even notice them yet):

The Hayley-has-the-stay-in-Sweden-prank:

When coming back from Sweden, we told everyone that Hayley got arrested in Sweden, based on a misleading video. Magnus and Seán fell for it and were ready to go to Sweden to pick her up.

The Easter-prank:

For Easter Simon Sr. hid five easter sweets in the lighthouse garden – one for each of us. We found all of them, but when he asked, if we found all of them, we answered „Yeah, we’ve got all six“. Even a week later he told us, that he could not remember to put six sweets in the garden.

The Rubber-Duck-prank:

I installed a „virus“ on Magnus’s and the stations laptop, which replaces some of the pictures in the web browser with pictures of rubber ducks. When scrolling through dofbasen, facebook or instragram, there were always rubber ducks. Always! This was a big laugh and some people (Magnus) did believe that it is a real virus for longer than a week.

The Label-prank:

We labeled several things in the apartment. Including one, the stations head will never find, but the volunteers see every day. A tradition to be continued by the next volunteers.

The Can’t-come-through-the-door-prank:

One day when Simon Sr. arrived Magnus put a chair on the inside of the door, so when Simon unlocked it with the keychip, he could not open it. Due to the construction of the doorhandle you could still press it down (so you could not feel that the chair was blocking the doorhandle on the other side) but not open the door. When we took the chair away at some point, Simon finally made his way into the apartment. Instead of believing our comment „probably just the keypad did not work“, he took the conclusion „this door is definitly broken“, went to the aethic quickly, took some tools and started unscrewing the door. When we repeated this prank later, Simon noticed that the not-working doors might be caused by us – with this he was completely right!

Skifta! 

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

 Sum of observations of raptors on DOFbasen from today.

People: Isis Khalil, Seán Walsh, Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Kiesé, Linda and Jeppe Rørbæk, Lars Bo, Lisa Vergin and Simon S. Christiansen.

Coming to the end of the spring team's term, we're beginning to find it hard to occupy ourselves and decide what to do. If we go ringing, it turns out obscenely poor and we begin to question why we bothered to open nets. Like yesterday, I decided I would at least go out to count birds at Grenen; it may be the last chance I got to do that. 

Since I was already awake, I went out a little before sunrise, not really expecting anything, but I was rewarded with an early morning appearance of a Shag (Topskarv). This species is very rare in June, but their increasing population means increasing summer records. It has been the third Shag this June, two seen by me and one by Knud.

The rest of the count went by normally. There was one anomaly, an adult Herring Gull (Sølvmåge) that seemed to be melanistic (excess melanin pigment in its plumage) around most of its body.

Sparrowhawk (Spurvehøg) on Grenen Strand this morning

Later, while Isis was making dinner (amazing Shawarma), she happened to look outside the window and see a pigeon. While not an uncommon occurance in Skagen, seeing one huddled against the laboratory wall made it seem sick. So we went outside and hand caught it. It was tame, likely tired and hungry. It also had rings on it, to show that someone owed them. The rings showed that the bird, named Taurus, came from Sweden. Since it has lived all it's life in capitivity, making it as far as Skagen from Sweden was quite the feat. No wonder it was as tired as it was. We tried releasing the bird after checking it out, but it would not go far and allowed us to catch it again. We were very grateful when Knud came to pick the pigeon up to rehabilitate it.

And that's it. Lucas awaits the arrival of the new Autumn team, and the beginning of the Autumn ringing and observing season.

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

 Sum of observations of raptors on DOFbasen from today.

People: Isis Khalil, Seán Walsh, Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Kiesé, Knud Pedersen, Lars Bo and Simon S. Christiansen

Hello again! Unfortunately, this will be my last blog for the season, so I wanted to start off by saying thank you to everyone; from all the wonderful people who joined us at the station, to all the visitors we had at Kabeltromlen, to the birds, the bugs, and everything in between, Skagen is a very special place and I’m grateful to have called it home this season. While I can’t make promises, I hope to come back sometime and reconnect with this wonderful community again. 

Moving on to our regular scheduled content… This morning Simon “C-License” Kiesé (get it? Because he has a C-License, so we need him for ringing) and I peeled our sticky eyelids off our eyes so that we could open the nets at Kabeltromlen “one last time”. While we were both tired, and our bodies protested heavily against returning to the standard routine, the biggest obstacle we faced was the insufferable discomfort of mosquitoes and the damp devastation of humidity. We thought the night at the Skagen Klitplantage was bad, but today was another level of suffering. To answer the title of this blog, by the time Simon (Jr) had made his mosquito joke, we had only caught 3 birds (15000/5000 = 3). Misery!

We did have a cute Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken) which offered some consolation, but a Eurasian Blackcap (Munk) would have certainly made the day a bit more colourful (they are soooo cute!). Luckily, yesterday the jazz band that played downstairs used some Eurasian Blackcap (Munk) birdsong in their music, so I didn’t feel too withdrawn from them. Tak! Great performance! (And I am in no way biased). 

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken).

