Robbie went observing and walked towards Nordstranden to look for gulls. Not many birds, but he did see two swallows that haven’t migrated yet. We hope that the bad weather will inspire them to fly towards a warmer climate.

Angela and I opened the nets this morning at Grenen Sø to try and catch the waterpipits. We didn’t catch any, and we then took down the nets for good.

Simon saw a Caspian gull (caspisk måge) and witnessed our last failed attempt for catching waterpipits (bjergpiber). He did see a Siberian chiffchaff  (sibirisk gransanger) in the afternoon though.

This afternoon Angela and Robbie took the rest of the bicycles up to the attic to stay throughout the winter.

Angela and I went to Kabeltromlen and brought back the rest of the poles and anchors, so now Kabeltromlen is clear of our stuff.

Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Amandine Dore og Mogens Erlandsen.

Ringmærkning (Stald Grenen)

skovsneppe - 2

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra DOF-basen af fugle i Skagen

Yesterday evening, we all enjoyed a very nice "Julefrokost"  with a full table of traditional danish food, some schnaps and beers and a very tasty apple crumble for dessert. Jørgen, Oluf and Knud had joined us for this evening and it was very nice to have them. 

This morning, we had a bit of a sleep in and then went on with the daily activities.

I left early to set up the whoosch net on the beach, close to Kattegat bunker, to trial to catch some Sanderlings (Sandløber). When I arrived there, there was a flock of around 20 Sanderlings, and, surprisingly, a Turnstone (Stenvender) among them. Unfortunately, after a few hours of waiting, I did not catch any Sanderlings, even though they stayed and fed not far from the trap. 

Robbie went observing at the End of the World 3, and stopped a few minutes where I was sitting waiting for the sanderlings. When a couple of Sanderlings flew off, they were joined by a small, darker-colored wader, which was the Purple sandpiper (Sortgrå ryle) that Robbie had been observing for several days around the beach.

Robbie then left for Grenen tip, as there was a high amount of gulls there. He was hoping to find a rare gull among them, but there wasn't any.

Angela and Justine opened the nets in the garden but had to close them because of the intermittent rain. They did some net sewing meanwhile and later went for a walk around the beach and Ellerkrattet, where they observed a large flock of siskins (Grønsisken). 

We then all gathered for lunch and tried again the garden nets without success. 

It was also Justine's last day at the station and she left us at the beginning of the afternoon... We wish her a nice trip back to France and hope she will come back to visit Skagen soon!

The afternoon was filled with diverse tasks, including net sawing, some pictures sorting, attic cleaning, etc... Mads Oddetshede came to the station for a meeting with Simon in the afternoon for a couple of hours.

Just before the sun sets, Angela, Robbie and Simon went out to try to find and catch the Purple sandpiper. They found it on the way back to the lighthouse, but couldn't catch it... 

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra DOF-basen af fugle i Skagen
Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, Amandine Dore, Mads Oddershede

This morning, everybody was out to observe and try to catch a few last birds before ending this autumn season...

Angela, Rosalina and Justine went out to Jennes Sø where they met Simon to try to catch some Redpolls (Gråsisken). They opened up a few nets and played some Redpolls recordings, but they unfortunately did not manage to catch any. Only one bird, a recapture wren (Gærdsmutte) was caught in the morning...

I went out early in the morning to set up the whoosh net before the sunrise, to try to catch the flock of Snow buntings (Snespurv). This was unsuccessul as well, as the Snow buntings seemed to notice the net and carefully avoided it.

Robbie and Knud joined me and started the observations. A Caspian gull (Kaspisk måge) was found amoung the hundreds of Herring gulls (Sølvmåge) by Knud, maybe the same indvidual as yesterday's, maybe a new one.. Apart from that, very very few birds were migrating and the sky was quite calm overall...

A bit later in the morning, we saw, surprisingly, a Barn swallow (Landsvale) flying around Grenen, a very late individual. It was flying very low among the sand dunes, just in front of us.

Since the trapping of Snow buntings was not successful, we decided to try to catch this swallow... So we reconverted the woosch net in a misnet.... But the swallow probably got scared of us moving around and did not come back once we had set up the net.
It then started to rain, and I decided to pack and go back home, soon followed by Robbie.

In the afternoon, Simon started to prepare a "Julefrokost ", an early traditional danish "Christmas lunch" (that we will have for dinner), while we were occupied by different cleaning/fixing tasks. Angela and Justine fixed the last broken pair of waders. I then entered data with Angela, and checked the last ringing sheets, while Justine, Rosalina and Robbie started to fix some nets in the attic.

Everyone is now helping out with the Christmas dinner and preparing for a nice last evening all together.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra DOF-basen af fugle i Skagen

Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, Amandine Dore, Knud Pedersen.

