According to Shakespeare the wind stood fair for France so Henry V's army could cross the English Channel and seek battle with the French.  Today the wind stood fair from the east making great billows in the nets which, unsurprisingly, the birds avoided. Indeed there were not many birds in the ringing garden.  Though many passerines were seen flying over the garden towards Germany, and who knows, maybe onto France too.

Consequently the catch was small - ten birds of six species.  Unfortunately that maybe the trend for the next few days. 

Of note were the three Pied Flycatchers, two juveniles and one adult.  The adult had completed wing moult but some tail feathers and tail coverts were still being replaced and it looked suspiciously like a female - will we ever know?  Hopefully she will be re-trapped somewhere in her travels and we'll then find out.

Ringing totals:

Robin/Rødhals/1; Icterine Warbler -/1; Lesser Whitethroat/Gærdesanger-/2;    Blackcap/Munk 2/-; Chiffchaff/Gransanger 1/-; Pied Flycatcher 3/-.                            Totals: 10 (7/3)

Migration observations at Gedser Odde:  Hello, Lara here – the newest member of the team at Gedser Fuglestation. Today was my second day out on the migration counts at the southernmost tip of Denmark. The dramatic lightning storms of the previous day had abated, with a relatively strong wind blowing white caps on the waves below the point.

Never having had to identify birds several miles out, against the rising sun no less, is certainly a challenge, but luckily, I have some very good teachers in the resident migration expert Ole Friis Larsen and a couple of other birders who visit each morning to track migration, who are more than happy to point out birds I’ve not previously come across, and explain their identifying features.

Having previously relied on signs such as song, colour, habitat and movement patterns, abruptly switching to such “macro” indicators like size, shape, flight pattern and, if discernible, colour bars or blocks on the wings or belly is a real challenge.

Overall numbers were up by a couple of hundred from yesterday, with just over a thousand birds spotted passing by either above the waves to the south or rising up from behind us over the fields to launch themselves from land into the prevailing winds. Something like 30km separates the Gedser cape from the next landmass of Germany, and it really is a sight to behold watching various seabirds, passerines and raptors pass us by over the sea.

On a typical birding outing, I might have expected to see one or two small birds of prey, perhaps a Kestrel or Sparrowhawk. Today we saw 71 Sparrowhawks (Accipiter nisus. Spurvehøg), 3 Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus, Tårnfalk), a couple of Merlins (Falco columbarius, Dværgfalk) and a Red-footed falcon (Falco vespertinus, Aftenfalk), the latter producing a rush for binoculars or cameras and much gesticulating amongst the birders present. Even for seasoned birders, it seems, this bird is something special. Watching it glide, seemingly unconcerned, above us, undulating in the wind whipping up from the cliffs, was a beautiful moment indeed.

Further out from the shore (often much further out), several hundred Wigeon (Anas Penelope, Pibeand), Teal (Anas crecca, Krikand), Pintail ducks (Anas acuta, Spidsand), Common and even a few Velvet Scoter (Melanitta nigra, Sortand, and Melanitta fusca, Fløjlsand) flew rapidly past, helped along by the fast winds. Two Arctic skuas (Sterorarius parasiticus, Almindelig Kjove) were spotted far out on the horizon, along with several Common and Sandwich terns (Sterna hirundo, Landsvale, and Thalasseus sandvicensis, Splitterne). The terns certainly hold a particular captivation, in their rapid plummets to the waters’ surface, emerging soon after their dive – with or without a fish – for a quick whole-body shake to be rid of excess moisture, before returning to their perambulations about the skies. Those individuals on active migration are clearly set apart from those simply foraging by the active directness of their flight patterns, far less ambulatory than their (for now) resident counterparts.

Of passerines, only a couple of species were noted departing – 174 Swallows (Hirundo rustica, Landsvale), 30 White wagtails (Motacilla alba, Hvid Vipstjert), and a single House martin (Delichon urbicum, Bysvale). It is truly astonishing to know that these small and fine-boned creatures will fly without rest for several hundred (if not thousands) of miles before touching land again. The small flock of Tree sparrows (Passer montanus, Skovspurv) that inhabit the shrubs around the point almost seemed to laugh at these intrepid travellers.

