Observations : 

The southerly wind has brought us a large number of red-throated divers migrating northwards!
This is the largest number recorded since the start of the season – 573 in total. We were delighted to see them arriving in flocks of up to 30, high on the horizon.

We also spotted, amongst the flocks of common terns/ arctic terns (which numbered 490 today), two black terns quite close by and several little gulls.

Highlights of the day :
Red-throated loon [rødstrubet lom] - 573
Common tern/Arctic tern [fjordterne/havterne] - 490
Sandwich tern [spliiterne] - 46 
Black tern [sortterne] - 2
Black-headed gull [hættemåge] - 57
Little gull [dværgmåge] - 5

Todays observations can be seen here.


Black tern [sortterne] resting, drawing by Clara


Ringing : 

Lille Gråsisken, picture by Hanelie.

Although the wind was coming from the south this morning, we did not catch so many birds today. But While Redstarts “Rødstjert”, Pied Flycatchers “Broget Fluesnapper” and Common Whitethroats “Tornsanger” did not show up today, There were still Chiffcaffs “Gransanger” and Willow Warblers “Løvsanger” and Lesser Whitethroats “Gærdesanger”, the two last could be sampled for the West-Nile Virus. Morten left to Aarhus today, but he will be back for more sampling on Monday. There was also a ringing tour this morning, and the participants were lucky enough to see a female Starling “Stær” in hand. She also behaved well and did not scream.

Little tern project : 

Moths of the day

Today we had a very good moth night and caught 24 different species. Ten were new for the location this year: see the bold marked names in the table. I choose the picture of the Shears (Kurvblomst-ugle) and the Small Emperor Moth (Lille Natpåfugleøje) to show you in the blog.

Coming back to the dispersal of Bagworms (Sækbærer). I found two ways of dispersal. One is hanging on a silk wire and be moved by the wind. The other way is that the females are eaten by birds and the eggs are not digested and distributed by fecal deposits.

Shears (Kurvblomst-ugle) and Small Emperor Moth (Lille Natpåfugleøje)

At the station: Robert Luttik, Henrik Bøhmer, Bent Jakobsen, Morten Jenrich Hansen, Hanelie Sidhu, Joseph Stephan, Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong and David Manstrup.

Observations :

The highlight of the day was a magnificent black tern [sortterne]  heading south whilst feeding!
It was another first for me; I’m really happy because it was one of the species I wanted to see during my stay in Blavand, and now I’ve seen it :)

This gave me the opportunity to find out a bit more about its behaviour and its range. 

Like so many other species, this species is in sharp decline across most of Europe. Like many others, it is threatened by the destruction of its habitats. The black tern nests in colonies on bodies of fresh water: marshes, lakesides or riverbanks. A variety of human-induced factors threaten these habitats: land development involving the drainage of wetlands, as well as water pollution and eutrophication.

This reminds us of our collective responsibility, and the responsibility of the policies put in place to best preserve the remaining habitats. Especially as bird lovers and birdwatchers, we can also play an active part in these conservation efforts at our own level.

There you go, all these thoughts just from observing this very special black tern! I’ll leave you with the other cheerful news of the day after this little 15-minute political interlude !

Todays observations can be seen here.

Ringing : 

Some birds in the nets today: We are using a lot of F-Rings, as we have many Chiffchaffs “Gransanger” and Willow Warblers “Løvsanger”. One 3k+ Lesser Whitethroat caught our attention: It already had a Danish ring, t I did not recognise the ring number. Maybe a foreign Danish recapture? It turned out that the bird was ringed at Blåvand, but in 2022 by Morten!

Lesser Whitethroat "Gærdesanger". Picture by Hanelie.

Since then, it regularly returned to Blåvand to breed and was recaptured several times every year.

In the afternoon, I went to Grønningen.  There were not many birds, but I saw my first Swift “Mursejler” of the season. Also one Spoonbill “Skestork” was feeding at a pond.

