With Wind & Rain Come Seabirds

Today was what can only be described as a small hurricane. We had been watching the weather forecast for the past several days anticipating this storm which has spread over most of Western Europe but we still woke up at 5 AM to check the weather. Unfortunately, it was just as bad as expected. The gail force winds howled against the lighthouse and the station, at times rocking the house a little. And so, with that, we decided to go back to bed and sleep in - For the first time in weeks. 

Black Tern 

When we finally arose from our slumber, we were all a bit decrepit and slow to say the least. It was one of those mornings where you feel more tired waking up than going to bed. Before departing for his brothers wedding(!!!), Simon dropped by the station and gave the crew a few things to do before he left. Our glorious leader then departed for Aalborg, leaving us to fend for ourselves in the raging weather. We gathered the troops (or whats left of us) and gave the station a good cleaning while we waited for the rain to pass. By the mid afternoon, the weather finally began to improve and several of us headed to Grenen to check the beach for waders and the sea for tubenoses blown in by the storm. After five hours, we had tallied a 2k Black Scoter (Amerikansk Sortand), over 600 Northern Fulmar (Mallemuk), a Mediterranean Gull (Sorthovedet Måge), two Caspian Gulls (Kaspisk Måge), two or three Black Terns (Sortterne) and a Sooty Shearwater (Sodfarvet Skråpe)! A very successful evening after a relatively slow day of cleaning and playing catch up on office work at the station. 

Common Gull (right), Mediterranean Gull (left)

Tonight, we plan on headed to Grenen to try and catch the resting waders! Wish us luck! And so, another day passes at SKAF. What will tomorrow bring? We will have to wait and see.

Vi Ses!

Link to todays Observations around Skagen

People at SKAF: Lucas Corneliussen, Ragnar Smith, Rosa Hicks, Joe Zeno, Asia Kane, Simon S. Christiansen