The Little Tern fence is up!

Morning observations:

When we were checking DMI yesterday evening the weather did not look so promising. DMI forecasted a very windy and a bit rainy day. Marit wished a day of sleeping in and Joseph needed to be at the station latest at 09:00 to welcome Kim, John, Svend Aage and the other fence volunteers. It did not really look like Rasmus and I could open the nets in the morning, so we agreed to do the Morning Obs today. We went to Sydhukket but did not stand in the shelter of the bushes, as I also wanted to have a good view to the north. Instead, we went a bit further down the dune where it was quite windy. There were not so many birds migrating, we saw some Gannets “Sule” foraging some Common Scoters “Sortand” and some Red-throated divers “Rødstrubbet Lom”. Many of the migrating birds were going north. My highlight of the morning observation was a Sandwich Tern “Splitterne”, as it was the first I saw this year. We also had some Red-breasted Mergensers “Toppet Skalleslugger”, one male and one female were resting very close to the shore which was nice. In the last hour it started to rain, in the last 30 minutes the rain was quite bad and we did not see much. So I proposed to go down to the beach and count the resting birds. The rain on the scopes did not make it easy. At ten we were happy to go back to the station. We were surprised by buns and cake on the table, which the fence volunteers had brought. We enjoyed them a lot after our windy and rainy morning.

Todays observations can be seen here.

The Little Tern Fence:

After Hanelie and Rasmus returned from the morning observation, Svend, John, Kim, Anders, Connie, and I headed to the beach to set up the fence.

Fueled by coffee, "rundstykker" (bread rolls), and "kanelstanger" (cinnamon sticks) kindly provided by the Nationalpark Vadehavet, we loaded the trailer with tools, poles, and the new electric fence.

Todays team loading up the trailer, Photo: Joseph

Upon arriving at the beach, we divided into teams to work as efficiently as possible. We kept at it nonstop until we were pleasantly surprised by Hanelie, Rasmus, and Marit, who were thoughtful enough to bring us freshly brewed coffee and a boost of motivation. It made for a wonderful lunch break in the sun.

Lunch break, Photo: Hanelie

By the end of the day, we successfully set up the fence and "perimeterhegn" (perimeter fence), although we plan to readjust the westernmost border of the fence next weekend. Just as we were about to wrap up and head back to the bird station, we spotted a beautiful flock of 55 Purple Sandpipers resting just north of the fence - a perfect reward after a long day’s work on the beach.

John and Kim setting up the fence, Photo: Joseph

We're excited to finalize the fence next Saturday and to put up the fence on Fanø on Sunday - in two weeks, we'll continue on Rømø. The Nationalpark Vadehavet will provide two more breeding fences at these locations.

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to help today, as well as to Kim and John for organizing the entire process, including the new fence, food, and supervision.

The ringing:

After a break and a chat with Henrik, who came to the station to bring us some new tools and other things for the station, we visited the fence people. The wind had slowed down a bit and the rain had stopped, so Rasmus, Marit and I opened some nets in the station garden for a bit. We were not very successful, but Rasmus got to handle one last bird before he left home, a Robin “Rødhals” that we recaptured.

Ringing totals

Rødhals: 0/1

Robin "Rødhals". Picture: Rasmus Tranberg

People: Joseph Stephan, Marit Nillissen, Rasmus Tranberg, Svend Aage Clausen, John Frikke, Kim Fischer, Henrik Böhmer, Anders Myrtue, Connie Olesen and Hanelie Sidhu