Molly’s poor hands needed some love and attention after an eventful morning at the ringing site in Grenen today. Amongst the usual crowd of birds were some notable superstars - first up, an aggressive juvenile Jay (Skovskade) that wasted no time in attacking Molly’s fingers and drew blood almost straight away. One of the methods of ageing a Jay is attempting to determine how blue its eyes are, so that meant we had to get seriously up close and personal.

In the next round, a real surprise - a Great Grey Shrike (Stor Tornskade). This bird is beautiful but brutal and went in for the kill, drawing yet more blood from Molly. We saw firsthand how it earned its affectionate name “the butcher bird”. The hooked bill and sharp talons were all too obvious indicators that this bird is a menace amongst smaller passerines.

It was of course a real treat to see a bird like this up close and especially enjoyable for Jørgen, who was joining in the ringing for the first time. A video of him releasing the shrike can be seen here on Facebook.

Despite her bloody hands, Molly generously took time to provide us all with some useful teaching on moult strategies, using moult cards to help us consider the ages of the birds being caught. She also studied the skull ossification of some of the birds caught - another approach used when trying to age a bird.

It was a busy time at the the nets today, so a perfect opportunity for three visiting university students from Aalborg University (Rikke, Anne Mette and Maria) to see what goes on at the observatory on a daily basis. They were out with us at dawn, observing the opening of the nets and following us through the whole process of extracting, processing and releasing the birds.

While we were at Grenen processing the 48 birds caught there, Michael had a busy day at Jennes Sø, with 69 birds rung, including a Marsh Tit (Sumpmejse) and back at the lighthouse, Simon welcomed Cirio Pertoldi and Dan Bruhn from Aalborg University to discuss future partnership projects with the observatory which was exciting!

Birds caught at Grenen = 48: 1 Great Grey Shrike (Stor Tornskade), 1 Jay (Skovskade), 20 Blue tits (Blåmejse), 3 Redwing (Vindrossel), 3 Great tit (Musvit), 2 Robins (Rødhals), 5 Wrens (Gærdesmutte), 4 Goldcrests (Fuglekonge), 1 Blackcap (Munk), 1 Reed Bunting (Rørspurv), 1 Brambling (Kvækerfinke), 1 Coal Tit (Sortmejse), 1 Blackbird (Solsort)  and 4 Chiffchaffs (Gransanger).

People: James Butcher, Sarah Bedford, Molly Brown, Simon S. Christiansen, Jørgen Kabel, Dorthe H. Schmidt and Michael Ancher with Rikke, Anne Mette and Maria from Aalborg University.

The wind swung around to the south-east today, but unfortunately was too strong for ringing so everyone was out observing this morning. There was a steady passage of seabirds moving north-east out of the Kattegat including Kittiwakes (Ride), auks (Alkefugle), Great Skuas (Storkjove), Arctic Skuas (Almindelig Kjove) and a Little Gull (Dværgmåge).

Sarah and Dorthe during early morning observation from World’s End

There was also a notable easterly movement of birds coming in off the sea, including 2 Hen Harriers (Blå Kærhøg), several Sparrowhawks (Spurvehøg) and corvids including Jackdaws (Allike) and Hooded Crows (Gråkrage). Rolf explained these birds were likely to have come across from Sweden on the winds, and it was great to see this migration in action. On the ground, Molly picked out one of yesterday’s Water Pipits (Bjergpiber) but true to form they evaded the camera, diving back into the reeds as soon as they were flushed.

Twite (Bjegirisk) on the beach – far more obliging for the camera than the Water Pipits

Away from Grenen, the string of Nutcracker (Nucifraga) sightings continued further south at Gyvelstien, deepening Simon’s dipping pains. I sense we will be heading off on another Nutcracker hunt very soon to try and crack that very elusive nut!

This afternoon Sarah and I did some alternative high-tech birding investigating the station’s radar system. It turns out identifying birds on a radar screen can be far more challenging that in the field - but we’re making progress! The future aim is to monitor nocturnal migration over Skagen by using the radar combined with sound recording.

This evening we welcomed three students to the station, Rikke, Anna Mette and Maria. They will be ringing with us tomorrow as part of a project to analyse some of the station’s historical ringing data.

A beautiful sunset this evening

People: Simon S. Christiansen, James Butcher, Sarah Bedford, Molly Brown, Dorthe H. Schmidt and Rolf Christensen.

Vi startede alle ud med ringmærkning. Molly, James, Sarah og jeg drog ud og åbnede nettene, og Simon stødte til os senere. Der var en god variation. På trods af 22 fangede fugle, var det fordelt på hele 12 arter.

