Tomorrow morning will be the last morning's ringing for Daniel, Esben and Stav. It has been a good trip for them ringing a reasonable number of birds. For Stav, from Israel she has not only enjoyed some new birds but the weather too - it is noticeably cooler than the Hula Valley. During her visit she has had the opportunity to ring several new species, including a new one today: yellow wagtail, bringing her number of ringing ticks this week to fourteeen.

Apart from the blue tit which caused her much joy earlier in the week, several of the other birds she has enjoyed have been: sparrowhawk, common linnet, grasshopper warbler, wryneck and yellowhammer.

The sparrowhawk was a pleasing bird for her as it was the first raptor that she had handled and ringed, while the processing had a frission of excitement about because of the birds talons, skillfully avoided, just.  A yellowhammer got her very excited not just because of the birds vivid colours but it is a bird that is extremely rare in Israel, so not only a ringing tick but a totally new species too.  This also applied to the linnet. 

Though grasshopper warbler and wryneck occur in Israel they are exceptionally rare, so getting to handle both species was a double treat.  The wonderful colouring and patterning on the wryneck is a strong image that she will take away with her, along with very pleasant memories of a location that she has thoroughtly enjoyed: isolation, beach, butterflies, birds, general ambience accenuated by vivid greens; and pleasant people and company who she thanks for the wonderful experience.

Today we were also joined, for the second morning, by Robin and Mathi and their father; both the boys are interested in becoming ringers.  They certainly showed interest and knowledge. 

Esben explaining bird ringing to Robin and Mathi

Wing of a 1k Yellow Wagtail (Gul Vipstjert)

People present at the bird observatory: Henrick Jorgensen, Chris Sharp, Shave Shay, Esben Hansen and Daniel Bloche

For British birdwatchers and ringers of a certain age they may remember a television advert for Danish bacon with the jingle: Danish written all through it; and very tasty bacon it was too.  Today we did not have bacon but we had sausages of the real variety and the avian variety; first the feathered sausages.

Many of the birds caught today had high fat scores, several with fat scores of seven; these little fatties were nicknamed flying sausages.  A particular feathered sausage was a common whitethroat with a fat score of seven and a weight of 21.1g.  This, crudely, means it was carrying seven grams in fat to fuel its migration but the figure is actually quite amazing.  That means it's weight was about fifty percent up on its normal weight.  If this occured in humans in the autum and winter imagine the amount of clothing we'd have to have in our wardrobes; let alone the numerous cardiac health issues we'd have!

Though we had less birds today there was still quality in the catch: another wryneck, a common rosefinch, and finally not one, but two sparrowhawks caught in the nets.  The wryneck and sparrowhawks were much appreciated by a large number of "Friends of Gedser" who gathered here to share a barbeque together.  These people are the unsung heros of places like Gedser Bird Observatory in the numerous voluntary hours they put into maintaining the site, facilities and the general running of the observatory.  And their barbeque included a selection of very tasty, and much appreciated suasages accompanied by a fine selection of salads.

Sparrowhawk

Showing the Sparrowhawk

Ageing the Rosefinch

Not only were two sparrowhawks caught in the net many more were seen migrating over the oberservatory and these were in the company of other raptors, including: buzzard, honez buzzard, osprey, kestrel, red-footed falcon and white-tailed eagle.  In the afternoon we were contacted about an injured juvenile white-tailed eagle; this was collected and taken to a re-hablitation center.

People at the station: Hendrick Jørgensen, Chris Sharp, Daniel Bloche, Esben Hansen, Shav Shay and many Friends of Gedser Bird Observatory.

Sometimes it seems that sporting cliches can be aptly applied to bird ringing: it's in the net; rain delayed start; and that was certainly the case today: when rain stopped play.  But before ringing for the day was abandoned we managed several hours of ringing, with the first two rounds being particularly rewarding with some quality in the bags; this was when most of the sixty-two birds were caught.

