Observationer

Så skete det: Ingen tåge over land her til morgen, og dermed kunne efterårets observationer endelig begynde.

Jeg stillede mig i Hullet klokken 5.00 og gjorde mig klar til, hvad der nok ville blive tre timers forholdsvis kedelig morgenobs – i hvert fald ud fra vindhastigheden og vindretningen.

Og ja, det var da ikke den vildeste morgen, og fuglemæssigt var det også lidt stille. Men efter en god, lang pause, siden jeg sidst for alvor gennemførte en tretimers totaloptælling, var det bare fedt at være i gang igen.

Trækket var stort set dødt, og selv de meget lave tal, vi havde joket med dagen før, kunne vi ikke engang nå op på. Til gengæld stod der utrolig mange måger på stranden under hele observationen, og overraskende mange af dem var hættemåger.

Der blev derfor brugt god tid på at kigge flokkene igennem, imellem havet blev skannet for tegn på bevægelse.

De tre timer gik faktisk utrolig hurtigt, men da alarmen ringede, gik jeg dog tilbage til stationen. Resten af formiddagen gik med hygge sammen med de andre på stationen og lidt småobs fra parkeringspladsen og Fyrhaven.

Der er altså ikke det helt store at berette fra dagens observation. Men med over 1.000 hættemåger, godt med sildemåger og tre fiskehejrer, der valgte at raste lidt på stranden, inden de fløj mod nord, skete der da lidt.

Dagens observationer kan ses her: https://dofbasen.dk/search/result.php?design=table&soeg=soeg&periode=dato&dato=12-07-2026&obstype=observationer&species=alle&obserdata=6857BLF&sortering=dato

Sigt og sommer på Hukket. Foto: Thomas Kristensen.

De mange måger på stranden. Langt de fleste i flokken er hættemåger. Foto: Thomas Kristensen.

En rigtig flot morgen fra Hullet. Foto: Thomas Kristensen.

Ringmærkninger
I dag havde vi Nordvestenvind 8, så vi var nødt til at holde nogle net lukket, men vi fangede alligevel 8 fugle. Sortstrubet Bynkefugl og Træløber var fine overraskelser, og ellers var det almindelige arter: Gransanger og Musvit var de talrigeste, med fire individer af hver art. Det er primært ungfugle, vi fanger i denne tid. 

De ringmærkede fugle

En ung Sortstrubet Bynkefugl (European Stonechat)

Sortstrubet Bynkefugl med åbnede vinger

Træløberen

På stationen
Henrik Böhmer, Ida Bek, Thomas Kristensen

Observationer

Klog af skade efter i går kiggede jeg i dag ud ad vinduet, inden jeg kørte mod Blåvand. Desværre kunne jeg se stort set det samme syn som dagen før: Tågen hang tykt over landskabet omkring Oksbøl.

Derfor gav jeg mig god tid til at vågne og nåede først til Blåvand omkring klokken 5, hvor obsen egentlig skulle være startet. Jeg kunne dog hurtigt se, at det heller ikke i dag ville blive til nogen observation.

Denne gang var jeg ikke presset af at skulle på arbejde, så jeg gik en god tur rundt i området og nød endnu en gang den friske morgenluft i Blåvand og de få fugle, der var at se.

Omkring en time senere nåede jeg tilbage til stationen, hvor jeg kunne sige hej til Ida og Henrik, som var godt i gang med at åbne nettene. Efter en kort snak gik de videre, og jeg slog mig ned på parkeringspladsen i håbet om, at der måske kunne komme et eller andet flyvende gennem tågen. Man har jo lov at håbe.

Det ville være en overdrivelse at sige, at der skete meget. Faktisk kunne man godt sige, at der ikke rigtig skete noget som helst. Hyggeligt var det dog, og mellem runderne kom Ida og Henrik også hen til bænkene. Derfor fløj tiden afsted, selvom der ikke var mange fugle i luften.

Efter at have stået der et par timer valgte jeg at gå med de andre op i Fyrhaven for at se, om den kunne byde på noget. Selvom der stadig var ret stille i luften, var der godt med rastende småfugle, som hoppede rundt i krattet.

Jeg fik også set en del fugle i hånden og endda Helgolandsrusen i brug.

Alt i alt blev det en hyggelig tåget dag på Hukket. Men lad os håbe på bedre sigt i morgen, så vi endelig kan komme i gang med træktællingen.

Ingen sigt – ingen obs. Foto: Thomas Kristensen.