Simon havde en tur med tre gæster fra Birkerød-området, som var forbi og se hvordan ringmærkningen foregik. De var bl.a. så heldige at overvære en stor flagspætte blive fanget og mærket. En flot men ret aggressiv art at fange…  Dagens mest spændene gæst var dog for mig en skægmejse. Det var et held at vi fik den med på den sidste runde, hvor vi lukkede nettene.

Simon, James og Sarah har kiggede på radaren her til eftermiddag, men blev nød til at stoppe fordi odden blev dækket med et tykt lag havgus. Om aftenen var vi ud og se om vi kunne fange og ringmærke nogle fugle på standen, men vi fangede desværre ikke nogen. Derimod lå der morild på stranden, som lyste op i vores fodspor, hvilket var ret sjovt at se. Det havde jeg aldrig set før.    

Ringmærkning: 22 fugle

2 blåmejse, 3 rødhals, 1 fuglekonge, 2 gransanger, 3 gærdesmutte, 1 Skægmejse, 3 Dompap, 1 munk, 2 rørspurv, 1 musvit, 2 sangdrossel,1 stor flagspætte

Folk: Simon S. Christiansen, James Butcher, Sarah Bedford, Molly Brown og Dorthe H. Schmidt       

Today was still a bit too windy for ringing, so we all went out observing (James, Sarah, Dorthe and I). We joined Rolf at the World’s End and saw Parrot and Common crossbill (Lille and Stor Korsnæb) and 2 Waxwings (Silkehale). I left after a couple of hours and walked along to Nordstrand, and then back to the tip- I was hoping to see some Snow Buntings (Snespurv) but I was unsuccessful. However I had a bit more luck walking from Grenen back to the station where I saw a guillemot (Lomvie) close to the shore and a great crested Grebe (Toppet Lappedykker), Rock pipits (Skærpiber) and wheatears (Stenpikker) which was nice! After I left the others at Worlds End they saw a Jack Snipe (Enkeltbekkasin) and an unknown harrier species which James is determined to see more of!!!

When I arrived at the station Simon was back from his trip to Aalborg. In the afternoon James and Sarah went on a Nutcracker (Nøddekrige) search but were again unsuccessful, I then joined them in town at the cemetery to look for Waxwings in the trees there but no luck yet! James also went to try and find the harrier going in to roost with the Olympus camera but no sign of it. Simon cooked dinner which was nice.

People: Molly Brown, James Butcher, Sarah Bedford, Dorthe Schimdt, Rolf Christensen, Simon S. Christiansen.

Legend has it that us Brits do nothing but talk about the weather. Combine our innate obsession with cloud watching with the delicate nature ofgetting the conditions just right for ringing, and you've got an observatory full of people continually checking every weather forecast available to see what the next days will hold. No amount of checking could change the inevitable though and as predicted, Monday was a shocker. Howling winds and driving rain for the whole day meant a day with no ringing at all.

That left James and I to go out to World’s End to see if watching the sea might throw up any unusual birds in the difficult conditions. We only stayed out for a couple of hours and there were lots of flocks of scoter on the move but not much else to report. Watching the large flocks was useful though, as we need to gather some data to use when we start looking at the station’s radar data in relation to migration.Eventually the rain drove us back indoors to dry off and drink tea (another thing we Brits are notorious for) and we spent the rest of the morning doing admin and cleaning jobs. James and I made a short film to capture the highlights of European Birdwatch Day which can be seen here on Facebook.

A bit of cleaning and tidying around the station and the ringing lab and then before cabin fever set in, we set off on bikes and rode through the rain to get to Skagen for coffee and cake!

The weather may have tried to stop our ringing today but it wasn’t going to stand in the way of a visit to the bakery ;)

Another beautiful sunrise greeted Sarah, Rolf and I this morning at World’s End for observations. As we were setting up, Rolf picked up the call of an Olive-backed Pipit (Tajgapiber) flying over, but without a good view and no recording he said it will probably have to go down as “one that got away”!

Nevertheless, it was obvious that the clear skies overnight and cold dawn had brought with them a good fall of migrants. Passerines were evident in the bushes all around, and for a nice change were obligingly perched in the sunshine. One bush contained a good selection of warblers including several Blackcaps (Munk), a Garden Warbler (Havesanger) and then finally an immature Barred Warbler (Høgesanger) found by Rolf which gave good views while it ate berries. Interestingly, we noticed that the bird was ringed and so it would be easy to assume it was the same bird ringed here on Friday even yhough taht it had a lot a fat when trapped which often is a sign of it being ready to leave the coming night. Other birds seen during the morning included an obliging Great Grey Shrike (Stor tornskade) and a hovering Rough-legged Buzzard (Fjeldvåge). Both these species are very localised winter visitors to the UK and can be difficult to catch up with, so were much appreciated by us.

