A standard 04:00 start for the station’s volunteers marked the start of our first August Wednesday. A division of labour was employed with Anders heading off to do migration counts from the observation site near the tip of Grenen while Christina and I headed straight for our ringing site. All the nets were open at 05:15 and at 05:45 we were joined by Simon for the first round. We only caught locally breeding birds with over 80% being common whitethroats (Tornsanger). In the meanwhile Anders saw mainly common species with the exception of four two-barred crossbills (Hvidvinget Korsnæb) and a parrot crossbill (Stor Korsnæb), hoping to catch them in our nets in the coming days if we’re lucky.

While we where in the field Rita came to the Observatory to help cleaning the 1'st floor. Thank you so much Rita! Back in the station Christina and I did the usual tasks such as data entry and updating the station’s social media. 

At 13:00 it was time for an open freezer session! Unfortunately, at that time it was raining heavily however I was joined by a young family who were very keen to learn about the life of birds. We also collected some of the drawings you visitors have made during their visit to the station and they are now available in the birders club :)

Ringing (Sardinkrattet):

Kærsanger - Marsh warbler – 1

Rørsanger – Reed warbler - 3

Tornsanger – Whitethroat - 18

Munk – Blackcap - 1

Gransanger – Chiff-chaff - 1

Løvsanger – Willow warbler - 2

Total: 26

Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Heidi Vibe Frederiksen, Niels Dentrup, Cathrine Finger og Rita Pate.

Due to wind and rain Simon and Anders got up at 06:00 to assess the situation. The weather was reasonably ok so the lights in our room were lit and several moments later Christina, Sander and I were up and having some breakfast. We split into two teams: Anders and Sander set off to observe & count migrating birds while Christina, Simon and I opened the nets at Grenen. During his time observing Anders recorded 120 golden plovers (hjejle) distributed in over 10 flocks as well as two two-barred crossbills (hvidvinget korsnæb) among the common species.

The whole ringing session was a fight against the weather with us trying to balance a plentiful catch with the safety of the birds. Overall, we caught 18 birds which was alright considering the weather. The session ended with a bang! The last bird caught and ringed was a young Jay (Skovskade). To me this is a bird that you can’t really appreciate until you hold it in the hand. Its physiology is absolutely stunning. Its strength and size can need to be experienced first-hand. Speaking of hands the bite and claw marks on our hands after this encounter were a great way for us to remember the session.

Upon returning to the station I had a quick bite while Anders was opening the nets in the garden in preparation for our free ringing tour funded by the LIFE project. Upon entering the courtyard, I saw 16 people eagerly listening to Andreas’ introduction! Always great to see people devoting time from their holiday to nature and learning! Since it was 13:00, hot and windy our expectations were met when the nets remained empty. As usual I grabbed all the swoop nets and distributed them between the visitors. Throughout the tour Anders and I took turns discussing various topics and showing the visitors different flora and fauna from the region. We managed to catch quite a few dragonflies, damselflies and butterflies. I also took the opportunity to mention the difference between grasshoppers and bush-crickets as well as how to determine the sex of Orthoptera. After the tour was over some of the participants joined us in the lab in exploring the various birds that we have in our freezer !!!

In the afternoon we used our last remaining energy to enter the data collected during the day in the online database and I had my daily swim in Kattegat. The water was lovely and it was my first day without a sting by a lion’s mane jellyfish.

Ringing (Sardinkrattet):

Skovskade - Jay - 1

Tornsanger - Whitethroat - 6

Munk - Blackcap - 2

Gransanger - Chiff-chaff - 2

Musvit - Great tit - 1

Gærdesanger - Lesser whitethroat - 2

Total:   14

 Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Heidi Vibe Frederiksen, Niels Dentrup og Cathrine Finger.

Da vejrudsigten forudså gode betingelser for ringmærkning, besluttede vi at gennemføre den 10. CES-runde denne morgen. Endnu en gang var det ungfugle som dominerede fangsten og igen blev tornsanger den absolutte topscorer med 10 ringmærkede fugle, som alle var klækket denne sommer. Undervejs havde vi en guidet tur for fem børn og deres mødre, som til deres store fornøjelse fik set de fleste af morgenens ringmærkede arter. 

Resten af dagen gik med dataindtastning og for mit vedkommende med en eftermiddagstur til Grenen. Fuglemæssigt skete der ikke meget ud over en storkjove og de to brilleand hanner, som atter var på plads. Det bedste blev derimod en strandtudse, som jeg næsten trådte på da jeg var på vej hjem. Det er sjældent at jeg har set disse nataktive dyr i dagslys, og jeg brugte derfor lejligheden til at tage lidt fotos under naturlig belysning.

Kamouflagen fejler intet hos den lille strandtudse! Bemærk den karakteristiske gule stribe langs med rygraden.

