Penduline Tit

This evening I spent an hour at Grøndjordssøen, a small reed-fringed lake just south of Copenhagen. The reason was the return of the Penduline Tit. This site is probably the most reliable site for this scarce breeder in the Copenhagen area and today saw the first sighting of the year - found by Stefan Stürup. As usual with this species, it proved elusive and, after hearing it a couple of times, I eventually got reasonable views, albeit brief. The photo below illustrates the sort of views that were on offer - through branches and leaves that were swaying in the fresh north-easterly breeze (that's my excuse for the quality of the photo, anyway!). You can see that the bird was sporting a metal ring. Views were not good enough to view the details but, if it is the same bird as last year, it is a Danish ringed bird.

Photo: Penduline Tit, Grøndjordssøen

Spotted Crakes

Last night I visited a small marsh called Råmose, just outside Copenhagen. The reason was that 2 Spotted Crakes had been heard 'singing' here for the last two nights, potetially a new species for me in Denmark. I arrived on site, courtesy of train and bicycle, at 2030 and, at about 2040, I heard one call briefly. Then, at about 2047 a Spotted Crake started calling frequently and, at 2105, it was joined by a second. To add to the atmosphere a Bittern was 'booming'. I was amazed that, in such a small marsh surrounded by urban development, there could be 2 Spotted Crakes and a Bittern!

I took a short video of the site and, if you turn up your volume and put your ear to the speaker, you might just hear the Spotted Crakes. Apologies to the Danes for murdering the pronunciation of the site....! And even more apologies to all for the David Bellamy impression at the beginning! :-)

This morning I spent an hour at Vestamager where the flock of Lesser White-fronted Geese is down to 9. I saw them much better than on Monday evening and could see that none of them was ringed. Two Peregrines (one adult and one 2nd year), 321 Barnacle Geese and my first Tree Pipit of the year flying north provided the supporting cast.

Spotted Crakes from Terry Townshend on Vimeo.

Lesser White-fronted Geese

An astonishing 60+ Lesser White-fronted Geese were discovered this morning on Vestamager, just south of Copenhagen, by Tim Andersen. This is, I believe, the biggest number seen in Denmark for many a year. They are almost certainly from the Swedish re-introduction scheme and are on their way back to Sweden after wintering in more southerly climes. I managed to shoot down there after work and, after a 45-minute cycle ride on a glorious sunny evening, I arrived at Vestamager to find heavy mist rolling in from the sea... The geese were said to be distant - about 400 metres away - and when I arrived visibility was down to around 100m. Luckily, after about 20 minutes, the mist gradually cleared to reveal these diminutive geese feeding avidly on a grassy spit in the middle of the wetland area. Fantastic. A very small goose with a darkish neck, very round head and a prominent white patch above the bill, positively dwarfed by the larger Greylag Geese with which they were associating.

Grib Skov

Libby and I packed a picnic this morning and enjoyed a long walk around Grib Skov (a large forest just north of Hillerød, about 45 minutes on the train from Copenhagen) on another fantastic Spring day. Highlights included displaying Black and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, a giant anthill and a close encounter with a (Wood?) mouse.

Amazingly, we ended the day having seen Black and Lesser Spotted but no Great Spotted Woodpeckers (although we did hear the latter). Both Black and Lesser Spot were displaying. I had never seen the display flight of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker before - a spectacular butterfly-like performance complete with fanned tail.. it must have looked very impressive to the attendant female as they soon both flew off together to a remoter part of the forest..! The Black Woodpecker was also very vocal and flighty and we were extremely lucky to stumble across it and for it to fly almost over our heads just as I had retrieved my camera from my bag.

The anthill was one of the largest I have seen - a very impressive sight and a real hive of activity with literally thousands of workers busying themselves. The mound was made out of thousands of pine needles and must have taken months if not years to reach this size..

Photos: Wood? Mouse, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Black Woodpecker and a giant anthill

Sydvestpynten

A cracking Spring day today with a light, increasing to moderate, NW wind. The cycle down to Sydvestpynten produced Woodcock (flushed from the cycle path), Great Grey Shrike at the usual site west of Kanalvej and an Osprey in off the sea. I cycled to the point via Kongelunden and heard a Firecrest singing in the usual area. Then, at the point, I was joined by Ole Nygaard and we saw 2 Marsh Harriers, an adult male Hen Harrier and another Osprey come in off the sea from the south plus good numbers of migrating White Wagtails, Linnets, a few Meadow Pipits and a couple of Carrion Crows (quite scarce here).

When the migration slowed down we headed back to Kongelunden to see the Firecrests and, after a frustrating hour and a half where we heard it (them) singing only, we finally enjoyed a brief view of a male Firecrest seemingly displaying to a Goldcrest.. Not sure if these two hybridise, or what the result may look like, but it'll be interesting to monitor this bird over the next few weeks to see what happens!

Willow Warbler

An early Willow Warbler was singing constantly in a small birch wood near Hejresøen today.. my first of the year and great to hear among the cacophony of the now common Chiffchaffs. A check on the Firecrest(s) in Kongelunden revealed almost certainly two singing males, although both proved very difficult to see in the canopy. An updated map can be found here.

The Tawny Owl was still at her regular roost and I finally caught up with the local Great Grey Shrike on Vestamager.

Firecrests

An early morning visit to Kongelunden revealed almost certainly 2 singing male Firecrests (2 singing at different locations within a few minutes of each other). For anyone in the area interested in seeing it (them), you can find a google map here.

Also seen was a pair of Treecreepers nest-building next to the path.

Firecrest again

Today I found another Firecrest, this time in potential breeding habitat at Kongelunden. It was singing constantly and very active, mostly in the tops of the larch and spruce trees. Also seen today were a summer plumaged Black-throated Diver, 2 Long-tailed Ducks, 3 Common Scoter, a Nuthatch attempting to migrate (very scarce on the island of Amager) and, most surprising of all, a Camberwell Beauty butterfly that accompanied me briefly along a track before flying off powerfully north - a real surprise!