Given the good conditions, Molly and Simon had a surprisingly slow morning at the nets, and so Sarah and I were invited down to the ringing area for our first introduction to ringing. It was great fun learning some of the basics of how to extract, hold and process birds - as well as how to endure the vicious attacks of Blue Tits without too much swearing!

Sarah holding a Bullfinch (Dompap) - very peaceful in comparison with the Blue tit (Blåmejse)!

Molly showing James how to hold a Song thrush (Sangdrossel)

As is often the case, while we were away Rolf found probably the rarest bird of the day - a ringed Little Bunting (Dværgværling), which seems highly likely to be the bird ringed by Molly last week. In the afternoon, we went with Simon to several birding spots around Skagen in search of the elusive one or more Nutcrackers (Nucifraga) which have been reported flying over various local birders’ gardens. Needless to say, we didn’t have any luck, but now at least we know where to look!

Birds caught at Grenen: 8 Blue tits (Blåmejse), 2 Song thrushes (Sangdrossel), 1 Great tit (Musvit), 5 Robins (Rødhals), 5 Wrens (Gærdesmutte), 3 Bullfinches (Dompap), 2 Goldcrests (Fuglekonge), 1 Treecreeper (Træløber) and 3 Chiffchaffs (Gransanger).

People: James Butcher, Sarah Bedford, Molly Brown, Simon S. Christiansen and Rolf Christensen.

European Birdwatch day was successful this year with the 3 most common species here as Common Scotor (Sortand), Eider (Ederfugl) and Razor bill (alk) at Grenen . The best species seen was 2 Richards Pipits (Storpiber) and the Pacific Diver (Stillehavslom) and totally observed today was 3645 birds of 73 species here.

 Oluf and I started the morning ringing at Grenen and we caught lots of Blue tits (Blåmejse), and a total of 72 birds, we were joined by Stine and Simon later on. Morten, James and Sarah led the observing this morning with Rolf at the World’s End and helped point out birds to the general public and Rolf bought them cake! Later in the morning Simon did a ringing tour while we had our rush of blue tits.

In the afternoon Morten left and I took out the Olympus camera observing- I never realised how good it is!!! I got some really great views of the Pacific Diver and some Razorbills which were close to the shore and also some seals attracting alot of attention on te beach. In the evening we had a lush meal cooked by Sarah! Stine left also to go back to studying which was a shame but I’m sure she’ll come back to ring again!

Michele Anchor was also ringing today and had a redpoll rung in Belgium which is pretty impressive!

Birds caught at Grenen: 37 Blue tits (Blåmejse), 1 Blackbird (Solsort), 8 Great tits (Musvit), 6 Bullfinches (Dompap), 3 Chiffchaffs (Gransanger), 1 Goldcrest (Fuglekonge), 1 Treecreeper (Træløber), 3 Wrens (Gærdemutte), 2 Coal Tits (Sortmejse), 5 Robins (Rødhals), 2 Redwings (Vindrossel), 1 Blackcap (Munk), 1 Reed bunting (Rørspurv) and 1 Song Thrush (Sangdrossel).

People: Molly Brown, James Butcher, Sarah Bedford, Morten Christensen, Stine Lund, Simon S. Christiansen and Rolf Christensen.

Dagen på fuglestationen begyndte med ringmærkning og observation. James og Sarah tog afsted til ”verdens ende” ved Grenen for at observere, og Molly og jeg tog ud til Grenen for at åbne net. Vi gjorde nettene klar til kl. 7.25 og jeg var spændt på at skulle lære at ringmærke min første fugl. Af spændende fugle fangede vi blandt anden en høgesanger, juvenil! Simon kom og ringmærkede høgesangeren, og Søren kom forbi og tog billeder af den, hvorefter han blev lidt sammen med os.

Det blev til i alt 51 ringmærkede fugle, da vi gik derfra, og jeg havde prøvet at ringmærke en grønsisken og en blåmejse.

Tilbage på fuglestationen spiste vi dejlig frokost vi havde fået fra cafeteriet, og James og Sarah kunne fortælle at de blandt andet havde observeret 8 Store korsnæb, en Bysvale, en Islom, 5 Snespurve, en Rødstjert og en Stenpikker.

Om eftermiddagen tog Sarah og James ud til Nordstrand for at se efter døde fugle der kunne bruges til dissektion, og for at se hvorvidt det var en idé at lave en affaldsindsamlings-dag på stranden. Sarah fandt en fin lille blå plastikpistol som hun tog med hjem til fuglestationen som souvenir. Morten kom forbi om aftenen for at hjælpe med Euro-Birdwatch Day til om lørdagen.

