It was a good day for catching moths today, I had 23 species in the trap. Elophila nymphaeata “Åkandehalvmøl” was a new species for me.

Elophila nymphaeata “Åkandehalvmøl”

Also Hans had some new species for the year in his garden, we will show Hypsopygia costalis “Guldfarvet halvmøl” in this blog.

Hypsopygia costalis “Guldfarvet halvmøl"

News of the station:

Ole came back to the station from Berlin today, let´s hope, the weather will be better so he can sucessfully do the nightcounts, that he was already planning to do last time he was here.

People: Ole Friis Larsen, Henrik Jørgensen, Gert Jeppesen, Hans Lind, Jasper Mosman, Hanelie Sidhu

Ringmærkning:

Igen i dag var det meget stille i fangsten med mange tomme runder.

Men 3 nye fugle blev det da til og en enkelt aflæsning.

Dagens bedste fugl blev en fin rødrygget tornskade. Tornskader er kendt blandt ringmærkere da de bider ret hårdt og ofte hul. Signe som for tiden er ved at lære at skulle håndtere og senere ringmærke fik prøvet hvordan den bider(så man ved at det er sådan det er når man frem over skal håndtere sådan en og man ikke bliver forskrækket). Undertegnede som holdt den fik nogle gode bid under fremvisning, men det er nu ikke så slemt som f.eks kernebider.

Rødrygget Tornskade - Red-backed Shrike

Efter ringmærkning tog jeg på stranden med en ven og det blev pænt varmt. Dog kom der en kraftig skulle kort efter kl 15.

Hanelie fik slappet af efter mærkningen, men fik cyklet ind efter regnen og handlet lidt.

I morgen skal nettene være oppe 3.45 så nu er det meget tidligt de skal op(tiden til opsætning rykker et kvarter hver ugen så næste mandag skal de være oppe 3.30, men så begynder det er blive senere efter det da dagene langsomt bliver kortere).

I morgen ser vejret fint ud og vinden ligger sig endnu mere.

The moths:

Not so many species in the trap today. Plagodis dolabraria “Smalvingemåler” was my favourite, The Latin name comes from dolabra, which means axe in latin, as each wing has the form of an axe.

Plagodis dolabraria “Smalvingemåler”

Hans did not have many species in his trap eighter but a new one in his garden for this season, which was Scoliopteryx libatrix “Husmoderugle”. This species can be seen the whole year round, so it is a good one to remember.

Scoliopteryx libatrix “Husmoderugle”

På stationen: Hanelie Sidhu, Signe Gartig, Henrik Jørgensen

The ringing:

A quiet day in the ringing again. Today and for the next week, we will have Signe with us in the morning, it is her first time in the ringing and she is eager to learn. Today unfortunately just three birds in the nets, one of them was new: A garden Warbler “Havesanger”.

Today is officially the last day of the spring ringing season, but we will keep ringing also out of the season, hoping to get some more young birds that just left the nests. This is interesting data, as we know for sure that these birds are hatched in Denmark.
So I thought, it might be a good time for a short resumé of the season. As I already mentioned in one of the blog posts in May, it was an exceptional spring, we had very low numbers of birds in the nets in April and May. This is not just here, also from the other bird observatories in Denmark Blåvand and Skagen as well as from some Swedish Bird observatories, Falsterbo and Ottenby, we are hearing of exceptionally low numbers this spring. Looking at our season total of Gedser, this is not immediately obvious, the totals are not significantly lower than last year. This is because we had an exceptionally good March this year with big numbers of especially Great Tits “Musvit”, Blue Tits “Blåmejse” and Goldcrests “Fuglekonge”.

However, both April and May had significantly low numbers of birds in the nets. The diagram now shows the ringing totals of the whole of June, but as there is still the second half of June to go, the comparison of the ringing data of June is not so meaningful yet. I compared the data to last year and also 2019, five years ago.

Maybe in the next few days, I will find time to compare the totals of single species so stay tuned and keep reading our blog!

The moths:

Today was quite good for catching moths, I had 22 species in my trap. Hans did not catch so many, therefore three new species for his garden for this season, which is also a success!
From my catches, I will put a picture of a very colourful moth in this blog, Earias clorana “Pilevikler”.

