Bird-decorated nets, rare orchids and butterflies makes the day

Hi and welcome to the Blog in a day, that should turn out to be a bit more unusual than the former weeks. For the first time in weeks, we barely had any wind, and barely any clouds in the sky. It should turn out to be the recipe of the most busy count for maybe a month.

But we will start back at the lighthouse, where I did data-checking, raptor summary and checked raptor summaries for five hours yesterday evening, before heading for bed at around 00.00. My alarm rang at 03.15. The reason for the unusually early alarm was our suspicion of it being a good day for Fulmars (mallemuk). The reason why our suspicion was because of the slow winds, which - after periods of stronger westerly winds - usually means the fulmar migrate out of Kattegat towards Skagerak (NV).

Unlike earlier days, we turned out to be terribly wrong. It was just as slow as the average days the last few weeks. Corn Bunting turned out to be the best bird for four hours of counting

The count were quite a contrast compared to the ringing. A total of 54 birds were ringed today. That’s approximately 30-35 birds more than the daily catches the last few weeks. For that reason, we ringed for six hours, before closing. The best bird was a Brambling (kvækerfinke), which were late, compared to when they usually turns up.

Isis ringing. Søren takes notes. Photo: SSC.

We headed back to the station and had some lunch. Some had a nap, but I was called by a friend of mine, who informed me that Anders and Dorte were back in Skagen, after a trip by bike all around the Danish coastline, visiting plenty of the unique lighthouses Denmark has. I joined my friend at the driveway to the grey lighthouse, where we welcomed Anders and Dorte, and congratulated them with their performance with champagne.

Anders and Dorte climbed the stairs to the tip of the lighthouse, to shoot the last lighthouse-selfie of their trip. Photo: Anders Østerby.

Their lighthouse trip has the goal to inspire to explore the country in a green way and recommend followers to support some of the places they visitied. Skagen Bird Observatory has MobilePay number: 39357 in case you would like to support the work we do here.

My friend and I headed for the non-lethal beetle traps shortly after, to check if the extremely rare (maybe extinct) Calosoma auropunctatum was caught. To our big disappointment, none had gone into the traps, and only an area nearby with rare butterflies were able to lift the mood. We counted around 12 of the rare Marsh Fritillary - hedepletvinge (Euphydryas aurinia), 1 Amandus’ Blue - isblåfugl (Polyommatus amandus), and 3 Purple-edged copper - violetrandet ildfugl (Lycaena hippothoe).

Marsh Fritillary - hedepletvinge (Euphydryas aurinia). Photo: Simon Kiesé.

Purple-edged copper - violetrandet ildfugl (Lycaena hippothoe), Male. Photo: Magnus Houen Lauritsen

Also great numbers of orchids were to find as well. Hundreds - maybe thousands of Heath Spotted Orchid - plettet gøgeurt (Dactylorhiza maculataf), a few hundreds of the northern marsh orchid - purpur-gøgeurt (Dactylorhiza purpurella), and a few handfuls of lesser butterfly-orchid - bakke-gøgelilje (Platanthera bifolia).

We stopped on our way back, to check the industry area for rare birds, but without luck. We were back at the station at 17.30, having an evening meeting until 18.30. I started cooking risotto shortly after. Dinner was at around 19.45 and we finished cleaning the dishes at around 21.00. At that point, I’ve had three hours of sleep in the last 30 hours.

But my daily tasks weren't done yet. I began writing the Blog for the day, but ended up falling asleep at around 23.30. I found myself on the couch the next morning at 02.30 ready to head out to open the nets.

Therefore are the last few lines of this Blog written after six hours of sleep and 46 hours of being active.

Maybe I should’ve done one more raptor summary? Probably.

/Magpie/Krøllebille/Magnus/MHL.

Ringing (Kabeltromlekrattet):

Total: 54

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

Sum of observations of raptors on DOFbasen from today.

Seán Walsh, Isis Khalil, Magnus Houen Lauritsen, Simon Kiesé, Simon S. Christiansen and Søren Leth-Nissen,