Still sunny and warm with a light easterly breeze. Improved number of birds ringed with a total of 109 new birds, including 49 Robins (mainly early on), 21 Chiffchaffs and 12 Blackcaps and smaller numbers of other warblers. Numbers of Sparrowhawks passing overheard were noticeable with 2 (both males) finding their way into the nets. Two nice surprises occured around 0700 when a Marsh Warbler and a Red-breasted Flycatcher were caught.

Looks like the weather is set to stay wam and sunny over the next few days.

Here are todays totals:-

2 Sparrowhawk / Spurvehøg, 1 Tree Pipit / Skovpiber, 1 Wren / Gærdesmutte, 2 Dunnock / Jernspurv, 49 Robins / Rødhals, 2 Redstarts / Rødstjert, 2 Song Thrushes / Sangdrossel, 1 Marsh Warbler / Kærsanger, 4 Lesser Whitethroats / Gærdesanger, 1 Whitethroat / Tornsanger, 1 Garden Warbler / Havesanger, 12 Blackcaps / Munk, 21 Chiffchaffs / Gransanger, 5 Willow Warblers / Løvsanger, 2 Goldcrests / Fuglekonge, 1 Red-breasted Flycatcher / Lille Fluesnapper, 1 Great Tit / Musvit, 1 Tree Sparrow / Skovspurv.

The definite highlight out on the point after the ringing session was Gedser's second BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE / BLAA GLENTE which flew in from the west around 14:15, headed out to the tip looking like it wanted to go off south before changing its mind and moving back north over Birkemose.

Long distance record shots of the Black-shouldered Kite

Almost exactly the same day again as it was calm, clear, sunny and warm throughout with the easterly wind picking up through the day; the total of 50 new birds in the nets was again very similar to previous days with 16 Robins and 11 Chiffchaffs along with 2 Sparrowhawks and small numbers of other warblers.   There was again some good passage overhead during the first couple of hours with a bit more variety than yesterday including several Crossbill flocks with a steady stream of Chaffinches, Siskins, Redpolls, Linnets, Greenfinches, Tree Pipits, Meadow Pipits, White Wagtails, Yellow Wagtails and Swallows; a Red-throated Diver over the garden heading SW and 2 Honey Buzzards (which may have actually roosted somewhere in the garden) were the only different species.

Today's totals - 2 Sparrowhawk / Spurvehoeg;  1 Wren / Gaerdesmutte;  2 Dunnock / Jernspurv;  16 Robin / Roedhals;  1 Song Thrush / Sangdrossel;  4 Lesser Whitethroat / Gaerdesanger;  1 Whitethroat / Tornsanger;  2 Garden Warbler / Havesanger;  8 Blackcap / Munk;  11 Chiffchaff / Gransanger;  1 Willow Warbler / Loevsanger;  1 Greenfinch / Groenirisk

Sparrowhawk

                The point however (1300-1600) was much busier than previous days with good numbers of birds heading south highlighted by a juvenile Long-tailed Skua which flew past fairly close in; excellent numbers of duck went past in this period as well including 926 Wigeon, 121 Pintail, 116 Teal and 19 Shoveler and a few raptors were also seen – again on a broad front across the fields with my first 2 Rough-legged Buzzards of the autumn, 5 Red Kites, 61 Sparrowhawks, 5 Kestrels and single Honey Buzzard, Common Buzzard and Merlin.

                The most incredible sighting out on the point though was a brilliant PINE MARTEN which ran past me as I was stood right on the tip, it ran in from the north along the cliff top, within two metres of me and carried on round the buildings before diving into the bushes on the tip where it disappeared – a bloody PINE MARTEN, on the point, in the middle of the afternoon, migrating south, ridiculous!   Other birds offshore included 3 Little Gulls, an Arctic Skua, 12 Sandwich Terns, 118 Dunlin and a Snipe; a drive round the fields in the late afternoon looking for Pallid Harriers failed miserably with just a smart male Merlin and a few Common Buzzards of note.

Record shots as the Pine Marten ran past me on the point!

For more pictures from around Gedser www.wykebirding.blogspot.com

Gorgeous weather again today for those people spending their time at Gedser Odde on holiday, but not so good for the poor English ringer.  I've said that, but it is always good to ring in a different area and with good company.

Today has again been sunny with clear skies, but with the wind still coming  from the east and freshening in the afternoon.

