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

Så er jeg endelig tilbage igen efter en hel uges pause - og har savnet det! 

Jeg ankom i går aftes med håb om at opleve efterårstrækket på fuglestationen som Freya og Joakim har nævnt i bloggen den seneste uges tid. Dog måtte jeg "nøjes" med en lidt langsommere dag med 48 fugle. Til gengæld har vi hygget en masse og Freya har lavet brunch og Henrik er nu også ankommet til fuglestationen. 

Dog fik jeg også en herlig overraskelse. Udover at have ringmærket min første korttåede træløber - som jeg var lykkelig over - fik jeg endnu en ny art i dag som jeg (som forholdsvist ny ringmærker) har drømt om. Kort efter jeg tog hjem fik Freya sin første vendehals og selvom jeg var super glad på hendes vegne, var jeg da også lidt jaloux. Dette varede dog ikke længe da jeg nu også fik sat min første ring på en vendehals i dag. Fantastisk fugl!!

Ungfugl af den skønne vendehals.

Vi sluttede dagen af med et glas øl eller vin og fælles aftensmad på stationen - og ser nu frem til hvad dagen i morgen bringer.

Dagens ringmærkning og kontroller/Todays ringing and recaptures:

Nattergal/Thrush Nightingale 0/1

Solsort/Blackbird 0/2

Rørsanger/Reed Warbler 2/0

Gulbug/Icterine Warbler 3/1

Gærdesanger/Lesser Whitethroat 6/0

Tornsanger/Whitethroat 19/3

Havesanger/Garden Warbler 3/0

Løvsanger/Willow Warbler 2/0

Grå Fluesnapper/Spotted Flycatcher 1/0

Broget Fluesnapper/Pied flycatcher 2/0

Rødrygget Tornskade/Red-backed Shrike 1/0

Korttået Træløber/Short-toed Treecreeper 1/0

Vendehals/Wryneck 1/0

Total: 41/7

På stationen: Freya Mørup-Petersen, Joakim Dybbroe, Signe Agermose Andersen

Morgenmærkningen gav den sædvanlige gode håndfuld Torn og Gærdesangere, samt en del acroer - Kær/Rørsanger - og et par sjove overraskelser. Vi fangede blandt andet endnu en Sivsanger, tre Nattergale og en Grå Fluesnapper, som jeg ringmærkede. Fangsten af fugle stilnede dog meget af efter klokken 9.

Sæsonens anden Grå Fluesnapper

Efter frokost besluttede jeg for at sætte net op ved dammen i håb om at fange svaler. Det gav en del fugle, blandt andet en Stillits - også ny mærkningsart for mig - Gul og Hvid Vipstjert, samt en del svaler. Blandt svalerne var mest Landsvaler, men også en Digesvale og en mærkelig svale, som hverken Joakim og jeg kunne bestemme. Den lignede en blanding mellem Land og Digesvaler, men vi var begge i tvivl, om de kunne hybridisere. Kendetegnene og målene på fuglen lå mellem de to arter, men den blev skrevet ind som Digesvale. Svaler var der mange af over haven, også efter vi lukkede nettene ned for dagen.

Mulig hybrid mellem Land og Digesvale?

Dagens ringmærkning og kontroller/Todays ringing and recaptures:

Digesvale/Sand Martin 2/0

Landsvale/Barn Swallow 7/0

Gul Vipstjert/Yellow Wagtail 1/0

Hvid Vipstjert/White Wagtail 1/0

Jernspurv/Dunnock 1/0

Nattergal/Thrush Nightingale 3/0

Rødstjert/Redstart 2/1

Solsort/Blackbird 1/0

Sivsanger/Sedge Warbler 1/0

Kærsanger/Marsh Warbler 3/0

Rørsanger/Reed Warbler 4/0

Gulbug/Icterine Warbler 7/0

Gærdesanger/Lesser Whitethroat 19/1

Tornsanger/Whitethroat 14/4

Havesanger/Garden Warbler 8/1

Munk/Blackcap 2/0

Løvsanger/Willow Warbler 2/0

Grå Fluesnapper/Spotted Flycatcher 1/0

Stillits/Goldfinch 1/0

Total: 80/7

På stationen: Freya Mørup-Petersen, Joakim Dybbroe