Skua day. Sat 24th August

Saturday morning the wind blew briskly from the East 10m/s as a result ringing was rather quiet compared with recent days. Only 30 or so birds ringed. Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and Whitethroat the main species ringed today. Also 3 young Goldfinches.

As the begins to change from summer to autumn, we can notice a shift in the ages of birds being caught along their migration routes, the beginning of autumn normally shows the arrival of juveniles en masse, this is because: 1, there are more juvenile birds present at this time of year than at any other, compared with ratio to adults. 2, Juveniles disperse from their nesting grounds earlier and undertake shorter hops (a slower migration) than the adults which arrive later on as they surge for their wintering grounds.

Saturday morning however, I noticed a shift amongst Garden Warblers, Lesser Whitethroats and the Whitethroats with regards to their ages; after weeks of only catching juvenile birds today we caught the 2nd,3rd and 4th Adult Lesser Whitethroats of the autumn, the same trend was shown by the other species.

Garden Warbler-2cy+ note the worn (and 1 replaced) Tertials. Craig Brookes

As ringing was slow and the wind picked up, after standardised ringing was finished, I packed up the nets, intent on grabbing some lunch and heading out to the point; that didn't happen. I fell asleep almost instantly once I had sat down, which is a shame as Louis' totals below show he had a rather nice day out on the point.

Louis Hansen: "05:15 - 17:25 : Teal 800, Arctic Skua 60, Long-tailed Skua 5-7, Little Gull 265, Black Tern 15, Osprey 4, Shoveler 310, Red-Throated Pipit 1" also a Juv Mediterranean Gull was seen.


Photo and Blog : Craig Brookes

Hoping for better weather

With the weather of recent days putting an end to any ringing activities, today, again I took a little time for some bird watching.

With gloomy grey skies and light rain most of the day migration was very quiet. Only 30 Chaffinch/Brambling were seen to head out to sea. Seawatching was normal, Long-tailed Ducks, Eiders, Common Scoters and the other regulars. On the beach however I did find a Purple Sandpiper nestled in amongst some rocks. This bird will have travelled to Gedser from further North, maybe Svalbard or Norway and may spend the winter months here if conditions are fit; though it may continue South later in the season. Below is a picture of a Purple Sandpiper taken here at Gedser by Louis A. Hansen.
 

Purple Sandpiper -

Sortgrå Ryle - Calidris maritima Photo Louis A. Hansen

Again a Waxwing or 2 were heard in the garden though not seen.

Photo: Louis A. Hansen
Blog: Craig Brookes

A bad start.

Well we left October with 4500+ new birds ringed, a great month. We enter November on a blank I'm afraid; no ringing today due to very windy conditions. I did get a couple of nets up for an hour or two. Caught no birds though.

On a migration front (from what I saw) it was quiet, a few Chaffinch/Brambling. On the sea 4 Tufted ducks were the highlight. A few Waxwings went over again, no more than 10 though.

Chaffinch 1cy female

Apologies for the event-less blog today. Hopefully tomorrow will bring some nicer weather, plus some birds. Above is a picture of a Chaffinch from a few days ago. Photo Asbjørn Jensen

Blog Craig Brookes

Tails from Sweden

This morning the ringing was exceptionally quiet, the wind ripped through but I managed to get enough nets up to fulfill standardised ringing. Only 7 Birds were newly ringed today. 2 Blackbird, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Bullfinch, 1 Blackcap, 1 Robin, 1 Long-tailed tit. Interestingly the Bullfinch seemed of the "Northern" variety but then started trumpeting whilst in the hand. It measured large too, wing 92mm and weight 29.6 grams. I now suspect it was from the East?

Another interesting thing today is that we controlled 5 Long-tailed tit from Sweden (in 1 net) each had consecutive ring numbers. CS80031-35. I suspected these were from Falsterbo, but it seems not. It will be interesting to find out when and where they were ringed and so we can see how fast these birds are migrating, that is one of the great things about marking and re-capture in bird ringing.

Long-tailed tits

The photo above shows 2 races of Long-tailed tit, plus a hybrid type; not today's photo. Observation wise it was quiet with a single Waxwing over the garden and Ca 1000 Fieldfare and some Redwing mixed in!

Photo and Blog: Craig Brookes

Empty nets

This morning was the quietest morning for a good while. After yesterdays storm and rain just before and until a little after dawn I had expected maybe a few Robins in the garden. That didn't happen. Instead, we ringed 15 birds in the entire session. 4 Great Tit, 3 Blackbird, 3 Siskin, 3 Goldcrest and singles Blue Tit and Goldfinch. A Waxwing flicked around the garden but didn't get caught.

In the afternoon I took a couple of hours birding. Preben had told me he'd had a Serin but it didn't migrate. I picked it up just after 13:45; when it did migrate. The other highlights included Black-throated Diver (1), Twite 60+ also 2 SNOW BUNTINGS (1ST WINTER PAIR)

Snow Buntings male and female

Photo and Blog - Craig Brookes

Dipping

Unfortunately there was no ringing this morning as the wind slammed hard against the Gedser coastline. Heather left late morning, thanks for all your help this season Heather, it's been great to have you. With no ringing and very windy conditions I thought a Sea-watch could be productive, I was wrong. A couple of hours at the point produced highlights of just 18 Wigeon, 2 Mallard, 1 Little Gull, 1 Scaup and a Peregrine.