As a final note, I’d like to make special mention to the single Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes, Nøddekrige) who appeared near the end of our five-hour session this morning. He (or she) kept us all company yesterday too, leaving his perch atop the tree 75m from the cliffs no less than 12 times in three hours to test the winds and consider migrating….it did not seem like today was his day either, so perhaps we will see him again tomorrow and he will, finally, attempt the long journey south.

Sparrowhawk/Spurvehøg, Kestrel/Tårnfalk, Merlin/Dværgfalk, Red-footed falcon/Aftenfalk, Wigeon/Pibeand, Teal/Krikand, Pintail/Spidsand, Common scoter/Sortand, Velvet Scoter/Fløjlsand, Arctic skua/Almindelig Kjove, Common tern/Fjordterne, Sandwich tern/Splitterne, Swallow/Landsvale ,White wagtail/Hvid Vipstjert, House martin/Bysvale, Nutcracker/Nøddekrige

People at the station: Ole Friis Larsen, Chris Sharp, Lara Winsloe

Awakening at the hour of vigils I could hear, to the backdrop of resounding thunder, a few birds calling, notably blackcap, robin and dunnock.  The thunder was far-off but impressive in its resonance.  During lauds (the time when light returns to earth) many blackcaps were uttering their morning prayers - more a tac-tac chant from many bushes, a suitable chant to accomany the opening of the nets.  During prime their chants' intensity pleasing increased.  Wonderfully this was followed by several of these warblers going into the nets in the first couple of net rounds. 

Blackcap is a splendidly distinct member of the warbler family with the males sporting the eponymous black cap and the females a brown cap (have you ever wondered, like me, why the bird is not called browncap)?  And when did man realise that these black and brown capped birds were the same species?

Munk, their Danish name, does not per-se refer directly to their head colouration but is refering to them as "monks".  This reference to monks in repeated in several languages, Norwegian for instance.  Monchsgrasmucke, their German name does not refer to them directly as monks.  Monchsgrasmucke would roughly translate from old German into the "cowled warbler."  The cowl refering to the dark cape that monks, and nuns, use as an outer garment on cold, rainy days.

Many of the blackcaps, like their monastic bretheren following prime, had breakfast.  Today their breakfast of choice was many of remaining blackberries from the garden's brambles.  The blackberries' passage through the birds' digestive system is fast.  Hopefully this fast transit of the gut allows for sufficient time for the berries' sweet sugars to digested and absorbed.  This sugar is then convered into fat, the fuel for their onward migration.  Unforunately for the ringer the blackcaps don't seem to be very effective in digesting all of the berries.  This apparent inefficiency results in the ringers' hands being frequently stained by the birds' purple coloured faeces.  Ah well such are the joys of ringing!

Unsurprisingly blackcaps had a good presence in the day's ringing totals, which were as follows:

Dunnock/Jernspurv 2/-; Robin/Rødhals 1/1; Icterine Warbler/Gulbug 1/-;              Lesser Whitethroat/Gærdesanger 11/-; Whtethroat/Tornsanger 4/1;                      Garden Warbler/Havesanger 1/-; Blackcap/Munk 17/-;  Chiffchaff/Gransanger 6/-; Willow Warbler 3/-; Spotted Flycatcher/Grå Fluesnapper -/1.                                     Total 49 (46/3) 

People at the station: Ole Friss Larsen, Lara Winsloe and Chris Sharp

Ole will not be writing a blog tonight as he has had to go off to a meeting elsewhere in Denmark. 

Ringing: A quiet day with few passerines on the move, a situation not helped by a persistent east wind and bright sunshine illuminating some of the nets.  Consequently the numbers of birds caught was low.   Is that important?  Is quantity important, or quality?  In an ideal scenario you'd get both.  But from this ringers' perspective it does not matter and I was perfectly happy with the quality in a fourteen bird catch.  The quality essentially came in a sparrowhawk and two wood warblers.

At my home base sparrowhawks normally manage, frustratingly, to escape from the nets before I can get to them.  Here there are two sparrowhawk nets set and the sparrowhawks' escape modus-operandi is thwarted.  And so it was a juvenile male was in my hands and I spent sometime admiring its lethal talons, its breast feathers with their heart shaped patterning, and two intensely yellow eyes.

Yellow was a dominant feature of the Wood Warblers too.  Their throats and the top of their breats were a vivid yellow that glaringly contrasted with their white bellies.  The yellow and the white was so intense that it looked like they had been recently washed.

