Observation :

The fog continues to hang over Blavand... but at least, whilst counting the resting birds on the beach, we spotted the first sandwich terns of the season – five of them !


Two sandwich terns on the left [Splitterne] and two common gulls on the right [Stormmåge] by Clara

Today´s observations of observers in the area can be seen here.


Ringing:

No ringing today due to heavy wind and rain. An opportunity to do some indoor work on my data project, datacheck and to wash the birdbags.

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

Observation :

At last, the weather conditions were more favourable today for observing the migration – phew!
Between counting red-throated divers and flocks of common scoters, we spotted several porpoise whales near the reef. We’ve been seeing their dark fins for several days now.
Did you know that ‘Marsvin’ means ‘sea pig’ in Old Norse? And that ‘Porpoise Whale’ (the English name) comes from ‘porkopiscis’, which meant ‘pig-fish’?
Apart from this amusing anecdote, we also saw a grey seal resting with its head above the water near the shore, and a common seal !

Today´s observations of observers in the area can be seen here.

Ringing:

This morning was less foggy, so it was a bit more fun to walk the rounds although still few birds. I walked around a bit, not so far from the station I saw some Linnets “Tornirisk” and a Woodcock “Skovsneppe”. I hope they will also find their way into the nets. The highlights in the nets today were a pair of Yellowhammers “Gulspurv”, male and female as well as a Goldfinch “Stillits”.

Yellowhammer "Gulspurv". Picture by Hanelie

Two Redwings went in the nets, a juvenile and another 3k+, unfortunately the adult had hardly any fat or muscle and was very light.

Redwing "Vindrossel", 3k+. Picture by Hanelie.

I would like to give a small update on the moths, as in my last seasons here I have two traps out but with the often so foggy, cold or windy weather, the moth catching was not very successful so far. I have only caught four species in the traps and as always, there is Scoliopterix libatrix “Husmoderugle” in the bunkers. Today I had a new species for the season Agriopis marginaria “Grågul frostmåler”.

Moths by Hanelie

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

Observation :

There was still fog everywhere this morning. Unfortunately, no standard migration monitoring today. Luckily, Henrik spotted one of his favourite birds… drum roll… the Caspian gull, [Kaspisk Måge] Larus cachinnans !



Caspian Gull in the middle [Kaspisk måge] by Henrik

Today´s observations of observers in the area can be seen here.


Ringing:

The third day in a row in fog. Morten joined me today for the first rounds but it was again very few birds. The highlight was a 3K+ Redwing “Vindrossel”.

Redwing "Vindrossel" by Hanelie

Some of the Goldcrests” Fuglekonge” of the last days flew in the nets again, but there was also one that Lua ringed last November.

DKU left Blåvand today, they successfully finished their meeting yesterday evening. On his way home from the meeting, Henrik was so lucky again to see even several wolves!

Later in the afternoon it cleared up and I went to my favorite bat bunker, the bog and the beach. Today I found a new bat species in the bunker. While it is mostly the Water bat “Vandflagermus” – Myotis dabentonii that is resting in the bunker, a bigger bat caught my attention. I found out, that it is the Pond bat “Damflagermus” – Myotis dasycneme. It is similar to the water bat but bigger and has larger nasal tubercles. A comparison with the nose of one of the water bats confirmed that. That was a quite cool discovery!

Lower, bigger bat: Pond bat “Damflagermus” – Myotis dasycneme, Upper, smaller bat: Water bat “Vandflagermus” – Myotis dabentonii, closeups of the Pondbat. By Hanelie

I continued to the beach where the ringed Plovers are already active. The bog was rather quiet but a Linnet “Tornirisk” was singing on a bush close to me, some Skylarks “Sanglærke” were singing, I saw two Stonechats “Sortstrubet Bynkefugl” and one Redwing “Vindrossel” without ring.  

