GEDSER - 6th October

The blazingly strong wind remained but had shifted slightly to the north which, with more cloud and occasional drizzle produced a bit of a different day; the ringing was a bit of a struggle in the wind but we managed 97 new birds largely due to a good influx of 36 Dunnocks and a few Finches.   One of the Firecrests from two days ago was also re-trapped.

                The ringing total was by no means respective of how many birds were passing low over the garden, it was a spectacular morning with tens of thousands of mainly Finches heading east in huge flocks; the bulk was predictably made up of Chaffinches, Bramblings and Siskins but the flocks overhead contained good numbers of Reed Buntings, Linnets, Redpolls, Meadow Pipits, Song Thrushes and Redwings along with many Dunnocks calling high up in the sky.   Other notable birds picked out through the morning included 70+ Mistle Thrushes, 5 Woodlarks, 3 Grey Wagtails and a Rock Pipit while a single Rough-legged Buzzard was also seen.

                Wildfowl also continued to move with big flocks of Barnacle Geese still heading south (with a huge flock of 1,400+ feeding in stubble fields on the edge of town) but also today there were several decent flocks of White-fronted Geese also heading south while Eiders, Wigeon and Brent Geese carried on piling through offshore – another awesome vis mig day!

                Nothing really happened in the afternoon as the drizzle became heavier making it difficult but there were still plenty of birds at Kroghage but nothing very exciting with a single Redstart and 7 Grey Plovers the highlights in amongst the Robins, Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests.

 

Redwing

Reed Bunting

 

GEDSER - September ringing totals

Here's another monthly list!   A total of 3,513 birds were ringed throughout September, fair to midlin' for here I think but much better than last year.   Many many Robins!

Sparrowhawk                        28

Kestrel                                    1
Great-spotted Woodp.        2
Swallow                                  1
Tree Pipit                               21
Wren                                      145
Dunnock                                 91
Robin                                      1,310
Thrush Nightingale               1
Redstart                                 52
Blackbird                               6
Song Thrush                          49
Grasshopper Warbler         3
Marsh Warbler                     8
Reed Warbler                       8
Icterine Warbler                  3
Barred Warbler                    1
Lesser Whitethroat             109
Whitethroat                          24
Garden Warbler                   25
Blackcap                                185
Yellow-browed Warbler     2
Wood Warbler                     1
Chiffchaff                               725
Willow Warbler                    67
Goldcrest                               433
Firecrest                                 5
Spotted Flycatcher              10
Red-breasted Flycatcher    7
Pied Flycatcher                    7
Coal Tit                                   4
Blue Tit                                   14
Great Tit                                 5
Nuthatch                                2
Treecreeper                         1
Red-backed Shrike              4
House Sparrow                     1
Tree Sparrow                        44
Chaffinch                               58
Brambling                              28
Greenfinch                            10
Goldfinch                               1
Siskin                                      3
Lesser Redpoll                      4
Yellowhammer                     4
Reed Bunting                        1

GEDSER - 5th October

A carbon copy of yesterday with the blazing force 7 NE wind still howling through the garden making the ringing a bit tricky but we still managed to end up with 131 birds mainly due to the first noticeable catch of 49 Blue Tits (in one net at the same time!) and another little arrival of 29 Chiffchaffs; the highlight though was a cracking Tawny Owl caught in the high net at first light.

                Overhead passage though was very much reduced with only flocks of Barnacle Geese reminding us of yesterday; a Woodlark over the garden was the highlight with only Blue Tits appearing in any big numbers along with a few Siskins and Chaffinches.

                Spent the afternoon tramping round Kroghage where there were plenty of migrants highlighted by a Great Grey Shrike, at least 2 Firecrests, a sandy, pale Lesser Whitethroat looking good for one of the eastern forms which only showed briefly a couple of times, 2 Redstarts and an adult male Black Redstart in amongst a good scattering of Chiffchaffs, Goldcrests, Robins, Dunnocks, Siskins and Reed Buntings while big flocks of Barnacle Geese kept heading high over to the west.

 

Tawny Owl

There's always one lost youngster

Red-breasted Merganser

Dunlin

Cormorant

 

GEDSER - 4th October

Generally bright and sunny with clouds scudding rapidly across the blue sky in the strong, cold force 7 NE wind; the nets were steady but unremarkable as we struggled to 91 new birds in the tricky conditions with 2 Firecrests the only birds worth a mention.   Overhead though, it was an awesome day with the skies constantly full of birds, dominated again by 800+ Cranes seen over the garden through the morning (a brilliant 4,265 were counted from the point, which is a new Gedser record count!); also very obvious were 500+ Barnacle Geese (6,990 were counted at the point!) and 200+ Brent Geese (820 were counted at the point!)

                Other birds were not so obvious but did include a Richard’s Pipit which went over calling (at one stage it was flying in the middle of a flock of Cranes!) along with small numbers of Swallows, Skylarks, Meadow Pipits Mistle Thrushes, Stock Doves, Reed Buntings, Chaffinches, Bramblings and Siskins etc.   Raptors were represented by several Rough-legged Buzzards (73 were seen through the day!) and Red Kites with a steady trickle of Common Buzzards, Sparrowhawks and Kestrels.