It*s worth mentioning that the Pied Flycatcher was an adult female hopefully migrating after a successful breeding season further north.  I enjoyed looking at this individual too because at my German ringing site we ring many Pied Flycatchers in late spring but as soon as they have finished breeding they depart.  Usually all thelocal birds have gone by mid-June and that is that for us until next year.  So the question is: why do more northern populations leave later, is it really because they finish breeding later?

So the day's totals:

Sparrowhawk/Spurvehøg 1/-; Robin/Rodhals 2/-;  Redstart/Rødstjert 1/-;            Icterine Warbler/Gulbug -/1;  Blackcap/Munk 4/-;  Wood Warbler/Skovsanger 2/-;    Pied Flycatcher/Broget Fluesnapper 1/-.                                                                  Totals: 14 (13/1)

Trækket på Odden: Endnu en dag med solskin, lun luft og moderat vind fra øst, men alligevel ikke helt som mandag. Tirsdag gav flere svømmeænder på havruten, og fra land tog trækket af rovfugle tydeligt til, omend stadig i den lave ende med 10 Spurvehøge (Accipiter nisus). En enkelt Almindelig Kjove (Stercorarius parasiticus) blev dagens krydderi over havet. Desuden foregik det hele i godt selskab med erfarne lokalkendte folk. Først og fremmest tak til Morten Lisse for fem timers assistance, men også til fuglestationens it-specialist Anders Zuschlag og fuglestationsmedarbejder Gert Juul Jeppesen. Det er altid sjovere at være flere om at opleve og tælle fuglene end alene.

En af tirsdagens Spurvehøge på udtræk. Mange tager billeder af rovfugle og glæder sig over direkte øjenkontakt, men det drejer sig snarere om, at rovfugle bevæger sig hurtigt og hele tiden orienterer sig i alle retninger for at kigge efter mad og gardere sig imod farer. Det gule øje er typisk for årets helt unge Spurvehøge. Foto: Ole Friis Larsen/GFU

Kollegaerne ved Põõsaspea Neem havde igen en travl dag med tisusindvis af Sortænder (Melanitta nigra) og har nu på to dage registreret 130.000, som må være et sted mellem Estland og Gedser Odde, for vi havde knap så travlt med at tælle lidt over 600. Det er karakteristisk for efterårstrækket, at det aldrig er så hektisk som forårstrækket, når fuglene flyver op kap for at få de bedste ynglepladser. Sortænderne udgjorde alligevel over en tredjedel af tirsdagens lidt over 1.500 fugle på træk ved Odden.

Værd at bemærke var også over 250 Krikænder (Anas crecca) og lidt mere end 190 Pibeænder (Mareca penelope) med næsten 70 Skeænder (Spatula clypaeta) og lidt Spidsænder (Anas acuta) mixet ind i flokkene.

Ud over kjoven må 17 Sortterner (Chliconias niger) fordelt på to flokke høre til et af tirsdagens fine krydderier. Deres træk ebber hastigt ud gennem september, og enhver observation kan fra nu vise sig at være årets sidste.

Den ringmærkede Nøddekrige (Nucifraga caryocatactes) glimrede endnu en dag med sit fravær, men den tyske brevdue holdt stand for tredje dag i træk.

Se alle dagens observationer fra Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Nyt fra fuglestationen: Tirsdag ankom Lara Winsloe fra England for at hjælpe til med både ringmærkning og registrering af trækket ude på Odden gennem en stor del af efteråret.

Folk på fuglestationen: Lara Winsloe, Chris Sharp, Ole Friis Larsen.

The ringing: The Harey in the title is a deliberate spelling error.  I started opening the nets in the dark but as a beautiful sunrise tinged the eastern sky I became aware of few birds in the garden but many hares.  At one point there appeared to be one hare with three pairs of ears - must drink that coffee again!

In reality, it was three hares in an almost perfect line and consequently, their ears were also in a near perfect line.  Given that the birds entering the nets was quite low it soon became a habit to watch for the hares as I wandered around the garden.  A minimum estimate would be six individuals in the garden.  And they were intriguing creatures to watch: twitching ears; sprawling with legs outstretched as they sunbathed - parasite control or hare relaxation?  And eyes, so large and brown, staring at the world around them. They seemed to be in no hurry to hop away from me - that's a bit concerning as not all humans (and other animals too are not so hare friendly).  It was particularly fascinating to watch them feed, it was not a clean bite action as I had always thought, it was more like watching a human sucking-up, then biting fettuccine.

