"Nowadays, 5000 cranes feels like a fairly normal daily quote, the record is up to 10,000 in a day," says Carl Christian and looks out over the slightly fog-shrouded lake.
When SVT visits, not much of the impending invasion is visible. The weather has been cold for the past few days and feeding at Pulken hasn't started yet. Instead, Carl Christian devotes himself to preparing his spring exhibition at home in the house, where the proportion of works with a trans motif is growing every year.
"It's hard not to be fascinated by the cranes. Right now you can see them gathering out in the fields, but they still mostly seek out the lake in the evenings," says Carl Christian.
Destroyed fields
He bought the house at Pulken in 2006, unaware that he was moving straight into a future bird eldorado. Even then, cranes in the area rested in the spring, much to the chagrin of the area's farmers who complained about destroyed fields. To protect the spring crops, in 2012 began to feed the birds with grain. Thus, Pulken was established as a resting place for spring-hungry cranes on their way home after the winter stay.
Meet the artist and tranent enthusiast Carl Christian Tofte in the clipping above.