GEDSER - 31st July

An absolutely perfect mist netting day – flat calm and complete cloud cover produced a good 65 new birds in the nets through the morning dominated by a nice influx of 29 Lesser Whitethroats but also including 3 Marsh Warblers, 7 Icterine Warblers, 2 Black Redstarts and 2 Redstarts.   There wasn’t much time to look for anything else and the skies were quiet although 3 Whimbrel and a Bar-tailed Godwit went overhead.

                A spell of light but persistent rain in the afternoon halted things for a while but when I re-opened the nets later on it was unfortunately all quiet with a very young fledgling Icterine Warbler the obvious highlight.

 

Great little influx of Lesser Whitethroats today

Tiny fledgling Icterine Warbler - his head's too big for his body!

Quite a few emerging Migrant Hawkers around today, often 'hardening' up on the mist nets

 

GEDSER - 30th July

A very slow day with a strong SW wind reducing the ringing significantly with only 13 new birds caught including 3 Icterine Warblers but for the first time since I arrived, no Marsh Warblers!   The point late afternoon was also very quiet with a handful of Common, Arctic and Sandwich Terns drifting past with a Wheatear along the coast.

GEDSER - 29th July

A fairly nice morning but with a few showers moving through to keep us on our toes; we managed 27 new birds with a nice mixture of species including the first Red-backed Shrike (adult female) and Pied Flycatcher of the autumn along with 4 Marsh Warblers, 3 Icterine Warblers and 4 Sedge Warblers – a pretty uncommonly caught bird here.   A party of 8 Crossbills flew through and there was a Silver-washed Fritillary briefly on the Buddleia at the front door – common in the woodlands of Denmark but apparently only the second record out here at the station!

                A look out at the point later (1345-1515) was quiet with an adult Little Gull, 10 Arctic Terns, 12 Sandwich Terns, 2 Greenshank which came in and 80 Common Scoter.   Caught a few more birds in the evening with the walk-in traps on the pond proving successful in catching a few White and Yellow Wagtails.

 

Adult and juvenile Marsh Warblers

Adult and juvenile Sedge Warblers

Angry Red-backed Shrike

Pied Flycatcher

Silver-washed Fritillary

 

GEDSER - 28th July

A much quieter day with just 24 new birds in the nets through the morning including 7 Marsh Warblers, 5 Icterine Warblers and 6 Lesser Whitethroats; not much else to mention either with a look at the point (1500-1630) producing 52 Eiders, 29 Common Scoter, a Whimbrel and 63 mixed Common and Arctic Terns while a Sanderling was on the offshore rocks.

Juvenile Yellow Wagtail

Juvenile Whitethroat

Bit of an influx of Painted Ladies and Silver Y's in the last couple of days

GEDSER - 27th July

Yesterday’s bit of rain and general change in the weather to a SW wind with plenty of dark, threatening clouds seemed to do the trick with a good 56 new birds caught in the morning including 21 Marsh Warblers, 9 Icterine Warblers and 14 Lesser Whitethroats – most of them came early on with numbers dropping off rapidly after the first few rounds.

                Closed the nets late morning in anticipation of the heavy rain that never arrived so two hours out on the point (1115 – 1315) produced a good selection of birds heading SE including a smart adult Caspian Tern, 14 Black Terns, an adult Little Gull, 59 Arctic Terns, 10 Common Terns, single Grey Plover, Golden Plover and Curlew and some ducks with 624 Common Scoter, 5 Teal and 5 Tufted Ducks counted.

                It was then straight up the road to Bøtø where, in a field just to the north of the reserve there was a smart adult DEMOISELLE CRANE roosting with 2 Common Cranes – the seventh record for Denmark and the first since 1992 (however wild it may be….); it showed well in the scopes but a bit distantly for anything else.

 

Demoiselle Crane making friends with the resident Crane pair; there was one in Cumbria and then Northumberland from April through to the 10th July, its more than likely the same bird which, in the UK was instantly put down as an escapee (although we are notoriously harsh on birds of questionable providence!).   All the 40+ Danish twitchers at the bird today were quite happy that it was wild but who is to say who is correct......

Juvenile Goldfinch

 

 

GEDSER - 26th July

After being caught out by half an hour of heavy rain just after opening the nets it turned into another warm and sunny day; the first net round after the rain promised much with a good mix of Warblers caught but it very soon fizzled out and we ended up with 6 Icterine Warblers and 3 Marsh Warblers amongst 22 new birds.   The Serin was still flying around and the Grey Partridge family was still in the front field.

                After closing the nets late morning we had a look over at Bøtø where there were a good selection of things including a White Stork flying around, a Great White Egret, the pair of Cranes, an immature White-tailed Eagle, 2 Garganey and a selection of waders with 4 Wood Sandpipers, 4 Greenshank, a Little Stint and a fine adult male Ruff of note.