When bird numbers are low it does give us time to look at the birds more closer. An example is the Song Thrushes / Sangdrossel caught over the last few days. In the UK our resident Song Thrushes are from a separate subspecies, Turdus philomelos clarkei. The nominate T. philomelos philomelos occurs in Northern Europe and Scandinavia. There are subtle differences in plumage with the clarkei  birds having a warmer brown tone to the upperparts with warmer buff flanks. In central England we tend to start catching greyer Song Thrushes from November onwards, when the Redwings arrive. It is nice to see the philomelos birds and confirm my thoughts about the origin of our winter visitors.

Here are the totals from Gedser today:

1 Sparrowhawk / Spurvehøg, 20 Robins / Rødhals, 1 Redstart / Rødstjert, 1 Song Thrush / Sangdrossel, 4 Lesser Whiethroats / Gærdesanger, 1 Whitethroat / Tornsanger, 1 Garden Warbler / Havesanger, 8 Blackcaps / Munk, 11 Chiffchaffs / Gransanger, 2 Willow Warblers / Gransanger, 2 Goldcrests / Fuglekonge, 1 Chaffinch / Bogfinke, 2 Greenfinches / Grønirisk

The weather continues to be warm and sunny with little cloud today. The easterly breeze picked up late morning onwards. The nets were a bit more productive than yesterday with 54 new birds and only a handful of recaptures. Robins still dominated the catch.

Today's total of birds ringed:-

1 Tree Pipit / Skovpiber; 29 Robins / Rødhals; 3 Redstarts / Rødstjert; 1 Song Thrush / Sangdrossel; 3 Lesser Whitethroat / Gærdesanger; 7 Blackcap / Munk; 4 Chiffchaff / Gransanger; 1  Willow Warbler / Løvsanger; 1 Goldcrest / Fuglekonge; 2 Spotted Flycatcher / Grå Fluesnapper; 2 Tree Sparrow / Skovspurv

Sunny and calm still but with some high cloud and a gentle breeze which swung right round the long way from southerly to easterly through the day; the nets were very quiet especially when compared to yesterday (there were many re-traps of yesterday’s birds) with 29 new birds caught including a Sparrowhawk, 2 Tree Pipits and 3 Redstarts.   Siskins were again the dominant species overhead along with Sparrowhawk, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Tree Pipit etc.

Ringing totals today - 1 Sparrowhawk / Spurvehoeg;  2 Tree Pipit / Skovpiber;  1 Wren / Gaerdesmutte;  10 Robin / Roedhals;  3 Redstart / Roedstjert;  1 Song Thrush / Sangdrossel;  1 Lesser Whitethroat  / Tornsanger;  1 Garden Warbler / Havesanger;  3 Blackcap / Munk;  2 Chiffchaff / Gransanger;  1 Greenfinch / Groenirisk;  1 Siskin / Groensisken;  1 Yellowhammer / Gulspurv

Sparrowhawk

                The afternoon’s main feature was good numbers of raptors passing through (probably the highest numbers so far this autumn); my totals – from walking across the fields to the north of Gedser (1300-1630) comprised 110+ Sparrowhawks, 13 Honey Buzzards, 10 Common Buzzards, 23+ Kestrels, 3 Marsh Harriers and single Osprey, Merlin and Hobby but these totals are a little snapshot of the numbers which passed through as they were moving on a very broad front and many other raptor shaped dots were in the distance either side of me!   The only other bird of note was a male Serin which was flying around the garden and Birkemose late afternoon.

For more pictures from around Gedser www.wykebirding.blogspot.com

Da vi stod op til en flot stjerneklar himmel forventede vi ikke at der ville være den store aktivitet i haven i dag. Vi blev heldigvis positiv overrasket allerede på første runde hvor der hang en del fugle i nettene, derefter stilnede det langsomt af. Blandt dagens ringmærkede fugle var flest rødhalse og gransangere, særligt at bemærke var 1 græshoppesanger, 2 spurvehøge og 3 rødryggede tornskader. Så på trods af det alt for gode efterårsvejr med høj sol og varme endte vi med 108 ringmærkninger, vi håber dog på at det snart bliver lidt mere efterårsagtigt i vejret så vi kan få flere fugle i nettene.

Græshoppesanger (Locustella naevia). Foto: Simon Davies

Der var heldigvis stadigvæk lidt fugle på runderne da der ankom en gruppe gæster der skulle høre om arbejdet her på fuglestation og vi kunne fremvise flere forskellige arter heriblandt de to spurvehøge til stor beundring for gæsterne.

