Observation: 

What a freezing morning! We’ve almost turned into icicles despite the shy rays of sunshine.
Fortunately, we managed to survive long enough to spot the first skua [Almindelig Kjove] of the season, a magnificent adult in the dark morph !
There were also quite a lot of gannets, nine adults in total !

Todays observations can be seen here.

Ringing:

Bullfinch male and female/ Dompap han og hun. Picture by Morgan.

Today, ringing was back to what it was before: A lot of recaptures, the same number of recaps as of new birds. But we had some nice ones: Three Bullfinches “Dompap”, a Siskin “Grønsisken”, a recapture Tree Sparrow “Skovspurv” that I ringed last March and a nice male Black Redstart “Husrødstjert”. After ringing, we exchanged a net, which had a large hole just where it was attached to the top line, which would have been difficult to mend.

In the early evening Rose arrived from Germany. We hope she brought some birds from a bit further south with her. But it looks like the coming days, we won´t see much of them in the nets, as it looks like we will have a very windy easter… Now, the rain is already drumming against our windows…

At the station: Thomas Kristiansen, Bent Jacobsen, David Manstrup, Clara Delahaye, Morgan Barmer, Rosemary Fricke, Hanelie Sidhu and Karin

Observation :

After a wonderful day of birdwatching in Blåvand yesterday, today’s count was slower and more laborious due to the fog returning over the sea!
So, after an hour of counting the migration, Thomas and I focused on the resting birds on the beach. There was still big a huge amount of herring gulls : over 2300 !

Todays observations can be seen here.

Hanelie's mum arrived yesterday and brought us some lovely bird-themed cakes! It was a real boost after the cold activities of the morning.

Karin's Easter cakes, by Clara

--> Answer to yesterday’s quiz: The challenge was to identify the country where the herring gull had been ringed, using the information from the ring. Did you guess ?
The answer was Denmark! <--

Ringing:

Redwing "Vindrossel", picture by Morgan

In the first round this morning, Morgan and I were surprised: The last days, it was so many recaptures, that we took out of the nets. But today, it was manly new birds, and quite a good number, that we brought into the net. Robins “Rødhals”, Goldcrests “Fuglekonge”, and Chiffchaffs “Gransanger” were the top three birds in their numbers, that we caught today. Also in the following rounds, there were still birds in the nets, and in later rounds, we also had two surprises: The first Blackcap “Munk” of the season was in a net in the station garden.

Blackcap, male/ Munk han, picture by Morgan

And in the next round, I took out a Firecrest “Rødtoppet Fuglekonge”!

Firecrest female and Goldcrest male/ Rødtoppet Fuglekonge hun og Fuglekonge han. Picture by Morgan

Finally, the day we had waited for so long, although it is still cold, here at the west coast: The birds are coming and we are really hoping, that it will continue like that!

After a short noon break, it was time to get out of Blåvand: First, we went to Tipperne.

Birdwatching at Tipperne. Picture by Morgan.

The trip was really worth it as we saw many firsts of the season for us: Black-tailed Godwits “Stor Kobbersneppe”, Ruffs “Brushane”, Redshanks “Rødben” and Wheatears “Stenpikker”. Besides that, we enjoyed to see many Lapwings “Vibe”, Barnacle Geese “Bramgås”, Golden Plovers “Hjeile” and a a few Marsh Harriers “Rørhøg”.

Black-tailed Godwit "Stor Kobbersneppe". Picture throug the telescope by Hanelie

As it was so nice, we decided so continue to Skjern Enge, but we only went to the first birdwatching tower, as it started to get a bit late. A nice Whooper Swan “Sangsvane” and some Goldeneyes “Hvinand” were the highlights here, but we are planning to hopefully do one more trip to Skjern Enge and spend some more time there in the next week, as it is a large and very nice area!

It was a long and eventful day and now we are all happy and tired and ready for bed to be fresh again tomorrow morning!

At the station: Thomas Kristiansen, Henrik Bøhmer, Clara Delahaye, Morgan Barmer, Hanelie Sidhu and Karin

With such a beautiful sunrise, the day could only hold great promise...

Observation : 

Indeed, the migration count was the best since the start of the season, notably including :
- 4,700 common scoters [sortand] during the three-hour count (and 400 more resting in the waves)
- 36 sandwich terns [splitterne] observed migrating !