And so to the birds.  It would have been good if the birds had been as prolific in the nets as the leaves.  After the colourful sunrise the wind intensity increased and blew many already dead leaves from the trees into the nets. 

But there were some birds to ring.  Possibly the most interesting one was a Wheatear - not a bird one associates with mist-nets in the garden.  It was a colourful juvenile which I watched as I released it, its white rump disappearing towards Gedser Tip and hopefully onto Africa.

Ringing Numbers: Robin/Rødhals 3/-; Wheatear/Stenpikker 1/-;  Icterine Warbler/Gulbug1/2;  Lesser Whitethroat/Gærdesanger 5/-; Blackcap/Munk 4/2;  Whitethroat/Gransanger2/-;  Willow Warbler/Løvsanger 9/-.                         Totals: 29 (25/4)

So a day with many moments of watching nature - quite wonderful,  and as I write these words I am reminded of a poem by the Welsh poet WH Davies, its first few lines go:

What is this life, if full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep and cows. 

No time to see, when woods we pass,                                        

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.                                                

Two lines equals one verse. Several more verses then ending:  

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

Hope you find some time to stand and stare at nature!

Trækket på Odden: Årets anden efterårsdag bød på fortsat let vind fra øst, masser af sol og lun luft, men betydeligt færre fugle på trækruterne end søndag. Det hele foregik heldigvis hele vejen igennem de fem standardtimer i godt selskab med de erfarne lokale fuglefolk Morten Lisse og Simon Vikstrøm, der dog kun kunne være med en times tid, før han skulle på job.

Lidt over 800 fugle af 28 arter var især et voldsomt fald i antallet af fugle i forhold til dagen før med samme type vejr, men trækket af nogle arter af svømmeænder viste en tiltagende trend med lidt over 80 Pibeænder (Mareca penelope) og 22 Spidsænder (Anas acuta). Mange kom i blandede flokke, hvor der også var Skeænder (Spatula clypeata) og Krikænder (Anas crecca). De flokke er en udfordring, der kræver hurtigt arbejde, når de passerer hastigt forbi som sorte silhuetter uden detaljer i modlyset – Spidsænderne er mere langstrakte end de andre, Skeænderne har større næb, Krikænderne er de mindste, og Pibeænderne er dem imellem.

Blandet flok af Ske- og Pibeænder. Det lyse V hen over vingerne på Pibeændernes hanner anes, men læg især mærke til Skeændernes længere og mere kantede næb. Nederste foto viser forskellen mellem de to arter i modlys med en Skeand foran en Pibeand. Foto: Ole Friis Larsen/GFU

Sortænderne (Melanitta nigra) kom der bare lige under 140 af, men der må være rigtig mange på vej. Kollegerne ved Põõsaspea Neem i Estland havde mandag morgen nogle travle timer med at tælle 74.000 Sortænder og 4.800 Fløjlsænder (Melanitta fusca), som vi bare så tre af. Østersøen er ikke tømt for trækfugle endnu.

Til gengæld kom der lidt gang i trækket af rovfugle på Gedser Odde med lidt Spurvehøge (Accipiter nisus), et par Rørhøge (Circus aeroginosus), hvoraf en var en adult/voksen han, men først og fremmest havde vi glæde af to adulte/voksne hunner af Blå Kærhøg (Circus cyaneus), begge med tydelig gul iris i øjnene. Ifølge litteraturen får hunnerne først deres rent gule øjenfarve, når de er fem-syv år, så der var ikke meget at rafle om, selv om den ene havde en meget ren hvid bundfarve, og den anden var mere bruntonet på bryst og hals – det må være udtryk for den variation, som mange arter kan vise, uden at har noget med køn eller alder at gøre.

 Selv om det nederste foto ikke er helt skarpt, går det fint an at se, at begge dagens hunner af Blå Kærhøg havde tydeligt gule øjne som tegn på, at de var mindst fem år. At den nederste er lidt bruntonet i dele af den lyse bundfarve på halsen og ned over undersiden må skyldes en variation i fjerdragten uafhængig af køn og alder. Foto: Ole Friis Larsen/GFU

Den ene kom ganske tæt forbi observationsbusken i rigtig godt sollys. Den anden så vi på marken med et større bytte, som den flyttede længere ind i området i flere tempi, før den begyndte at æde, men kort efter mistede morgenmaden til en større kragefugl. Derefter så vi den først jage lidt i området igen, før den trak ud over havet ad et af de sædvanlige ’kærhøgespor’ tæt forbi p-pladsen ved Odden.