Spoonbill “Skestork”. Picture by Hanelie.

Little tern project :

This morning, Joseph and I went to the exclosure together for the first observation of the Little Tern project. Based on last year’s results, our expectations for the first day were low. Those expectations were not unfounded, because during the entire observation we saw a total of approximately 15 little terns flying, only 4 of which landed in the exclosure. Two of them were ringed (one color ring and one metal ring).

Fortunately, there are other species that can also use the exclosure. For example, we saw the first Common Ringed Plover (Stor præstekrave) that had already built a nest and was incubating her eggs, which was lovely to see.

A Common Ringed Plover (Stor præstekrave) incubating on her nest, Picture by Joseph Stephan.

The nest of the breeding Ringed plover, Picture by Joseph Stephan.

Moths of the day :

Today we found 12 different species. Three were new for the location this year: the Common Heath (Lyngmåler), the Garden Carpet (Sortbæltet Bladmåler) and the Large Birch Bright or Brown Bagworm (Sigarsækbærer). This last one is a bit of a strange moth. The caterpillars feed on lichen, but they may also eat plant remains. They live in a protective casing made of grass or bark that is usually attached to a tree. The females remain in this casing when adult and have no wings. I have found it in Gjerrild (Djursland) where I live and now also here. The species is found everywhere in Europe including for instance Scotland. When writing this I got a question. How do they move from one area to another, are the females just walking or is there another way of dispersion?

Red in the table are rare species for Denmark.

Large Birch Bright or Brown Bagworm (Sigarsækbærer)

At the station: Robert Luttik, Morten Jenrich Hansen, Hanelie Sidhu, Joseph Stephan, Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong and David Manstrup.

Observations:

The morning didn’t get off to the most promising start. It was foggy all over Blavand, and only the top of the lighthouse was visible above the thick fog.
Patience paid off, and slowly but surely the horizon cleared. We were then able to start our observations at 6.20.

In the end, the sightings turned out to be quite nice! Indeed, Henrik spotted a little egret [silkehejre]! It’s only the sixth one ever recorded in the history of Blavand’s birdwatching records. It was quite a moment. And Henrik couldn’t stop showing his enthusiasm by saying “awesome”!

Then we spotted a european serin [gulirisk] ! Which is also quite rare in Blavand.

The moral of the day: You should always hold out hope for some great sightings, even when the fog is slow to lift!

Little egret [silkehejre] flying north. Picture by Henrik Bøhmer

Todays observation can be seen here. 

Ringing: 

Today we caugth 36 birds including 1 recapture and we had 10 different species. But we were very pleased with the first Wryneck (Vendehals) and the other persons that are staying at the station came all to the light house for seeing the bird and making some pictures. It is a very strange bird and as the name is telling it has the ability to turn its head from side to side and back and forth like a snake to discourage other animals. 

Wryneck/ Vendehals, Picture by Joseph Stephan.

A close up of the Wryneck/ Vendehals, Picture by Joseph Stephan

Little Tern Project:

Today, Joseph and I readied the exclosure for the little tern project so that we can hopefully observe a whole bunch of them breeding in the coming month. We marked out the coordination system using wooden stakes and placed the 3D-printed decoys around the area. After we had tidied everything up, we already saw the first little terns landing next to the decoys. They were showing courtship behavior which was really beautiful to see. Afterward, we drove along the coastline to look for little terns with color rings and found a total of 9!

Little Terns showing courtship behavior besides the decoys, Picture by Joseph Stephan.

Moths of the day:

This night only 13 different species. Two were new for the location this year: the Lunar Marbled Brown (Majspinder) and the Muslin Moth (Grå Tigerspinder). Maybe we had a third new one, but I am not completely sure that it this species. Hope that somebody will confirm or pointing out that it is not that species. It is the Broom Buff (Vintergyvelfladmøl). It is one of the Agonopterix genus and that is a difficult genus.

