After watching over the colony all through May and June, it was time to collect our gift from the eider. When the weather turns warm enough that the birds and their young no longer need the down, we walk the colony nest by nest and gather it by hand – carefully, and always giving the bird the benefit of the doubt. A season gives us a few dozen kilos of cleaned down – and every year the colony grows a little.
Here are some pictures from this year’s collection.
How we gather the down
By the time we collect, the hens and their ducklings no longer need the down. We walk the colony on foot, nest by nest, together with family and friends, and take only what the birds leave behind. It takes the down of about sixty nests to make one kilo of cleaned down. Back at the farm the down is dried on racks – if it comes in wet, it goes first on a heated drying table, where it is turned by hand – and given a first clean. From there it is cleaned thoroughly, washed, and finally sewn into a duvet. The whole story, step by step: Why is eiderdown so expensive?
Follow us on Instagram – @zoffi_eiderdown – for the small moments from Lækur between diary entries: the first eiders in spring, the fjord in every weather, and the work in between.