The catch had several highlights: another wryneck and red-backed shrike; and the first red-breasted flycatcher of the year.  The later species delighted everyone, particularly Chris who on arriving at the station had been asked if there were any species he particularly wanted to ring, his response was: the Scandinavian sub-species of long-tailed tit and to see (not necessarily ring), a red-breasted flycatcher - a bird he had only seen briefly, skulking behind bushes.  Today he got a good view of one, in the hand as he ringed the adult female.

In the last couple of weeks there have been a good number of red-backed shrikes ringed, mostly juveniles, like today's new specimen.  In the ringing station's grounds there are two breeding pairs and most of the chicks have gone into the nets.  If today's new red-backed strike is one of those we will probably know when the rain stops, as the individuals tend to sit in quite promenient places.

An attempt at catching tawny owls failed last night - though a bird did bounce out of the net leaving  five or six downy feathers.  Our attempts at trying to catch some of the larger species are not proving too successful but we'll re-group and go again. 

People at the station: Henrik Jørgensen, Chris Sharp, Stav Shay, Daniel Bloche and Esben Hansen

Some bird ringers, and watchers, will find the following sentence to be quite incredible, even incredulous.  Today's highlight birds were a wryneck and a blue tit; yes equal status and in the same sentence too.  People ring at bird observatories with various motives.  A common motive is to encounter totally new birds.

Stav, an Israeli ringer assures us that blue tits are not found in her homeland and that it was a wish of hers to at least see one and hopefully ring one.  Today that wish came true!  A juvenile blue tit, still exhibiting part of its yellowish facial wash, was a a cause of much delight to her.  And her delight pleased us all.  Her delight became double delight when in the next round she extracted, and then got to ring a wryneck, a bird that she had also wished to encounter here.  This bird delighted us all with its amazing patterns and its "snake charm" neck movements.

We were all pleased with the number of warblers in the first couple of rounds particularly the number of willow warblers.  It is suspected that the thunderstorm and heavy rain during the night may have driven them down into the garden.  

Again there was a notable movement of raptors, particularly sparrowhawks.  Twice sparrowhawks managed to escape from the nets before the running ringer could get to them.  Frustrating?  Yes!  But we know that we will catch some, eventually.

Tonight the team are going to try for tawny owl and nightjars.  Expectations are high, of course.

People at the station: Henrik Jørgensen, Chris sharp, Daniel Bloche, Esben Hansen and Stav Shay.

How delightful it is, sometimes, to be wrong! 

Our expectations with the continued heat was that there would have been little bird movement and our catch would be low.  In the end we caught a pleasing 68 birds of 20 species.  Never large numbers in a round just a steady flow of birds that allowed a pleasant pace of ringing and much appreciation of the birds' features.  As in previous days the majority of birds were juveniles.

Late yesterday we had noted an increasing number of raptors flying over the garden towards the point, and presumably onto Germany.  The raptors were mostly buzzards and sparrowhawks with a few marsh harriers.  From early on this morning an increasing number of sparrowhawks was noted in, and going over the garden.  Consequently there were rising hopes of potentially catching one of these hawks.

At the start of the third round Chris went sprinting - off, not only to Stav's surprise but his too.  A well known fact is that Chris does not run, long ago the philosophy was adopted that: why run there is always another bus; but is there going to another sparrowhawk?  Sadly this rare olympian effort failed, the large female sparrowhawk managed to free herself from the net when Chris was two metres from the finish-line.

Throughout the day good numbers of raptors were seen, mostly sparrowhawks and buzzards but several honey buzzards, kestrels and marsh harriers too.  Given these observations a raptor net was set in the garden ready to come into action tomorrow.

During the afternoon some "dead - heading" (the removal of dead flowers) was done to several bushes that are attractive to butterflies, bees and other pollinators.  Hopefully this will extend the visits from the array of butterflies and moths which are currently frequenting the garden including: red admirals, peacocks, small torteshell, green-veined white, silver-wash fritillary and most excitingly many hummingbird moths.

Yesterday's nocturnal efforts failed.  But undaunted the group will try for nightjars again tonight.