Green in the table are relative rare species for Denmark.

Lunar Marbled brown (Majspinder)

At the station: Robert Luttik, Morten Jenrich Hansen, Hanelie Sidhu, Joseph Stephan, Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong and Henrik Bøhmer.

Observations:

No observations today due to illness. Get well soon, Clara!

Ringing:

Lesser Whitethroat/ Gærdesanger. Picture by Hanelie.

We were expecting today to be less good than yesterday, but we still had a good number of birds and it was a nice morning. Morten too, got enough birds to sample, so no one could complain. The Trans-Sahara migrants are really arriving now, today we ringed the second Common Whitethroat “Tornsanger”, and we also had some more Lesser Whitethroats “Gærdesanger”. Morten caugth a woodpigeon, that does not happen much therefor the picture.

Woodpigeon (Ringdue)

Common Whitethroat/ Tornsanger. Picture by Hanelie.

In the closing round, I found two Vipers “Hugorm”, under a net, a male and a female. They did not come for birds – the net was empty – but to enjoy the sun, and I got some nice and close pictures of them together.

Viper female and male/ Hugorm hun og han. Picture by Hanelie.

In the afternoon, Robert and I checked the bat bunker, but there were no bats anymore – I had quite a few in March. They must be somewhere not too far to breed. I wonder where…

Moths of the day

This night was a very good night for moths, we caught 20 different species. Two were new for the location this year: the Red Sword-grass (Irisugle) and the Streamer (Rosen bladmåler). The Red Sword-grass (Irisugle) is a bit strange moth (see picture). It looks like a piece of wood.

Before I came to Blåvand Hanelie promised me that she would have 2 special ones for me and this night/day they came: it was the Small Lappet (Hede-takspinder, 4 in total) and the Small Emperor Moth (Lille Natpåfugleøje) They were new species for me, so a happy man. Also the the Small Lappet (Hede-takspinder) is a funny looking moth, see picture).

Green in the table are relative rare species for Denmark and the red one is rare for Denmark.

Red Sword-grass (Irisugle)

Small Lappet (Hede-takspinder)

At the station: Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong, Bent Jakobsen, Morten Jenrich Hansen, Robert Luttik and Hanelie Sidhu.

Observations : 

Weather at 5.45: NE6, 2°C, 1/8, 2km visibility

It was very cold this morning; it felt as though we were back at the start of March! The difference in temperature between the sea and the air created strong heat waves on the horizon, which disrupted observations for much of the morning. We struggled to identify the birds flying beyond the reef. They were vague, barely distinguishable silhouettes, which may partly explain the rather low numbers recorded today. Apart from that, there seemed to be few birds overall.

I think my favourite moment was in the ten minutes before the end of the birdwatching session, when a group of eight northern gannets [sule], including one 4K, came to fish on the horizon and land in the waves. - I’m pretty sure northern gannets are in my top 10 favourite birds to watch :) -

Todays observations can be seen here.

 Ringing:

This morning was not bad for catching birds. And Morten was lucky: We had quite many long-distance migrants: Redstarts “Rødstjert”, Pied Flycatchers “Broget Fluesnapper”, Willow Warblers “Løvsanger” and the first Common Whitethroat “Tornsanger” of the season! Robert and I closed the lighthouse garden while Morten kept the nets in the station garden open during the afternoon to get some more birds and samples.

Lille Gråsisken. Picture by Robert.

Rødstjert hun, picture by Hanelie.

Moths of the day

This night even less moth than yesterday. Only 6 different species. I think it was just too cold this night. But we had a new species for the location for this season: The Pebble Prominet (Ziczacspinder, see pictures below).

Pebble Prominent (Ziczacspinder)

At the station: Morten Jenrich Hansen, David Manstrup, Thomas Kristensen, Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong, Robert Luttik, Hanelie Sidhu.