And when we thought things couldn’t feel more melodramatically horrible, we were knee deep in bog water when the Zello message came that there was a Rosy Starling (Rosenstær) in town. Needless to say, those nets were closed, rolled, and tied in a dizzy haste. Unfortunately, we did not get to see the bird, but we remain hopeful that we will get another chance. 

Simon (Sr) made an effort to see the Rosy Starling (Rosenstær) from Stald Grenen, but he also had no luck. 

Seán spent the morning at World’s End 3 attempting to do a migration count. His efforts felt rather pointless, but he did get to hear a Common Redstart (Rødstjert) singing and see some Wagtails (Vipstjert) potentially migrating South. 

In the afternoon, I opened the nets at the lighthouse garden for a guided tour. Unfortunately, not enough people joined the tour so Lucas and Seán went to close the nets again, but we still caught a Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) and showed it to some lucky tourists!

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger).

Simon (Sr) and Lisa had a visit from some friends (and previous guests) from Germany. They enjoyed a meal together in the garden. It looked very hygge. Then he brought us some breakfast bread leftovers, very yummy! Mange tak!

Sandra, Dirk, Lisa, and Simon. 

In the afternoon we focused on data entry and checking, picture archive updating, and got to meet Simon (Jr)’s family. 

Then Seán prepared a three course meal (starter, main course, and dessert), which was absolutely fantastic! Tak for mad.

And now my blog reaches its close, once again thank you for your support and good company.

Vi ses!

Ringing (Kabeltromlekrattet)

Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger) - 1

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) - 1

Common Chiffchaff (Gransanger) - 3

Lesser Redpoll (Lille Gråsisken) - 1

Total: 6

Ringing (Fyr)

Common Whitethroat (Tornsanger) - 1

Total: 1

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

Sum of the raptors in the area based on observations typed into Dofbasen the same day.

People: Isis Khalil, Seán Walsh, Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christiansen, Lisa Vergin, Lars Bo, Dirk and Sandra

Although most species sleep in the “night,” the birds we were after last night thrive in the darkness (though in this case, darkness is rather relative). Lars Bo, Simon2, Isis and I departed from Det Grå Fyr for Skagen Klitplantage in hopes of catching Eurasian Nightjar (Natravn). Arriving just after 22:00, we quickly set up the nets and waited for nightfall. Right before we had set up the nets, however, we were joined by the “Nightjar Man” and he pointed out a Nightjar nest! Wow - what an incredible find.

Heading back to the cars to wait for the first round, we had seen a few individual nightjars flying around, giving us hope for what was to come. Around 11;30, we made our first round and found a female Nightjar in the nets! Success! This was only the beginning, over the 5 hour period, we caught four individuals! Two males and two females. Unfortunately, because of the lack of moult limits we were unable to specifically age three of the four nightjars, and the fourth, a male - we suspect may be a 2-0 individual because of the moult limit on the outer alulas. What a successful evening!

The biggest surprise of the night came around 1 AM when Simon Kiese and I walked out on our third round of the evening and found not one but TWO Eurasian Woodcocks (Skovsnippe) hanging in the nets! This was my first time seeing them rather than hearing them and I was simply amazed by their size and strength.

After closing the nets at 03:30 we returned to Det Grå Fyr at 4 AM, just as the sun was rising and we hopped into our beds for some much needed rest. Simon Kiesé, braver than I, woke up at 8 AM and biked over to Flagbakken in search of raptors, however, despite spending four hours did not find the quantity or quality of birds he was searching for. Later in afternoon, we got a Zello message stating that the previously reported Lille Skrigeørn had been refound. Too bad for Simon after all the work he put in. ;(

At 15:00, Simon, Sean, Isis and I walked over to the hotdog stand after Isis had been asking all morning (but the hotdog plans were continuously interrupted by previous occupations). What happened next is best told from the one who lived through it, so here is a little Isis interlude:

“We sat on a bench enjoying some hotdogs, they were absolutely delightful, I felt no form of regret for taking everyone out here today. I even considered indulging in gluttony of the highest degree and getting a second hotdog, but eventually talked myself out of it. I did, however, feel a need to buy a nice Skagen beer mug, so I hopped into the Grenen Kiosk and had a gander at their selection. Just as I’d made me choice, I noticed the staff was looking a little panicked. They were speaking in Danish, so I didn’t really understand what was happening, but I could understand their gestures (they were asking me to come over and look). I peered over the counter and there sat a cutie little Crested Tit (Topmejse)! Just my luck! I’ve been wanting to have one in hand all season! Naturally I asked the staff if it was okay if I took the bird and informed them that I worked at the observatory, so they were very pleased the bird was safely escorted out. The timing could not have been more perfect. As I walked towards the bench where Simon, Sean, and Lucas were sitting (without yet paying for my beer mug) I exclaimed, “anyone want to ring a Crested Tit (Topmejse)?” They were a bit confused, and somewhat in disbelief, when I rolled out of the store holding a bird rather than a souvenir. Anyway, I handed the bird off to my talented coworkers, and ran back inside to pay for my souvenirs (I am not a thief!). We ringed the young bird, showed it to a few curious onlookers, and sent it back on its merry way.