At the station: Clara Delahaye, Thomas Kristiansen, Henrik Bøhmer, Hanelie Sidhu and DKU

Observation:

This was my second day of birdwatching with Thomas, and the fog refused to lift completely. It prefered to envelop the whole of Blavand and hide the distant silhouettes of the scoters, red-throated divers and other delighted birds.
We were still able to count for an hour, perched high on the dunes, eyes glued to the telescope.
We really hope the weather improves over the next few days so that we can return to standard counting methods.
In the meantime, here is today’s drawing (we saw eight of them flying north in the early morning).



Eurasian teal *eurasisk krikand*, by Clara

Today´s observations of observers in the area can be seen here.

Ringing:

When we opened, the it looked like the sun would manage today to break thought the clouds Indeed, we could do our first round under rather clear sky and it was a quite good round. But the sea fog is fast ant Blåvandshuk and unfortunately, the Radar was right. When we left the lab, the fog had captured Denmark´s westernmost point and also the birds thought that this was not a nice weather to fly. So after, rounds were rather slow. We caught another Chiffchaff “Gransanger” today and as the observers needed to cancel observations, Clara followed us on some rounds later in the morning and saw her first birds in hand!

Paula left the station today, we wish her all the best for her next adventures and hopefully she will get some more birds and especially better weather at her next stay.

While we were walking through the fog, DKU continued their meeting today.

At the station: Paula Feuchtmeyer, Clara Delahaye, Thomas Kristiansen, Hanelie Sidhu and DKU

Morning observations:

In the early morning, the fog refused to lift from the banks of Blavand. From the top of the dunes, all we could hear were the cries of the herring gulls, the horizon was shrouded in a thick veil of mystery. Few birds were to be seen, whilst the toads, for their part, were out in force.
We therefore decided to take a fresh look at the birds species we know so well at Blavand. Here is the drawing of the day.

Eiders "Edderfugl" by Clara

Today´s observations of observers in the area can be seen here.

Ringing:

Goldcrests "Fuglekonge" by Xenia

Yesterday's sunny weather did not last til today. It was already quite foggy when we opened the nets, and the fog only deepened over the next few hours. Today, Xenia joined the ringing. Unfortunately, the bad weather also did not bring many birds. My highlight was a recapture of a  Yellowhammer "Gulspurv", a pretty adult male that Bent ringed in 2023.

Yellowhammer "Gulspurv" by Xenia

With its bright yellow, it brought some light in the grey day! Some Goldcrests “Fuglekonge” were around, but it was also some recaptures from yesterday.

Paula with a Robin "Rødhals" by Xenia

But we had some nice talks over some tea at the station, and after it was mostly an indoor day for us, as the fog did not clear…

In the late afternoon, the first members of DKU, the DOFbasn quality assurance, arrived for their meeting this weekend.

At the station: Paula Feuchtmeyer, Xenia Salomonsen, Thomas Kristiansen, Henrik Böhmer, Hanelie Sidhu, Clara and DKU

Yesterday’s hopes turned into reality. The clear night delivered exactly what we had been wishing for – finally some more birds again!

By the end of the ringing session, we had ringed a total of 27 individuals from 12 different species.

The highlights of the day were two European goldfinches “stillitz”. These beautiful birds never fail to impress and it’s always nice to see one up close in the hand.

European goldfinches “stillitz” by Hanelie

Another nice moment came with the capture of a redwing “vindrossel”. Unlike their relatives – the often caught blackbirds “solsort” and song trushes “sangdrossel” – redwings a rather rare.

a redwing “vindrossel” posing in front of the lighthouse by Paula

We wrapped up the successful day together at the station, now with one more person living at the house with us. Clara joined us last evening and will be staying to carry out observations this season. We are looking forward to a great season together!