Observations:

Weather at 5.45: NW5, 6°C, 5/8, 30km visibility

Today, the migration of red-throated loons [rødstrubet lom] & common scoters [sortand]  was much slower than yesterday. But we managed to count a large number of common terns / arctic terns [fjordterne/havterne] migrating north – 590!
David and I also spotted a total of four adult arctic skuas [alm. kjove]: two pale morphs and two dark morphs. (That was my first pale morph arctic skua, so I was absolutely delighted.)

Todays observations can be seen here. 


Menu of the drawing day : some woodpeckers ! Picture by Clara 

Ringing:

This morning started very slow. In the first round we caught two Blackbirds “Solsort”. But it improved: Later, we got some Willow Warblers “Løvsanger”, a Redstart “Rødstjert”, a Brambling “Kvækerfinke”, a Pied Flycatcher “Broget Fluesnapper”.

Brambling "Kvækerfinke". Picture by Hanelie.

Pied Flycatcher “Broget Fluesnapper”. Picture by Robert.

But the big surprise of the day was the Grasshopperwarbler “Græshoppersanger”. You hardly ever see it in the field, it is just calling very dominant and characteristic, but sometimes a lucky ringer gets it in the nets and today, I was the lucky one!

Grasshopperwarbler "Græshoppersanger". Picture by David.

Moths of the day:

This night were evidently less moth flying around. We did not catch many and had only 7 different moth species. Yesterday afternoon we caught a very small day active moth: the Speckled grass-miner (no Danish name). Those small ones are difficult to make pictures of. First because they are tiny and secondly they are not sitting still. So the apps that we use are sometimes not certain about the outcome and then we have to take the books and have to study whether it is a certain species (we never kill the moths to make our life easier). And today we found another very small day active moth (5 to 6 mm): the Neat Cosmet (relatively rare and also no Danish name). See picture below.

Neat Cosmet (Mompha divisella)

In the afternoon, Morten arrived at the station, he will take blood samples of Long-distance migrants this week. These will be tested for the Vest-Nile-Virus. So we are hoping to catch many the following days.

At the station: Morten Jenrich Hansen, David Manstrup, Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong, Robert Luttik, Hanelie Sidhu.

Observations : 

Weather at 5.45: NW4, 7°C, 1/8, 30km visibility

This morning, we observed some nice migration movements from red-throated loon [rødstrubet lom] and common tern/arctic tern [fjordterne/havterne].
This is the largest number of red-throated loon we’ve seen so far this season! We counted 400 migrating north with flocks up to 20 divers high in the horizon.
We also counted 360 common/ arctic terns [fjordterne/havterne] going north, with flock up to 200 individuals. That was nice !  
The little terns [dværgterne] are definitely at Blavand, and we can watch them feeding near the shore every day, which is always a wonderful sight.


Highlights of the day : 
Red-throated loon [rødstrubet lom]- 400
Black-throated loon [sortstrubet lom] - 1
Sandwich tern [splitterne] - 49 
Common tern/Arctic tern [fjordterne/havterne]- 360
Little tern [dværgterne] - 61
Velvet scoter [fløjlsand] - 40

Todays observations can be seen here.


In the afternoon, I went for my daily walk around Blavand! What a lovely surprise to discover that two little terns and two ringed plovers were inside the fences. On top of that, one of the terns was behaving as if it were preparing a nesting site. Furthermore, there were at least 18 little terns flying over the fences and around the area. This bodes well for this year’s breeding season!



Little terns [dværgterne] making a space to breed in the fences, picture by Clara

I also took some time out in the sunshine to paint a bluethroat with my watercolours!


Drawing of a bluethroat under the sun, picture by Clara


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Ringing:Skovspurv. Picture by Hanelie

Finally, the wind was low again, so the nets could all be opened again! Robert had arrived at the station yesterday. Over the fast few years, we have been ringing and looking at moths together in spring and autumn, so I was happy to share the gardens with him. After three days without ringing we had hoped for some more birds, we got 23, 15 of them new ones. It was many Willow Warblers “Løvsanger”, other long-distance migrants did not show up today.