                We then drove over to a couple of sites in the north of the neighbouring island of Lolland where the main species seen were waders with 6+ Curlew Sandpipers (Majbølle) and 4 Grey Plover (Rommes Nakke) both being Danish ticks for me along with good numbers of Dunlin, Ruff, Wood Sandpipers, a couple of Black-tailed Godwits, Greenshank (100+ at Rommes Nakke), Redshank, Golden Plover etc.   Other birds included another Garganey at Majbølle, some Bearded Tits and plenty of Red-necked Grebes.

 

Nothing really posed today so here's adult and juvenile Red-necked Grebe and Pochard

 

GEDSER - 25th July

Hot and sunny again with a light easterly breeze; numbers of birds in the nets were down again from the last few days with 3 Marsh Warblers, 2 Icterine Warblers, 6 Lesser Whitethroats, a Redstart and the first Spotted Flycatcher of the autumn – a juvenile, in amongst 19 new birds.   The/a Serin was heard calling a couple of times through the morning and a juvenile Marsh Harrier drifted over the garden.

                An hour out on the point in the evening just before it started to rain produced 2 Whimbrel, a Bar-tailed Godwit, 150+ Common Scoter, a few Arctic and Common Terns, 21 Goosander and a decent flock of Black-headed and Common Gulls loafing around on the sea.   On the walk back from the point there was a Grey Partridge in the front field with 4 half grown, half flying chicks.

 

Spotted Flycatcher

Linnet

 

GEDSER - 24th July

Perfect ringing conditions through the morning – pretty much flat calm with cloud cover keeping the sun off the nets; it was a bit quieter than I had hoped but it is still only July although birds caught did include a first summer male Serin – only the 9th to be ringed at the station with the last one being in 2011 in amongst 11 Marsh Warblers (including the first juvenile), 3 Reed Warblers, 7 Icterine Warblers and the first fully moulted, bright yellow juvenile Willow Warbler.

                The afternoon was hot and the morning’s vis mig at the point had all but stopped by the time I got out there with the only birds seen being a few Common/Arctic Terns and one flock of Common Scoter while 22 Goosanders, a Goldeneye and 5 Common Sandpipers were loafing around.   Also of note were 3 Clouded Yellows out on the point, they’ve been there a couple of days but with a light but steady increase in other migratory insects – Migrant Hawkers, Painted Ladies, Silver Y’s etc. around the place it maybe bodes well for the next weeks birds?

 

Serin

Willow Warbler

Clouded Yellow

 

GEDSER - 23rd July

Lovely and warm again but a bit of high cloud through the morning kept the temperature down a bit; there was more life in the garden than yesterday with the first few first year Warblers caught which had pretty much finished their post-juvenile moult looking all shiny and new – two Lesser Whitethroats, a Garden Warbler and a Reed Warbler.   The highlights included 8 Marsh Warblers, 7 Icterine Warblers and a smart adult male Redstart still growing his outer primaries and outer tail feathers.
                A Serin which flew west over the garden calling loudly was the highlight through the morning along with an immature White-tailed Eagle, a couple of Kestrels seemingly heading south, single Whimbrel and Greenshank over and a Grey Wagtail.   A little walk in the afternoon to the harbour and back just produced 14 Common Sandpipers and a Little Tern.

This young male Kestrel was caught late last night

Redstart

Garden Warbler

Reed Warbler

The Buddleia in the front garden is just covered in Butterflies with 35+ Peacocks and 20+ Red Admirals dominating

GEDSER - 22nd July

The day’s obvious highlight came very early on when a cracking BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE was found perched in a hedgerow just north of the station; it showed really well in the scope for a couple of hours before it headed off west – only the 11^th record for Denmark and the first for Gedser!

                The nets were quieter again in the continuing hot and sunny conditions but did include 7 Icterine Warblers, 3 Marsh Warblers, another young Black Redstart (four were present in the garden) and 2 Redstarts.   There were a few other bits around through the morning including single Greenshank and Wood Sandpiper overhead, a Wheatear on the roof, big flocks of Cormorants heading SE and a Hobby which bombed over to the west.

 

The Black-shouldered Kite looked good in the scope but it was a bit far really for my camera!  These can be classed as record shots at the best but you can see what it is...

Black Redstart, White Wagtail and Wheatear

White Wagtail

Goosanders and Common Scoter at Kroghage

 

GEDSER - 21st July

A quieter day but still sunny with a brisk easterly breeze; the nets produced 2 Marsh Warblers, 5 Icterine Warblers, another juvenile Black Redstart and 2 Redstarts amongst 34 birds caught.   A party of 6 Crossbills flew through and a couple of Whimbrel went over.

                The Point was very quiet in the afternoon so a little drive up to Bøtø produced a Wood Sandpiper, a Green Sandpiper, 3 Ruff, the pair of Cranes, a few Marsh Harriers and some Red-necked Grebes.

 

Redstart

Black Redstart

Very small baby Whitethroat

These Red-necked Grebes were on a smallish pool by a shopping centre just north of Bøtø where I saw one sitting on a nest back in 2014 but there were no chicks here this year

There were however plenty of ducklings around with 6-7 broods of Tufted Ducks of various sizes 

and one brood of well grown Pochards accompanying this female