This morning, Angela and Justine set up the whooshnet at Grenen. They said that an earlier time would be more ideal so we'll see tomorrow if we will catch some snow buntings (snespurve).

Amandine opened the waterpipet nets (bjergpiber) but without any luck of catching any. Robbie went observing with Knud and they saw an Iceland Gull (hvidvinget måge) and a Caspian gull (caspisk måge), and a Great skua (storkjove).

I head-cleaned the apartment his morning which was really needed, and went crazy with printing labels on the Dymo-machine and putting them on various drawers and binders. We are all going home in less than a week so the next seven days will be mostly cleaning and tidying up.

In the afternoon we cleaned the bikes and Angela and Justine went grocery shopping.  Robbie also caught a Scoter in the afternoon which is a new species for the ringing this year!

Ringmærkning - Fyrhaven

Blåmejse - 1

Gulspurv - 1

Total - 2

Ringmærkning - Grenen

Sortand - 1

Total - 1

Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, Amandine Dore, Knud Pedersen, Gunnar Christiansen Simonsen.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra DOF-basen af fugle i Skagen

Today was the extra catching day: Angela and I opened the Water pipit (Bjergpiber) nets between world end 3 and world end 2 with the nets that we set up yesterday.

On the other side of the dune, Robbie, Amandine and Rosalina set up the wooshnet trying to catch some Snow Buntings (Snespurv) while observing with Knud. Unfortunately, none of us succeed today although we tried different strategies with recording calls, I hope tomorrow will be successful!

However, the highlights of the observations were a Black Guillemot (Tejst) and flocs of Razorbills (Alk) and Guillemots (Lomvie).

During the afternoon, as usual, we opened the nets in the lighthouse garden, trying to catch local birds that are coming to feed. We caught one Yellowhammer (Gulspurv) which was a female born last spring. The rest of the day was based on sewing nets, office work and another try to catch some birds for Robbie who was really close to catch a Purple Sandpiper (Sortgrå Ryle) and an Oystercatcher (Strandskade).

Ring marking - Fyrhaven

Yellowhammer - 1

Total: 1

Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, og Amandine Dore, Knud Pedersen.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra DOF-basen af fugle i Skagen

Today, Robbie and me went for observations at the End of the World 3. Despite the wind and very cold weather, the sun was there and we did enjoy our sea-watching. We observed a lot of movements of Black-legged Kittiwakes (Ride), as well as auks (Common Guillemots, Lomvie and Razorbills, Alk). A lot of Snow buntings (Snespurv) were also feeding on the beach right in front of us, and we will hopefully manage to catch and ring some tomorrow.

A Glaucous gull (Gråmåge) was seen by Knud at Grenen, and Rolf observed 4 Little Auks (Søkonge) at sea.  

We met Erik as well as Jørgen Kabel and Igor passing by. Knud also came out with his friends a bit later for a walk around Grenen, and Angela and Justine also joined us for a bit after finishing some cleaning tasks at the station.

After 2h of observation, I decided to go back home to finish the deep-cleaning of the lab, while Robbie stayed out at Kattegat bunker.

We also opened the garden nets in the late morning and caught 2 Yellowhammers (Gulspurv) and a Blue tit (Blåmejse)

In the afternoon, we all headed again towards Grenen and set up some nets to catch, hopefully, Water pipits (Bjergpiber) tomorrow morning.

On the way back, we carried some of the last equipment left at Kabeltromlen… We always need to be creative to fit everything on the bikes...

This evening, we are all going out night-catching for woodcocks (Skovsneppe) or snipes…. Cold and windy weather might help us catch some birds!

Ring marking - Fyrhaven

Yellowhammer - 2

Blue Tit - 1

Total: 3

Click here to see today's observations from the DOF database of birds in Skagen

People at the station: Simon S. Christiansen, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, Amandine Doré, Jørgen Kabel & Igor, Erik Christopherson, Knud Pedersen

I dag tog Justine, Angela, Robbie, Amandine og Simon ned til havnen og kiggede på måger og snespurve. Det foregik dog I regnvejr, så det var primært gennem bilruderne. Jeg blev hjemme for at arbejde på en ny video til de sociale medier om nattefangst.

Vi gjorde lørdagsrent efter frokost, og jeg sorterede biblioteket i stuen. Sikke mange bøger og støv. Amandine gjorde laboratoriet rent, og fandt bl.a. en kikkert bag køleskabet.

I aften tager nogle af os ud på nattefangst. Forhåbentlig fanger vi noget.

Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, og Amandine Dore, Christian Østerby.