Moths of the day

This night we caught 10 different moth species, one was new for this season: the Sallow Button (Foranderlig Vikler, bold in the table) and one that was a new species for me: the Horse Chestnut Moth (Mørk Hedemåler, green in the table and see the picture). And we found a caterpillar of the Oak Eggar (Egespinder). So, my start at the station was not bad, there was less wind in the last part of the night, which resulted in a few more moths than the days before.

Who is me? I am Robert Luttik originally from the Netherlands but now living in Gjerrild (Djursland) and will help Hanelie with catching and ringing birds the next 2 weeks. Birds and Moths are my two big hobbies.

Horse Chestnut Moth (Mørk Hedemåler)

At the station: Henrik & Henrik, Thomas Kristensen, David Manstrup, Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong, Robert Luttik & Hanelie Sidhu

Observations : 

Weather at 6.10: NW11, 7°C, 8/8, 30km visibility

This morning, many of us were scanning the horizon through our binoculars, Henrik, Thomas and Hanelie joined Jorn and I for observations. We were busy clicking common scoters [sortand] and red-throated loons [rødstrubet lom] and other birds when suddenly Henrik exclaimed enthusiastically, ‘Pomarine Skua’ [mellemkjove]. 

There was then a flurry of activity to track down the pomarine skua as quickly as possible so we could watch it for as long as possible.... And we were very lucky, as the bird stayed for quite a while, circling above the waves and gradually rising towards the horizon. At one point, the Pomarine skua even chased a tern ! This individual was an adult with a dark morph, which is even rarer !
In short, it was quite an exceptional sight, and I was happy to be able to share this moment in good company.


Todays observations can be seen here.

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Ringing :

There was no ringing today due to the strong wind. 

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At the station: Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong, Robert & Hanelie Sidhu 

Observations : 

This morning, Hanelie joined me for the birdwatching as, unfortunately, she couldn’t set the nets due to the strong wind.
It was lovely to share the birdwatching with her, even though the migration was rather slow. We were still able to watch two black-throated divers [sortstrubet lom] resting in the waves for several minutes. A beautiful sight. We also counted 21 little terns [dværgterne] feeding near the shore.

Todays observations can be seen here.


The ringed kentish plover [hvidbrystet præstekrave] that we have seen on Fanø, picture by Clara 

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Ringing : 

There was no ringing today due to the strong wind. 

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Later that day, we went on a little bike ride around Blavand... in search of a swimsuit! Because, yes, we were planning to brave the bitter cold and go for a spring swim before Hanelie leaves in two weeks’ time. Unfortunately, there were nothing but jumpers and hiking boots in sight!

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At the station: Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong & Hanelie Sidhu 

Weather at 6.00: NW9, 8°C, 6/8, 20km visibility

While the volunteers took a day off and slept in after their trip to Fanø yesterday, I (Henrik) did the morning obs today. The wind had picked up since yesterday and was now close to 10 m/s from NW. Starting out with low expectations, I was actually quite surprised by the numbers. The gannets (sule) came in good numbers, and this was by far the best day so far this spring (114). And more than that, many came quite close. The morning also gave 2 Black-throated Divers (sortstrubet lom), 3 Arctic Skuas (alm. kjove) and more than 1000 Common Scoters (sortand).

The Little Terns (dværgterne) have also now really arrived. Today there were 26 birds feeding in the shallows, creating the well-known Blåvand sound landscape. Even though the breeding area fence is already up, they paid no attention to this secure area – not yet anyway.

A walk along the “always”-route gave very few passerines in the bushes, but two Bluethroats (blåhals) in the northern part of the bog was nice. Both were males, one mute and singing adult. On the beach, Sanderlings (sandløber) are still present by the hundreds, but almost all adult gulls have now left for the nesting ground, as only few immature birds were present today.