Rødhals Saves the Day

With no rain in the morning we got the nets erected and got our standardised ringing underway.

It was soon evident that there had been a clear out of migrants around the ringing station which is not surprising given such a clear night coupled with a bright moon.

Having ringed a few Lesser Whitethroats and processed a few recaptured robins we began to notice Sparrowhawks venture low through the garden and it wasn't long before the 1st of 3 (2 Juvenile males & a large juvenile female) was caught, made all the better having only putting up the second Sparrowhawk net yesterday.

Juvenile (1K) Female Sparrowhawk

Although these sparrowhawks were the first of many it was nice for all of us to get to grips with taking full wing formula measurements on each of the birds which Rune kindly demonstrated during his stay.

By around 9:00 am we were joined by a lovely Danish group interested in Wildlife/Ecology who were guided around the station and were shown what goes on at Gedser fuglestation by Hans and Benny (who we had the pleasure to meet). They also kindly installed the new washing machine for us.

Given the mass clear-out of migrants we were worried that we wouldn't catch a bird to show the guests but Hugh fortunately caught a Robin which was warmly welcomed by a mass of cheers and clapping by the students.

Once the nets were furled more work was conducted in the garden to maintain net rides and make the garden more effective at drawing in and channeling birds into mist nets. 

Migration observed from the point and around the garden consisted of:

South unless stated otherwise

Grey Heron 1
Tree Pipit 7
Meadow Pipit 45
House Martin 31
Swallow 244
Honey Buzzard 8
Sparrowhawk 20+
Marsh Harrier 1
Kestrel 8
White-tailed Eagle 1
Flava Wagtail 4
Alba Wagtail 18
Starling 8
Fringilla Sp 68
Brambling 2+
Siskin 237
Greenfinch 2
Tree Sparrows 32
Crossbill 185
Wigeon 192
Shoveler 9
Teal 4
Pintail 5
Eider 31
Sandwich Tern 15 (+3 offshore)
Little Gulls 8

The Living Quarters...WOW!

5fth Winter + White-tailed Eagle taking off having flown over garden and landing in adjacent field!!!

Juvenile Honey Buzzard. A nice gingery bird that alighted briefly in stubble field before leaving south to sea.

Thanks for your time and stay with us for more GEDSER FUGLESTATION MAGIC!!!!

Hugh, Jack and Rael