Earias clorana “Pilevikler”

This species can be seen in the whole of Europe and prefers more or less humid stands.
From Hans trap a picture of Pterostoma palpina “Palpetanspinder”, a species that prefers woody areas and can be found in most of Europe and also parts of Asia.

Pterostoma palpina “Palpetanspinder”

People: Signe Gartig, Henrik Jørgensen, Hanelie Sidhu, Jasper Mosman

The ringing:

Vinden havde lagt sig til kun 5 m/s så der var så stille at frøerne ude fra søen på engen kunne høres.

Det gav også forventninger om at dagen nok skulle give lidt flere fugle end de andre dage hvor det blæste kraftigt. Det gav også mere end vi havde forventet og blev hvad der svarede til end normal dag i juni.

Efter ringmærkningen var slut fik vi skiftet et net som der var fyldt med huller.

House Sparrow "Gråspurv"

Gert kom kort efter og ham og Hanelie tog en tur til Bøtø.

Til aften tog Lara hjem efter en lille uge, og hun vil gerne tilbage og lære mere så vi ser frem til at hun kommer tilbage en dag.

I morgen ser det pt ud ud til at vi lige kan nå at køre standard færdig inden der kommer regn.

The moths:

Not so many moth in the trap today but one which was sitting on the trap was really cool: It was Cossus cossus “Pileborer”.

Cossus cossus “Pileborer”

Hans also had his trap up in the garden. On the picture you can see Sphinx pinastri “Fyrresværmer”, that he caught.

Sphinx pinastri “Fyrresværmer”

På stationen: Hanelie Sidhu, Jasper Mosmann, Lara Chrenkova, Henrik Jørgensen, Gert Jeppesen, Tina Elley

The ringing:

This morning meant mainly cutting branches in the garden. In between, there were four birds in the nets. One of them was new: A Linnet “Tornirisk”.

In the closing round, we heard a Rosefinch “Karmindompap” near the garden. It is not so common as just about one and a half weeks ago, to hear them now. They have mainly continued their journey.
In the afternoon, there were some more young birds to ring: Some Kestrel “Tårnfalk” chicks in a nestbox at a residence not so far from Birkemose. Hans, Gert and I went there and it was five little Kestrels “Tårnfalk” in the nestbox!

Kestrel "Tårnfalk" chicks

Before we left to the nestbox, we had some home-made cake from Tina, that she brought to the station and we all enjoyed it together. Tak for kage!

 After, Jasper and Tina had a meeting about the university project Jasper is working on: The comparison of measurements from ringing data of two species of short-distance migrants and two species of long-distance migrants.

The moths:

Again, a windy night that did not bring many moths. I had four species in the trap, Hans got three and a little wasp (Ancistrocerus sp.) in his trap. One of his catches I hope also to get in the trap soon, Sideritis reticulata “Netmønstret nellikeugle”.

Sideritis reticulata “Netmønstret nellikeugle” and Ancistrocerus sp.

Hans found a bug in his garden today which we all did not think to have seen before. With the help of the apps, it could be identified as Rhyparochromus vulgaris. The Arter-app just showed three observations of that species in Denmark. So I got a bit alerted and asked the beetle and bug-expert Magnus, at the moment volunteer at Skagen bird observatory. He could confirm the species and told me, that is a rare finding! The first one was found in Denmark in 2011. So really cool!

Rhyparochromus vulgaris

På stationen: Henrik Jørgensen, Hanelie Sidhu, Jasper Mosman, Lara Chrenkova. Gert Jeppesen, Hans Lind, Mads and Tina Elley

Ringmærkening:

Der var lovet mulighed for lidt regn, men det blev til noget mere end lidt da vi blev ramt af byge efter byge. 6.40 måtte vi lukke ned i små 2 timer da regnen blev for kraftig og der ikke var udsigt til tørvejr.

Men på trods af det våde vejr fik vi heldigvis fanget lidt selv om det var lidt tyndt.

1K Bogfinke

I morgen kan der komme lidt regn tidligt men det ser ikke ud til at blive noget særligt.

Sidst på eftermiddagen kom Gert og han blev til aften sammen med Tulle.

