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Invasion at blavandshuk for the little tern project & the observations
mandag 4. maj 2026
Observations :
Today I was on my own for the morning observations. It was a shame for the others, because this morning hundreds of northern gannets were flying past non-stop before my delighted eyes.
They were coming from all directions, appearing on the horizon as large silhouettes gliding above the waves, but also really close to the shore - you could easily have observed them with the naked eye.
There were birds of all ages (except the juveniles, of course) for my great delight. I enjoy so much to age the northern gannet !
The wonder didn't end there, indeed, in the all morning, I've seen 6 arctic skua - parasitic jaeger [almindelig kjove], 2 pale morph and 4 dark morph. They all came quite closed, 5 of them coming from the south so i had plenty of time to observe them. At some point, a skua chased some little terns. Hence its well-known name, as it also steals the catch of certain species of gulls and terns, which is how they got their name. [from what i've seen, it didn't manage to steal their fishes].
Besides these wonnderrfulll observations, there were also a lot of sandwitch terns migrating north !
Highlights of the day :
Northern gannet [sule] - 309
Arctic skua [almindelig kjove]- pale morph : 2
dark morph : 4
Sandwitch terns [splitterne] - 77
Todays observations can be seen here.
Ringing :
Little tern project:
Today was an extremely busy morning for observations in the exclosure. The wind had shifted to the northwest and was blowing at 7 m/s across the beach. This likely caused the little terns to become very active. In total, about 25 to 30 individuals were flying around the area of the enclosure. Of that group of little terns, about 120 landings were made inside the fence! As it currently stands, they seem to have a preference for sections B4, B5, and B6 (the center of the exclosure). In terms of behavior, they were more preoccupied with themselves than with nest-building or showing courtship behavior. This behavior will likely be more prominent later in the season or perhaps with some calmer weather.
In addition, a good number of common ringed plovers were also walking around inside the fence, though it did not appear as if they were busy building nests. I also did not see the breeding common ringed plover we saw a few days ago. Let’s hope her nest wasn't predated upon and she returns in the coming days.
Moths of the day
Today we had only 5 different species, but not strange because of the long rain period during the night and the wind in the morning. Two were new for the location: see the bold marked name in the table. It is called the Angle Shades (Agatugle) a species which can be seen throughout the year (see picture) and Ipsilon Dart Moth (Ypsilonugle) a species that flies from May till November (see picture).
Angle Shades (Agatugle) and Ipsilon Dart Moth (Ypsilonugle)
At the station : Robert Luttik, Hanelie Sidhu, Clara Delahaye, Jorn de Jong, Alix Bortolussi and Morten Jenrich Hansen.
