Observations:

Today started with another bad forecast. It was supposed to rain a litte bit from the early morning, but was only supposed to be an early shower to get the observers really woken up. We arrived at the hole (military exercise scheduled) at 06:15, and promply opened umbrellas for the initial shower. We could only really start the count fifteen minutes later. The day yielded almost none of the birds we enjoyed yesterday and the day before, but instead we got to enjoy 156 Northern Gannets (Morus bassanus)! The team in the hole fought through a few sturdy rain showers that were not on the forecast, but it was not enough to deter us from having a good day :)

Todays observations:

Ringing:

At the station: Johan, Strummer, Alba, Kristoffer, Maria

Observations: 

The days started poorly. I thought last night that the weather wouldn't allow me to complete standard, but the forecast changed. Only slightly. Which meant I had to get out in the rain. The experience was different from the normal, not cold, observations, and in the end the ball didn't even go up, so I could've been sitting warm and cozy in the bunker instead of in the hole. Standard yielded some mixed wader groups, and a lot of Green-winged Teals (Anas crecca) and Eurasian Wigeons (Mareca penelope). Quite decent for a wet experience.

The afternoon I got some company in the Sabines, and we put in 2 decent hours. It was nice to have the volunteer team united on the beach. We had a lot more Eurasian Wigeons (Mareca penelope) come, and as a highlight the first Brant (Branta bernicla) of the season! All in all a quite good day.

Todays observations:

Ringing:

No ringing today due to strong winds and rain.

Observations:

Today marked another hard seawatch. I am really finding out that the hardest part about observations at Blåvand is waiting for the birds. Today was eastern wind which might have been good, but migration was slow, with a lot of time between flocks of ducks. Notably we had a decent amount of Eurasian Wigeon (Mareca penelope) and a single White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) coming to look for snacks. It was a different one from yesterday as this one was a clear 1cy bird. I won't be mad if they're going to be new dailies for me. Very majestic.

Rain tomorrow looks like standard won't be able to be completed, but with rains stopping quite abruptly around 9am, we are brewing up some lethal Sabine hours tomorrow. stay tuned.

 Todays observations

Ringing:

Todays ringing was certainly slowing than the previous few days but still we had a decent movement of migrants.  By far the most numerous species were Willow Warblers (Løvsanger) with 8 birds ringed.  Besides that it was a relatively quiet day without too many highlights.  

This will likely be our last standard ringing day for the forseeable future as the next week predicts consistent showers during the morning. 

Observations:

The morning wasn't exacly crazy today. I think we are kind of in a weird middle stage where most of the waders have gone, and we're still waiting on the big duck numbers. The day did provide a decent number of Eurasian Wigeons (Mareca penelope) in that category. The highest number was provided by Great Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) funnily enough. 478 passed me on the tip, and in almost one entire flock. For a common species, the looks were still quite astonishing. Additionaly we had a White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) come by, which greatly improved my mood. Always a cool bird :)

Todays observations:

Ringing:

Many years ago, the number of small birds in Denmark was much larger than it is today. Back then, certain nature spots would host extremely diverse and numerous populations of birds that could fill out a sound-spectrograph with their varying songs and drown out any background-noise with their combined volume. As time has marched on, however, the environmental impacts of humans have helped reduce those numbers greatly, so now, many of these spots can offer only a small trickle of birdsong compared to the strong stream that used to flow. And while older generations might remember the old glory days and are able to recognize the relative drought of today, newer generations lack that perspective, and when you're used to looking for drops in a desert, that trickle might be percieved as a waterfall. Thus, what used to be few suddenly has become many. 

This is an example of "shifting baseline syndrome", where the (often implicit) baseline against which something is measured slowly slides away from its previous value and toward a new one ("many" birds becomes a smaller and smaller number), sometimes so slowly that the observer(s) don't conciously notice until they check what the old baseline was many years ago. This shifting of baselines can happen through generational shifts, where the old baseline dies out with the older generation, but it can also happen on smaller timescales, where it is the fluidity of memory as well as forgetfullnes that lets the baseline slide. 

