Bye Bye Molly

After yesterday's roller-excitement, there was a bit of a "hangover" atmosphere at the observatory this morning, meaning we all got up late and perhaps found it a little difficult to get going! Molly's last day here at Skagen Fuglestation meant that the first part of the day was spent welcoming visitors to the station for coffee and cake, all dropping in to say their goodbyes. First Jørgen and Igor stopped by with delicious pastries and then Knud, Torben and Olaf also paid a visit to wish Molly farewell. Fleming also popped upstairs but not to say goodbye, instead to present Molly with a Wren (Gærdesmutte) that he had found trapped - the ringing responsibility never ends! He came back later in the day to say goodbye properly and present Molly with some gifts too!

After all of those farewells, too much coffee and some cleaning of the apartment, we eventually headed out to see if we could find some rare birds. Simon took us in his car to some parts of Skagen that we hadn't previously visited and although we didn't see anything jaw-dropping, we spent a while checking that a female Wheatear (Stenpikker) wasn't anything other than the normal Northern variety, and were also lucky to see some Crested Tits (Topmejse) - which in the UK isn't such an easy bird to find, so I enjoyed watching them for a while. On the way back, we bumped into Erik who said bye to Molly and we popped in to see Michael Ancher for another goodbye and he thanked Molly for all her help when she has been ringing with him.

Back at the lighthouse, Simon had a night tour, to round off the events that have been held for Week 42. This one was another success, with 11 people attending and a good range of species spotted with our flashlights - hare, common seal, roe deer, various waders and ducks, including Sanderling (Sandløber), Mallard (Gråand) and Snipe (Dobbeltbekkasin) and finally a Guillemot (Lomvie) on the beach which Simon managed to catch (without a net!) and show to the group.

Over delicious æbelskiver and Irish coffees, we spent some time saying our own goodbyes to Molly as she had a very early start on Saturday for her onward journey. Thanks so much Molly for all of the advice, help and patience when teaching us novices to extract birds and attempt to help you with ringing - you're a star - and wishing you tonnes of luck and success in your next adventures!

People: Molly Brown, Lisa Vergin, Sarah Bedford, James Butcher, Jorgen and Igor, Knud, Torpen and Olaf, Michael Ancher, Fleming, Erik Christophersen and Simon S. Christiansen.