There was a heavy fog this morning when I opened the nets. It was wet and I even hesitated to open all of the nets. In the end, the fog seemed to get lighter and lighter and it was alright with no wind at all.
There was a group of people visiting us this morning so we really hoped to have some birds to show them. FOrtunately we had just enough with 21 new birds ringed today.
For the first time since I'm here, robins took over dunnocks!

In the same time, Hans and I received the result for the estonian ring today. The long tailed tit was ringed in panurmaa in Estonia in october 2016. As both youngs and adults long tailed tits do a complete post nuptial moult, it is impossible to age them after that. So we cannot know if the bird was born last year. What we know, however, is that this small bird was ring in a ringing station in Parnumaa and traveled to here since last autumn. The direct flying distance from there to Gedser is 861 km but of course, this is not the real route of the bird! Not too bad for a 8,5 gramms bird!

Birds ringed today:
Wren - Gærdesmutte: 1
Dunnock - Jernspurv: 2
Robin - Rødhals: 14
Song trush - sangdrossel: 1
Chiffchaff - gransanger: 1
Chaffinch - Bogfinke: 2

It was again a lovely early morning today, but without any wind! It also feels good even though it's only psychological to open the nets at 6 again instead of 5...!
Because of the lack of wind, a heavy fog appeared in the middle of the morning. The day has been quiet all in all, with 28 new birds.

However, the 8 o'clock round brought the first trapped bullfinch of this spring! A stunning young male!

But it became even better in the 10 o'clock round, with the catch of a male grey wagtail! This bird is really difficult to catch here at gedser, it was only the third one in 10 years! First one in 2010 and second one in 2012!

Of course, I have a picture of this great catch for you, even though I really wanted to show you the bullfinch as well, so here you go, two pictures today!

Birds ringed today:
Grey Wagtail :) - Bjergvipstjært: 1
Dunnock - Jernspurv: 16
SOng Trush - Sangdrossel: 2
Chiffchaff - Gransanger: 3
Goldcrest - Fuglekonge: 3
Chaffinch - Bogfinke: 1
Eurasian siskin - grønsiskin: 1
Bullfinch - Dompap: 1

The weather conditions were still very good this morning and I did the first round under a stunning sunrise. The wind was blowing a bit stronger. But as the conditions have been the same for 3 days in a row now, birds have gone further and today was a quiet ringing day. From 7am, I got only one or two birds in the nets and some were even retraps from today!
Only 20 birds were ringed today. Among them, 2 more firecrests and a reed bunting.

I also heard chiffchaff singing this morning and caught 3 of them,

There has been geese migration this morning though, a few flocks passed by following the coast. I saw also a flock of swans flying over the lighthouse. I went for a walk near Gedser harbour this afternoon but there was not much going on.

Birds ringed today:

Wren - Gædersmutte: 1
Dunnock -Jernspurv: 3
Robin - Rødhals: 2
Blackbird - solsort: 1
Song trush - Sang drossel: 2
Chiffchaff -gransanger: 3
Goldcrest - Fuglekonge: 1
Firecrest - Rødtoppet Fuglekonge: 2
Chaffinch - Bogfinke: 2
Greenfinch - Grønirisk: 2
Reed bunting - Rørspurv: 1

It was cold this morning during the nets opening and some of them were a bit frosted. The sky was clear and there was no wind at all.
The first two rounds were quite good and I asked Hans for some help. But it stopped around 7am and the rounds became really quiet.
Nevertheless, it was a good morning with 68 birds ringed, which is still very good for spring season. The species of the day is definitely dunnocks with 25 newly ringed birds.
4 more new firecrests today! We are aiming at doing a new spring record! For that we have to beat 41 and today we reached 31.
Speaking about firecrest,Lars's pal, a firecrest which has been recapture every single day from over a week is still around! But he is having more and more lie-in since I catch him later and later every morning...
A white wagtail ringed here in spring 2015 was the nice catch of the last round.

Birds ringed today:
Winter wren - Gædersmutte: 4
Dunnock - Jernspurv: 25
European RObin - Rødhals: 4
Common blackbird - Solsort: 1
Song trush - Sangdrossel : 1
Chiffchaff - gransanger: 1
Goldcrest - Fuglekonge: 12
Firecrest - Rødtoppet fuglekonge: 4
Tree sparrow - Skovspurv: 1
Chaffinch - Bogfinke; 7
Brambling - Kvækerfinke: 1
Greenfinch - Grønirisk; 1
Yellowhammer - Gulspurv: 1

There was a big of fog this morning at 5 am and it turned into low clouds with the sunrise. The soil was a bit frosten, but with no wind, it didn't feel as cold as previous days. There was already a bit of movement in the bushes when I finished opening the nets. It was announcing a busy day!
The nets were never very crowded with birds, but each round was bringing a fair amount of them. But 8am I had a bunch of birds waiting in bags to be ringed and I called Gert for help. But the fun was almost over and after two more busy rounds, we started catching mainly retraps of the day. However, there were still some new birds around and I decided to keep nets open until 12.30am.
In the end, 95 birds were ringed today! If I include the retraps we reach 103!
The bird of the day is definitely Goldcrest, with 27 of these birds ringed today. Firecrest are still around as well, with 11 caught today!

Sorry, no picture today, I have been a bit too busy ;)

During the first round, I also spotted 5 cranes flying on the edge of the ringing site and flocks of eiders were at sea early as well.

