The pirates of the Grey Lighthouse

Once upon a time, an infamous crew of pirates lived at the Grey Lighthouse. They were a furious gang, always eager to find rare and precious birds in the neighbourhood. On Friday, the pirate group lost one seaman, as pirate Koen was taken back to his far away home country by his pirate relatives. The gang hopes that he will at one day return to the Grey Lighthouse and wishes him all the best until then!

Pirate Koen in his ambush dress

Luckily, we already have a replacement. Welcome our new crew member, Eleanor the elephant!

Eleanor working hard to finish an article about the identification of eastern subspecies of lesser whitethroats (gærdesanger)

In the morning the wind was blowing strong from the south and the ringing pirates Laia, Judith, Oluf and Chris decided to try raiding golden birds in Sardinkrattet, while the observer pirate Asger sailed to the end of the world, hoping to observe treasures from there. The ringing pirates had a rather slow morning, as several rain showers prevented a continuous raid. But real pirates are not afraid of water coming from the skies! The little shelter boat in Sardinkrattet was unfortunately leaky at first, but scout pirate Laia overhauled it immediately. In the now dry little shelter boat, the pirates waited patiently until the rain had stopped. Thankfully, red wine (vindrossel - redwing) was captured five times, so the pirates were frolicking throughout the morning. A flock of at least 55 bearded tits (skægmejse), several mistle thrushes (misteldrossel) and goldfinches (stillits) were flying around the pirate ship as well. Later, the pirates started to fix their nets, so that they would be able to catch more treasures in the future, haaarrr!

Ringing pirate in the little shelter boat

A male blackcap (munk) from the morning

The observer pirate at the end of the world had a golden morning and counted many birds. A pomarine skua (mellemkjove), 42 water pipits (bjergpiber), which is a large number, also waxwings (silkehale), wood larks (hedelærke) and in total 80 bearded tits (skægmejse) made his heart beat faster. Awesome treasures indeed! But also on the end of the world, rain showers passed by and without a shelter boat the observer pirate got quite wet. But that did not break his will and after some short rest he sailed out to new endeavours on the afternoon again! This time the North beach (Nordstrand) was his destination and among the gulls resting there he found gold indeed - a young glaucous gull (gråmåge)! 

Juvenile glaucous gull (gråmåge)

The handicraft pirates Gitte and Jens Peder put up new lamps in the pirate's home harbour and finished the brand-new bird guessing game in Birders Club. You should come and see this new cool activity treasure at the Grey Lighthouse!

Guess the bird game - Gæt en fugl

New lamps in the pirate's nest!

After returning from the raid in Sardinkrattet, the ringing pirates took a bath in the ocean to clean themselves. Even pirates have to follow a daily sanitation routine, haaarrr! Fresh from the bath, the pirates Laia and Judith checked the pirate's ring and picture collection. Pirates have to keep good records of their raids!

Pirate Chris visited his pirate parents and they did a tour around Skagen harbour and the Sand-Covered Church (Den Tilsandete Kirke). The treasures they found were several colour-ringed great black-backed gulls (svartbag) and some approachable rock pipits (skærpiber) at Vesterby Strand.

Rock pipit (skærpiber) on red algae

Pirates Gitte and Jens Peder cooked pancakes for the crew in the evening and an eventful pirate day drew to a close with cake, games and laughter of the entire gang!

Ringing (Sardinkrattet):

Eurasian Bullfinch ssp. europea - Lille Dompap - 2
Eurasian Blue Tit – Blåmejse – 1
Eurasian Blackcap - Munk - 3
Eurasian Wren - Gærdesmutte - 1
European Robin - Rødhals - 3
Redwing - Vindrossel - 5

Total: 15

People: Pirate captain Simon S. Christiansen, ringer pirates Christian Stolz, Judith Kloibhofer, Laia Soler Iglesias and Oluf Lou, stringer pirate Koen Stork, observer pirate Asger Lykkegaard Møldrup, handicraft pirates Gitte & Jens Peder, pirate parents C+M Stolz, pirate friend Jørgen Kabel + pirate dog Igorrr, dutch pirate family Manon Stassen, Vincent Stork & pirate dog Rattie!