Yesterday, Maxim took his last dinner at the station (tears). Thanks a lot for the memories, we'll miss you!

Today was a "hard work" day: after a poor observation, we cleaned all the paths in the two gardens (station + lighthouse) in order to prepare for the ringing season that starts on Saturday. Suzanne and Théotim cut all the branches and removed a lot of bulky trees, while Henrik was mowing the lawn. I think he was very happy with his new toy that he bought to replace the old lawnmower. The result is very satisfying, and we created a lot of space around the nets. The big branches we removed will be re-used to build natural walls for the observation spots, so that we will have better protection against strong winds.

After this tiring work, Suzanne and Théotim baked cookies and went to the top of the lighthouse for the first time.

In the previous days, the forecast predicted a good eastern wind, and we couldn't wait for that day. Unfortunately, the rain reduced our expectations and chances of having a "1000-wader day." Only the dunlins were numerous, about 650, out of a total of 880 waders. We have counted about 5500 migrating waders since the beginning of the season (July 10).

Cool things about today: we saw the first little stint of the season, an albino oystercatcher, and an Arctic skua.

Today, the wind was from the southwest, and we expected a bad day for migration. Unfortunately, it was. After observing more than 1,000 waders yesterday, we didn't see more than 400 today. However, it was nice to see a white-tailed eagle scaring all the gulls.

We also enjoyed a "goodbye dinner" in the city because Maxim is leaving on Thursday.

It’s been 4 days since the autumn season started, and the waders are here! The weather is not very sunny and hot, but it’s good for migration: we've had SW, SE, and E winds in the last few days, bringing a lot of oystercatchers, dunlins, and bar-tailed godwits close to the beach. Today was a very good day, we had more than 800 dunlins and about 250 oystercatchers. There were also fewer bar-tailed godwits and curlews than on previous days, but the number of shanks and sandpipers is clearly increasing (124 redshanks today). We saw the first spotted redshanks of the season as well. In total we had about 1500 waders.

We are enjoying the results of the good work from the past few weeks, which involved cleaning and preparing all the observation spots. We created different spots adapted to each wind direction, so we can be protected by the bushes and have more comfort during observation. We also cut the grass and pruned the bushes along the paths that connect the spots to each other. See below how proud Henrik seems about the “NW wind spot”!

Kai, the German volunteer who joined us for the last 2 weeks, left the station yesterday. I really enjoyed sharing experiences with him and comparing the birds of our countries. It is also (and already) Maxim’s last week at the station, and we will definitely miss the incredible dinners he cooks.

The days are slowly getting shorter, but it doesn’t change how much we enjoy the sunrises.

Current people at the station: Maxim, David and Théotim

Today we started as usual with the migration count at sunrise (5 a.m.). It was a beautiful start of the day with good weather conditions. The wind came from the southwest. Especially, we focused on counting the wader migrations. We had for example 85 Bar-tailed Godwits, 53 Red Knots, 124 Dunlins, 18 Eurasian Oystercatchers during the standard counting time of 3 hours. Also worth mentioning are the many seagulls migrating or resting on the beach. Henrik has counted more than 1000 Black-headed Gulls. Also impressive was an arctic skua (one of my favorite birds), which has been observed for two days.

Théo (right), Henrik (left), Me (center)

After the standard count time Henrik took a walk at the beach. He could observe a Curlew Sandpiper, the first for this season.

A Curlew Sandpiper in a group of Dunlins. (picture: Henrik)

All in all not a bad day.

People at the station: Théo, Henrik, Maxim, Kai

I dag er det d. 10. juli og det betyder at efterårssæsonen officielt er skudt i gang. På dette tidspunkt, trækker der primært vadere og vinden har en stor indflydelse på antallet af trækfugle. Heldigvis for denne første dag i sæsonen, var vinden i nat SØ og her til morgen sydlig, mens dagen startede overskyet. Det havde sendt en del vadefugle af sted og vi fik en flot trækdag med bl.a. strandskade 233, storspove 76, lille kobbersneppe 143, mudderklire 28, rødben 108, hvidklire 30 og almindelig ryle 257. I alt træk der 911 vadefugle i dag og det er bestemt godkendt. Heldigvis var vi fire personer til at få det hele med (Theo, Kai, David og undertegnede)

Der kom overraskende også lidt pibeænder og krikænder og desuden 4 bjergænder. 