Ringmærkning
I går kom jeg (Ida) til fuglestationen. Jeg bor i Holland (Fryslân!), hvor jeg er assistent-ringmærker ved adskillige fuglestationer. Jeg hjælper til på Blåvand Fuglestation indtil den 15. august, og er meget spændt på, hvad jeg oplever her! 

Min første ringmærkningsdag gik rigtig fint, vi fangede 38 fugle! Næsten alle arter var første gang for mig, at ringmærke. Især Topmejse (Crested Tit), Skovspurv (Eurasian Tree Sparrow), Gråsisken (Redpoll), Ringdue (Wood Pigeon) og Gulspurv (Yellowhammer) var jeg ikke vandt til at se. 

De 38 ringmærkede fugle

 
En tåget morgen

Min første skovspurv

Gråsisken

Guldspurv

På stationen
Henrik Böhmer, Ida Bek, Thomas Kristensen

Observationer

Så ramte vi den 10. juli, og det betyder, at efteråret er i gang – i hvert fald fuglemæssigt. Vi er klar til at rykke ud på efterårsspottet og kigge på fuglene, når de igen trækker mod syd.

Morgenen så allerede knap så lovende ud, da jeg gik ud ad døren i Oksbøl og blev mødt af en voldsomt tyk tåge. Vejret i Blåvand kan dog nogle gange snyde, og selv på den korte køretur kan det nå at ændre sig meget. Derfor satte jeg alligevel kursen mod Blåvand.

Det blev bestemt ikke bedre.

Jeg var klar på parkeringspladsen klokken 4.30, så observationen kunne begynde klokken 4.45. Det stod dog hurtigt klart, at det ikke ville blive til en standardobservation denne morgen.

I stedet gik jeg en kort tur op på Sydhukket og nød det begrænsede udsyn. Jeg brugte lidt tid på at betragte de få rastende fugle, som fløj rundt omkring mig. På stranden var der rigtig godt med måger, men desværre var de for det meste skjult af den tykke tåge, så der var kun korte øjeblikke, hvor det var muligt at se nærmere på dem.

Efter at have nydt den friske morgenluft på Sydhukket gik jeg en tur til Fyrhaven for at se, hvad den kunne byde på denne morgen. Det var meget begrænset, men alligevel dejligt bare at gå en tur deroppe og lytte til de mange fugle.

Uret nærmede sig langsomt 5.30, og da tågen ikke for alvor var lettet – bortset fra nogle få, meget korte perioder – vurderede jeg, at det nok var på tide at køre på arbejde. Jeg kunne alligevel ikke nå at gennemføre en standardobservation, hvor vi skal observere i mindst to ud af de tre timer.

Derfor listede jeg stille og roligt tilbage mod bilen og kørte mod Varde.

Det blev desværre ikke helt den start, vi havde håbet på. Efterårssæsonen er heldigvis lang, så vi ser frem mod en god sæson og den første rigtige morgenobservation.

I skal dog ikke snydes for billeder fra morgenen, så her kommer lidt stemningsbilleder.

Udsigten fra p-pladsen. Foto: Thomas Kristensen.

Ikke meget sigtbarhed fra Sydhukket. Foto: Thomas Kristensen.

Og I skal selvfølgelig ikke snydes for et billede af en fugl. Men eftersom jeg havde ladet kameraet blive i bilen, må I nøjes med dette lidt dårlige billede af en tornirisk, taget gennem håndkikkerten :-). Foto: Thomas Kristensen.

Folk på stationen: Thomas Kristensen

Efter varmerekorden i lørdags er vi nu igen nede på acceptable temperaturer.
Stranden gav ikke de store antal måger og terner, dog sås som noget nyt 4 havterner.
En Dværgterne kom til lagde sig til at ruge kun 5-10 cm fra en af attrapperne inde i hegningen. Jeg stod en halv time og ventede men ingen andre Dværgterner kom ind med føde til den. Så spørgsmålet er om den ligger og ruger på ubefrugtede æg.
En Stor Præstekrave rugede uden for indhegningen, så den har ikke mange chancer.
Jonas havde ringmærkningstur med ca. 25 deltagere, og de fik sig en på opleveren med 29 fugle i alt, mest ungfugle fra nærområdet.
En Ringdue blev aflæst og den var mærket af Menno d. 20. maj 2022

Art                              Ringmærket             Aflæst
Ringdue                                                             1
Jernspurv                                2
Gærdesanger                          3
Tornsanger                              2
Gransanger                             4
Topmejse                                 1
Blåmejse                                  2
Musvit                                       8
Skovspurv                                1
Bogfinke                                   1
Stillits                                        2
Gråsisken                                 1
Gulspurv                                   2

I alt                                          29                         1

Folk på stationen David Manstrup og Bent Jakobsen

Today was the official last day of Spring standardized ringing, and unfortunately the weather didn’t allow me to open nets because of strong winds.

