First Ringing Session

Yehonatan, Johanna, Simon and I awoke early, excited for the much-anticipated first ringing session of the year at Kabeltromlen. Despite more fog over Skagen, we had a good catch of 42 new birds, including 4 Blackcaps (Munk), and plenty of migrants full of fat (see full ringing list below). The undoubted highlight was a Norwegian ringed Blue Tit (Blåmejse) and we look forward to receiving the recovery information on this individual. It was also lovely to have our guests, Bretta and Lotte, join us for a while at the ringing site.

Norwegian-ringed Blue Tit (Blåmejse).

Ringing at Kabeltromlen, photo: Lotte.

Meanwhile Dante headed off for morning observations, despite the fog. A brief relapse in the poor visibility produced 1 White-tailed Eagle (Havørn), 1 Goshawk (Duehøg), 1 Marsh Harrier (Rørhøg), 146 Buzzards (Musvåge), 30 Sparrowhawks (Spurvehøg) and 3 Stonechat (Sortstrubet Bynkefugl), proving it’s worth going out in any weather!

After entering the morning’s ringing and observation data, Johanna headed into town, whilst Dante and I went out with the hope of photographing the local Treecreepers (Træløber). The subspecies (ssp. familiaris) found here and elsewhere in Scandinavia are very rare in the UK (only 23 British records). They differ from the subspecies macrodactyla, which are common breeders in the UK, most noticeably by having a more ‘frosty’ appearance and whiter underparts.

Bretta and Lotte welcomed Lotte’s sister Anna who will be staying with us for a few days and in the afternoon they braved the rain and headed out to Grenen.

A full list of today's observations can be found here.

Today's raptor summary can be found here.

Skagen Fuglestation: Johanna Veentjer, Yehonatan Ben aroia, Dante Shepherd, Lauren Evans, Bretta, Lotte & Anna.

Kabeltromlen Ringing Totals:

Blue Tit (Blåmejse)- 6

Great Tit (Musvit)- 9

Blackcap (Munk)- 4

Goldcrest (Fuglekonge)- 1

Wren (Gærdesmutte)- 1

Robin (Rødhals)- 4

Blackbird (Solsort)- 9

Dunnock (Jernspurv)- 7

Bullfinch (Lille Dompap)- 2

Total- 43