deja vue

A very similar start to the day as yesterday with very thick, very wet, very horrible fog covering the station however, it didn't linger as long allowing us to open the nets by 10:00; we then managed another 50 new birds (again like yesterday!) including the first Blackcap of the year, another 36 Robins and 5 Song Thrushes.   A Green Sandpiper flew over in the fog and a Woodcock was flushed mid-morning.

The Blackcap didn't want to pose nicely in the hand so here's an Edible Frog Rana esculenta in the pond!

 

In the two hours between the fog half clearing and clearing enough to open nets there was a good wildfowl movement with 6,000 Eiders and 700 Barnacle Geese passing along with small numbers of Teal, Pintail, Wigeon, Gadwall, Shoveler, Shelduck, Oystercatchers, Curlew and a single Bar-tailed Godwit.

 

A very pleasant afternoon jaunt to the Bøtø Nature Reserve just to the north of Gedser produced a good range of birds including 2 Great White Egrets, 4 Garganey, 16 Ruff, a White-tailed Eagle, a Common Crane, a booming Bittern and still hundreds of Ducks and Barnacle Geese reminding us that its still early in the spring!