Ringmærkning (Jennes Sø):

Skovpiber 1
Rødhals 2
Solsort 2
Rørsanger 3
Gærdesanger 2
Tornsanger 10
Havesanger 1
Gransanger 4
Løvsanger 3
Blåmejse 3

Total: 31

Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Heidi Vibe Frederiksen, Niels Dentrup og Cathrine Finger.

In the morning Christina set off to elle Krattet for observations which includes marsh harriers, goshawks, sandwich terns, great skuas. Ironically on her way back she was encountered by Kat who told her a roller was spotted by Rolf from the exact place she just left. They hurried back to try and see it however the bird was not spotted again. Kat, however, managed to see the surf scooter which was great.

After that it was time for Heidi, Chris and Simon to go to the beach clean on the north beach. There was a total of six participants. While they were there they managed to drop by the cormorant colony where they saw swans and young black headed gulls.

In the meanwhile Anders and I were on the hills of grenen trying to spot the roller, again without success :(

Back in the station Anders checked all the our rings to make sure we had all the required ones for Autumn. I made my way to the lab and gave a couple of mini tours around the station. There was an awesome family forum Brazil who were incredibly knowledgeable and keen to learn even more about the natural world. And for the first time I saw anyone pass the guessing game!! Hi Rodrigo, it was a pleasure to meet you and thank you for coming!!

Later in the dray Christina, Simon and I went grocery shopping while Heidi and Anders went to our constant effort site to prepare the nets for tomorrow's ringing session.

We called it an early night in order to be fresh in the morning

Folk: Simon S Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Karen Klein, Peter Jensen, Mathilda Jensen, Oscar Jensen, Katherine Snell, Knud Pedersen, Heidi Vibe Frederiksen, Niels Dentrup.

A 04:00 alarm marked the beginning of what would turn out to be a long and rewarding day. This was our second session in a row, and we were looking forward to a plentiful catch with Kat who happily joined Anders in answering our endless supply or questions about moult, thanks Kat!! The first round was off to a great start with a young redstart (Rødstjert) and a few whitethroats (Tornsanger). Weirdly enough the following rounds were rather quiet with around 2/3 birds each. After a while we felt the wind change and the air became heavy. A dark cloud was approaching from the south. Since we check the weather forecast more or less hourly it came as a real surprise, fingers were crossed it wasn’t a rainstorm. To our pleasant surprise it was a mist with no rain at all, it passed as quickly as it appeared however, much to our surprise, it caused an uproar in bird activity in the area. Among the many whitethroats we also caught a young pied flycatcher (Broget fluesnapper) and an adult blackbird (Solsort) which officially marked the beginning of autumn!

As soon as we returned back to the station, after a quick lunch, Christina and I joined Kat as she set off to do some tests on the radio telemetry receiver. She also made sure to give us a quick tutorial on field repairs on the receiver so that we could carry out minor adjustments with her remote support. For us it was really exciting to find out how this amazing piece of kit works.

After that Flemming asked me to give the café a hand which and I was really happy to help. Everyone there works so hard, their days are easily longer that 12 hours! For me it was fun to see how the café runs and it also made me feel like home since I have been working in a similar café part-time for over a year and a half and I honestly missed it.

In the afternoon Christina and I made some preparations for the weekly toad tour at 23:00, which I followed up with my daily swim in Kattegat. That water had been a great temperature the previous couple of days however I feel the need to say today was noticeably colder. It took some getting used to however after a few minutes it felt amazing. Cold water has such a cleansing power on the mind and body, simply solves so many problems.

Ringing (Fyrhaven):

Tornsanger – 12

Rødstjert – 1

Sollsort – 1

Gulbug – 1

Gærdesanger – 6

Tornsanger – 12

Munk – 6

Gransanger – 3

Broget Fluesnapper – 1

Lille Gråsisken – 1

 Total: 44

Folk: Simon S Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Karen Klein, Peter Jensen, Mathilda Jensen, Oscar Jensen, Katherine Snell, Knud Pedersen, Heidi Vibe Frederiksen.

Den vindstille morgen gav gode betingelser for ringmærkning på Grenen. Det endte da også med at blive en ganske fin morgen, hvor især de unge tornsangere fra områdets store ynglebestand udgjorde en stor del af det samlede antal mærkninger. Vi kan nok regne med at fange en del unge tornsangere de næste par uger. En 1k skovpiber blev desuden efterårets første i fangsten. Karen, Peter, Mathilda og Oscar lagde også et smut forbi ringmærkningsområdet, hvor de fik set en del forskellige arter i hånden og fik stillet deres nysgerrighed på ringmærkning.

Da nettene var lukkede og vi havde spist frokost smuttede vi (Martin, Christina, Heidi og jeg) ud på Storsig for at hjælpe Kat med at sætte en radiosignalsmodtager op i en høj mast. Forhåbentlig vil modtageren i løbet af efteråret opfange signaler fra radiomærkede fugle fra Sydnorge. Det skal blive spændende at høre resultatet når efteråret er omme!