People at the station: Henrik Jørgensen, Chris Sharp, Daniel Bloche, Stav Shay and Esben Hansen.

Like much of Europe we are having high temperatures here too.  Though a benefit of opening the nets pre-dawn is that we benefit from coolish morning air.  With the continued heatwave we were not expecting to catch a great number of birds but we were pleased with the day's total and variety.

Chris continues his re-acquaitance with warblers; Stav gets to know a few more northern European birds (she is from Israel); and Daniel and Esben just enjoyed the birds - the essential element of the bird ringing process.  Having reasonable numbers allowed everyone to enjoy the features of the birds, particularly the colours on the whinchat, black redstart and the hidden black-bib on the juvenile redstart.  After the first few rounds Daniel and Esben retired to chairs next to one of the nets and repaired a couple of shelf strings that net - models for a modern Rembrandt.

The heat of the afternoon was spent with eveyone taking long siestas as there are plans afoot for some ringing activity tonight: Esben and Daniel trying lamping on the shore with the aide of a thermal camera; and Chris and Stav will try for nightjars as they disturbed one when opening the nets this morning.

People at the station: Henrik Jørgensen, Chris Sharp, Stav Shay, Daniel Bloche and Esben Hansen.

Todays birds were:

One often thinks of bird ringing as being like Christmas: one gets excited, even not sleeping properly the night before; there is a child-like anticipation at the prospect of catching many wonderful birds which may include unexpected ones.  This anticipation is accenuated when ringing for the first time at a new site, particularly when that location is a migratory hotspot like Gedser.

"Father Christmas" didn*t disappoint in what was placed in the nets today and which we all enjoyed extracting and processing.  The numbers were not huge but there was quality; particularly for me with the warblers.  At my usual woodland site we don*t catch many warblers, a few blackcap and chiffchaff and the very occasional garden warbler.  So re-acquainting myself with a fine selection of warblers was a good start to my visit here.

"Father Christmas" was particularly kind to Freya (a trainee), given it was her last day here, in that he delivered two new species for her: tree pipit and red-backed shrike.  Despite being pecked by the shrike she had the grace to say the bird was, "only a little bit mean;" a positively promising attitude to bird ringing.

Today's presents were:

Digesvale/Sand Martin                1/0

Landsvale/Swallow                      1/0

Skovpiber/Tree Pipit                     1/0

Gul Vipstjert/Yellow Wagtail          2/0

Kærsanger/Marsh Warbler            6/0

Rørsanger/Reed Warbler              1/0

Gærdsanger/Lesser Whitethroat   11/1

Tornsanger/Whitethroat                 7/6

Havesanger/Garden Warbler        1/0

Munk/Blackcap                              4/0

Gransanger/Chiffchaff                   0/1

Rødrygget/Red-backed Shrike     1/0

Present: Henrik Jørgensen, Chris Sharp, Stav Shay, Freya departed mid-afternoon; and Daniel Bloche and Esben Hansen arrived late afternoon. 

Dagen startede stille med fugle, men der kom efterhånden liv i dem i varmen og indtil ca kl 8 var der pæne runder.

En sivsanger som blev fanget havde en vægt på kun 8,2 gram hvilket er en del under hvad de skal veje selv om de er i dårlig stand, normalt plejer de at ligger på 10-11 gram, så denne var godt nok undervægtig. Fedtscoren var dårlig, men stadig er det vildt under hvad de plejer at ligge på, men ellers var fuglen som den skulle være med øvrige mål.

Efter standardtiden havde vi et begrænset antal net op 4 timer ekstra da der var brombær festival, men det gav kun en ekstra fugl så de folk som var her fik set en fugl.

Igen i dag var det allerede pænt varmt fra da nettene skulle op(20 grader) og fugtigt så der blev kogt godt.