                I went out to the point after lunch where there were tens of thousands of Eiders pouring south in huge flocks – 43,000+ were counted through the day along with big numbers of other Geese and Ducks (5,315 Wigeon); a flock of 17 Little Gulls were off the tip before I got restless and went for a walk north up the coast and across the fields where birds included 15 Grey Plovers, 30 Dunlin and 6 Sanderling on the beaches, 6+ Rough-legged Buzzards, a Hen Harrier, a Red Kite and two first winter Little Gulls across the fields north of Gedser and a smart Great Grey Shrike hunting along the eastern edge of town all with the backdrop of constant flocks of noisy Barnacle and Brent Geese, Cranes and Eiders all pouring south – fantastic!

Cranes

Red Kite

Barnacle Geese

Dunlin

Grey Plover

Great Grey Shrike

GEDSER - 3rd October

Crystal clear overnight with light winds meant there was a bit of a clear out of yesterday’s birds but a very decent total of 209 new birds were caught through the day most of which came during a hectic first hour after which it tailed off fairly rapidly in the fine conditions; the highlight was the first Short-toed Treecreeper of the autumn along with evidence of where our birds come from with a Swedish ringed Blackcap and better still, a Finnish ringed Robin.   The main numbers consisted of 95 Robins, 30 Chiffchaffs and 27 Goldcrests along with a few Chaffinches, Bramblings, Siskins and Song Thrushes.

                At least 400 Cranes passed overhead in the fine weather with the skies through the middle of the day full of their magnificent bugling calls, seemingly coming from all directions at some stages; other birds over the garden included a Red-throated Pipit calling mid-afternoon, a few Tree Pipits, Swallows, Mistle Thrushes, Grey Wagtails and Fieldfares with good numbers of Finches, a fairly constant stream of small Blue Tit flocks which fortunately never came down to net height, a few Brent and Barnacle Geese flocks, small numbers of waders including Grey Plover and Curlew and good numbers of Common Buzzards and Sparrowhawks floating around with several Rough-legged Buzzards mixed in.

                The ringing abruptly ended around 16:00 as within five minutes the weather went from fine, sunny and warm to cloudy and spitting with rain with a blustery force 7 NE wind; this rapid change in the weather caught out a few birds trying to head south as 320+ Cranes were circling high over the town in the evening unsure what to do now that the fine migration conditions had disappeared almost instantly.   A few Goose flocks were doing the same and 6 Rough-legged Buzzards were over the fields to the north of Gedser in the early evening.

 

Short-toed Treecreeper

Finnish ringed Robin

Migrating Cranes

and Herons

 

GEDSER - 2nd October

Rain overnight followed by light south-easterlies throughout the day with varying amounts of cloud cover and a few more spots of rain here and there produced another monstrous day of ringing with an excellent total of 806 new birds caught; the bulk of the birds were made up of 392 Robins, 101 Chiffchaffs and 209 Goldcrests along with 19 Song Thrushes, 17 Blackcaps and 29 Chaffinches while other bits and highlights included the third Yellow-browed Warbler of the autumn, 8 Redstarts, 2 Reed Warblers, a Garden Warbler, 2 Willow Warblers, 3 Siskins and 5 Lesser Redpolls.

                There was little time to look around to see what was elsewhere but the occasional glance overhead produced a good mix of birds including a Woodlark, a nice flock of 22 Mistle Thrush, 4 Cranes, a couple of Honey Buzzards, a few Common Buzzards and Sparrowhawks and several flocks of Barnacle Geese and ducks with small numbers of Grey Wagtails, Tree Pipits, Swallows and Skylarks with the usual passage of Finches, White Wagtails and Meadow Pipits.   Also picked out in the garden were a second, unringed Yellow-browed Warbler and a Firecrest.

                With the huge number of birds, limited number of people and a cautious approach to the weather we didn’t open a few nets and closed some halfway through so the number of birds caught would have been a relatively small percentage of the actual number of birds passing through the garden – an awesome day!

 

 

 

 

GEDSER - 1st October

Still breezy first thing but the wind died down to manageable levels pretty quickly after dawn; this produced a very good day of ringing for the first day of the month with a total of 173 new birds caught highlighted by a very impressive first winter Common Buzzard which bundled into a net at the exact right time for me to jump on it and a lovely Firecrest.   The total was largely made up of 62 Goldcrests, 33 Chiffchaffs, 29 Chaffinches and 18 Robins along with 3 Sparrowhawks, 2 Coal Tits, 4 Siskins and a Yellowhammer.

                A lazy day really as I never left the garden but overhead there were 20+ Crossbills, a Mistle Thrush, several Grey Wagtails and a latish Yellow Wagtail along with a steady passage of Chaffinches, Bramblings and Siskins heading SE in decent sized flocks as well as quite a few flocks of Blue Tits and Coal Tits which never came down low enough to be caught.

 

Buzzard

Siskin