I løbet af de par timer vi var på Storsig kunne vi nyde 10-15 musvåger og fire røde glenter, som gentagne gange gjorde trækforsøg over Reservatet. To unge gøge og en ung duehøg hang ligeledes ud i området.

Dagen kulminerede med et hyggeligt grillarrangement hvor vi blev hele 13 gode folk. Foruden fuglestationspersonalet og familien fra lejligheden, lagde også Hebe (frivillig fra foråret) og hendes kusine samt lokale Knud Pedersen vejen forbi.

Fotograf: Knud Pedersen

Ringmærkning på Grenen:
Skovpiber 1
Rørsanger 2
Gærdesanger 1
Tornsanger 12
Munk 1
Gransanger 3
Løvsanger 2
Blåmejse 1
Lille gråsisken 1
Rørspurv 1

Total: 25

Folk: Simon S Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Karen Klein, Peter Jensen, Mathilda Jensen, Oscar Jensen, Katherine Snell, Knud Pedersen, Heidi Vibe Frederiksen, Hebe Denny + kusine.

In the morning observation apart from the usual sightings a young bullfinch, Dompap (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) was observed flying over. Hopefully we will get a chance to ring it in the following weeks!

After observations we opened the nets in our garden in preparation for our weekly ringing tour in English. After a few words of encouragement on my side with the help of our trusty megaphone we had five participants lined up and ready for a tour! Mathilda, Oscar …. Since everyone on our tour (apart from me) was Danish, the tour was naturally in Dansk. I grabbed a few swoop nets and we were off. The group consisted of 2 kids and 3 adults and to be fair who doesn’t love a bit of swoop netting in the morning. Despite the hot weather we managed to catch a whitethroat thus providing our visitors the full ringing experience. Along the way we caught many dragonflies, mayflies and other insects in order to fully immerse the participants in the local fauna. Along the walk I noticed a peculiar looking insect, so I quickly swooped it up to take a closer look. To my utter joy and amazement, it was a scorpion fly (Mecoptera). Early Mecoptera may have played an important role in pollinating extinct species of gymnosperms before the evolution of other insect pollinators such as bees. Adults of modern species are overwhelmingly predators or consumers of dead organisms; they are the first insects to arrive at a cadaver, making them useful in forensic entomology.

On the way back we also came across an emperor moth caterpillar (Saturnia pavonia) which we took back to the observatory for educational purposes before returning it back to the origin of capture.

While sharing my awe and amazement of the caterpillar with the visitors in the courtyard I met a family from California who had some free time in Skagen as a part of their cruise. They were very keen to learn about the local flora & fauna so we set up an extra ringing tour, luckily Andreas had just started folding the nets. As a result of the late hour and hot weather we were unable to catch any avian dinosaurs however the arthropodan catch was once again bountiful. Upon returning to the station we opened the freezer to compensate for the lack of birds in the tour. In the end the family left with many fond memories and newly acquired knowledge about the natural world. After inputting some data from the past week in the digital archive we were ready for dinner. Heidi arrived and will be joining us for a couple of weeks, welcome Heidi!!! Another arrival in the late afternoon was Katherine Snell from the university of Copenhagen. She will be staying for a couple of days in order to mount a radio-telemetry receiver on one of the nearby radio towers which would allow us to detect tagged birds flying through the area – exciting stuff!!

In the evening we did our best to pack in early to make sure we're fresh as cucumbers for tomorrow's ringing session.

Ringing (Fyrhaven):

Tornsanger - 1

Total: 1

Folk: Simon S Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Erik Christophersen, Karen Klein, Peter Jensen, Mathilda Jensen, Oscar Jensen, Katherine Snell. 

July ended with strong winds and huge waves somehow announcing the beginning of autumn. Under these conditions, night catching of waders, has been one of the few possible activities and very little we could do during he day. Luckily in a way, because it is Wednesday a.k.a. cleaning day. So, as soon as we got up, and with no rush, we all picked a room and started the sterilization of our crib.

While checking some ringing data with Simon, we realized something amazing. On the 17th of July 2013, a young (1k) Reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) was caught and ringed in the station. It was impossible to sex it back then, because it was still a juvenile. Six years later the same bird is caught again in Skagen. The beautiful male adult is possibly the record in terms of age for Denmark as he is +6 years old.

