120706 Skottland-Scotland OBAN

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NF Photos 120706

I took these shots a year ago on my trip to Scotland. I meant to post the shadow shot for a year now. It is finally time to do it don´t you think? It is almost a one year anniversary.  And I still like the shot.

Shadow Shot Sunday    Weekend reflection

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A trip to Tullgarn

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NF Photos 130611

 

Horn

 

This day I went to the coast of the Baltic Sea with a friend of mine. It is about 2h drive to the first place we wanted to visit, Horns båtvarv. It is a small marina for leisure crafts. I´ve been there once before and if lucky the birding is good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barnacle goose

This day was rather lucky. A Common Redshank was agitated and seemed to tell us to leave. (The link goes to my birdblog.)  Lots of swallows in the air and also many Barnacle Goose (vitkindad gås). Some of them with young. We walked around enjoing the area. Birds and boats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we continued up north to Trosa and Tullgarn Palace. It was my first visit to the palace. It seemed to be well maintained. The stable was turned into a restaurant so instead of horses eating there, people was. To bad we did not know it in advance. :)

 

 

We did not go inside the palace, we settled for the gardens and to check out the pools for the water cleaning system they have. We even found a birding tower located at the water. And a family of Golden eye in one of the water pools.

 

biological water treatment plant

 

Later on we headed for Tullgarns näs. But that was mostly overgrown and not such a good birding location as we had expected. It was wet and muddy and a lot of mosquitoes. We found lots of signs from wild boar but did not see them. We went through the forest for quite some time before coming to the meadows at the water. The only birds present was 2 mute swans and some gulls and terns.

Two persons was there investigating small plants. They had a lot to look at. This little flower should be some kind of miniature flax. :) 

 

Then it was time to go back home.

 

 

 

Our World Tuesday   Outdoor Wednesday    Himmelsk    Friday Fences

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Black Grouse - Orre 130427-28

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Coming back to Pensionat Udden from the night with the Western Capercaillie (Tjäder) adventure I was really pleased. And I could only hope my shots would be OK.

 

Now there were several people joining us for lunch. And again we was served a great meal from lamb. This time for the Black Grouse ( Orre) we were 5 people who would stay in hidings. Me and two couples.  We left in 2 cars after lunch. We went to Ekopark Färna. As we had a couple of hours to spare we walked in teh forest. Hopefully we would find Three-toed Woodpecker (Tretåig hackspett) After some time we did find a pair. At first the female was sitting high up in a tree impossible to get a shot at. The male took off. But after a while, when we were about to leave she came down and it turned out there was a nest too. A lifer for me. :)

 

We also spotted a Winter Wren (gärdsmyg). I was happy about that as I did not have a good shot at one in freedom. Only from a banding session. A great time in the forest. :)

 



Lekking area with one hide out of three visible.

Around 16.00h we readied ourselves for the hike to the Black Grouse lekking area. As my rubber boots was not knee high I took off my stockings and rolled up my pants to hopefully avoid getting wet while going through the moss.  I also had the camera equipment stored in my backpack for safety reasons. Only the little one in my pocket. It was a hard hike for a woman like me. First we walked the forest, then an area with short bushes called Marsh Labrador tea (skvattram), dry and sticky, but smelled rather nice,  and I got a lot of stuff in my boots. Not fun but I managed. The big problem came after that. We had to pass a stream and had to be careful not to slip on the slippery bottom. Then we came into the moss. Water all over and so soft. The boots got stuck in it making every step a challenge. It took a little less then an hour to get to the hidings. I grabbed the first one I came to, and was lucky, as it turned out later on.
 

 

The two couples had one tent per couple and I had one of my own. It was placed on a platform above the moss so it was dry. Sun was shining and it was nice as I arranged my stuff. Looking out of one opening in direction towards the sun I spotted some nice grass and spiderwebs so I got myself a photo session in the back light of the setting sun. Then I had my dinner before it was time to close the hide and eventually go to sleep.

 

I woke up after a while as it was getting cold. I had to put on everything I had to stay warm. Not much more sleep that night. At 4 I started to hear noice outside but it was too dark to see anything. I reached for my water bottle. And guess what? It was frozen solid. No wonder why it was so damned cold.

Black Grouse 1 female, 2 males

Well, at 5 it was light enough to see the Black Grouse outside the hides. There were several males and a few females. And the ground had also frozen so there was frost and ice on the water pools. But the black birds was really gorgeous against the white surrounding. Lots of action going on among the males. Not boring for a second. There was a few spots I liked and tried to get shots of birds there. And when the sun came up coloring the treetops yellow it was perfect. 3h of fun watching them. A final fight between 5-6 males ended the session, sadly that was hidden from me. It happened behind some bushes.  Then it stopped and they all flew off into the forest.


Ok, breakfast! And then Mattias came and picked us up for the hike back to the road and then Pensionat Udden. My boot got stuck once and I stepped out if it but no water came into the boot. We were again invited to a good meal before we headed home. As I was tired I had to go rather slow not to risk anything. But I made a detour to the lake, Gnien, as I planned to visit the first day. But the place was empty so it was nothing but getting some air before continuing back home.

