Birdwatchers or young ornithologists – amateurs in the seaside area

In the mid-to-late 1980s, we were a small group of like-minded people who were engaged in bird watching. At that time, this activity was not yet called “modern” - we were simply young ornithologists - amateurs. Of course, the part of the coast that was closed and inaccessible to a “normal” person was the most tempting. At that time, we received a letter of recommendation from the Latvian Ornithological Society, with which we went to the Ministry of Forestry (?), where a short interview took place - who we were, what we would do, etc. As a result, we received a special pass (Propusk) with the help of which we could cross the border regime zone from Mērsrags to the Lithuanian border several times, as well as stay there. True, young people “armed” with binoculars, notepads and cameras were more than an unusual (also - undesirable) phenomenon on the seashore, so sometimes we had to explain the reasons for our arrival. Sometimes we hid our birdwatching equipment behind windbreakers or in bags and only took it out when necessary. The most heated exchange of words, as far as I remember, took place in the Pape area, where border guards threatened to expose the photographic films. It was birdwatching with a certain dose of adrenaline. So what now – go out to the seaside with a telescope and see as much as you can!