Dagens ringmærkning og kontroller/Todays ringing and recaptures:

Landsvale/Barn swallow 4/0

Gul vipstjert/Yellow wagtail 1/0

Nattergal/Thrush nightingale 1/1

Rødstjert/Redstart 2/0

Sivsanger/Segde warbler 1/0

Kærsanger/Marsh warbler 2/0

Rørsanger/Reed warbler 2/0

Gulbug/Icterine warbler 2/0

Gærdesanger/Lesser whitethroat 14/1

Tornsanger/Whitethroat 9/3

Havesanger/Garden warbler 3/1

Munk/Blackcap 2/0

Willow warbler 6/0

Broget fluesnapper/Pied flycatcher 1/0

Gulspurv/Yellowhammer 1/0

Total 51/6

På stationen: Henrik Jørgensen, Chris Sharp, Freya Mørup-Petersen

Dagen i dag var meget stille. Efter et par dage med mange fugle - i hvert fald for en ny ringmærker - stilnede det meget af i dag på grund af det skønne sommervejr. Mange dage med skiftende vind og manglende nedbør, kan mærkes i fangsten af fuglene. Jeg fik dog en ny ringmærkningsart - en munk.

Vi satte også net op til svaler om eftermiddagen, men det gav heller ikke det store. Signe er nu taget hjem og Chris er kommet til stationen. Jeg har også kun to dage tilbage på stationen efter tre lærerige uger på GFU.

Dagens ringmærkning og kontroller/Todays ringing and recaptures:

Landsvale/Barn swallow 3/0

Gul vipstjert/Yelow wagtail 2/0

Hvid Vipstjert/White Wagtail 2/0

Kærsanger/Marsh warbler 1/0

Rørsanger/Reed warbler 2/0

Gulbug/Icterine warbler 3/1

Gærdesanger/Lesser whitethroat 13/1

Tornsanger/Whitethroat 13/1

Havesanger/Garden warbler 5/1

Munk/Blackcap 1/0

Løvsanger/Willow warbler 4/0

Træløber/Treecreeper 1/0

Rødrygget Tornskade/Red-backed Shrike 1/0

Stillits/Goldfinch 1/0

Total: 52/4

På stationen: Henrik Jørgensen, Signe Andersen, Freya Mørup-Petersen, Chris Sharp

Da vi skulle begynde første runde kunne jeg høre Freya sige : Der er en flagermus i nettet, den piller JEG ikke ud!

Så jeg måtte over og pille den forsigtigt uden at at skade den.

Flagermus er fredet i Danmark, og normalt skal der bruges handsker da de kan have rabies, men det lykkedes mig at få den ud uden handsker og blive bidt og efter en kort fremvisning til de 2 andre ringmærkere slap vi den løs igen.

Desværre var det ikke muligt at artsbestemme den med sikkerhed.

Fuglemæssigt var der pænt med fugle de første runder, og artsmæssigt var det rigtigt flot med 19 arter.

Signe fik 2 nye ringmærkningsarter i dag - Bynkefugl og den savnede gule vipstjert, så hun lavede pandekager til os efter nettene var lukket, og samtidigt havde Freya lavet brunch så det var ren luksus.

Dagens ringmærkning og kontroller/Todays ringing and recaptures:
Landsvale/Barn swallow 3/1

Gul vipstjert/Yelow wagtail 1/0

Jernspurv/Dunnock 1/0

Nattergal/Thrush nightingale 1/2

Rødstjert/Redstart 0/1

Bynkefugl/Whinchat 1/0

Kærsanger/Marsh warbler 5/0

Rørsanger/Reed warbler 1/0

Gulbug/Icterine warbler 1/1

Gærdesanger/Lesser whitethroat 22/3

Tornsanger/Whitethroat 14/0

Havesanger/Garden warbler 3/0

Munk/Blackcap 2/0

Gransanger/Chiffchaff 1/0

Løvsanger/Willow warbler 4/0

Grå fluesnapper/Spotted flycatcher 2/0

Broget fluesnapper/Pied flycatcher 3/0

Stillits/Goldfinch 1/0

Tornirisk/Linnet 1/0

Total 67/8

På stationen: Henrik Jørgensen, Signe Andersen, Freya Mørup-Petersen