The moths:

First of all, I need to apologise, there was a mistake in the moth list of yesterday's blog. Hans did not catch Syngrapha interrogations, which would be very rare here, but Agrotis exclamationis “Udråbstegnsugle”. I also added one species that he had in his garden to yesterday´s list, Dysstroma truncate “Jordbærbladmåler”. The actualised list is now on yesterday's blog.
But now to today´s moths. I just had six moth species in the trap today. That was probably due to the very windy night. My favourite of today was Hypena proboscidalis “Snudeugle”.

Hypena proboscidalis “Snudeugle”

Hans did not have more luck in his garden. But he had a very nice species, Hectatera bicolorata in his trap.

Hectatera bicolorata

På stationen: Henrik Jørgensen, Hanelie Sidhu, Jasper Mosman, Lara Chrenkova. Gert Jeppesen (og Tulle).

The ringing:

This morning, there was too much rain to open the nets. So we could just crawl back to our beds, after checking the radar and looking out of the door in the rain.

The moths:

 After yesterdays two species that I found in the trap, I was not expecting many in the trap today, after a rainy night. After going back to bed after we saw, that we could not ring today, I checked the trap later in the morning, when I got up. But I was positively surprised, as there were quite many species in the trap, 22 I found out after doing the list. But it is a long list, because Hans also had his trap out today in his garden. Later in the morning, he came to the station with a moth that was new for me, which was very nice: it was Evergestis forficialis “Kålhalvmøl”. He also handed me a list with the species he caught today, so I have also put his moth in the list, under the location Gedser town.

A micro moth: Mompha subbistrigella

From Hans garden: Evergestis forficalis

Laothoe populi "Poppelsværmer" (left) and Smerinthus ocellata "Aftenpåfugleøje" (right)

Collared Pratincole “Rødvinget Braksvale”

 Congrats and thanks to Jørgen Hulbæk who found a Collared Pratincole “Rødvinget Braksvale” in Faxe kommune yesterday afternoon! Today, Tina, Mads, Gert, Lara, Henrik and I went to see it. When we saw a lot of cars next to a field, we knew, we were at the right place. The bird was just sitting next to a tuft of grass nearly all the time we were looking at it. So we did not have to wait for it, we saw it right away after arriving. But now, everyone was waiting for it to fly and it also did us the pleasure just when we were talking about going back. So it was a perfect twitch and also perfect timing, as just when we drove away from the field, it started to rain. Tak for turen to Tina and Gert!

People: People: Hans Lind, Henrik Jørgensen, Gert Jeppesen, Tina and Mads Elley, Jasper Mosmann, Lara Chrenkova, Hanelie Sidhu

The ringing:

Today, there was a little improovement to yesterday. In the morning, we had 14 birds in the nets. Just four newly ringed though. In the afternoon, Henrik caught the 15th bird of today by hand: it was a newly fleged Blackbird "Solsort" which was so small, that it couldn´t even fly. Henrik ringed it and then it was released. Young Blackbirds "Solsort" leave their nests a few days before they can fly. Their parents will still come and feed them and after a few days, they will fly like the big.

1K Blackbird "Solsort"

The moths:

The windy night did not make many moths fly. It was a bit sad opening the trap and just finding two of the most common moth species. On our trip to Stor Klinteskov near Møn, I managed to catch a few, so the list is a little longer. For this blog, a picture of Hypochalcia ahenella “Bakkehalvmøl”.

Hypochalcia ahenella “Bakkehalvmøl”

Trip to Klinteskov on Møn:

Today some of us went on a trip to Klinteskov on Møn to see different species of orchids and a lot of other flowers. We were also looking for butterflies and other insects but there weren’t many because it was windy with some showers. The area was different compared to most of Denmark as it had hills covered in bushes, trees and meadows with varying species of flowers and trees. There were a few species of birds as well like the Thrush Nightingale "Nattergal" and the Eurasian Skylark "Sanglærke".

Cynoglossum officinale "Hundetunge"

Dactylorhiza maculata subsp. fuchsii "Skov-gøgeurt"

People: Hans Lind, Henrik Jørgensen, Ole Friis Larsen, Jasper Mosmann, Lara Chrenkova, Hanelie Sidhu

Nye tal viser, at Gedser Fuglestations blog er set eller endda læst 1,9 millioner gange, siden vi begyndte at skrive dagbogen/bloggen for ni år siden. Vi skriver cirka 280 dage om året. Det betyder, at dagbogen i gennemsnit bliver set 750 gange hver dag. Tusind tak til alle, der viser vores arbejde på fuglestationen den store interesse.

