Pectoral Sandpiper

A Pectoral Sandpiper was discovered at Klydesøen by Sebastian Klein on Thursday. Saturday morning was the first opportunity I had to go, so I was up very early and on site by 0600. I found it at about 0615 and was joined shortly afterwards by Mathias Vogdrup-Schmidt. We enjoyed pretty good views of the Pec Sand before, at about 0700, a fox caused havoc with the waders by slowly wandering onto the mud. Luckily, the Pec Sand did not end up as the fox's breakfast (unlike a poor Long-billed Dowitcher at LilleVildmose earlier this year) and we were soon enjoying further views as it favoured the muddy fringes of the scrape. This was only my second ever Pectoral Sandpiper and I took the opportunity to study it closely. It reminded me of a small Ruff with a similar pattern to the upperparts and similarly proportioned bill. Its legs were a yellowish green (versus orange on Ruff) and the bill was dark with a slightly paler base (only seen in good light and from relatively close distance). There was a strong demarcation between the breast streaking and the white belly and, from front on, the streaking lowered to a point on the centre of the breast. I did not see obvious 'V' markings on the back, formed by the scapulars but I believe this feature is more prominent on fresh juveniles. When it flew a short distance the rather plainish wings could be seen with a faint wing-bar. It tended to favour the muddier areas and I did not see it enter the water at all..

The light was beautiful and there were good numbers of waders around - we counted 19 species in all. The two Spoonbills were still on site and a single Caspian Tern was fishing at the back of the reserve. After a couple of hours I popped into the hide at Sydmøllevej and enjoyed close views of a Greenshank, a Wood Sandpiper and the resident Swallows... before cycling back for breakfast at 1000..

Photos: Greenshank, Wood Sandpiper and Barn Swallow

Bumble Bees

A couple of close-up images of Bumble Bees (I believe they are a Red-tailed Bumble-bee and a Buff-tailed Bumble-bee respectively).

Queen of Spain Fritillary

I believe that the photos below of a fritillary sp butterfly show a Queen of Spain Fritillary (Isoria lathonia). If anyone can confirm, please let me know. Although quite rare in the UK (and restricted to the south-east of England), these lovely butterflies are relatively common in Scandinavia, apparently. I took these images this morning at around 0730 near Jersie Strand as it was basking in the early morning sun. This is the first time I have knowingly seen a QoS Fritillary (an indication that I haven't given butterflies enough attention over the years!).

Waders galore

Anticipating that at least the first half of the World Cup final would be excruciatingly bland, I spent yesterday evening at Vestamager, primarily looking for waders but also with a sneaky eye on the huge flocks of Starlings now congregating on the open land, just in case a Rose-coloured has slipped in unnoticed. I didn't see a pink bird among the thousands of Common Starlings but I did see 21 species of wader at Klydesøen and managed to dodge the thunderstorms by diving into the hide at Sydmøllevej! Highlights were 2 Broad-billed Sandpipers, a single summer-plumaged Little Stint and two Temminck's Stints. And the Spoonbill is still on site.

Wader species seen:

Oystercatcher
Avocet
Little Ringed Plover
Ringed Plover
Golden Plover
Lapwing
Little Stint
Temminck's Stint
Curlew Sandpiper
Dunlin
Broad-billed Sandpiper
Ruff
Common Snipe
Bar-tailed Godwit
Curlew
Spotted Redshank
Common Redshank
Greenshank
Green Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper

Photos: Spoonbill and Wood Sandpiper

Lightning over Vestamager, Copenhagen from Terry Townshend on Vimeo.

Moths

A work visit back to London allowed me to tag on a flying visit to my folks in Winterton as they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary (gulp). After a top meal, the balmy evening tempted me to dust off my moth trap that has been stored at my parents' place since I left for Denmark. It was worth the effort with an impressive haul that included 5 species of Hawkmoth!

Totals (not including several that were left unidentified):

7 Elephant Hawkmoths
1 Privet Hawkmoth
1 Poplar Hawkmoth
1 Eyed Hawkmoth (laid eggs in the trap!)
1 Hummingbird Hawkmoth (at dusk, before the light trap was activated)
5 Swallowtail Moths
2 Setaceous Hebrew Characters
2 Dark Arches
4 Buff Ermine
1 Garden Tiger (very impressive beast!)
1 Large Yellow Underwing
1 Brown-tail
1 Pebble Prominent

Plus 2 Cockchafers, 4 Harlequin Ladybirds and, at dawn, a Hedgehog sniffing around the outside!

MEGA: White-throated Sparrow!

The third big rarity in as many weeks has just been disovered in Jylland (Jutland). A male American White-throated Sparrow is singing and showing well on and off in a garden in Skørping. Photos can be seen here.

Macro

Over the last few months I have almost forgotten that I have a 100mm macro lens in my camera bag.. but it's at this time of year, when insects are at their most active, that a good macro lens offers some great photographic opportunities. On a cycle tour around Vestamager today, the strong sun and relative lack of wind meant that there were plenty of dragonflies, beetles and flies of various sorts on the wing, but noticeably few butterflies. The damselflies around a pond in Kongelunden were very active, foraging, defending territories and mating. If anyone knows the species in these images, please let me know (I think the third and fourth are Common Blue Damselfies)..

STOP PRESS: White-crowned Black Wheatear

Hot on the heels of the Pacific Swift comes another first for Denmark - a White-crowned Black Wheatear! The bird, a second calendar year male, was discovered on 30 June in a private area at Saltbæk Vig, near Kalundborg in north-west Sjælland (about 60-90 minutes from Copenhagen). There is a guided tour this afternoon to see the bird at 1500. However, it is unclear whether the bird can be seen from public areas after a report this morning saying that it was seen on poles at a distance of 12 metres.

Pictures of the bird can be seen here.

It is a very rare bird outside its normal range. As far as I am aware there are only two records from northern Europe - one from the UK (Kessingland, Suffolk, 1-5 June 1982) and one from Germany (9-13 August 1986 in Eichstatt) plus records from southern Europe including single records from Spain, Portugal, Greece, Croatia and Malta and 7 from Turkey.

There is now a video of the bird by Rasmus Strack here.