The weather was still grey, foggy and a bit windy at 6am, but it improved slowly slowly and at 10.30, the sun was shining again! The birds didn'et show up very early, but from 7am, 45 siskins were trapped again. Among them, there was only one which has been ringed yesterday.
Another rather common species showed up for the first time in the nets today: the blackcap!
This bird is early in the season, but as a matter of fact, last year, the ringers trapped their first one on the 3 of April as well!

Ad for the firecrests, there have been 38 of this little fellows ringed this year already! We are getting closer to 2015's record of 44... Come on, little ones!

In the end, nets were closed a bit after standard time and 99 new birds were ringed today.

Gædersmutte - Wren: 3
Jernspurv - Dunnock: 14
Rødhals - robins: 9
Sangrossel - Song trush: 6
Vindrossel - Redwings: 2
Munk - Blackcap: 1
Gransanger - Chiffchaff: 11
Rødtoppet fuglekonge - firecrest: 1
Bogfinke - chaffinch: 5
Grønsisken - Siskins: 45
Nordlig gråsisken - Redpolls flammea: 1
Gulspurv - yellowhammer: 1

This morning, the weather was not so good. The weather forecast said it might rain but as we were three ringers, it was very possible to open all nets without fearing for the birds. It stayed grey and foggy the whole morning and the first two rounds were average. However, at 7.30am, came the siskins again! 

All in all we ringed 154 birds, among them, exactly 100 siskins. The other surprise today was our first black redstart for this spring, a young female.
The wind increased in the end of the morning and the birds deserted them, except for 4 greenfinches.

Hopefully, in the afternoon, the sun showed up and the weather was really spring-like and it is supposed to stay like this for tomorrow.

We also retrap two birds who were ringed as young ones in 2016: a blackbird and a chiffchaff.

It was good to have some company, but now, Johanne and Clausjannig are gone, so it will be only me again from tomorrow! 

Birds ringed today:

Gædersmutte - Wren: 4
Jernspurv - Dunnock: 13
Rødhals - robins: 13
Husrødstjert - Black redstart: 1
Solsort - Blackbirds: 1
Sangrossel - Song trush: 1
Fuglekonge - goldcrest: 2
Rødtoppet fuglekonge - firecrest: 2
Bogfinke - chaffinch: 6
Grønirisk - Greenfinch: 5
Grønsisken - Siskins: 100
Nordlig gråsisken - Redpolls flammea: 4
Gulspurv - yellowhammer: 1

Today, we were three people today to be ringing so we opened all the nets at 6am in a nice spring weather with no wind, hoping to have a good amount of birds.
Johanne and Clausjannig are both use to come to the station and are here for the weekend. It has been a good day with 72 new birs ringed.
We had a nice "couple" of redpolls! First nice looking male in the hand of this spring!

We also had a couple of interesting retraps! A blackbird and a white wagtail which were ringed here as young birds in 2015 and a great tit which as been ringed as an adult bird in spring 2015! This mean that this great tit was born at least in 2013 and is at least 4 years old!

Birds ringed today:
Hvid vipstjert - White wagtail : 2
Gædersmutte - Wren: 7
Jernspurv - Dunnock: 20
Rødhals - robins: 14
Solsort - Blackbirds: 2
Vindrossel - Redwing: 3
Gransanger - Chiffchaff: 3
Fuglekonge - goldcrest: 2
Bogfinke - chaffinch: 5
Grønirisk - Greenfinch: 1
Grønsisken - Siskins: 10
Nordlig gråsisken - Redpolls flammea: 2

Today in the early morning, you really could feel it was not so cold anymore. It was also not windy and a bit quiet. The first round was average with a few robins and dunnocks, but then, as soon as I started the secound round, I had to call Hans for help again! In the end, he helped me as much as he can but as he had to leave, we ended up closing nets and couldn't get a standard time. Indeed, some nets werereally full of siskins from 7am until 9,30 when we started closing.

These pretty birds have been the stars for 3 days in a row, now!
One of them, a male was ringed here last autumn. but the icing on the cake was definitely a beautifull female born last year who had been ringed in Norway!

The total number of birds ringed today was 248, so it is a shame that we had to close nets, otherwise we probably would have set a new spring record!
The first two coal tits of this spring were also trapped in the end of the morning,

Beside ringing, it seemed to be quite busy at sea this morning as well and I heard my first sandwich terns since I'm here.

Birds ringed today:
Gædersmutte - Wren: 6
Jernspurv - Dunnock: 9
Rødhals - robins: 22
Solsort - Blackbirds: 1
Vindrossel - Redwing: 6
Gransanger - Chiffchaff: 3
Fuglekonge - goldcrest: 4
Rødtoppet fuglekonge -firecrest: 1
Sortmesje - coal tits: 2
Bogfinke - chaffinch: 6
Grønsisken - Siskins: 185
Nordlig gråsisken: 1

Today was, once again, misty and on the edge of raining at 6am. I decided not to open all the nets for the bird's safety. The first rounds were very quiet but, although the weather stayed the same,it got better in between 9 and 10. 
In the end, it was not as bad as expected, with 40 birds ringed in total!

I really thought siskins were going to be the birds of the day again, but they got overwhelmed by robins in the end. Groups of siskins were in the garden but flying too high for the nets except for the group that has been ringed.