During the last week, we the ringers at Blåvand have also experienced shifting baseline syndrome, though in an opposite manner to the example above. After two consecutive days with between 40 and 50 caught birds, our baseline has been violently rocked from its previous position of anything over 20 birds being considered a fantastic day, to being that anything less than 40 feels a bit drab without any unusual species to spice things up. Despite us being maybe a bit ungrateful for an objectively not-too-terrible day, we did enjoy being able to spend a bit more time with each bird again today, and the recapture of a Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) and the ringing of a new Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata), both of which being species we have only had a few of so far this season, did add a bit of flavour. 

One of my personal highlights of today was actually in the form of a Garden Warbler (Sylvia borin). With the exception of maybe a few birds, all of the Garden Warblers we have caught so far this season have been young birds hatched this year (1k), which we have been able to tell by their very fresh tail- and wing-feathers. However, one of my Garden Warblers from today had tertial, primary and greater covert feathers that were quite worn, indicating that it was an adult (2k+) bird! 

Young (1k) Garden Warbler. Notice the very fresh and un-worn feathers of wing, especially the tertials, primaries and greater coverts. Foto: Strummer Edwards.

Old (2k+) Garden Warbler. Notice the very worn tips of the tertials, primaries and greater coverts. Foto: Alba M. Holmberg.

Today's captures:

At the station: Strummer, Alba, Johan

Ringing

For the second day in a row, we processed around 50 birds here at Blåvand!!! Today was not only filled with lots of migrants but also quite a few nice species we have not been catching in our nets lately.  The day featured a consistent flow of birds between the two gardens, with our bulk species being Blackcap (8 birds, Munk), European Pied Flycatcher (6 birds, Broget Fluesnapper), and Redstart (6 birds, Rødstjert).  Among the Redstarts we caught, there was also a beautiful DCB male which is always wonderful to get in the hand.

For me, by far the most exciting bird of the day was a Great Spotted Woodpecker (Stor Flægspatte) which I caught in the krat.  Despite being very tangled, this was a rather well behaved individual which kept the pecking and screaming to a minimum while I extracted it.  Once we got it to the station, it began behaving far more like a standard Spotted Woodpecker, pecking and screaming during the entire ringing process.  

This individual was experiencing its FPF so we were able to see the transition from the juvenile crown feathers to the deeper red of the formative adult like feathers behind the crown.  

Besides the woodpecker we had many other wonderful captures including our first Blue Tits (Blåmejse) of the season and three Chaffinch (Bogfinke) in the Fyrhaven.  

Obs

While observations were conducted by the wonderful talented Johan today, the standard period was so abyssmal he was far too distraught to write the blog post himself so I am relaying that there were no highlights and he hopes for better days soon.

Observations:

My first morning with no grownups watching over me went quietly. A lot more silent than previous days but with a good amount Arctic Skua's (Stercorarius parasiticus).

The highpoint of the day was by far a Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus)  coming over us ahead. With me wanting to not miss any waders on my first obs as "responsible observer" I spotted it quite late. Luckily we got some pictures could see that it wasn't just a hen or marsh harrier. There were some doubt about it maybe being a Montagu's harrier (Circus pygargus) as the dark on the outer primaries looked a bit too strong, but doubts were dismissed in the end. A good observation on a quite dull day.

Pallid Harrier photographed by Sebastian Dreisig

Todays observations:

Ringing:

Today marks a great day for the Blåvand autumn season of 2026: We finally reached 50 birds caught in a day!!! After a whole two days with strong winds and no ringing, the conditions have finally imroved enough for nets to be opened, and, evidently, for small birds to resume migration. The day started with decent numbers of Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) and Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus), most of them with decent fat scores, which indicates that they are in good condition to migrate. Through the morning, I started to pick up on the sad-sounding calls of Bullfinches (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) flying around in the Lighthouse garden, and sure enough, soon I started getting juveniles in the nets. 

About an hour before standard was set to end, I got the bird of the day, also in the Lighthouse garden:  It was a Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)! I had to take it down to the station to give it a steel ring on, and in the process I got to show it off to Strummer, who had never seen it in the hand before, and Johan, who had just returned from observations. In the process of handling and taking picutres of the bird, it managed to give me a good few pecks in the hand, giving it the honor of being the first bird in Blåvand this season to make me bleed!

Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker. It can be recognized as a juvenile bird by the red patch of feathers on its forehead. Adult birds have a black forehead, and adult males have a red patch at the nape, while the female has no red feathers in the head. Foto: Johan Them Steffensen

We held the nets open for a few hours after standard was done, in the duration of which we managed to catch a few more young Bullfinches (some in complete juvenile plumage and others undergoing their post-juvenile moult) as well as some assortment of other birds. After all was closed and done, we had managed to get a whole 50 birds, a new record for the season!

Today's captures:

At the station: Strummer, Alba, Johan, Alex, Sebastian, Mikkel

Ringing:

No ringing due to strong winds and intermittent rainshowers.

Observations:

Another day with strong northwestern winds and small rainshowers, another day with observations from the Sabines bunker. This time, it was just Jonas and I (Alba) that went out to the bunker early in the morning, since both Johan and Strummer had slept quite poorly that night. While I usually prefer ringing to observations, it was really fun to shake things up a bit and enjoy looking at birds from a distance. Although it wasn't a particularly interesting or busy round of standard-obs, I still really enjoyed brushing off some of the rust when it comes to sea-obs, as well as getting the opportunity to practice identifying shorebirds (and a few ducks) in flight. 

About halfway through standard-obs, Johan and Strummer joined us, and for the first time this season we had the whole volunteer-team united in the Sabines bunker.

The highlights for me during standard-obs were a very pretty Arctic Skua (Stercorarius parasiticus) that flew by just in front of the bunker, granting me the best view I've had so far of this species, as well as a young Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) that also flew quite close.

Shortly after observations were done for the day, we drove Jonas to the train-station, since his studies are starting up again next week and he therefore unfortunately has to leave us. He will be sorely missed.

Todays observations:

At the station: Strummer, Alba, Johan & Jonas.

With very strong northwesterlies and frequent showers the ringing was dismissed as a possibility.

As such observations was the primary focus of the day. Johan and i were the first to leave however we were unsure of where to place ourselves. Quickly we landed on the sabines bunker as being the best possibility. Alba and her mother came shortly after and the next three hours we counted in the bunker. There was decent wader migration with oystercatcher being the most numerous, but also turnstone and others. As the wind carried on, a decent amount of terns and gulls started migrating aswell. Highligts were 7 arctic skuas and a 1cy mediterrenean gull. 

(One of the days three 1cy mediterrenean gulls showed its lovely wing pattern and droopy bill nicely)

After standard we returned to the station for coffee, bread and some resting.

As it is my last full day i was keen to get out and see if the wind could bring some seabirds. As such Strummer and i went to the Sabines again for some obs.

The wind was very strong at this point and again, skuas, terns and gulls were migrating nicely. Also some waders.
At one point i glimpsed a larger seabird for a quarter of a second and got quite excited as i thought first it looked like a larger shearwater. The bird dissapeared completely though! But a bit later it revealed itself as a fulmar, the bird would be a lifer for Strummer but this one, and the next would prove to be quite difficult to see. We did however see a third one which gave great views going south. Lifer for Strummer!


(LIFERRRRR)

We were pretty happy but short of a minute later Strummer saw a Skua migrating south quite close. We quickly ID'ed the bird as an adult long tailed skua. WHAT A BIRD!! The adults are rare and look incredible. Another lifer for Strummer and a super cool minute of seawatching, i managed to get some good shots of the bird:

(Adult long-tailed skua with its awesome tail extensions)

We continued for a while more hoping for storm petrels but 2 mediterrenean gulls were what the seas could bring.
All in all a super cool day!

Tomorrow is more wind and we hope for more seabirds!

At the station: Strummer, Alba, Sessan Holmberg, Johan og Jonas.

Observations:

The morning was incredibly boring but we did get 2 Caspian Terns (Hydroprogne Caspia) right when we arrived. I won't bore you with the details as the days undisputed highlight happened in the ringing.