I will however give a little summary of the whole season, some highlights, and some numbers from our data! Even though I have not been here the whole season, I think it could be nice to have a little retrospective of the past 3 ½ months.

The standardized ringing for the spring season starts on the 1st of March and runs continuously until the 15th of June. Hanelie started the season as the head ringer and I took over her position in the beginning of May! We were both joined by a lot of other volunteer ringers throughout the season, which was such a nice help and made the season even more pleasant. Thank you to everyone who was involved, even for a shorter period! All volunteering is appreciated and crucial to the success of the Observatory’s activities, and you all make this possible, so thank you!

Let’s summarize the season with a few numbers! :D

The month’s total ringing numbers were as follows:

- March: 22 species, total of 247 birds ringed

- April: 32 species, total of 546 birds ringed

- May: 40 species, total of 394 birds ringed

- June: 17 species, total of 54 birds ringed

- Spring total : 50 species, total of 1241 birds ringed

The big winners of the season were the month of April in numbers of birds ringed, and the month of May in species diversity.

Here are some highlights and most commonly ringed bird per month:

- March:

Most ringed species: Blackbird (Solsort) 68 individuals ringed during the month

Highlights: 1 Great-Spotted Woodpecker (Stor Flagspætte), 1 White Wagtail (Hvid Vipstjert)

Pic woodpecker

Pic wag

- April:

Most ringed species: Chiffchaff (Gransanger) 142 individuals ringed during the month

Highlights: 1 Common Nightingale (Sydlig Nattergal), 1 Grasshopper Warbler (Græshoppesanger)

Pic nightingale

Pic grasshopper

- May:

Most ringed species: Chiffchaff (Gransanger) 99 individuals ringed during the month

Highlights: 1 Greenish Warbler (Lundsanger),  1 Red Crossbill (Lille Korsnæb)

Pic greenish

Pic crossbill

- June:

Most ringed species: Chiffchaff (Gransanger) 16 individuals ringed during the month

Highlights: 3 Spotted Flycatchers (Grå Fluesnapper)

Pic flycatcher

I was very happy to be trusted as the head ringer for this second half of the spring season, and I’m so grateful for the time I’ve spent here, and all the good birds! I have learned a lot and met such nice people thanks to the station, and I would love to come back for another season in the future! :D

I will be staying a little longer at the station before moving on to my next stay in another observatory, and will make sure to update the blog with any fun and interesting activities and news from me and the birds around here!

I wish you all a delightful (and hopefully warm) summer!

Today's weather was particularly windy with an average of 12 m/s and gusts of up to 18 m/s coming from the west, which of course made it too windy to open nets and do a ringing morning.

With such strong winds, the birds tend to stay sheltered in bushes and limit their movements as well as their communications with each other. I particularly hope the young fledglings who are experiencing their first big winds and big rain showers are staying dry and safe with their parents around! All of this makes for a rather quiet garden.

Tomorrow is the last standardized morning for the ringing season of spring 2026, but so far it looks like the weather won't allow me to open nets again because of strong winds. I apologize for sounding like a broken record with this weather commentary for the past days, it's been frustrating for sure! What is somewhat reassuring is that the number of birds, even on good weather days, had already lowered drastically anyways. This is normal for the end of the season!

I've had a good end of spring here nonetheless and managed to get a few new species that I had never ringed before, so that was amazing! 

I am also looking forward to a few days 'off' with some sleeping in late and other activities such as knitting or drawing, reading, etc. before my summer season starts again in July in Ottenby, Sweden. :D

This morning was unfortunately again interrupted by some strong winds and heavy rain showers coming and going. 

I managed to have the nets open for a few hours, but very few birds were moving because of the weather conditions. I quite miss the times where the weather forcasts were reliable, and where I could get a bit more birds in a morning! 

Whenever you get some birds, all the efforts feel worth it. 

For today, only a cute little Chiffchaff (Gransanger), and a recapture Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger). Better than nothing...

I took the opportunity of this bad weather in the afternoon to do a good cleaning of the station, which was needed. 

So far, the weather looks like tomorrow I won't be able to open any nets because of very strong winds of 13m/s with gusts of 18m/s. 

I very much hope for monday the 15th to be okay weather as it is the last day of the standardized ringing for Spring, and I would love to be able to conduct a last normal morning!! 

We will see...