Birds ringed today:
Gædersmutte - Wren: 3
Jernspurv - Dunnock: 4
Rødhals - robins: 14
Solsort - Blackbirds: 2
Fuglekonge - goldcrest: 1
Bogfinke - chaffinch: 4
Grønsisken - Siskins: 12

That was this morning question.... It was grey and rain was expected from the weather forecast... It has been hard to decide if and how many nets to open! In the end, I opened some nets at 6.15 but had to close them after they trapped only one new chiffchaff!
The rain stopped eventually and the nets were opened again. I didn't open all of them because it was still looking like it could rain any minute. I finally ringed three hours in a row and these were 3 nice hours with a good number of siskins again! I managed to ring 59 of them before the rain came again
In order to have a standard time, I re-opened nets for the third time after half an hour of rain. But at that time, the birds were gone, giving only a few new birds in the nets.
Well, it was as complicated as it sounds!

But the good thing is we have a standard ringing day and many siskins! Another redpoll came among them as well. 

birds ringed today:
Jernspurv - Dunnock: 1
Rødhals - Robin: 3
Gransanger - Chiffchaff: 1
Fuglekonge - Goldcrest: 4
Rødtoppet fuglekonge - firecrest: 1
Bogfinke - Chaffinch: 2
Grønsisken - Siskins: 59
Nordlig gråsisken : 1

Today, a gentle North West warm wind was blowing in the morning. The fog had disappeared and a few blackbirds and robins were singing quite early. Even if it seemed to be moving in the bushes, I didn't expect such a busy morning! I decided to call Hans to the rescue as soon as I started extracting birds! And it was definitely worth it this time, since the total number of birds ringed today reached 255!
This is most probably one of the busiest (if not the busiest) day of this spring. Not a record though, last spring they have had a few more on a day in april.
Anyway, let's celebrate that with more pictures than usually! But first, make a guess: which are the three most species ringed today?

Let's start with the bottom of the podium!

On the third place, we ringed 38 siskins today! These lovely birds were still around tonight in the garden, I have seen a small group of 15 just before sunset.
It was unusual for me to ring that many in one day!

On the second place, an usual suspect of Gedser ringing station! We ringed 53 new goldcrests today!

And on the first place, robins definitely ruled the station this morning! 114 of them were ringed!

Today also brought the third redpoll of this spring season in the net and there were a good number of blackbirds around.

Birds ringed today:
Gædersmutte - Wren: 8
Jernspurv - dunnock: 9
Rødhals - Robins: 114
Solsort - blackbird: 17
Sangdrossel - Song trush: 5
Vindrossel - redwing: 1
Gransanger - chiffchaff: 1
Fuglekonge - Goldcrest: 53
Skovspurv - tree sparrow: 1
Bogfinke - Chaffinch: 4
Grønirisk - greenfinch: 2
Grønsiskin - Siskin: 38
tornirisk - linnet: 1
Nordlig gråsisken - Redpoll (flammea flammea) : 1

There was a heavy fog this morning when I opened the nets. It was wet and I even hesitated to open all of the nets. In the end, the fog seemed to get lighter and lighter and it was alright with no wind at all.
There was a group of people visiting us this morning so we really hoped to have some birds to show them. FOrtunately we had just enough with 21 new birds ringed today.
For the first time since I'm here, robins took over dunnocks!

In the same time, Hans and I received the result for the estonian ring today. The long tailed tit was ringed in panurmaa in Estonia in october 2016. As both youngs and adults long tailed tits do a complete post nuptial moult, it is impossible to age them after that. So we cannot know if the bird was born last year. What we know, however, is that this small bird was ring in a ringing station in Parnumaa and traveled to here since last autumn. The direct flying distance from there to Gedser is 861 km but of course, this is not the real route of the bird! Not too bad for a 8,5 gramms bird!

Birds ringed today:
Wren - Gærdesmutte: 1
Dunnock - Jernspurv: 2
Robin - Rødhals: 14
Song trush - sangdrossel: 1
Chiffchaff - gransanger: 1
Chaffinch - Bogfinke: 2

It was again a lovely early morning today, but without any wind! It also feels good even though it's only psychological to open the nets at 6 again instead of 5...!
Because of the lack of wind, a heavy fog appeared in the middle of the morning. The day has been quiet all in all, with 28 new birds.

However, the 8 o'clock round brought the first trapped bullfinch of this spring! A stunning young male!

But it became even better in the 10 o'clock round, with the catch of a male grey wagtail! This bird is really difficult to catch here at gedser, it was only the third one in 10 years! First one in 2010 and second one in 2012!

Of course, I have a picture of this great catch for you, even though I really wanted to show you the bullfinch as well, so here you go, two pictures today!

Birds ringed today:
Grey Wagtail :) - Bjergvipstjært: 1
Dunnock - Jernspurv: 16
SOng Trush - Sangdrossel: 2
Chiffchaff - Gransanger: 3
Goldcrest - Fuglekonge: 3
Chaffinch - Bogfinke: 1
Eurasian siskin - grønsiskin: 1
Bullfinch - Dompap: 1

The weather conditions were still very good this morning and I did the first round under a stunning sunrise. The wind was blowing a bit stronger. But as the conditions have been the same for 3 days in a row now, birds have gone further and today was a quiet ringing day. From 7am, I got only one or two birds in the nets and some were even retraps from today!
Only 20 birds were ringed today. Among them, 2 more firecrests and a reed bunting.

I also heard chiffchaff singing this morning and caught 3 of them,

There has been geese migration this morning though, a few flocks passed by following the coast. I saw also a flock of swans flying over the lighthouse. I went for a walk near Gedser harbour this afternoon but there was not much going on.

Birds ringed today:

Wren - Gædersmutte: 1
Dunnock -Jernspurv: 3
Robin - Rødhals: 2
Blackbird - solsort: 1
Song trush - Sang drossel: 2
Chiffchaff -gransanger: 3
Goldcrest - Fuglekonge: 1
Firecrest - Rødtoppet Fuglekonge: 2
Chaffinch - Bogfinke: 2
Greenfinch - Grønirisk: 2
Reed bunting - Rørspurv: 1