Later in the day, when the weather calmed a bit, Anders and I, decided to go out for observations. Fortunatly, this time we remembered to take with us some rings and tools for ringing waders. We took the usual path to the sea. When we got there, it was very windy, so we could see some ringed plovers (Charadrius hiaticula) hiding from the strong wind behind low dunes. We put up our scopes a started the search for a juvenile. It did not take very long to spot one. Anders ran after it as fast as he could to catch it. It wasn’t easy at all… Finally, he caught the little, extremely adorable juvenile ringed plover. It took no more than a couple of minutes to ring it, take some measurements and released it. It ran back to the dunes safely. It was very exciting! We continued our walk on the beach and saw some Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) , Oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus) , an Arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus), some gulls and terns. On our way back we had to stop at Grenen sø, which had some water after the rain. There we saw some Wood sandpipers (Tringa glareola), Common snipes (Gallinago gallinago) and a Ruff (Calidris pugnax) . It was a nice ending of the day, especially now that it is clear that migration is getting more and more intense.

On the other hand, Martin, has challenged himself to swim every single day. So, despite the crazy weather, crazy Martin went for is daily swim! The waves were big, and the jellyfish were having a party. Luckily, he didn’t get stung, in contrary he had a blast! :)

People: Simon S Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou and Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen.

Dagen startede tidligt i ringmærkningsområdet på Grenen til overskyet og stille vejr. Myggene gjorde som sædvanligt ingen undtagelse, og var mødt talstærkt og sultne op!

Det blev en udmærket morgen ved nettene hvor en ung sivsanger mindede os om, at trækket hos flere af småfuglene er begyndt.  En kaldende skovsanger blev efterårets første på Grenen og i Skagen. Alt imens vi var optagede af ringmærkningen meldte Rolf om seks grindehvaler set fra Verdens Ende. Desværre kunne vi ikke nå at twitche dem men det lykkedes Anders Wiig Nielsen og Ib Jensen, at se dem svømme forbi Nordstrand og Højen lidt senere på morgenen. Før vi lukkede nettene gik to små gråsiskener i nettet og minsandten om ikke den ene bar en norsk ring! Det skal blive spændende at få svar på hvor og hvornår den er ringmærket.

Om formiddagen var Simon og Lene travlt beskæftigede med at vise borgmesteren og en række ansatte fra kommunen rundt på trækfuglecentret.

Kl. 13.00 holdte Christina, Martin og jeg "åben gryser" hvor i alt 15 besøgende fra henholdsvis Tyskland, Holland, Norge Danmark lagde vejen forbi. Den nyeste tilføjelse til fuglestationens fryser er en ung gøg, som Martin fandt under et vindue forleden dag i byen. 

Da det om eftermiddagen var blæst meget op gik Christina og jeg ned for at havobse. Der var ikke meget at se ud over nogle få rider og en del større måger men lyset var meget flot og dynamisk. 

Adult ride passerer Skagen Fyr over et oprørt Kattegat.

Ringmærkning på Grenen:

Sivsanger 1

Rørsanger 6

Gulbug 3

Tornsanger 3

Gransanger 3

Blåmejse 2

Lille gråsisken 1 

Total: 16

Folk: Simon S Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Erik Christophersen, Karen Klein, Peter Jensen, Mathilda Jensen og Oscar Jensen. 

As Christina mentioned our day techincally started with our night catching session lasted until around 3am! Despite not catching anything it was good practice for setting up nets in the night. Especially with the constantly moving tides and wet sand, furthermore nothing bonds people more than spending a cold windy night outside. The next day started late after some well deserved sleep. Shortly after our second video of the series "Meet the (insert locally breeding bird here)'': the house martin (Delichon urbicum), feel free to check it out here https://www.facebook.com/Skagenfuglestation/videos/2475119985867126/ :)

After that upon thorough inspection of our fridge we noticed we were running painfully low on supplies and Simon kindly offered to take us shopping with his car so we didn't have to cycle everything back (ice cream tends to not survive the trip for one reason or another :D).

With expectations for strong winds and rain in the coming days we decided to make the most of the weather with a few rounds of beach volleyball. We were joined by one of Simon's childhood friends - Marvin - who visited us for the day. The game was tense and filled with outstanding sportsmanship and the contest was close and every set ended on a cliff hanger.

After three sets it was already dusk and we were more than ready for a swim. The water was cool but not cold, and there was not a wave to be seen until the horizon, simply stunningc conditions for a swim. It honestly felt like an endless swimming pool which I ended up having all to myself for about half an hour. Just as I was heading back to shore I realised I was not on my own in this endless pool as I bumped into a jellyfish. In the waters around Skagen the two most common species are the stinging lion's mane (Cyanea capillata) and the harmless common jellyfish (Aurelia aurita). For my disappointment I happened to cross paths with a lion's mane. It was not the most pleasant experience out there however the swim was definitely worth it. After a vinegar shower I was right as rain. After a check of the equipment required for tomorrow's ringing session at Ellekrattet we called it a night

People: Simon S Christiansen, Martin Y. Georgiev, Christina Ninou, Anders Odd Wulff Nielsen, Marvin.