Den faste Nøddekrige (Nucifraga caryocatactes) gennem flere uger så vi intet til denne mandag morgen, mens den tyske Brevdue fra søndag stadig fløj rundt og fouragerede lidt her og der i området. Det er sikkert ikke godt for karrieren som væddeløbsflyver; måske skulle den overveje et nyt liv som fri fugl.

Se alle dagens observationer fra Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på fuglestationen: Chris Sharp, Ole Friis Larsen.

The ringing: 

A steady morning's ringing was enjoyed today.  A good number of birds with a pleasing variety of species resulting at the close of nets in 65 birds of 12 species.

A Sedge Warbler was probably the most unusual catch of the day as few of these are caught here.  This specimen was only the third of this autumns migration, a low number when compared to the figures for Lesser Whitethroat and Willow Warbler whose totals so far are into the two hundreds.  As a person whose usual ringing site is in woodland where we catch very few warblers I'm finding it very interesting to catch such good numbers of warblers.  Its a bit like doing a warbler refreshment course, particularly regarding ageing the birds.  And all is one of the reasons I like coming here.

The Catch was:

Dunnock/Jernspurv 2/-; Redstart/Rødstjert 2/-; Sedge Warbler/Sivsanger 1/-; Icterine Warbler/Gulbug 3/-; Lesser Whitethroat/Gærdesanger 11/-;  Whitethroat/Tornsanger 8/-; Garden Warbler 4/-; Blackcap/Munk 13/-;  Chiffchaff/Gransanger 6/-;  Willow Warbler 11/-; Spotted Flycatcher/Grå Fluesnapper 3/-

Total 65 all new.

Trækket på Odden: Årets første efterårsdag blev en fin oplevelse på landets sydligste punkt med pænt træk af fugle over havet, hvoraf mange nok vil fremhæve morgenens seks kjover, men også trækket af svømmeænder bød på et godt ryk. Desuden var der som sædvanlig i weekender på denne tid af året godt selskab af fuglefolk, blandt dem Louis A. Hansen og Michael Grell, som har vikarieret, mens undertegnede har været bortrejst. Også Jimmy Skat, som har været et kendt ansigt blandt observatørerne ved Gedser Odde gennem mange år, har taget en tørn med sensommerens registrering af trækket på nogle af de dage, der ellers ikke var blevet dækket.

Mens trækket af rovfugle stadig var bemærkelsesværdigt svagt, kom der søndag et smukt træk af vores mindste andeart, Krikand (Anas crecca), med næsten 500 fugle, og over 100 af de stornæbbede Skeænder (Spatula clypaeta). September er træktid for de såkaldte svømmeænder, og der er sikkert flere på vej. Vores kolleger ved Põõsaspea Neem i Estland talte søndag tæt på 1.200 Skeænder og lige under 1.000 Spidsænder (Anas acuta), som vi måtte nøjes med godt en håndfuld af. Ud over svømmeænderne havde vi søndag et godt antal dykænder i form af 600 Sortænder (Melanitta nigra). Dem vil der også komme flere af.

Blandt dagens 8 kjover kunne vi uden videre bestemme 6 til Almindelige Kjover (Stercorarius parasiticus), mens de to øvrige forekom mere terneagtigt lette i flugten og derfor måske var af den mindre art Lille Kjove (Stercorarius longicaudus), men på grund af afstand og modlys lod vi dem flyve som ubestemte Lille Kjove/Almindelig Kjove.