The Ringing: Cold wind and quite some leaves in the nets, a cloudy sky, me taking my hat on. That nearly sounds like autumn! Just the fact, that most leaves were green, the Swifts “Mursejler” on the sky and the brood patches on quite some of the few birds I had in hand today did not really fit into that picture. No, it is supposed to get summer… Also the new ringed birds of today gave more the feeling of autumn or early spring. But with a little surprise, very little, just 5,3 grams. In the second round,

A very late Firecrest on Sunday morning.

I took a Firecrest “Rødtoppet Fuglekonge” out of one of the nets. Gedser is definitely the best place for Firecrests “Rødtoppet Fuglekonge”, but it is mainly early spring, from mid-March to the beginning of April, that we are getting them in the nets. So this was nice, but there was not much following. One new Great Tit “Musvit” and a few recaps, among them a Garden Warbler “Havesanger”, that Hans ringed in May 2018!

The moth: The first rainy and then windy night did not make many moths flying. I will show Grapholia funebrana "Blommevikler", as I think we did not catch it before.

Grapholia funebrana "Blommevikler"

There was also Scopalia ambigualis in the trap, it is quite common in the traps now, so maybe you can also find and recognise it.

Scopalia ambigualis

Hans took his trap back home today, he also wants to catch moth in his garden, so from now on I will just catch with one trap.

News of the station: Yesterday evening, Ole arrived at the station to attend today´s board meeting and do some night counts.

Around noon, Henrik also came, he will be here until the end of the month.

And in the afternoon, we welcomed Lara at the station. She is a student and will stay here for her school internship for the next week.

Styregruppen samlet i stationens mødelokale  til af årets to-tre ordinære møder.

Mere nyt fra fuglestationen: Søndag var der møde i fuglestationens styregruppe, hvor vi diskuterede økonomien og forskellige andre ting af betydning for stationens drift. Referaterne fra møderne er til at læse på fuglestationens hjemmeside, efterhånden som de er skrevet og godkendt. I mødet lørdag talte vi blandt andet om, at vi mangler frivillige til at hjælpe med havearbejdet, som er en forudsætning for, at ringmærkerne kan komme rundt til nettene, samt for, at haven ser nogenlunde ens ud fra år til år af hensyn til den standardiserede ringmærkning. Vi planlagde også nogle af stationens arrangementer i efteråret.

People: Ole Friis Larsen, Henrik Jørgensen, Jasper Mosman, Hanelie Sidhu, Hans Lind, Mads and Tina Elley, Gert Jeppesen, Bo Kayser, Anne Marie Reith, Søren Mygind, Lara Chrenkova

The ringing:

Again, a cold June morning started when Jens and I went out opening the nets. Jens got two recaps and two new birds today, but for me it was 07.15 until I got my first and only bird to handle today, a recapture Blackbird “Solsort”.

Jens left today after ringing and checking the tip, hopefully, there will be some more birds at his next stay at the station.

The moths:

There were 16 moth species in the traps today, one difficult Oligia needed to remain unidentified. The other moth were all species I knew already quite well so due to the lack of birds, I was already finished with identifying all moth by 06.00.

That was effective, but I would not have minded a bit more work…

My favourite species of today were Phalera bucephala “Måneplet” and Aphomia sociella “Humlevoksmøl”.

Phalera bucephala “Måneplet”

Aphomia sociella “Humlevoksmøl”

There should be at least one bird picture in a bird observatory´s blog, but I just did not have one until Gert and I did a short trip to look for butterfiels at the dyke of Gedesby strand this afternoon. There were not many butterfly species flying but we saw this beautiful Stonechat "Sortstrubet Bynkefugl", so here it is, the bird picture. Mission completed for today!

Stonechat "Sortstubet Bynkefugl", Foto: Gert Jeppesen

People: Jens Friis-Walsted, Gert Jeppesen, Tina Elley, Jasper Mosman, Hanelie Sidhu