A good ringing day and the best night for moths so far

Morning observations:

Today was a beautiful morning with a blue sky and sun from the get go and only 4m/s from east. The first three periods of standard time had been a pleasure. There was a decent number of Gannets migrating southwards as well as one of my favorite duck species, the Common Scoter. In the last period a adult Gannet blessed me with its appearence - it was foraging quite close to the shoreline showcasing their amazing abality to plunge-dive. That was definetly my highlight from the obs today. :-)

All observations from today can be seen here.

morning obs, Photo: Joseph

When I came home from the obs I treated myself to a warm cup of coffee and chatted with Bent. Afterwards I prepared myself for the interviews regarding the Little Tern Project.

By now I almost talked with a 100 people here at Blåvandshuk, they all seem to be concious about protecting nature. Even though some might be talking more then actually doing it. 

The ringing:

An update on yesterday: We did not catch any owls “ugle”. But it was quite a good number of birds this morning. In total it was 31 birds, in most rounds a few, so it was a quite relaxed day with beautiful weather. Joseph joined me on two rounds after the morning observations and ringed his first two birds since 2023, a Robin “Rødhals” and a Dunnock “Jernspurv”. He especially liked the Dunnock “Jernspurv”. It is a very common bird in the gardens, especially at that time of the year, and the species we caught most so far in this season, 94 Dunnocks “Jernspurv” have been ringed until now.

During the last days, I had quite a lot of recaptures, it was just two today, so I assume the birds took advantage of the mild night and continued their migration to their breeding grounds.

There were 4 Lesser Redpolls/ Lille Gråsisken in the nets today. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

The moths:

Being up until a bit after 23 o´clock (I had a nice long nap in the afternoon) in the so far mildest spring night we had has one advantage, even if you do not catch an owl: We regularly passed the moth trap in the lighthouse garden. Most moths stay in the trap or on the wall of the lab, but of course some also fly away again, so there might always be some that you missed when you check the trap in the morning. Passing the trap that often while it is dark means to miss just very few moths, and I already had quite a lot of species in the night. But the big surprise came in the morning, when I checked the trap and the wall after opening the nets. Cerula vinula “Hermelinskåbe” was on the back of the bench! Last year I caught that species in June, I was not expecting to catch it now, it was a nice surprise, it is a beautiful big moth. I read it up in my Moths field guide, they write it´s fight season starts in May, it is a quite early record, I found observations of it in April on Arter, but from mid to end of the month. In total I had 10 species, I hope that will continue the next days!

Cerula vinula “Hermelinskåbe”. Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

Earophila badiata "Brungul bladmåler". Picture: Hanelie Sidhu

At the station: Bent Jakobsen, Joseph Stephan, Marit Nillissen and Hanelie Sidhu