Efter middag blev det meget varmt i haven hvilket resulterede i flere nulrunder hvorefter vi lukkede ned i nogen timer, inden vi til aften åbnede spurvehøg nettene for at se om der skulle gå spruvehøge til rast i haven.

Clausjannic og Nina havde lavet lækker svensk pølseret som vi spise sammen udendørs i den lune eftersåraften til derssert havde jeg lavet gammeldags æblekage med æbler fra haven, hvilket var en skøn afslutning på en god dag. 

Nu forsøger vi at fange den natugle der har siddet og kaldt i haven de sidste nætter – om det lykkes eller ej må i læse i morgen.

Total 108

Spurvehøg / Sparrowhawk - 2
Skovpiber / Tree Pipit - 1
Gærdesmutte / Wren - 1
Jernspurv / Dunnock - 4
Rødhals / Robin - 42
Rødstjert / Redstart - 7
Sangdrossel / Song Thrush - 1
Græshoppesanger / Grasshopper Warbler - 1
Kærsanger / Marsh Warbler - 1
Rørsanger / Reed Warbler - 2
Gærdesanger / Lesser Whitethtoat - 4
Munk / Blackcap - 5
Gransanger / Chiffchaff - 23
Løvsanger / Willow Warbler - 5
Fuglekonge / Goldcrest - 2
Rødtoppet fuglekonge / Firecrest - 1
Rødrygget tornskade / Red-backed Shrike - 3
Skovspurv / Tree Sparrow - 2
Bogfinke /Chaffinch - 1

A bit misty and murky through the morning with a much fresher westerly breeze; the slight change in conditions brought a few more birds to the nets with 65 new birds caught highlighted by single Red-breasted Flycatcher (the third of the autumn), Firecrest and Wood Warbler along with a Sparrowhawk, 13 Robins, 11 Chiffchaffs, a Reed Warbler, 5 Redstarts and 2 Pied Flycatchers amongst others.   Overhead passage was slightly reduced in the murky conditions first thing with a few Finches including Siskins and Crossbills but mid-morning when it cleared a bit there was a big pulse of 600+ Chaffinches which passed over the garden heading SW in a handful of big flocks.   There was a Hummingbird Hawkmoth very briefly on the Buddleia by the front door late morning but disappeared almost instantly!

Today's totals - 1 Sparrowhawk / Spurvehoeg;  13 Robin / Roedhals;  5 Redstart / Roedstjert;  1 Song Thrush / Sangdrossel;  1 Reed Warbler / Roersanger;  4 Lesser Whitethroat / Gaerdesanger;  7 Whitethroat / Tornsanger;  7 Blackcap / Munk;  1 Wood Warbler / Skovsanger;  11 Chiffchaff / Gransanger;  9 Willow Warbler / Loevsanger;  1 Firecrest / Roedtoppet Fuglekonge;  1 Spotted Flycatcher / Gra Fluesnapper;  1 Red-breasted Flycatcher / Lille Fluesnapper;  2 Pied Flycatcher / Broget Fluesnapper

Firecrest

Wood Warbler

The afternoon reverted back to the warm, sunny, tropical weather of late but a look off the point late afternoon (1645-1815) was more productive than yesterday as quite a few Duck and Wader flocks headed south including 116 Wigeon, 10 Shoveler, 20 Teal, 6 Pintail, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 129 Dunlin, 2 Grey Plover and a Bar-tailed Godwit; other birds included 2 Arctic Skuas, 48 Sandwich Terns, 3 Common Terns and a Great-crested Grebe while a steady stream of c700 Swallows piled south.

Grey Plover

For more pictures from around Gedser please see www.wykebirding.blogspot.com

The glorious summer like conditions continue but the tropical weather doesn’t really equate to large numbers of birds in the nets as we just managed 29 new birds through the morning but the total was highlighted by a smart first winter Red-breasted Flycatcher.   There were far fewer birds overhead as well with a few flocks of Siskins and Chaffinches first thing but these soon petered out before a few Sparrowhawks started moving through.