Ringing totals for today:

Gærdesanger (Lesser Whitethroat): 0/1

Gransanger (Chiffchaff): 1

Total: 1/1

The rain was once again around in the early morning, forcing me to open the nets with a few hours delay. I had the nets open for 4h from 8:00 in the morning until 12:00, and a mix of rather strong winds, clouds and a few drops of rain here and there brought me a few birds actually!

The ratio of new birds to recaptured birds is interesting today, because I caught more recaptures than unringed birds. All of them were birds previously ringed at the station as well, which makes them our resident birds.

Amongst them were some babies, which I was so happy to see again after a few days break where they stayed put in bushes because of the weather. I have caught the first 2 Chiffchaff (Gransanger) babies, which was ADORABLE!

Young Chiffchaff (Gransanger) fledgling caught today! Notice the 'baby mouth' with the yellow corners. Very cute!

Along with that I was surprised to catch 2 new Icterine Warblers (Gulbug). By now I feel like I am close to having ringed all the resident Icterines, so it’s always a surprise to get some new ones! But what a treat. Funny birds they are!

In the afternoon I went to the area I had found a Stock Dove nest last week, (I was supposed to go yesterday but didn’t end up going because I still felt ill). I was very happy to see that the 2 eggs that were in the nest 6 days ago, had both hatched and the babies have already grown quite a bit!

I would love to ring those babies when they are grown and big enough, but we are still working on getting permission from the land owner. I’m crossing my fingers!

On the way there I saw a beautiful Adder (Hugorm) who was crossing the road. Be safe little one!

Adder (Hugorm) seen on my way to the Stock dove nest checking

I also wanted to mention that yesterday evening, while I was on a short walk around the dunes close to the station, I found 2 gorgeous Grey Partridges (Agerhøne) foraging in the tall grasses. They were a lifer for me, and from what I understand not so common around here, so a nice find!

Grey Partridge (Agerhøne) seen in the dunes yesterday evening.

Excuse the mediocre quality of the picture, I took it with my phone through my binoculars ahahaha! We can still identify the bird, which is good enough for me at this point. Someday I dream of investing in a good camera…  

This morning after a quick rain shower which forced me to delay the opening of the nets by around 30min, I decided to open the station garden nets only as the rain showers still looked really menacing on the radar, and I wanted to keep quick control of the nets if it started to rain out of nowhere. 

The sunrise looked promising though, but some big clouds were sitting over the sea.

Beautiful sunrise over the station this morning

The morning was extraordinarly quiet, both bird wise and wind wise. In the whole 5h of the nets being open, I only caught one Chiffchaff (Gransanger). Then, on the closing round as it was raining, I caught three birds, two Greenfinches (Grønirisk) and recaptured one Icterine Warbler (Gulbug). Making the grand total for today, 4 birds. 

The two greenfinches I suspect to have been a pair, one was a female and the other a male, caught in the same net next to each other. They were both exhibiting signs of breeding (brood patch for the female, and cloacal protrusion for the male). That was really cute! I released them together, just in case.

Male Greenfinch (Grønirisk), with a little rain drop on his head

In other news, I might have caught a cold! :( Quite the crazy thing to happen in mid-june ahaha. I'm sure I'll feel better soon though :P

This afternoon, if I feel good enough for it, I will go check a Stock Dove nest that Amanda and I found about a week ago, to see how the eggs are doing, perhaps they have hatched now!

This morning, after checking the weather forcast and rain radar after waking up, I went out to open the nets as it seemed there was no rain planned and the wind was ok. 

After being all done with opening, I started making breakfast and within 3min of my return at the station, it started pouring rain.

I then had to rush back outside and close all the nets again, as there now was multiple rain clouds in a row coming on the radar, and the amount of rain pouring was very intense even if for sort of short periods of time. Luckily no birds had had the time to get caught and wet in this span of time.

I tried to wait it out, seeing if I could open the nets later as I was up and ready anyways, but it never looked good. It was periods of beautiful summer weather with blue sky and the next minute thunder and pouring rain. 

Around 8 Henrik arrived and with some big packages along! It was some new gardening equipment he recently purchased for the station, as the gardens have now grown to be very tall trees and big bushes. 

After a little while putting the equipment together, Henrik was excited to try some of them out, and we thought 'we can try it on a couple of rose bushes, just to see!'. 

Long story short, we erradicated MULTIPLE square meters of the invasive sand rose bushes, and the equipment performed even better than we thought. 

Henrik was cutting, I was raking and cleaning up the branches and leaves, we were really efficient! 

When we were done with that, Henrik took off with some cardboard to bring to the recycling station and I had some lunch and some rest. 

I hope to be able to open some nets tomorrow, it seems like there will be little to no wind, and so far no rain - but I am not sure I trust the weather app anymore after this morning's betrayal!