Todays observations:

Ringing:

Today had the greatest ringing moment of my life. Doing the lighthouse runs today, they remained relatively slow with only 1-2 birds with each net run.  With the generous wind conditions repeating itself, we were able to open all nets which helped ease my mind over potentially missing birds at the lighthouse.  For the first few hours, the only hightlights were a few first cycle Willow Warbler (Løvsanger) and an early Blackcap (Munk). 

At 6:45 I got the most important text of my life. When I had just started the run at the lighthouse garden, Alba sent me this:

Being a diligent ringer, I made sure to complete my run while Alba held the wood pigeon (although I may have finished the loop in a brisk jog to full on sprint).  Once I reached the station garden I ran into the ringing room where I saw Alba holding up a massive bag.  Being the incredibly generous and kind ringer she is, she decided to allow me the immense honor of ringing this magnificent bird.  

Ringing it with the massive steel ring was a bit of a challenge but the entire experience of ringing it was so unbelievable it can't be properly described.  Aging it was also a bit complicated, we ended up settling on it being an early breeder from this year which had already completed its FPF moult. 

Afterwards, we took it into the garden to take photos (pictures TBD) and admire it a bit longer before releasing it to create more Wood Pigeons. The rest of the day after that offered few birds however nothing would have been able to top the high of having this amazing bird in hand. 

At the station: Strummer, Alba, Jonas, Johan, Henrik

Observations:

A steady day with not too crazy numbers. We again had the company of David at in dunes, but the big numbers or species didn't really show up. To not keep ranting about Eurasian Oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus) and Red Knots (Calidris canutus) we could mention that we did have 10 Common Shelducks (Tadorna tadorna) across the beach and 3 Red-throated Loons (Gavia stellata) who are slowly turning up these days.

After reloading on coffee and sleep after standard, Jonas and I went for some bush bashing in the early afternoon. With the ball up we weren't able to go to the spiciest areas, and the results agreed. We had a Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) and some Northern Wheatears (Oenathe oenathe), but nothing that really got the adrenaline goin'. Jonas noted that it is maybe the time he has had in Blåvand with the least birds, but noone can say that we're not putting in the work.

Todays observations 

Ringing:

With winds having died down to mere 3-4 m/s, we were able to open all of the nets in both the Station and the Lighthouse gardens. The last while, the very first round of standard has been empty more times than not, so when Strummer and I each got a European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) in the very beginning of the day, we got our hopes up for a not-too-boring day (at least by Blåvand standards). Though we have seen busier days, we still got decent numbers of birds, with my runs at the Lighthouse producing on average a bit more than 1,5 birds per round.

Then, on the second-to-last round of standard time, I saw two birds hanging in the net that comes just after the Helgoland trap. First, there was a European Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola), but as opposed to all the other Stonechats I had caught before, which were juveniles, this one had the unmistakeable markings of an adult-like male!

Adult male European Stonechat. The reason he looks so scruffy is because he is in the middle of his post-breeding moult, so he is in the process of changing all of his feathers. Foto: Johan Them Steffensen

Already giddy with excitement, since we've been hoping to catch one of these for a while, I extracted this bird, but when I went over to the other, which I had upon a very brief glance assumed would probably be another Stonechat, I noticed that it was a bit bigger, had a very pronounced light eyebrow-stripe, as well as white bases to its tail-feathers; it was a Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra)!! I very excitedly texted Strummer about it and finished the round, which also produced the first Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) of the season, before going up to the laboratory to ring the birds, where I was joined by the whole Blåvand volunteer gang who all wanted to see the Whinchat (it was even a lifer for some of them). 

Young male Whinchat. This is the first time this species has been caught in Blåvand since 2023, and it was a new lifer for both Strummer and Johan, as well as the first time I have handled it/seen it handled. Foto: Alba M. Holmberg

Young Spotted Flycatcher, the first for the season in Blåvand. Photo: Johan Them Steffensen.

After this, we did not catch much else of note before a sudden rainshower coming out of nowhere forced us to close the nets. Although the numbers weren't crazy, with 25 birds caught in total (23 new and 2 recaptures), the Whinchat has elevated it to one of the most exciting standard-days of the season so far in my eyes.

Today's captures:

At the station: Strummer, Alba, Jonas, Johan, David Manstrup