Today's totals - 1 Sparrowhawk / Spurvehoeg;  1 Tree Pipit / Skovpiber;  8 Robin / Roedhals;  2 Redstart / Roedstjert;  1 Blackbird / Solsort;  1 Reed Warbler / Roersanger;  7 Lesser Whitethroat / Gaerdesanger;  1 Whitethroat / Tornsanger;  3 Blackcap / Munk;  2 Chiffchaff / Gransanger;  1 Willow Warbler / Loevsanger;  1 Red-breasted Flycatcher / Lille Fluesnapper

Red-breasted Flycatcher

                There were a few raptors from the point in the afternoon (1500-1730) including single Osprey, Honey Buzzard and Marsh Harrier with 22 Sparrowhawks but yet again they were all nowhere near the actual tip, all passing by far off to the west over the fields; other birds during the watch included a single Little Gull, a flock of 8 Bar-tailed Godwits, a Red-necked Grebe, 39 Sandwich Terns, 10 Common Terns, 15 Common Scoter, 3 Wigeon and 2 Swifts with a trickle of hirundines.

For more Gedser pictures visit www.wykebirding.blogspot.com

Today dawned clear and still, and with the dawn came a mass exodus of birds from the garden - amazing to see big numbers of Dunnocks and Robins calling, flying up and heading southwards. Correspondingly the majority of birds caught today were Robins (47) and Dunnocks (19) with the first 2 Wrens of the autumn too. 

129 new birds were processed, consisting of:

Gærdesmutte/Wren - 2, Jernspurv/Dunnock - 19, Rødhals/Robin - 47, Rødstjert/Redstart - 3, Kærsanger/ Marsh Warbler - 1, Gulbug/Icterine Warbler - 1, Gærdesanger/Lesser Whitethroat - 18, Havesanger/Garden Warbler - 2, Munk/Blackcap - 7, Gransanger/Chiffchaff - 10, Løvsanger/Willow Warbler - 4, Grå Fluesnapper/ Spotted Flycatcher - 2, Broget Fluesnapper/Pied Flycatcher - 2, Blåmejse/Blue Tit - 1, Rødrygget Tornskade/Red-backed Shrike - 1, Skovspurv/Tree Sparrow - 8, Gulspurv/Yellowhammer - 1.  

A juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard was briefly seen circling the fields north of the Observatory in the afternoon today, the first of the autumn. Siskins and Redpolls were moving over the garden throughout the morning, as well as smaller numbers of Tree Pipit and Yellow Wagtail. 

This Hedgehog posed for a photo today before returning to reducing the garden's slug population

Red Admirals were present in good numbers today, an increase on previous days.

Pretty breezy through the day but the wind had swung round to the NE (the first time in ages that there was no west in the wind) which did the trick and produced a much better ringing total of 99 new birds with the obvious highlight being a corking adult male Red-breasted Flycatcher; the rest of the catch was very autumnal including the first 4 Goldcrests of the autumn in amongst 41 Robins, 9 Tree Pipits, 10 Redstarts etc.

Today's totals - 9 Tree Pipit / Skovpiber;  2 Dunnock / Jernspurv;  41 Robin / Roedhals;  10 Redstart / Roedstjert;  6 Lesser Whitethroat / Gaerdesanger;  1 Whitethroat / Tornsanger;  4 Garden Warbler / Havesanger;  6 Blackcap / Munk;  11 Willow Warbler / Loevsanger;  4 Goldcrest / Fuglekonge;  1 Spotted Flycatcher / Gra Fluesnapper;  1 Red-breasted Flycatcher / Lille Fluesnapper;  1 Pied Flycatcher / Broget Fluesnapper;  2 Tree Sparrow / Skovspurv

Stunner!

                Birds over the garden through the morning included Crossbills, Siskins, Chaffinches, Grey Wagtail and many Tree Pipits and Swallows (a small percentage of what passed through out on the point).

                I went out to the point in the afternoon (1420-1700) where my totals included the highlights of a juvenile Caspian Gull which flew low over the tip and 23 Cranes in two flocks; other birds of note were good numbers of ducks with 81 Pintail, 195 Wigeon, 70 Teal, 112 Common Scoter, 2 Shoveler and a Velvet Scoter along with a Black-throated Diver, 22 Oystercatchers, a Knot, 20 Turnstone and 45 Common Terns while raptors were scarce with just 3 Sparrowhawks, a Hobby and a Merlin.   There was also a steady passage of southbound Swallows and Yellow Wagtails with only a flock of 11 Siskins being any different.   [we did miss all the action out on the tip though with 3 Tawny Pipits and 15+ Long-tailed Skuas being the day's highlights out there!]

For more pictures from around Gedser www.wykebirding.blogspot.com