A quieter day but still sunny with a brisk easterly breeze; the nets produced 2 Marsh Warblers, 5 Icterine Warblers (for the 3rd day in a row!), another juvenile Black Redstart and 2 Redstarts amongst 34 birds caught.   A party of 6 Crossbills flew through and a couple of Whimbrel went over.

Todays totals were; Dunnock - 1, Black Redstart - 1, Redstart - 1, Blackbird - 3, Marsh Warbler - 2, Icterine Warbler - 5, Lesser Whitethroat - 4, Whitethroat - 5, Chiffchaff - 3, Willow Warbler - 1, Great Tit - 1, Starling - 1, Tree Sparrow - 2, Greenfinch - 1, Linnet - 2

Redstart

Black Redstart

Very small baby Whitethroat!

                The Point was very quiet in the afternoon so a little drive up to Bøtø produced a Wood Sandpiper, a Green Sandpiper, 3 Ruff, the pair of Cranes, a few Marsh Harriers and some Red-necked Grebes.

A glorious, hot, sunny day for the first session of autumn standardised ringing brought a very similar array and quantity of birds as yesterday to the nets including another 7 Marsh Warblers and 5 Icterine Warblers (plus a re-trap from 2012) along with juvenile Redstart and Black Redstart (there were two others in the garden as well).

Todays totals were; Robin - 1, Black Redstart - 1, Redstart - 1, Song Thrush - 1, Marsh Warbler - 7, Icterine Warbler - 5, Lesser Whitethroat - 4, Whitethroat - 2, Garden Warbler - 1, Blackcap - 1, Chiffchaff - 5, Starling - 11, Tree Sparrow - 1

                A Grey Wagtail was in the garden mid-afternoon before a look from the point for a couple of hours (1530-1730) produced 342 Eiders, 5 Teal, 5 Common Scoter, 24 Whimbrel and 40+ Arctic Terns fishing offshore while there were 22 Dunlin and 6 Common Sandpiper on the beach.

Dunlin on the point

A good comparison of juvenile Common Redstart and Black Redstart

A similar looking day produced a few different little bits in the nets indicating some early passage including 7 Marsh Warblers (all adults and some had high fat scores showing them to be proper migrants on the way back south), 5 Icterine Warblers, a Wood Warbler, a Treecreeper and another juvenile Common Rosefinch while 2 Whimbrel and 2 Dunlin went over to the SE.

Ringing totals this morning comprised; Song Thrush - 1, Marsh Warbler - 7, Icterine Warbler - 5, Lesser Whitethroat - 1, Whitethroat - 1, Blackcap - 1, Wood Warbler - 1, Chiffchaff - 6, Blue Tit - 2, Treecreeper - 1, Tree Sparrow - 2, Linnet - 3, Common Rosefinch - 1

                We (Gert and myself) then had a very successful little jaunt across to Lolland where we had eventual good views of the GRIFFON VULTURE which has been present at the Naturepark just south of Maribo for the past few days – a real Danish rarity as prior to this record breaking year there had only been six other sightings!   It was also an incredible spot for other raptors with a brilliant 13+ White-tailed Eagles seen together around the main lake (8 sat in one tree!!); the most amazing thing though was seeing the Vulture soaring together with an Eagle and making the Eagle look distinctly average!

                Other birds seen around the lakes included two female Red-crested Pochards (a Danish tick!) and a slightly unusual inland Caspian Tern roosting with Black-headed and Common Gulls.

 Wood Warbler

VULTURE!

A bit more cloud through the day but the westerly breeze stayed lightish allowing all the nets to be opened; more of the same was caught including another 10 Icterine Warblers, 2 Marsh Warblers and 3 Common Rosefinches – the first time I’ve seen really fresh juveniles along with a Redstart and a few Whitethroats and Lesser Whitethroats.

Totals today were; Dunnock - 1, Redstart - 1, Marsh Warbler - 2, Icterine Warbler - 10, Lesser Whitethroat - 1, Whitethroat - 3, Chiffchaff - 5, Willow Warbler - 1, Blue Tit - 1, Great Tit - 1, Tree Sparrow - 2, Goldfinch - 1, Common Rosefinch - 3

                A couple of sessions seawatching from the point in the afternoon (13:00-14:30 and 15:45-17:00) produced a few things heading S or SE including a smart summer plumaged Black-throated Diver, a Red-necked Grebe, 140 Eiders, 13 Common Scoter, a Velvet Scoter, a Heron, 34 Oystercatchers, 4 Dunlin, a Ringed Plover, 143 Arctic Terns, 7 Common Terns, a Little Tern and a Cuckoo which flew south along the coast, reached the point and did a huge U-turn out over the sea to head back north.   Also lingering around the tip were 33 Goosanders, a Red-breasted Merganser, 2 Goldeneye and 8 Common Sandpipers.

 Common Rosefinch     Redstart

Although the season doesn't officially start until the 20th, I wasted no time in getting started and had a very productive morning with the nets catching 55 new birds including 11 Icterine Warblers (mostly adults, indicating perhaps that some movenment is already underway) and a Marsh Warbler.