I´d like to say thanks to the guys at Nordic Safari for making this a great adventure despite the first troubled days. Now I am happy I did indeed go home after that first night last week. The two nights now was worth it all.
  Nordic Safari

 

 http://www.sofnet.org/fagellokaler/skinnskatteberg/farna-ekopark/

 Wild Bird Wednesday   Ein Stuck Himmel
 

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Western Capercaillie -Tjäder 130426-27

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During the week I decided to try both birds again so when I went to Nordic Safari and  Udden this time my goal was the Western Capercaillie first night and the Black Grouse the second.

Started as last time. The ice still covered Hjälmaren so not much to see there on my short break. I arrived at Pensionat Udden in good time before lunch. I was lucky to find a  Black-throated Loon  (Storlom) in the lake. After the lunch we looked at the wolf movie and a presentation of Nordic Safari. Then we headed out in 2 cars. Some people would go to the Black Grouse and I to the Western Capercaillie. Before going to my hide we were checking some other places in the forest. And we went to Uttersberg to meet with Fredrik at 17.00. Uttersberg was a nice place with a stream and a museum. Then we headed for the area where I was last week,  Klotens Vargrevir.  Fredrik too had the same bad luck last week and wanted to try again. We picked our hides and closed at 19.00.

Monica alias NatureFootstep

Fixed the sleeping bag, arranged my stuff  and had my dinner. Looking out now and then. This time I had a squared tent and my head at one wall and feet at the other. Not much for taller people then me. When it got dark I finally spotted a bird down the road. Yes, this time will be ok. At least I´ve seen one and heard another during the evening.

I woke up at 4.30 but the area was empty. Still a bit too dark anyway. At 5.30 I had my first bird close by and then it was busy the entire time until 10.00.

From my tent I had a view to the other side of the road and there one male was lekking for 3h. Jumping up and down and pacing back and forth. With no female to join him. Poor thing.

 

On the moss area below there was frost and to see the birds in the sun was quite nice. I had one male with two hens and then a few other males here and there.  One male flew up and lekked quite close to Fredriks hide and I had a good view of it between some trees.

 





Mating in progress

 

I was lucky enough to see a mating even if I did not understand it at once as they where partly hidden behind a tree. Not before I saw the hen slip away I understood what had happened. The shot is rather lousy but still a proof of what I saw. Photography was not an easy task. The trees was in the way most of the time and also made it difficult to choose settings. Too dark or too bright? Hard to get it right. So, take a lot of shots and hoep for the best.

 

It took a long time before things calmed down enough for me to think about breakfast. But what the h-k. I wasn´t there to eat.

 

We were picked up at 11,00 and went back to Udden for lunch. I had seen at least 6 males and 2 females. Not bad at all.

male with 2 hens

 I was amazed when I saw this shot, there is different patterns on each tail feather. I wonder if that is a way of telling the difference between them? Like a fingerprint.

Nature Notes   Our World Tuesday  Travel Photo

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Western Capercaillie -Tjäder 130417-18

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I got up rather early this morning as I was about to go north to see lekking Western Capercaillie (Tjäder) and Black Grouse (Orre). I would be in a hiding for two nights. One night for each bird. That was the plan.

 

Wolf tracks in Kloten

I left at 9.00h to go to Surahammar where I would meet up with the guides from Nordic Safari. Then we went further north to the Pensionat Udden where we had lunch and also gathered the hot meal and drinks for dinner in the hiding and for breakfast, still in the hiding. It was a beautiful afternoon, a bit chilly but sunny. The lake outside the house was still mostly frozen. But a few ducks, golden eyes, was swimming there.

We left for the woods to see if we could find tracks from wolfs. It was a place called Klotens Vargrevir - Klotens wolfterritories. We did indeed find some tracks but did not see them. There was also very nice thawing pools of water so I was busy taking shots. We did also see a beaver hut, but of course, not the beaver itself. Done with the Kloten area we checked out some more open land and was able to find a few early migrating birds.

At 18.00h we was at the area where the Western Capercaillie -Tjäder was supposed to take place and we checked out what had happened there lately. You could find droppings and feathers and other signs of the birds. Besides me there was one man that should stay in a hide too so I was not to be alone in the wilderness.

 

Some signs clearly visible

A cup of coffee before entering the hide. I picked a tent for me and Anders picked a tent nearby and at 19.00 h we closed the tents. Not to be opened until 10.30 next day.  Now I was busy arranging my stuff and to have the dinner I brought with me. A bit chilly but I managed. I tried to hear if there was any sounds of birds outside but I did not hear a thing. Later it started to rain and got really windy. Not fun at all. I went to sleep around 22.00 but awoke as I was sliding of the madras to the cold ground. Then I slept until 4.30. Still raining and windy and not a single bird. Had some breakfast but still no birds. Our guide, Lars, was guessing the situation and arrived early to pick us up. Most of my stuff was wet as the rain had dropped in to the tent. At 11 we were back to Udden. Disappointed!  Some more people was coming for the afternoon and we was served a nice lunch. Then we looked at a video about wolfs.
As they said it would be very wet to hike to the site for the Black Grouse I decided to go home and come back next week. I did not have knee high rubber boats so the guides thought I would probably get wet. I did not want to be wet staying in the tent another night so we changed the arrangement and I went home. But will make another attempt next week.

Next morning, no birds but the forest all wet with, still, a bit of snow down there.

 For the readers. Not to worry. It all worked out fine next time. You´ll see.

 Our World Tuesday    Outdoor Wednesday
 

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