Migration at last!

It was a windy and slightly sleepless night, the lighthouse building makes the wind seem far more violent than it is. Despite that I was up and at Grenen by 7 and shortly joined by Knud. We had a very pleasant mornings birding, with a lot of movement, with whooper swans migrating, jackdaws attempting to, plenty of seaduck moving through, a group of 18 snow buntings feeding in front of us on the beach. A lone pink footed goose was heard only. Saw my first ravens and rook of the season also. We were joined later on by Jørgen Kable, who spotted a group of four buzzards attempting to migrate but chickening out before they reached the tip.

It was a pain to wrench myself back after three hours but it was cleaning day and we have new volunteers coming in at the weekend. The cleaning takes a while when it’s just one of you! The birds were still very active in the garden, but the wind had picked up so I couldn’t really open the nets. After seeing the activity on the beach today however I decide to head out tonight for some flashlighting. Before I went out I spent some time fixing a net, however it’s one of the trickier ones and I don’t finish it before dinner. The board came to the Observatory for a meeting in the birders club, but I missed them as I went out for a fruitless hour flashlighting in the wind. However it’s given me a good feel for what birds are present and what conditions may not be the best for going out in! Hey ho, I’ll be opening the nets tomorrow if the wind is as low as the forecast suggests.

One flock of several hundred jackdaws that attempted crossing at Grenen today.