Low tide, meanwhile, brought a crazyyyy number of resting birds (mainly herring gulls) feeding on a phenomenal number of common seastars, molluscs and serpent stars !
Ole Zoltan Göller, a DOFbasen member spotted over 7 000 of herring gulls in the beach. He also showed me a magnificent adult Iceland Gull resting, with its primary feathers as white as snow.
Later, Morgan and Hanelie went for a walk and spotted quite a good number of Caspian gulls, flocks of purple sandpipers, sanderlings and turnstones !

The beach was teeming with thousands of birds, much to our delight !

At the end of the day, Hanelie and I couldn’t resist the temptation of one last walk along the beach… hoping to spot the Iceland Gull again.

We were glad we’d brought our binoculars and braved the cold...As soon as we reached the beach, I spotted a Black-legged kittiwake relatively close by, resting near the shore ! Then,  Hanelie also spotted quite a few Caspian gulls; she was trying to teach me to recognise the subtle details... but it’s still tricky for me!
In the end, Hanelie, with her eagle eye, spotted a herring gull ringed on its right leg. After several checks, we were able to confirm that it was a yellow ring with four letters: VKNL.
Let’s try a little game… could you find the country where the bird was ringed using this website?
Find a colour-ring project | cr-birding

We'll give the answer in tomorrow's blog ! 

In the meantime, here are today’s photos and a recap of the ringing!

A wonderful iceland gull resting on Blavand beach, picture by Ole Zoltan Göller




A black-legged kittiwake resting on the beach, picture by Clara

 


To the left a Caspian Gull and to the right a young Herring Gull eating a common seastar, through the telescope by Hanelie

Purple Sandpiper "Sortgrå Ryle" through the telescope by Hanelie

A lot of Common Seastars to feed on for the gulls! By Hanelie

Ringing : 

It looks a bit like passerine migration did not reach Blåvands Huk yet. Only some Chiffchaffs “Gransanger” are slowly arriving – today we had seven new ones. Something is moving but very slow. Our already ringed birds are staying and new ones are only very slowly arriving: Today, the number og recaptures was higher than the one of new ringed birds…

Yellowhammer [Gulspurv] by Morgan


Going to the beach and looking at the resting gulls and waders was a bit more interesting today, which we also did.

In the afternoon, my mother, Karin, arrived at the station from Germany and we are looking forward to spending a week with her and also having a car at the station for at least a bit.

At the station:  Clara Delahaye, Hanelie Sidhu, Karin and Morgan Jarmer

Observation : 

Today, during the migration count under the sunshine, we spotted a nice variety of birds!
Various ducks: eiders [ederfugl], a northern pintail [spidsand], red-breasted mergansers toppet skallesluger], and of course the lovely common scoters [sortand] and velvet scoters [fløjsand], as well as waders: 2 curlews [storspove], 1 bar-tailed godwit [lille kobbersneppe].
Over Horn’s Reef, three sandwich terns [splitterne] were also spotted, as well as a gannet!
The migration season is beginning slowly but surely.

Morgan joined me during the migration count and we were able to count the resting birds on the beach together… he was well camouflaged in the dunes, blending perfectly into the landscape – here’s a little photo to prove it :)

Morgan among the dunes counting the resting birds, by Clara

Todays observations can be seen here.

Ringing :

The nets stayed closed today due to too heavy wind.


At the station:  Clara Delahaye, Hanelie Sidhu and Morgan Jarmer

Observation : 

Today was my first day of birdwatching on my own [Clara]. It was a bit of a challenge, but the weather was kind to us with bright sunshine, good visibility and species I could identify in flight! So everything went well, with a great score of common scoters [sortand] – over 2,000 migrating north!

I made the most of the afternoon sunshine to walk around Blavand and count the birds resting on the beach, hundreds of herring gulls and lots of sanderling, a beautiful day.

Todays observations can be seen here.

Ringing : 

For some hours we could have some sheltered nets in the stationgarden open. But ringing was not very sucessful, we recaptured one Robin "Rødhals".

Else, Morgan and me spent most of the morning putting the IKEA furniture together, that Henrik bought. With varying degrees of sucess...

