The surge after the storm.

This morning, again, rain greeted the dawn and any hope of a nice day ringing were swiped from my head. Never one to miss an opportunity, I returned to bed for an hour or two. It was around 8am when the dry conditions and a cacophony of bird calls roused me from my morning daze, Redstarts chacking, a Red-breasted Flycatcher ticking and continuing the theme of red (through no fault of my own) a Red-throated pipit called as it flew over the lighthouse. A quick check of the phone confirmed Louis was at the tip and had already had a Red-throated Pipit migrate an hour before. Great, a second bird. Anyway, I hurriedly opened a few nets unsure about the catch or the weather I kept it low-key. 10 nets were opened. I returned to the house,noting that there were 'many' Willow Warbler, Redstart and Pied Flycatcher's in the garden.

I only had the nets open for 4 hours and in that time I managed 101 new birds. Very impressive given the little effort and late start. Birds just kept entering the garden and thus, the nets; it is also worth mentioning that given more effort I could have continued to catch birds throughout the day, but the tip was calling, migration was in full flow!

Ringing totals

Willow Warbler 50
Redstart 20
Lesser Whitethroat 11
Pied Flycatcher 8
Whitethriat 3
Garden Warbler 3
Robin 2
Blackcap 1
Spotted Flycatcher 1
Linnet 2

Gert was working on the Ringing shed briefly today but also decided he would take some birding at the tip after his recent efforts in the house. Louis' enthusiasm from the point was just too much to ignore. We rushed into Gedser to shop, picked up some bits and bobs, cakes and other bird station essentials and headed for the point. On arrival, Louis pointed my scope into the sky and said, "Here, young man, 66 Honey Buzzards and rising" I was awestruck, never before have I seen such numbers! Me and Gert settled down alongside Louis and watched and counted as hundreds of Honey Buzzards migrated across the Baltic.


In my notebook went 330 Honey Buzzards but Louis had been counting all day, reaching a final sum of 990 Honey Buzzard. A new day record for Gedser, nice!  We joined Louis at 14:00 and I stayed with him until 18:30 or so, Gert left a little earlier. A few rain showers passed by and again the visibility fluctuated from > 50km down to just 1 or 2 in the dense rain/mist. Below is a brief summary of Louis' highlights and my observations mixed together....

Migrant highlights (By Louis) today included

Common Scoter 2305
Pintail 305
Wigeon 465
Little Gull 42
Black Tern 14
Osprey 8
RED-THROATED PIPIT 2
Arctic Skua 24
Long-tailed Skua 6
Yellow Wagtail 970
Tree Pipit 117

Other migrants in less impressive numbers (Relatively speaking and from my notebook)
Teal 7
Dunlin 9
Common Tern 44
Eider 288
Marsh Harrier 1
Oystercatcher 30
Arctic Tern 2
Commic tern (Common/Arctic) 28
Unidentified Arctic or Long-tailed Skua 8
Unidentified large dabbling ducks 70
Tufted Duck 4
Velvet Scoter 2
Ringed Plover 2

Resting birds (in my book) were

Golden Plover 160
Red-breasted Flycatcher 2 (1 at tip, 1 in Garden)
Oystercatcher 4
Merlin 1
Honey Buzzard 1
Sparrowhawk 3
Kestrel 1
Hen Harrier 1 (very pale ring-tail)
Goldeneye 3
Black-throated Diver (adult in summer plumage)
Red-necked Grebe Juvenile.
Yellow Wagtail c400 (Inc. 1 thunbergi )
Gannet 1 4k+
Siskin 30
Eider 70
Wheatear 4
Red-throated pipit 2 (along with the aforementioned 2 which migrated bringing the day sum to 4)
There were also 80+ Willow Warbler in the garden today, 30+ Redstarts, Firecrest (presumably the moulting female), 30 Tree Pipits, Great Spotted Woodpecker, 5 Robins and a Thrush Nightingale.

Red-throated Pipit - Louis A. Hansen

After such a heavy migration in Falsterbo today, who knows what tomorrow will bring?

I know that today certainly had me buzzing, excuse the pun, it was intended.

Another memorable day in Gedser.

Blog: Craig Brookes

Photo: Louis A.Hansen.