Jarmo (21) from Eindhoven has a special talent. He can imitate the call of a seagull almost perfectly. So good that on Sunday in Adinkerke, Belgium, he was proclaimed the new European gull screaming champion.
“I’m still a bit hoarse,” Jarmo told the radio program ‘WAKE!’ early Monday morning. on Omroep Brabant. “I first found out that I could do this on Texel, you do have some seagulls there. I started imitating a decoy call there.”
“I now have a European title to my name!”
That sounded so much like the call of a real seagull that he signed up for the event in Adinkerke, near De Panne. And with success. “It’s a good thing I now have a European title to my name!”, laughs the resident of Eindhoven, who was also dressed as a seagull for the occasion. “With my victory I won a typical Belgian beer package. And another consequence: I now have a lot of interviews!”
Jarmo stayed ahead of the Belgian Maren van Cauwenberge with his scream. In the group category ‘colony’, the title went to the Belgians Loïc Devos, Stijn Cremelie and Milan Desmet. “The participants were very varied”, the Eindhoven resident saw. “There were also real seagull enthusiasts among them. They were all enthusiastic too.”
“Gulls belong to the coast, like salt in the sea.”
The seagull screaming championship took place for the first time five years ago. Back then it was only a Belgian championship. It was an initiative of Claude Willaert, to polish up the image of seagulls. Seagulls are often seen as nuisance birds. The organizers emphasize that seagulls are part of the coast, ‘like salt in the sea’.
The Belgian gull screaming championship turned out to be a success and not much later the event became a European championship. Jarmo happened to hear about it and, spurred on by his friends, he decided to travel with them to the Belgian coast. He surprised himself with his victory. “It was a joke that got out of hand, but we had a really nice weekend!”
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