At the station: Henrik Bøhmer, Paula Feuchtmeyer, Hanelie Sidhu, and Clara Delahaye

Gransanger by Paula

The morning started a bit windy and according to DMI it would stay like that for the next five hours. So we had a reduced number of nets open, but actually, the wind turned out to be lower than expected. Nevertheless, the birds did not come. We only caught three birds in the whole five hours, two of them Chiffchaffs “Gransanger” – at least a little spring feeling. Also the adders “hugorm” start coming out, when the sun manages to get through to Blåvand. So let´s hope for some more spring with more birds in the next weeks.

adder “hugorm” by Paula

Gransanger 2/0

Gærdesmudde 1/0

We also received a recapture letter of the Dunnock “Jernspurv” with foreign danish ring, that we caught some days ago. At Hanstholm Fyr at the ringing site of the Nordvestjysk Ringmækergruppe. Always exciting to get back recapture letters.

We are hoping that that the clear night will bring us some birds tomorrow.

Is this spring sun on my belly? We are looking forward to your arrival at Blåvandshuk, spring! Picture by Hanelie

At the station: Paula Feuchtmeyer and Hanelie Sidhu

So far, spring has always only been a short guest at Blåvand.

Looking at the forecast yesterday, we were expecting at least a dry day, okay to have the nets open the standard five hours. But it turned out different. The morning was punctuated by showers, some light but others quite heavy. A few nets, particularly in the Leutturm garden, had to remain closed due to the wind. Unfortunately, we couldn’t carry out our usual routine in this weather, and although the Songthrush "Sangdrossel" was singing all day, there was very little activity; we each managed to ring one bird – a Robin "Rødhals" for Paula and a Blackbird "Solsort" for me.

Rødhals 1/0

Solsort 1/0

At the station: Paula Feuchtmeyer and Hanelie Sidhu

The new week started with nice weather. Luckily, the rain stopped in the morning, which meant we could open the nets as usual. However, there were unfortunately not a lot of birds moving in the nets. During the later morning net checks we even had a few rounds with no captures at all.

A really nice moment came when we were able to welcome back an old friend of Hanelie´s – a Great Tit “Musvit” that she ringed here in autumn 2024.

There is also exciting news form the station garden. Henrik managed to set up an audio recorder running BirdNET-Pi and installed it next to the ringing lab outside in the garden. The automated system continuously records the surrounding soundscape and uses artificial intelligence to identify bird species based on their calls and songs. The system analyses the recordings in real time. This means that from now on we can follow bird activity in the garden whenever we want.

At the obs Henriks highlights were three different Grebe species: A Red-Necked Grebe “Gråstrubet Lapedykker”, a Slavonian Grebe “Nordisk Lappedykker” and a Black-Necked Grebe “Sorthalset Lapedykker”!

A deer at sunset close to the lighthouse garden by Hanelie

After, he went on a long beach walk to look for dead birds for a project of DOF. We are curious about what he found.

At the station: Henrik Bøhmer, Paula Feuchtmeyer and Hanelie Sidhu

Goldcrests "Fuglekonge" by Hanelie

Another morning with low winds, which brought some birds in the nets for Paula and me. The last two days, we had surprisingly many Bullfinches, “Dompap”, today it was again three new and one recapture from last autumn.

Bullfinch "Dompap" by Paula

Another exciting event in the ringing was a Dunnock with a foreign Danish ring, so we are excited to find out where it is from. Later in the morning, Bent and his wife came to show their grandson some birds. Unfortunately, the round they followed, we only had one Bullfinch “Dompap” in the net, a recapture from a previous round. Nevertheless, a nice bird to see.

Around closing time,  the sky cleared up, and it was a really nice and sunny afternoon. Paula and I decided to climb the lighthouse and enjoyed the great view.

On top of the lighthouse by Hanelie

Henrik and Thomas went to the obs this morning, luckily they had a clear view, but nothing special to report.

At the station: Henrik Böhmer, Thomas Kristiansen, Paula Feuchtmeyer, Hanelie Sidhu and Bent Jakobsen with family.