The rest of the catch was, as expected, mainly juvenile birds of various stages of independance, the totals appear below;

Wren - 1, Dunnock - 1, Robin - 1, Blackbird - 5, Sedge Warbler - 1, Marsh Warbler - 1, Icterine Warbler - 11, Garden Warbler - 4, Lesser Whitethroat - 6, Blackcap - 2, Chiffchaff - 10, Tree Sparrow - 5, Linnet - 5, Yellowhammer - 2

 Icterine Warbler     Marsh Warbler

 Very small Lesser Whitethroat!

Så blev det min sidste dag for denne gang og også sidste dag for forårssæsonen.

Denne morgen var dejlig lun med 15 grader og resten af dagen var fin med sol.

Klokken 9 kom en skoleklasse fra Nykøbing som fik fortalt om ringmærkning og fuglenes træk af Hans og Gert.

Heldigvis kunne der lige før de skulle hjem fremvises en fugl.

Dagen endte med 10 nymærkninger.

Jeg takker af for denne gang.

Hvid vipstjert/Pied wagtail 2

Gærdesanger/Lesser whitethroat 1

Tornsanger/Whitethroat 1

Havesanger/Garden warbler 2

Munk/Black cap 2

Gransanger/Chiffchaff 1

Grønirisk/Greenfinch 1

Hele formiddagen mens nettene var oppe var skyerne meget mørke så der blev holdt ekstra godt øje med radaren.

Da nettene skulle lukkes af for dagen begyndte det at dryppe lidt, men det var så også det.

Gert kom ud på fuglestationen og tog mig med ud på nogle fine steder på Lolland hvor vi fik set en masse fugle, blandt andet 3 havørne og flere rødhovede ænder.

I aften er sidste aften for undertegnede da forårssæsonen slutter efter i morgens mærkning.

Dagen sluttede med 7 nymærkninger.

Hvid vipstjert/Pied wagtail 1

Munk/Black cap 1

Gransanger/Chiffchaff 1

Grønirisk/Greenfinch 1

Tornirisk/Linnet 3

Da jeg kom ud og skulle sætte nettene op regnede det så valgte at vente lidt og tjekke radaren og der kunne jeg se at der var masser af regn på vej.

Jeg valgte dog at tjekke hvert 10. minut men det regnede lige præcis for meget til at det var forsvarligt at sætte net op.

Da klokken blev lidt over 6 og vejret var det samme og at jeg kunne se på radaren at mere var på vej valgte jeg at gå i seng igen.

Klokken lidt over 10 var regnen stoppet ca 10.30 havde jeg sat halvdelen af nettene op, resten satte jeg ikke op da der kunne komme mere regn.

Så dagen endte med 9 nymærkninger og 2 kontroller.

Rørsanger/Reed warbler 1

Havesanger/Garden warbler 1

Løvsanger/Willow warbler 1

Musvit/Great tit 4

Skovspurv/ Tree sparrow 1

Tornirisk/Linnet 2

Jeg kom ned i går aftes efter en enkelt dag hjemme i København hvor jeg skulle fejre sønnens fødselsdag og da jeg skulle ha toget fra Valby var der forsinkelse så jeg missede bussen i Nykøbing, men en anden fra toget fik snakket med personalet fra dsb så vi fik en taxa og jeg blev kørt helt til fyret efter at ha sat 2 andre af i Gedesby.

Til morgen var der noget skyet men vinden var svag fra øst så alle net kom op.

Der var dog ikke mange fugle i fangsten og det var ca 50/50 med aflæsninger/mærkninger.

Nu er ungerne for alvor begyndt at komme da halvdelen af dagens mærkede var 1k fugle.

Sjovest var 2 gærdesangere som lige var fløjet fra reden og næsten ikke kunne flyve.

Efter middag var jeg inde og handle lidt så der nu er til de sidste dage inden forårs sæsonen slutter onsdag og jeg skal hjem for denne gang.

Rødstjert/Redstart 1

Solsort/Blackbird 1

Gærdesanger/Lesser whitethroat 2

Havesanger/Garden warbler 1

Blåmejse/Blue tit 1

Musvit/Great tit 1

Bogfinke/Chaffinch 1

Forårets fjerde ringmærkede skovsanger

Endnu engang havde jeg morgentjansen i dag, da Henrik havde andre gøremål. Men det var nu ikke så ringe endda, for der var fugle på hver eneste halvtimes netrunde - dog ikke noget efter kl 8. Ud over de nymærkede - se nedenfor - var der fem aflæste fugle: Et par 1k skovspurve, en solsort fra efteråret 2015, en hvid vipstjert, som Andreas mærkede i begyndelsen af april i år og så endelig en gulbug, som Henrik forsynede med ring ultimo juli 2014. Mærkeligt at tænke på, at den har været i Afrika på overvintring et par gange siden da!

Men dagens bedste fugl blev en fin skovsanger.

Hvid vipstjert/White Wagtail 2

Kærsanger/Marsh Warbler 1

Gulbug/Icterine Warbler 1

Munk/Blackcap 3

Skovsanger/Wood Warbler 1

Gransanger/Chiffchaff 1

Musvit/Great Tit 1

Tornirisk/Linnet 1

Total 11