Klik her for at se dagens observationer fra DOF-basen af fugle i Skagen

The high winds today meant we were unable to try and open the nets in the lighthouse garden. The winds didn’t weren’t enough to stop observations from a bunker near Skagen camping though. Whilst there were very few birds overall there were many Long-tailed ducks, Red-Breasted Mergansers, and an Oystercatcher. The afternoon was largely filled with admin tasks, with more net fixing so the Spring team has a selection of fixed nets ready to go.  

Credit: Erik Christophersen

Credit: Erik Christophersen

There was some excitement to be found outside the avian world today; on my afternoon walk, I found an Otter in one of the inlets just in front of the lighthouse. I saw it diving and assumed it was a large duck species at first, how wrong was I. Simon has never seen an living otter here in Skagen, so it wasn’t just the volunteers who were happy today. We were treated with great views of it feeding, fingers crossed it continues it stays around.

The excitement continued into the night as we headed out night catching. We managed to find a Cormorant on the beach on the way to Kattegat Bunker, and with some light footsteps on the stony beach, we got close enough for Amadine to get it in the net. Upon our returns to the observatory, we noticed it had some fishing line tangled around its mouth and neck, which we freed it of before rining and returning it to the beach. The feisty bird got a few bites in with its sharp bill, which combined with its excrement to truly sully the lab.

We untangled the fishing strings from the Comorant (Skarv). Wonder if it knew how lucky it was to be freed fom this?

The blood on the chair is from Amandines hand who got to feel the strength of the birds bill... 

Ringmærkning (Grenen)

Skarv - 1

Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, og Amandine Dore.

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

When the sun becomes shy for a few days and the sky is dressed in its grey colour, you must find alternatives and creative ways to bring light into your day. This is part of the reason why Justine, Rosalina and I headed to the art gallery (Skagen Kunsthal) next to the harbour this morning, where we were welcomed by the curator Gorm Spaabæk. We spent a delightful time with him, who very kind and humble to show us his art pieces but also a vaste collection of less known Danish and international artists who drew and painted the most diverse landscapes and subjects. Needless to say, we genuinely had a lovely time and most of all we learned a lot. I can only suggest to our readers to pop by and pay him a visit if and when they will come back to Skagen.

Meanwhile, back at the station Simon was receiving William Aarrestrup, who is the oldest active ringer in Danemark, and his friend Peter Jørgensen, who is a taxidermist (for people like me who didn’t know, the taxidermist is the person whose skill is to preserve animal body through stuffing). This was definitely the best day for them to be here since in the afternoon we caught a rock pipit (Skærpiber) by using our traps and a recording of its call and William was very enthusiastic because for him it was a new species in hand.

We also openend the nets in the lighthouse garden trying to catch more birds but the flocks of yellow hammers (gulspurv) and bramblings (kvækerfinke) that were seen didn´t unfortunately come close enough.

While on a short birdwatching walk Robbie and Amandine saw also two red-brestaed merganser (toppet skallesluger) who apparently have been hanging around the lighthouse for some days now and, in anticipation of the bad storm who will hit us in the next days, they also took down the tent at Kabeltromlen and brought back all the ringing material that was left there.

The rest of the day, otherwise, went by with usual admin tasks like checking sheets, entering data and sewing nets.

But the night had another surprise for us! Robbie and Amandine went nightcatching and they caught a Jack snipe, which is the fifth of the autumn. Well done!

Ringmærknings Fyr

Skærpiber 1

Ringmærknings Grenen

Enkeltbekassin 1

Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, Amandine Dore, William Aarrestrup, Peter Jørgensen.

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

After yesterday's closing day, the weather was not ideal for observations so we were all allowed to enjoy a bit longer our bed. We all had our own occupations this morning: a little tour in Skagen for Amandine, contract negotiation for Rosalina, net fixing for Robbie, and a nice walk to Skagen for Angela and me.

After that, part of the team went with Simon to the harbor looking for gulls and other rarities that could hide there. The highlight of the trip was a young Arctic tern (Havtern), which is quite late for the season.

Although the nets at Kabeltromlen are now taken down, we still try to catch birds in the lighthouse garden: the nets were opened few hours during the day and we caught some local birds: Great tits (Musvit), Robin (Rødhals), and two Yellowhammers (Gulspurv), one male and one female. Good training to age and sex them!

This afternoon, we did a session about Redpolls (Gråsisken) with Simon that you can find on our Youtube channel : 

Part I : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzrh1oxqqCU

Part II : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0TA9fbJA0A

I still have to learn but theoretically, we now know how to make the difference between all Redpolls subspecies (or species that’s the fun part). Let’s practice now!

Finally, the day ended really well for us: Angela and I went ”night catching” (at 17h) and we caught two Woodcocks (Skovsneppe)! A good way to end the day!

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

Folk på stationen: Simon S. Christiansen, Rosalina Sø Leth-Nissen, Robbie Lawler, Angela Di Pumpo, Justine Costa, Amandine Dore.