Yesterday, we watched the second episode of the documentary on the French Antarctic Lands with Hanelie and Morgan. This episode focused on marine mammals and how their populations are changing in response to climate change and other pressures. It was really fascinating, with some stunning footage.
It is available with English subtitles at the following link :
Le peuple des tempêtes - Les dents de la mer - Regarder le documentaire complet | ARTE

At the station:  Clara Delahaye, Hanelie Sidhu and Morgan Jarmer

Sunrise at Blåvandshuk. Picture by Xenia

Observation :

There wouldn’t have been much to report on today’s sightings: a few hundred scoters, fewer than a hundred red-throated loons and other ducks...when suddenly Henrik exclaimed that the seagulls had all flown off all of a sudden... That something must have been scaring them. That was when we saw a white-tailed eagle flying off into the distance along the shore near the lighthouse. We were able to watch this magnificent raptor, with its impressive wingspan, for several minutes...What a luck. It is indeed the biggest raptor that breeds in Denmark ! 
Unfortunatly, we do not have a picture but tomorrow there might be a drawing...At least, here is one i've made yesterday : 


Flying common ringed plover [stor præstekrave] by Clara

Todays observations can be seen here.

Ringing : 

While spring seems to reach other parts of Denmark, we only get very short tastes of it here at Blåvandshuk. The passerines seem to feel that, and we do not see much migration. There are very few new birds and a lot of recaptures. Today, it was more recaps than new birds, 12:14. Is it because of the hard winter, the bad weather here or do we just see the biodiversity crisis in our daily work? Sometimes it is quite tough to get up before sunrise every morning to constantly get not much than over ten birds.

Blue Tit "Blåmejse". Picture by Xenia.

Today Morgan and I were joined by Xenia, who had high hopes of ringing some more birds, but experienced another slow day with us.

Live is sometimes not easy – also not wolves, moths or owls last night. Well, we can´t change the weather but it would be great if we could manage to slow down and lower the rate at which species and abundance of individuals are getting less.

In the afternoon, Mathilde left the station but we are hoping to see her soon again.

Now rain and wind is howling outside once again.

At the station: Mathilde Lundt Larsen, Thomas Kristiansen, Henrik Bøhmer, Clara Delahaye, Hanelie Sidhu, Xenia Salomonsen and Morgan Jarmer

Observation : 

Today was a truly wonderful day for bird migration!
We counted over 4,000 scoters migrating northwards. We also spotted numerous velvet scoters, which are easily identifiable by the white patches on their wings.
The sandwich terns have definitely arrived too, with more than a dozen spotted near the shores of Blavand today ! 

Todays observations can be seen here.

Ringing :

This morning we were joined in the ringing by Morgan, who is from Northern Zeeland and has so far ringed at a CES Site. He will stay with us for one week.

In the ringing lab. Picture by Mathilde

Spring migration is still not much visible in the nets and it is mostly Blackbirds “Solsort”, that we are catching. Two more “spring”-birds were a White Wagtail “Hvid Vipstjert” and a Chiffchaff “Gransanger”.

White Wagtail "Hvid Vipstjert". Picture by Mathilde.

We are getting quite many recaptures these days, while yesterday, nearly half of the birds we caught were recaps, today it was 1/3. The weather looks nice the next days, so we are hoping they will continue their journey, and we will get some new birds!

After ringing we had some lunch and then climbed the lighthouse together.

For this evening, we have a wolve trip planned! We hope to get off something of Henriks luck, who already so often saw the wolves. We will keep you updated in tomorrows blog, if we succeed.

At the station: Mathilde Lundt Larsen, Clara Delahaye, Hanelie Sidhu, Henrik Bøhmer, Thomas Kristiansen and Morgan Jarmer

Observation : 

Under the Blåvand sun, there’s no more sign of fog at the moment… and the sunrise brings its own share of enchantment…

Today was truly a beautiful day.
We spotted over 3,000 common scoters [sortand] migrating north, which really marks the start of the migration season – much to our delight.
Through our binoculars, we were also able to spot more than a dozen sandwich terns [splitterne], some velvet scoters [fløjsand] and a great northern diver [islom] resting on the waves.

Then, in the afternoon, during the count of resting birds, there was a massive number of herring gulls – over 800 of them – lying on the beach !

Todays observations can be seen here.


Ringing : 

Today we woke up rejuvenated to get ringing again after a couple of days of bad ringing weather. So when the sun slowly broke through and we were catching a nice amount of birds in the first few rounds. 

There were a lot of recaptures today but also some new arrivals, which were nice to see - some indications of spring with a chiffchaff (gransanger) and the highlight of today: the first black redstart (husrødstjert) of the spring. This was a younger one (2k), so the sex was not identifiable. 

Black redstart (husrødstjert). By Hanelie.

We also caught quite a number of blackbirds (solsort) and a couple of yellowhammers, a male and a female, that were ringed in different years - one last year in spring 2025 and one back in 2022, that were now flying together.