På den lidt mere bemærkelsesmæssige front, blev der fundet en rastende rovterne på stranden og Rune talte 10 kaspiske måger. En fed adult almindelig kjove jagtede terner det meste af morgenen, lige i strandkanten. 

I morgen skal vinden være i SV og forblive på de ca. 5-6 m/s, så vi forventer ikke det store træk. 

Så er vi kommet ind i juli og ligesom sidste år starter måneden med masser af blæst - og heldigvis fra den rigtige retning. Allerede i går blæste det op, men 1,5 time i sabinebunkeren gav meget lidt. I dag var vi så ude fra solopgang, da vinden var helt rigtig: VSV med omkring 12-13 m/s. 

Fra venstre: Kai, Theotim og undertegnede

Ca en halv time efter obsens start kom dagens fugl: en rigtig fed almindelig skråpe på mellemdistance. Det er årets første i Blåvand, men vi håber på at der kommer flere, måske på søndag allerede. Obsen var ellers præget af sortænder (1200), suler (ca. 60), sildmåger (430) og udover skråpen blev vi også belønnet med 3 mallemukker og tre trækkende kaspiske måger. 

I alt en meget godkendt obs ift. at vi stadig er i starten af juli. 

Der er pt. ingen ringmærker på stationen, så vi må nøjes med havobs. Og det kan da også gå hen og blive sjov på søndag. Lørdag eftermiddag blæster det op med 16-20 m/s og søndag morgen starter vinden i SV/VSV med ca. 13 m/s og aftager lidt i løbet af formiddagen. Det ser rigtig spændende ud til f.eks. alm. skråpe. 

We have decided that, because there isn't a lot to discuss in the blogs, we don't do a blog every day but every few days, so that we don't have to write 3 sentences just to make a blog. 

The last few days have been way better with the weather then before. With almost no rain and less wind, I opened the nets a few times. This resulted in 3 days over 20 birds, especially young birds. It is still very slow compared to the first weeks I got here and definetely a little later in end summer-begin autumn, but it is pretty good for the time of year. One of the birds that should be mentioned was a marsh tit, which has been caught only once before. 

Willow tit

For my own shrike project, I found today the 4th nest. 1 nest I have ringed last weekend, 2 other nests still had eggs and this nest was still empty, they have started a little bit later then I'd expected and hoped. Besides the shrikes, a nice side catch was a nest of a corn bunting. It is not yet a common breeding bird here, but today I figured there are at least 3 pairs with a nest, so still enough to discover.

corn bunting

2 days ago we had a working day, which ment that we cleaned the whole shed and did some gardening. Because of the lack of battery power, I had some trouble with especially mowing the lanes, so there is still a part that needs to be mowed, but I am planning to do that tomorrow, when the military area is closed for 2 days again. 

Power team!

I have also been out a few times for night catching, which got me another partridge, and last night I had 8 birds, one stonechat, 2 skylarks, 2 common whitethroats, 2 meadow pipits and a linnet. Pretty good, as my record for one night was standing on 5.

About the observations we can be short, but lets give it a positive twist. Théotim has enough time and oppertunities to get to know the species really well, because when he (finally) sees some birds migrating, he can take his time to take a good look at them.

Yesterday, Théotim (a French guy) joined us as a volunteer for the next 9 weeks. He will be focusing on counting waders during the migration period. To celebrate his arrival, he baked a chocolate cake that was "edible" according to Michael.

In the evening, we had a great time trying to catch two red-backed shrikes (a male and a female). Michael had spotted the nest, and even though we had to wait until today to catch the parents, we ringed 4 of the 5 babies. See the photos below.

Today, Michael and Maxim ringed 2 ringed plovers and the female red-backed shrike. Another nest of red-backed shrikes was discovered with 2 eggs inside. After a few observations, David had to leave the station to go back to work, but he'll come back soon!

Tonight, we welcome 2 guests at the station!