En Tyknæbbet Nøddekrige (Nucifraga caryocatactes), der blev ringmærket på Gedser Fuglestation 12. august, var stadig i området søndag morgen og forsøgte igen, igen at trække ud over havet, men manglede stadig modet. Vi kan se, at det er den samme fugl på den ring, som den har på højre ben. Ringen ses ikke godt på dette foto, men den er ved at skifte den fjerdeinderste lange fjer på vingerne, og de nye fjer bliver lidt længere hver dag som et godt kendetegn på, at det er samme fugl. Foto: Ole Friis Larsen/GFU

En brevdue trængte åbenbart til et hvil og noget at æde ved Gedser Odde frem for at haste mod syd. Den gik omkring tæt på observationsposten, og ved hjælp af en række fotos kunne vi fastslå koden på den gulgrønne ring til DV 0779/24/895. Dueejerne bruger andre ’nummerplader’, end vi bruger for vilde fugle, men lidt søgning på nettet viste, at DV står for Verband Deutscher Brieftaubenzüchter, så der er næppe tvivl om, at duen forventes at flyve videre mod Tyskland. Den hvide kode så midlertidig ud og sad på et apparat, der registrerer, når (måske) duen er i mål i det løb, den deltager i. Den slags duer er ikke interessante for vores arbejde med trækfugle, men vi ser dem jævnligt på Odden. Foto: Ole Friis Larsen/GFU

Se alle dagens observationer fra Gedser Odde i DOFbasen.

Folk på fuglestationen: Chris Sharp, Ole Friis Larsen.

Ole arrived last night and will now be here for most the remaining season.

There is a sublime beauty about Gedser Odde that sometimes presents its self in surprising ways.  This morning when opening the nets was as good example: a thin sliver of moon was brightly illuminating the garden and the sea.  This moonlight gave the garden an enchanted feel.  Wonderful! 

Sadly such beauty did not attract too many birds into the garden.  Though in the low quantity there was some quality with possibly the best bird being a female Whinchat in fresh plumage, she was a stunner.  And good numbers of Willow Warbler with their breasts and bellies a brillant yellow were caught in good numbers.

The catch was: 

Sparrowawk 1/-, Robin 2/1; Thrush Nightingale 1/- ;  Redstart 1/-; Whinchat 1/-;

Marsh Warbler 1/-; Lesser Whitethroat 3/1; Whitethroat 5/1; Garden Warbler 3/-;

Blackcap 5/-; Chiffchaff2/1; Willow Warbler 19/-; Pied Flycatcher 2/-.

Total: 50 (46/4)

Shortly after mid-day Henrik left, he will return later in the Autumn.

Chris had had plans to try and catch more swallows in the evening, as the wind was going to drop.  The wind did drop.  But a pre-requisite for catching swallows is that there are swallows to catch.  There were none. Ah well, dinner was good.

Fangsten efter natravn i går aftes gav endelig bingo da der på første runde var lysende reflekterende øjne fra nettet i lyset fra pandelampen. Fuglen blev bestemt til en 1k han, altså en fugl fra i år. Den gav lidt blod på tanden så jeg fortsatte til midnat dog uden flere.

 Her er dyret: Natravn/Nightyar. Foto: Hans Lind

Første runde under morgenens standard gav over 10 fugle, men allerede på anden var der kun et par stykker. Vi fandt dog hurtigt ud af hvorfor da der var mørkere skyer i horisonten, men efter et tjek på radaren og på dagens prognose for vejret var der ikke skrevet noget om regn. Ved 8 tiden kunne dog se kraftig regn på radaren mod syd-vest som havde direkte kurs mod os, og ved 9 tiden begyndte det at små-regne. Vi valgte at gå runde konstant, men ved 9.45 blev regnen for meget og vi måtte klappe nettene kort. På klap-runden fangede vi 26 som var blevet presset ned af regnen og det var næsten halvdelen af dagens fangst.

Efter vi åbnede igen var haven dog tom for fugle.

Om eftermiddagen sad der en ung mand ude foran fuglestationen og jeg kunne se at det var en ung mand som har været forbi flere gange, det var Kai fra rostock. Han var her en times tid inden han tog mod færgen og hjem. Han tager ofte til Gedser for at kigge fugle.

I aften er det sidste aften for mig i denne periode, så Chris har en uges tid alene. I aften prøver jeg med natravn igen.

Dagens ringmærkning/Todays ringing:

Skovpiber/Tree pipit 1

Jernspurv/Dunnock 3

Rødstjert/Redstart 9

Gulbug/Icterine warbler 2

Gærdesanger/Lesser whitethroat 9

Tornsanger/Whitethroat 2

Havesanger/Garden warbler 2

Munk/Blackcap 9

Gransanger/Chiffchaff 1

Løvsanger/Willow warbler 14

Grå fluesnapper/Spotted flycatcher 4

Broget fluesnapper/Pied flycatcher 4

Total 60

På stationen: Henrik Jørgensen, Chris Sharp

A cool and pleasant morning at the start of the day's ringing was slowly replaced with increasing heat and brightness.  These conditions correlated to our captures: reasonable in the cool and decreasing to zilch with the rise in heat and light intensity.  It seems that the birds in the garden (at least) were mirroring the ringers behaviour, shying away from the heat, light and consequently the nets.  Consequentally the catch was low and the ringers were over heated.