All that because I wanted hotdogs and a beer mug, great success.” - IK

Thank you Isis for that wonderful interjection! And now after eating dinner and entering in some data from last night: we head downstairs to the jazz concert!

Ringing (Sandmillen)

Eurasian Nightjar (Natravn) - 4

Eurasian Woodcock (Skovsneppe) - 2

Total: 6

Ringing (Fyr)

Crested Tit (Topmejse) - 1

Total: 1

People: Isis Khalil, Seán Walsh, Lucas Corneliussen, Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christiansen, Lars Bo, Henning S.

...but why is it just a OK day and not a good day? This should be answered in this blog post.

After watching football last night, I set my alarm at 6:50 am. Unexpectedly, it was not my alarm waking me up, but it was Séan, who told me that it is already 8! Half a minute later Knud called me, that he is downstairs, ready to pick us up - I just replied "We'll be there in a minute", jumped out of the bed and took on some clothes. Ten minutes later we sat in the car towards Hulsig Hede.

Our goal was counting Orchids. It was actually really fun and we counted around 2000 individuals of the three target species. Look at this beauty:

Then, the message came, that a Short-toed Eagle (Slangeørn) is over Skagen. After the first thought "why does it have to turn up the first second we leave Skagen", we realized that Hulsig is a good raptor spot, too, so we could get the bird as soon as it returns. The mood in the warm sunny weather was good:

Unfortunately, the rare Eagle returned along the Skagerak coastline, so we missed it on its way back southwest. This was a bit sad, but we still enjoyed views on some Honey Buzzards (Hvepsevåge) and even a Goshawk (Duehøg) showed up.

After finishing the work without spotting any rare raptors, we headed back to the station to eat a well earned lunch - or for me who had to hurry this morning a breakfast. Being back in Skagen did not help us to see the rare birds neither: first a Black Stork (Sort Stork) was found south of town and already returning and then Alex found a Lesser Spotted Eagle (Lille Skrigørn). Also this bird was first seen far south and heading southwest away from us, so we did not have any chance to see it. That's a bit unfortunate, but it is a good opportunity to remind yourself, that you should be happy about that, what you have and that you should never be sad about something you don't have. In anyway - even this philosophy did not really help, so I had to eat some chocolate to get into a better mood. ;-)

Congrats to Alex, who also managed to get really good pictures of the Lesser Spotted Eagle. They are so good, that he could even read its color ring!! Look at Alex Sand Frich's awesome photo here:

In the afternoon, Simon Sr. came around and we discussed the ageing of some birds, we took pictures of in the ringing recently. This is always super good to learn now stuff and improve your ageing skills. We also looked up ageing of Nightjars, since we try to catch some tonight in the area. Hopefully you will read about our sucess in Lucas's blog tomorrow.

Since the weather looks even better tomorrow, we hope that there will be some good birds again. So we will be out and hope that our "bad luck" from today turns into good luck. We take, what we get. Keep your eyes open for big raptors!

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

Sum of observations of raptors on DOFbasen from today.

People: Isis Khalil, Seán Walsh, Lucas Corneliussen, Magnus Houen Lauritsen and Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christianen, Lars Bo Jacobsen, Knud Pedersen, Alex Sand Frich

Now it is my turn to write my last Blog post. - At least for now.

The day started with ringing at the CES site at Skarvsøen. Isis, Junior, Lucas and Mette Christensen headed out to fulfil the task, which turned out to be rather slow. A total of nine birds were caught through the six hours of ringing.

Mette with a chaffinch (bogfinke), male.

Meanwhile at the station, I started cleaning the last bit and packed my stuff - preparing to go back home. I left six days earlier to participate in my girlfriend's (Johanna, an earlier volunteer here at the bird observatory) birthday in Kiel, Germany. I was picked up by my uncle at around 14.00, who would drive me the 35 kilometres back home. An era has come to an end, but only for a new to begin.

The evening was spend on watching the euros in the confrence room: Denmark-Serbia, but without my company, unfortunately.

The match ended 0-0.

Tomorrow, I’ll go by train to Kiel from Tolne Station, to surprise my girlfriend. She’s not aware that I’ll leave earlier, just to surprise her. But first a bit of rest, reflecting about the last four months, before continuing out in the wilderness to explore more species. But I'll be back.

In memory of an unforgettable spring, with new experience and new friends. And thanks to you, for following our daily Blog.

Over and out from:

/Magpie/Krøllebille/Magnus/MHL.

Update 08/07-2024: The surprise was all worth it.<3

Ringing Skarvsøen (CES):

Reed Warbler (Rørsanger): 4

Marsh Warbler (Sivsanger): 1

Common Chaffinch (Bogfinke): 1

Eurasian Black Cap (Munk): 1

Lesser Whithethroat (Gærdesanger): 1