Vi spiste alle aftensmad sammen - rigtig gode enchiladas lavet af Molly. Derefter holdt vi møde, blandt andet om hvad der skulle ske på den store observationsdag om lørdagen. Efter mødet spillede vi spillet ”I’m a migrant” og ”case-study” lavet af Simon. Morten skulle være en grå fluesnapper, og jeg en vindrossel og derefter skulle vi fortælle hvordan fuglene hver især kan aldersbestemmes ud fra dens fældningsmønster og de forskellige steder de trækker til og fra.

Ringmærkning: 35 fugle

Vindrossel 7, Sangdrossel 2, Blåmejse 13, Gransanger 2, Rørspurv 1, Sortmejse 3, Rødhals 3, Gærdesmutte 1, Grønsiskin 1, Høgesanger 1 og Musvit 1

Personer: Simon S. Christiansen, James Butcher, Sarah Bedford, Molly Brown, Søren Skov, Morten Christensen, Stine Lund

A jaw-dropping sunrise greeted James and I on our way out to the tip for observations this morning which felt like a good omen. The pinks, yellows, purples and oranges were dazzling and really showed off Grenen at its best.

We joined Rolf and set up our scopes for some observation and although there had been many thrushes (drossels) accompanying us on the path along the dunes, the rest of the scene was pretty quiet. It turned out that the good omen was not for our observations, but for the ringing. Quite soon after we had arrived at World’s End, our phones started going off - messages from Molly in the ringing area to say that a Little Bunting (Dværgværling) had been caught in the nets. We rushed down to see it - Molly was ringing with Oluf and Jørgen (and Igor) and there was quite a lot of excitement, especially for such a little bird!

There were just a few other birds in the net today, a total of twenty two including recaptures. James and I returned to World’s End where Rolf heard 7 Parrot Crossbills (Stor Korsnæb) and on the way back to the lighthouse for lunch we came across a lonely seal pup snoozing on the beach.

Back at the lighthouse, volunteer Stine Lund joined us for the weekend. She volunteered here back in June and liked it so much she had to come back! We hope she will enjoy being back at Skagen Fuglestation - especially for European Birdwatch Day on Saturday. The afternoon was spent cleaning Birder’s Club and the Lab ready for what could be a busy few days ahead.

Birds caught: 1 Little Bunting (Dværgværling), 1 Chiffchaff (Gransanger), 1 Goldcrest (Fuglekonge), 1 Robin (Rødhals), 1 Yellowhammer (Gulspurv) 1 Wren (Gærdesmutte), 1 Coal Tit (Sortmesje), 1 Blue Tit (Blåmejse), 1 Chaffinch (Bogfinke), 2 Blackcap (Munk), 3 Reed Buning (Rorspurv), 3 Great Tits (Musvit)

People: Molly Brown, James Butcher, Sarah Bedford, Stine Lund, Oluf Lou, Rolf Christensen, Jørgen Kabel and Igor.

We started the day opening the nets in the Lighthouse garden after having a bit of a lie in till 8:30! We then took some nice pictures of all the Skagen family trying out the new T-shirts! Lisa then decided to dissect the Eider (Ederfugl), we found dead when we went night catching. She did an incredible job and has guts of steel (it was very smelly!) While this was occurring, Simon did a guided ringing tour for some Danish and Swedish folk.

Lars, Jørgen and Igor arrived to say goodbye to Lisa and Daniel as it’s their last morning!! ;( Lars bought some yummy cake for the occasion- always much appreciated and surprisingly everyone managed to eat a slice even after watching the Eider dissection!

James and Sarah also did a guided tour in the afternoon for an American lady, they found a Great Northern diver! Then it was time for Lisa and Daniel to leave and go back to Kiel, which was really sad, they’ll be sorely missed here! Simon also left for a couple of days to go to a meeting and Aalborg, so the station suddenly feels very empty with only 3 of us!

I showed Sarah and James a bit of Skagen in the evening and on the way back James found a harrier, which we only got a glimpse of so couldn’t identify. We were caught out but next time we go shopping I wouldn’t put it past James to take a telescope! Sarah and James cooked a great meal of chilli in the evening.

Birds caught: 2 Blue Tits (Blåmejse), 2 Great tits (Musvit), 1 Goldcrest (Fuglekonge) and a Redwing (Vindrossel)

People: Molly Brown, Sarah Bedford, James Butcher, Lisa Vergin, Daniel Bloche, Simon S. Christiansen, Lars Morsten, Jørgen Kabel and Igor.