A DIPPER was seen at the Southern tip today by Preben, it flew past him so closely that he couldn't get a picture of it. I however "dipped" it.

Hopefully this storm will pass before the morning though I don't expect a dawn start.

Windswept Gedser coast.

Blog and Photo: Craig Brookes

Blustery

Today the wind was quite strong from the West. We set less nets than recent days. Still we managed 103 new birds. Blue Tit 26, Goldcrest 21, Dunnock 17, Chaffinch 8, Wren 7, Robin 7, Chiffchaff 4, Sparrowhawk 4, Bullfinch 3, Siskin 2, singles of Redwing, Blackbird, Fieldfare and Tree Sparrow.

Bullfinch 1cy female

Above a picture of one of today's Bullfinches, this a juvenile female.Other notable sightings included 24 Red Kites, 18 Cranes, 10 Common Buzzard, 6 Rough-legged Buzzard, 20 Sparrowhawks. 50 Common Scoter went passed the point in a brief Sea-watch, as did 7 Brent Geese, 10 Red-breasted Mergansers and 180 Eider.

Also a reminder that there will be an Owl event held at Gedser on Saturday 27th October starting at 21:00, there is a limited amount of spaces so please be in contact if you or anyone you know may be interested, contact details may be found on the homepage. The charge is 50DKr per person!

Photo: Heather McGinty
Blog: Craig Brookes

More of the same

Today was much as yesterday in terms of species around, only quieter. 68 birds in total were ringed today, totals as follows. Goldcrest 33, Robin 19, Blackbird 3, Chiffchaff 3, Dunnock 3, 2 of each Sparrowhawk, Wren and Song Thrush. A single Treecreeper was the first we've seen during October and only the 5th of the year. Unfortunately it didn't have short toes!

Treecreeper 1cy

Migration wise today quieter than yesterday 5 Red Kite, 40 Golden Plover, 4 Pintail, 3 Rough-legged Buzzards, 20 Sparrowhawks and the stars of the day, 4 LAPWING!

Photo and Blog: Craig Brookes

Flat calm

Today the weather was flat calm. The sea resembled a mirror and the sky was cloudless, no wind could be felt in the garden. I had a feeling many birds would have migrated overnight then. Migration was heavy over land and Sea and we ringed 95 birds as follows: Robin 22, Goldcrest 20, Wren 9, Chiffchaff 8, Song Thrush 7, Dunnock 7, Reed Bunting 5, Great Tit 5, Blackbird 4, Tree Sparrow 2, Redwing 1, Blackcap 1, Coal Tit 1, Chaffinch 1, Greenfinch 1, Redpoll 1. Below is a picture of today's Tree Sparrow.

Tree Sparrow 1cy+ Passer montanus

Migrating today; 6 Red Kite, 15 Common Buzzard, 3 Rough-legged Buzzard, 2 Kestrel and 23 Sparrowhawks were seen. Also 2500+ Eider, 8 Red-breasted Merganser, 300 Common Scoter, 10 White-fronted Geese. 380+ Barnacle Geese, 56 Brent Geese (29 Resting on the sea), 25 Greylag Geese and 5 Cranes. Finches moved in good numbers with Siskins and Chafflings dominating (500 or so of each). Redwing, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush and a few Fieldfare moved. 38 Jays were counted today, the biggest count so far this Autumn.

Photo and Blog: Craig Brookes

Continued Emptiness

The title sums it up, unfortunately. I had nets open for a little over 6 hours today and caught 8 Birds, 4 newly ringed and 4 Recaptures.

3 Robins and a Goldcrest were new.
A couple of each Robin and Blackbird recaptures.

Sightings include 2 Woodcock, a few Rough-legged Buzzards, a few Sparrowhawks, still Bullfinches and Yellowhammers go over in noticable numbers and a small flock of Redpolls today was the first "proper flock" to be in the garden.

Craig Brookes

Worth the effort.

Last night I made the a last minute decision to stay up and try for owls, a quick check of the weather forecast showed a dropping wind and a clear night. I began to set the nets at 8pm. I took round after round of the all empty nets. At 3 am I had a moment of excitement which soon turned into a moment of terror as a Hare shot out of the bushes straight passed me and into a net. Before I could get to it the Hare had made it's way out of the net the other way thus making a massive hole in one of the special Sparrowhawk nets, I'll fix that later. At 4 am I took a round not so optimistic anymore, the first net produced a Tengmalm's Owl. I carried on walking around and found a Long-eared in another net. No sign of the Pygmy's which I was trying for but not a bad nights work to get these 2.

                                              Tengmalms's owl- Perleugle- Aegolius funereus

I released the Tengmalm's just after 5am and I was hopeful it would sit around and show today, a brief search however hasn't revealed anything. But I know where abouts the bird is sitting, I just don't have the time to look for it. Other sightings through the night were 2 Woodcock and another owl which flew from the top of a bush before I could see anything on it, I only heard the wings clapping against the tree, I suspect a Tengmalm's.

Photo: Craig Brookes.
Posted by: Craig Brookes.