Later, we enjoyed the sun and blue skies over Blåvand today by a walk by the dunes and the beach. Another great day in Blåvand!

The lighthouse and "watercolour" clouds. By Mathilde


The ringed and recaptured birds of today:

Tomorrow will already be Mathilde’s last day... so tonight we’re planning to watch a documentary that’s sure to interest quite a few of you – it’s about birds nesting in the French Southern Antarctic Lands!
You can found it here in free-access : 
Le peuple des tempêtes - Les ailes du courage - Regarder le documentaire complet | ARTE
[it's in french but with english subtitles - enjoy the show!] 


At the station: Henrik Böhmer, Clara Delahaye, Mathilde Lundt Larsen and Hanelie Sidhu 

Observation :

Today the weather was finally favourable for the migration count - youpii- !
Above the churning waves, we spotted over 600 common scoters [sortand], 4 gannets [sule], 2 velvet scoters [fløjlsand] and 1 sandwich tern [split tern] .

Morning observations. Picture by Hanelie

It was a wonderful morning of birdwatching, as there were four of us counting from the dunes today. Indeed, Hanelie and Mathilde joined Thomas and me [Clara] because the wind was too strong to set the nets ! 

Todays observations can be seen here. 

After the obs we heated up at the station, had some lunch and took some naps, I got a nice fire burning in the stove and moved a cozy chair in front of it where I also napped a little, very warm and comfortable.

For the afternoon, we had planned a birdwatching trip to Tipmosen and Nyeng. Sharing a Flextaxi we did not need to fight against the wind on bikes and got there quite comfortably. At Tipmosen the highlight was an adult male Hen Harrier “Blå Kærhøg”, that Mathilde spotted first and that showed very nice so we could all enjoy it. We also had some passerines, although expected, my passerine highlight was two Mistle Thrushes “Misteldrossel” on the Golf fields. It is beautiful Thrushes.

Mistlethrush "Misteldrossel" through the scope. Picture by Hanelie

At Nyeng there were many waders and it was a (windy) pleasure to be birdwatching out there: lot of Dunlins “Almindelig Ryle”, Curlews “Storspove”, also Pintails “Spidsand” we saw a flow of Brent Geese “Knortegås” and Bar-tailed Godwits “Lille Kobersneppe”, Goldeneyes “Hvinnand”, Golden Plovers “Hjeile” just turning into summer plumage… Bevor the high tide arrived, the sandbanks were full of birds.

Curlews of Nyeng [storspove] by Clara

Bar-tailed Godwits "Lille Kobbersneppe" through the scope by Hanelie

It was a really nice trip, although the landscape here at the tip is beautiful, from time to time it feels very good to also get out a bit.

Birdwatching at Nyeng. Picture by Hanelie

Tomorrow the wind will finally be good for ringing, so we are looking forward to hopefully a good day, now after some days with closed nets.

At the station: Thomas Kristiansen, Mathilde Lundt Larsen, Clara Delahaye and Hanelie Sidhu

I (Mathilde) arrived to the station on Monday to stay until the end of the week. I have been spending the time so far getting reacquainted with Blåvand, which I have missed over the winter. It is so nice to be back for a taste of early spring birds and spent time with people at the station.

Today was another windy day - with wind up to 14 m/s as well as rain we could not open the nets today either. Instead, I went on a walk when the rain stopped mid-morning out over the heath and through to Reginevej, where I found a singing robin.

Hanelie saw a woodcock (skovsneppe) in the station garden, so hopefully we could catch one in the nets soon enough!

Clara counted the resting birds at the beach, when they returned after the worst of the stormy morning.

Todays observations can be seen here.

Later Hanelie and I went out to Grønningen where there were a range of birds foraging in the wet fields.

Mathilde watching the Purple Sandpipers "Sortgrå Ryle". Picture by Hanelie

The golden plovers (hjejle) were numerous with a flock of 28 and currently changing to their summer plumage, as well as lapwings (vibe), turnstones (stenvender), wigeons (pibeand), teals (krikand) and starlings (stær).

Lapwing "Vibe", picture by Hanelie

We found a group of purple sandpipers, which were nice to see so close and interesting to see them not at the coast - perhaps they sought shelter because of the strong winds and high waves. On the way back there were grey herons flying and a multitude of gulls as we biked back against the wind.

Hanelie looking for birds on the fields. Picture by Mathilde.