Today's figures are:

Rødhals/Robin 2/-; Nattergal/Thrush Nightingale 1/1;  Rødstjert/Redstart 1/-,  Rørsanger/Reed Warbler 2/-,  Gærdesanger/Lesser Whitethroat 1/-  Tornsanger/Whitethroat 2/1;  Havesanger/Garden Warbler 1/-;  Munk/Blackcap 3/1;      Grå Fluesnapper/Spotted Flycatcher 1/-;  Broget Fluesnapper/Pied Flycatcher 2/-.  Totals: 19 (16/3) 10species.

Two Thrush Nightingale were pleasant surprises in the nets.  The re-captured individual was really a flying sausage with a fat score of 6 and a weight of 31g - the data base did not like that weight but it was checked; so an individual ready to start its migration further to the south-east.

After ringing Henrik and Chris decided to be semi-masochistic and went bird-watching at Bøtø.  A worthwhile mini-excursion with some good birds seen (but aren't all birds good?).  A good selection of early migrating waders, a selection of ducks, several cranes and splendid views of an adult white-tailed eagle which flew low over our heads and so afforded us a really good view.

People at station: Henrik Jørgensen, Chris Sharp.

Many thanks to all the Gedser volunteers who came to help with the visit of such a large group, you are the unsung heroes of the observatory's success - thank-you!

Today's ringing: first number newly ringed, second number is retraps

Jenspurv/Dunnock -/1;  Rødstjert/Redstart 6/-; Kærsanger/Marsh Warbler 2/1;  Rørsanger/Reed Warbler 3/-;  Gærdsanger/Lesser Whitethroat 6/- ;  Tornsanger/Whitethroat 4/-;  Munk/Blackcap 7/2;  Løvsanger/Willow Warbler 7/-;      Grå Fluesnapper 1/-:  Broget Fluesnapper/Pied Flycatcher 3/-;  Stær/Starling 1/-;          Stillits 2/-                                                                                                                  Totals: new/retraps 42/4

På stationen: Chris Sharp, Henrik Jørgensen, Benny, Hans, Gert, Bente, Esther, John.

Vinden var helt nede og det var klart så muligheden for mange fugle var der. På min del af runden da vi satte nettene op var der flere fugle som blev skræmt op så det lovede godt. Dog meldte Chris at han intet så under hans netopsætning.

De første par runder gav over 10 fugle pr runde så det var helt fint og efter det tyndede det ud, men der var ingen tomme runder.

Efter et vejrskift kan der komme mange fugle når vinden lægger sig, men er det for klart i vejret kan det ske at fuglene trækker videre da forholdende for trækket er godt og det skete så i dag.

Dagen var dog slet ikke dårlig da vi ringmærkede 55 under standardtiden, og et forsøg på lidt svaler om eftermiddagen var lidt tyndt da der var så godt som tomt for svaler, men 2 fugle blev dog fanget, så alt i alt en god dag.

Under dagen fik vi vasket fugleposer, støvsuget og vasket gulv.

Der kommer en lille smule mere vind i morgen og vinden er nu gået i syd-øst.

Om lidt står den på natravn fangst som forhåbenligt endelig kan give en.

Dagens ringmærkning og kontroller/Todays ringing and recaptures:

Jernspurv/Dunnock 4/0

Rødhals/Robin 1/0

Rødstjert/Redstart 2/0

Solsort/Blackbird 0/1

Kærsanger/Marsh warbler 4/0

Rørsanger/Reed warbler 1/0

Gulbug/Icterine warbler 3/0

Gærdesanger/Lesser whitethroat 6/1

Tornsanger/Whitethroat 5/0

Havesanger/Garden warbler 1/0

Munk/Blackcap 21/0

Løvsanger/Willow warbler 5/0

Broget fluesnapper/Pied flycatcher 1/0

Stillits/Goldfinch 2/0

Landsvale/Swalow 1/0

Total 57/2

På stationen: Henrik Jørgensen, Chris Sharp