Sprosser

Still calm, hot and sunny but with a bit of haziness and a few wispy clouds coming and going through the day on the light easterly breeze; a similar morning of ringing to yesterday with 35 new birds caught including the first Thrush Nightingale of the year and the third Red-breasted Flycatcher of the spring.
   Other migrants trapped consisted of 5 Icterine Warblers, 7 Garden Warblers, 8 Whitethroats, just 5 Willow Warblers, 2 Chiffchaffs, a Blackcap and a Spotted Flycatcher.

Thrush Nightingale

 

There were 2 Hawfinches at Birkemose early afternoon where there was also another singing Thrush Nightingale while a singing Common Rosefinch was holding territory on the outskirts of town.

Soon be plenty of baby birds out and about

They'll have to be careful though as old Snog will be waiting!

Tan

A stunning, glorious day - calm, hot and sunny and it followed the prescribed route with a small rush of birds in the first two hours of the day before becoming very quiet and turning into a day to cut the grass and get your tan on!   The dawn rush produced 34 new birds caught and ringed including the first Wheatear and Sedge Warbler to be ringed this year, 13 Willow Warblers, 5 Garden Warblers, 2 Lesser Whitethroats, an Icterine Warbler, a Blackcap, 2 Reed Warblers, 2 Whitethroats and somewhat surprising, 2 Goldcrests.
   These were the first Goldcrests caught since 17th April; one at least was probably a failed breeder, already moving around as she had a big brood patch but the other, also a female showed no signs of breeding so was probably a late migrant.

Wheatear

Sedge Warbler

 

The day's other main bird news was a/the Black Woodpecker making another appearance, flying east across the front field in front of Gert and Benny early morning - I missed it by roughly 10 seconds (imagine how annoyed I would be if I hadn't seen the one earlier in May!).   Who knows if its the same lingering individual, logic would suggest it probably is.

We had a large visiting group of ex-teachers from Nykøbing today; they unfortunately arrived after the dawn rush but they all got to see a few birds in the hand and hopefully enjoyed themselves seeing what happens here - a very civilised affair as well, here they are partaking in coffee and biscuits!

This wasp was dragging this poor paralysed spider up the side of the house this afternoon - just needed a David Attenborough narration in the background!

My first red one in the hand

A real mixed bag weather wise today with pretty thick fog lingering through the morning, a nice spell at lunchtime before heavy rain set in early afternoon (which unfortunately coincided with me cycling back from town!) and finally a nice pleasant end to the day.   There were a few birds around in the morning and I managed to catch 32 new birds including 2 Common Rosefinches, an Icterine Warbler, 2 Redstarts, 7 Whitethroats, 4 Garden Warblers, 10 Willow Warblers, 2 Spotted Flycatchers, 2 Pied Flycatchers and a Swallow.

Common Rosefinch

Look at the tail streamers on that!

Swallow

 

Birds at Kroghage in the early afternoon (before the rain set in) included a smart male Red-backed Shrike, a singing Common Rosefinch, 3 Whinchats, a Redstart and a few more singing Reed Warblers setting up territories.   A 1st summer Little Gull was off the point late afternoon along with a flock of 10 Goosanders and a Common Sandpiper.

Exactly what it said on the tin

Clear and calm at dawn but while remaining calm it gradually clouded over through the morning to eventually rain most of the afternoon (which, in the interest of unbiased reporting was exactly what the forecast said would happen!); a decent 57 new birds were caught through the morning session with the second Red-breasted Flycatcher of the year the highlight.
   Other migrants caught included the third Great-spotted Woodpecker of the spring, a Tree Pipit, 4 Redstarts, 2 Icterine Warblers, 2 Lesser Whitethroats, 5 Whitethroats, 6 Garden Warblers, 2 Blackcaps, 20 Willow Warblers, 3 Spotted Flycatchers and 4 Pied Flycatchers.

Red-breasted Flycatcher

 

After missing them for the last two days I finally caught up with 2 lovely summer plumaged White-winged Black Terns as they flew east; other birds seen from the station included an Arctic Skua, one flock of 24 Little Gulls, a few flocks of Arctic Terns moving east and a steady movement of mainly 1st year Black-headed and Common Gulls.

   As well as a few more White-winged Black Terns, Louis had two separate Whiskered Terns moving with the Arctics as well as 2 more large Diver sp. and a Short-eared Owl.

 

Also of note Gert weighed in with a Black Woodpecker up at Bøtø (who knows, maybe the same bird that was seen at the station on 9th May) as well as 10 more White-winged Black Terns.

Gonna have to hide better than this, its hunting season now!

Scorchio

More of the same today with calm, sunny and warm conditions but this time there was a decent arrival of birds in the garden - at least in the first two hours after dawn anyway, when I caught the vast majority of the 44 new birds ringed today; a cracking female Bluethroat and the first Common Rosefinch of the year were the pick of the bunch.
   Numbers were made up of 6 Redstarts, 4 Lesser Whitethroats, 7 Whitethroats, 3 Garden Warblers, 14 Willow Warblers, 4 Spotted Flycatchers and a Pied Flycatcher.

Bluethroat

Common Rosefinch

 

Not much else was seen from the station through the morning with the exception of a ten minute period when 3 Honey Buzzards and a Hen Harrier came in low across the sea.   Visible migration was a bit quieter today with more Geese heading NE with the Brent Geese starting to get going, a few Black-throated Divers going backwards and forwards and another small flock of White-winged Black Terns.

 

A thanks must go to the three Copenhagen birders who stayed last night, not only did they give me a couple of beers last night, one of them left me his Leica scope - it must have been meant as a gift!

3 out of the 4 Icterine Warblers caught this year so far have been re-traps - today's bird was from July 2011

It was just too nice!

A beautiful sunny, calm, warm day today but maybe it was a little bit too nice as there were very few grounded migrants in the garden, especially when compared to yesterday, with no fog to drop them in resulted in a quiet morning's ringing.   Birds caught included a Firecrest - the first for a long time, the second Great-spotted Woodpecker of the spring, 9 Willow Warblers, a Redstart, 2 Garden Warblers and 2 Whitethroats.

Firecrest

Great-spotted Woodpecker

 

It was a good day in the surrounding area however with pride of place going to a brilliant female Citrine Wagtail which Louis found on the tip in the morning, it flew in from the west to spent a short while feeding on the beach but disappeared before any other birders arrived.   There was some good passage recorded as well with another excellent count of 42,000 Barnacle Geese heading NE - although the majority of them 'cut the corner', passing to the north of us here on the point, often just showing as a smear on the horizon!   This count is part of an all time record spring for this species here at Gedser!

 

Other birds recorded through the day included 42 White-winged Black Terns east (part of a big invasion into Denmark today), 710 Brent Geese, a Great-northern Diver, 2 specifically unidentified large Divers (GND/WBD), 16 Honey Buzzards north, a Hobby, a Serin and 3 White-tailed Eagles - a glorious day!

 



One of an impressive brood of 10 Great Tits ringed today at the station