Birds ringed today:
Gårdesmutte - Wren: 3
Jernspurv - dunnock: 16
Rødhals - Robin: 3
Solsort - Blackbird: 4
Vindrossel - Redwing: 1
Gransanger - Chiffchaff: 6
Fuglekonge - Goldcrest: 27
Rødtoppet fuglekon- Firecrest: 11
Blåmesje - Blue tit: 1
Musvit - Great tit: 2
Bogfinke - Chaffinch: 10
Grønirisk - Greenfinch: 2
Grønsisken - Siskin: 7
Gulspurv - Yellowhammer: 2

The night was nice again when I open the nets this morning but the wind was still blowing quite strongly. The first two round brought a good amount of birds but then even though the wind was decreasing, the nets were empty again and I thought that I would have the same morning as yesterday. Fortunately, I had a good surprise in the 9 o'clock net round. I had seen a small group of long tailed tits in the morning and there were 6 of them in one of the net. I was already happy with that, but I became even happier when I saw there was one europeaus among them. And then I got really excited when I saw another one of them had a foreign ring! This little cuttie came all the way from Estonia. Well done!

Except for that, there has been kind of a race for first species of the day between dunnocks and chaffinches, and the dunnocks won. One can also notice an early caught blackbird which was ringed here in july 2015 as a young bird.

All that, plus the fact that I ringed 37 birds this morning, made this a day a day way above average!

Birds ringed today:
Jernspurv - Dunnock: 13
Rødhals - Robin: 2
Solsort - Blackbird: 1
Rødtoppet fuglekon - Firecrest: 2
Nordlig halemejse - Northern long tailed tit: 4
Sydlig Halemesje - European long tailed tit: 1
Blåmesje - Blue tit; 1
Musvit - Great tit : 2
Bogfinke - Chaffinch: 10
Grønsisken - Siskin: 1

This morning, I opened the night under the moonlight! It was good to see a clear sky when the sun came up. It was still quite cold though. The first two rounds were alright, with a nice redwing being caught at sunrise.

But then the wind started blowing again and the nets stayed empty. I had hoped the sun might dry up the land a bit because it is becoming muddy in some place around the nets, but unfortunately, it rained again in the afternoon. It doesn't seem to bother my hairy easter hare friend, though, since it was in the same spans as yesterday. The afternoon in the garden and on the way to gedser was really quiet, the wind continued to blow quite strongly.

In the end, the ringing number was just a bit under average with 20 birds ringed today:

Jernspurv - Dunnock: 8
Solsort - Blackbird: 2
Sangdrossel - Song trush: 1
Vindrossel - Redwing: 1
Blåmesje - Blue tit: 1
Musvit - Great tit : 3
Bogfinke - Chaffinch: 4

A quite thick and wet fog welcomed me when I sat foot out of the house this morning, and showers were expected from the weather forecast,  allowing me to open only half of the nets as a precaution. There was no wind and the weather stayed quite unpredictable. In the end, the whole ringing session turned out alright but the garden was really quiet. Yellowhammer and skylarks were singing, tits, trush and chaffinches were calling in the early morning but then it almost went silent. Only blackbirds seemed to be around. I caught only 4 though but I have a plausible explanation for that: I saw a hare walking quietly in the net´s spans and I suspect it to free the birds from the nets and exchange that service against eggs for easter...

In the end, I managed to keep nets open until 12 and ring 16 new birds. Among which, a firecrest whose crest was really bright fire-like orange and I couldn't resist to take picture of this little fellow ( unfortunately the orange doesn't come up as bright!)

Wren - Gærdesmutte: 2
Dunnock - Jernspurv: 2
Solsort - Blackbird: 4
Sangdrossel - SOng Trush: 1
Chiffchaff - Gransanger: 2
Firecrest - Rødtoppet Fuglekon: 1
Tree sparrow - Skovspurv: 1
Chaffinch - Bogfinke: 3

The end of the night was a bit misty this morning but the sunrise was really nice and colourfull! Unfortunately,as soon as the sun came up, so did the clouds and the morning turned up greyish for the weather, but not for the ringing! The session was standard today and I have had 40 birds in the nets which is a bit above average.

What has been good, though, is the diversity. 13 species! Considering the number of birds caught, it was quite good!Nothing really special though... I put you a picture of the nice looking male greenfinch, where you can actually spot juvenile feathers on the wing!

Now the rain is back again, but it should get better during the night.

Birds captured today:
Rødhals - Robin : 10
Fuglekonge - Goldcrest: 3
Rødtoppet Fuglekonge - Firecrest: 4
Blåmejse - Blue tit : 2
Træløber - Treecreeper: 1
Bogfinke - Chaffinch: 3
Kvækerfinke - Brambling: 2
Solsort - Blackbird: 3
Grønirisk - Greenfinch: 1
Jernspurv - Dunnock : 8
Grønsisken - Siskin: 1
Gærdsmutte - Wren: 1

Today, it was raining and windy the whole morning so the nets could not be open.

Hopefully, the wind dropped in the early afternoon and the sun was shining enough to dry up the land a bit. I decided opening nets in the afternoon. Unfortunately, the sky was still threatening and I ended up juggling between short icy downpours and nice sunny lulls. In the end I got only a few nets open for 3 hours and caught 11 birds. Half of them were retraps. The sky is clear and should still like this in the morning until 10 am, so tomorrow is full of promises.

Birds captured today:

Dunnock : 1
Goldcrest:5
Firecrest:3
Blackbird: 1
Robin:1