What a Waste of Money!!

Some of you will know that our flat overlooks the old harbour (oddly called Nyhavn - "New Harbour" in Danish). Once the sun emerges in Spring, the canal tours start. There are two operators - the fancy DFDS tours on gleaming boats with comfy seats and guides that sound as if they have just graduated from the school of Danish history, and the cheap Netto tours on faded boats with wooden seats and guides that look like they have just been dragged out of re-hab. Needless to say the Netto tours are around half the price for exactly the same tour. Today a gang of youngish people sat on the harbour drinking beer. Nothing unusual in that. Except that, whenever a DFDS boat passed by, they began a chorus "What a waste of money!"... At first it was mildly amusing. But after about boat number 23 it got a little tiresome... credit to them for sticking at it even after a crate of beer was consumed. I can't begin to fathom the reason for their aggression towards DFDS. As presumed locals it is unlikely they had been on the tour but maybe they had shares in Netto?

Anyhoo... back to the serious stuff.. the influx of White-winged Black Terns in Denmark in the last couple of days prompted me to spend a couple of hours at Kongelunden this evening. No sign of any marsh terns but I did see my first Spotted Flycatchers (3) and Whinchats (8) of the year. Also new in were a pair of Common Redstarts and a Pied Flycatcher at the old fort and a big flock of Swifts feeding high over the flashes. A Bittern in flight was also my first this year and, together with a Honey Buzzard in off the sea, made a nice end to the evening. The bus back was cheap and had comfy seats.