June

A very different morning than of late with completely overcast skies and a very light westerly wind; these perfect netting conditions produced 30 new birds through the morning - still a good total for June!   Birds included another Hawfinch, a female Red-backed Shrike, only the second Sedge Warbler of the spring, 2 Reed Warblers, 5 Icterine Warblers, 8 Whitethroats, 3 Garden Warblers and a White Wagtail.

The fourth Hawfinch of the spring - there were at least 4 in the garden this morning, possibly local breeders who lost their nests in the recent gales

A close up of those amazing inner primaries

 

There were literally no other birds to report through the day, even Louis drew a blank out on the tip!

Is it summer now May is over?

A pleasant day but the westerly wind was pretty strong throughout which kind of limited things really with 20 birds caught through the morning; these included a Red-backed Shrike, a Common Rosefinch, 6 Icterine Warblers, a Redstart, a Sand Martin, 3 Garden Warblers and a Lesser Whitethroat.

Red-backed Shrikes have been a bit scarce this spring - this is only the second to be caught so far, compared to 22 by this time last year.   With the exception of Marsh Warbler (3 so far this year compared to 37 this time last year) however, all the other common migrants are well up on the end of May 2013

Common Blue

Respectable

A really nice start to the day - especially after the previous few days gales, with light westerly winds and scattered cloud; the wind however, gradually increased through the morning to become pretty strong by lunchtime but by then I had already caught a very respectable 58 new birds (a very good total for this late in the spring).   The total included another female Hawfinch, 2 Marsh Warblers (plus a Swedish control), 3 Reed Warblers, 15 Icterine Warblers, 12 Blackcaps, 5 Garden Warblers, 5 Whitethroats and a White Wagtail.

Hawfinch

A slightly unseasonal arrival of Blackcaps with several of them having high fat scores indicating that they are genuine late passage migrants but equally there were a few females in amongst the total that had big brood patches so were probably failed breeders moving around - perhaps the recent gales disturbed a few nests. 

The first Tree Sparrow fledglings appeared today although how this one got up into the top panel of the high net only he knows!

 

There were a few things seen out at the tip today but it was a fairly quiet day elsewhere as birds included 2 Hobbies, 1,800 Brent Geese still moving north-east and a few waders with Grey Plover, Knot and Bar-tailed Godwits passing in small mixed flocks.

Common Darter

High expectations

Still very windy first thing but it quickly eased off and I could open nets by 06:00; after I had cleared all the debris out of the nets and net rides, 12 new birds were caught in a few hours which included 2 Common Rosefinches, an Icterine Warbler, a Garden Warbler, a Blackcap, 2 Sand Martins and Goldfinch.

The baby Great Tits have survived the gales and found the nets!

 

There were bits and pieces seen out at the tip through the day with a Caspian Tern north, a Bee-eater also north (but very politely returned south when I got out there!) and a couple of Honey Buzzards, Marsh Harriers and Common Buzzards floating around.   The Common Buzzards included the dark local bird which frequently and sometimes annoyingly hovers like a Rough-leg, I've never seen this behaviour in the UK but apparently its quite regular here in Denmark.

 

Male and female Red-backed Shrikes and at least 5 Marsh Warblers were my reward for a walk north up the coast in the afternoon.

 

After this big easterly blow of the last few days its predicted to be pretty calm with the wind in the W or NW over the next few days - perfect for something awesome!   We'll see!

 



A day of rest

Well, for the first time in seemingly ages I was unable to open any nets in the morning as the gale force NE wind was still lashing the station (its been a pretty good run really!) so after a little check at the appropriate time - 03:15, I had the luxury of sleeping until 08:30; very strange, threw my whole day out of whack!

There wasn't much bird news with good numbers of Little Terns along the coast the main feature with 6 feeding on the sheltered side of the tip, 5 between the station and town, 7 by the harbour and at least 12 around Kroghage and feeding in the marina.   Other birds included a few Swifts ridiculously flying into the wind out at sea, a Green Sandpiper on the shore just east of town and the usual singing birds still going despite the wind at Kroghage with at least 3 Marsh Warblers and 2 Common Rosefinches of note.

Swallows sheltering on the beach at Kroghage - they didn't seem to like sitting by themselves on the beach with flocks of them sitting alongside Little Terns, Sanderling and Ringed Plover!

What a difference a day makes

It was a breezy start but I still managed to get the nets open; 3 Icterine Warblers, a Chiffchaff and one of yesterday's Common Rosefinches were caught before I was forced to close all the nets at around 08:00 as the wind had become a blazing force 7/8 North-easterly tearing through the garden.   That was the end of that!

Not much else to say really!

The tip, late afternoon