October has arrived and hopefully the birds will follow!

A much quieter day today here in Gedser with a much fresher wind blowing from east/south east!

The view heading towards the Fuglestation 

Louis text first thing to say a Red-throated Pipit was about at the tip and at the nets things were slower than usual with only 51 new birds ringed comprising of:

Wren 4

Dunnock 2

Robin 13

Common Redstart 1

Song Thrush 2

Chiffchaff 21

Goldcrest 7

Tree Sparrow 1

Higher numbers of recaptured birds that had been ringed during previous standardised ringing sessions were caught indicating that there had been no real clear out alongside no real arrival of new migrant birds.

Having burnt the wicks out both ends we had more of a casual afternoon after the standardised ringing had ended.

For a short while we did have a tape lure on for a Great Grey Shrike that was feeding at the bottom of the garden but it soon lost interest and disappeared (probably out to sea) 

We moved and erected the pipit net in hope of luring some species that preferred open country and caught up on some sleep.

Bird Highlights whilst concentrating on the nets and ringing included

Siskin104

Jackdaw 2

Mistle Thrush 13

Rough-legged Buzzards 5

Adult Female Rough-legged Buzzard, photo by Louis Hansen. We cannot thank Louis enough for his guidance with these birds. We tend not to see many of these in Britain on an annual basis let alone adults, so to have a someone to give us pointers on ageing and sexing these mindblowingly beautiful birds is massively appreciated. It is all well and good reading about them but its a different kettle of fish (or should that be buzzards) when they are migrating south at a great height with the sun behind them.

 Common Buzzard 2

Barnacle Geese 211

Bean Goose 1

European White-fronted Geese 1

Skylark 6

Eclipse Drake Eider, a real Gedser Speciality with thousands migrating past on a daily basis in Autumn!

Fire Bug Pyrrhocoris apterus at Gedser Tip, another Gedser speciality!, photo Hugh Hanmer