Migrations last gasp.

After a very appreciated extra few hours in bed (7am as opposed to 3.30!) I was up at the crack of. . . 9am! I was due to be leading a small tour for a couple of visitors from Philadelphia to see some birds. I didn’t hold much hope, as the birding had been thin on the ground for the last few days, and even the rosy starling invasion seemed to have dried up. I needn’t have worried though, after about 30 minutes of looking at butterflies and dragonflies (and the odd flower that I knew) there was a small kettle of raptors just above Ellekrattet. This included about 7 red kites, 3 honey buzzards and a bunch of buzzards, all of which were new birds for the Americans. So were the chaffinches we photographed inside the woods, before moving down to Grenen briefly. We caught up with a sparrowhawk out on the dunes, as well as the same moving flock of larger raptors, and the icing on the cake was as we arrived back at the Obs where we had an adult and 2k white tailed eagle circling overhead. Two satisfied customers headed off to the café after that!

Simon had a tour for a school group with learning difficulties, and Michele and he reported that it was a very successful morning, for a start they managed to get some birds in the hand for the kids, which doesn’t often happen when you really want it to!

After lunch, I introduced Michele to the cormorant colony and the procedure for surveying them. It was gratifying to see that the ‘predation event’ has slowed or stopped, with several nests that had seemingly been predated having birds back on them this visit. Down at the main colony there were several broods of well advanced chicks, which will hopefully fledge in a few weeks, especially if our furry friend decides to be as slothful in his approach as he has been. The red necked grebes had moved up to 6 nests (7 I hear from a local) and some are well on the way, so I look forward to seeing some stripey headed chicks at some point soon. As we left we were treated to the awesome sight of 3 white tailed eagles, 2 adults and a 2k very low overhead, which was great for Michele as the species had been new to him only last week!

Back to the Obs, and computer work and dinner awaited us, as cooked by Simon. As we were planning to do the CES ringing site on Friday, it was then very early to bed.