SVP

I visited Sydvestpynten and Vestamager early this morning for the first time for a couple of weeks. Lots of new migrants now in with singing Grasshopper Warblers, Thrush Nightingales and Garden Warblers. A flock of 150+ migrating Barnacle Geese was good to see and there was a trickle of Yellow Wagtails and Tree Pipits flying overhead. Two Caspian Terns were a welcome sight - a pair of this scarce breeder has been seen now for around a week on and off at Vestamager/Kongelunden and, hopefully, they will stay to breed (probably on the nearby island of Saltholm). I bumped into Ole Nyegaard near Klydesøen and he told me he had seen a Red-breasted Flycatcher along Kanalvej at 0730 this morning. I had cycled along there at about 0545 but obviously I was still half asleep! I went back on the way home but, in 30 minutes of searching, I drew a blank. Sightings of this charming flycatcher are sadly very scarce in the Copenhagen area so it's a very good record.

One of the Grasshopper Warblers along Kanalvej was uncharacteristically showy and allowed me to video it singing from a fence right next to the cycle path - always fantastic to see and hear. If you listen carefully, as well as the Whitethroat, you may just here a Thrush Nightingale singing in the background. And at Kongelunden another Thrush Nightingale was similarly confiding whilst singing from a still largely leafless shrub - a great opportunity to study the northern cousin of the UK's Nightingale.

Photos: Caspian Tern and Thrush Nightingale

Grasshopper Warbler from Terry Townshend on Vimeo.