BACK IN TROMSØ, N.NORWAY. TARDY SUMMER
This week I returned to Tromsø , at 69*50' N in N.Norway after my sojourn
in Cork, Ireland, and it took a few days to adapt. Spring has been late in
Tromsø this year, and quite many of the spring flowers are still in full
bloom, e.g. the very attractive small violets, and the ' ball-flowers'
Trollius, while the violet carpet of stork-bills Geranium in my local
birch-forest is only just unrolling. A few places I even saw the last piles
of snow here on the island, while the hills around there are still
white-striped with large snow-fields.
Bird-life seems more on schedule, though. In the bird-forest there is
little bird song these days: Willow Warblers or Bramblings here and there
during the day, a few Redwings in the evening. the dominant sound is the
persistent chakk-ing and scolding of the Fieldfares, that nest in a loose
colony along the path I walk---The object is usually a young Magpie
blundering through the undergrowth, and the Fieldfares do not rest before
it is seen off. Also the Willow Warblers, Great Tits and Pied Flycatchers
scold the magpies, but they are unable to deter them on their own. This
year I also have heard Goldcrests in the fir plantations; these birds, that
are dependent on insects also in winter, vary enormously in numbers from
year to year.
On Saturday I took some Dutch guests to the coast. As in Ireland one has to
be constantly careful while driving because of sheep , but the beautiful
Reindeer that trotted quite unconcernedly along the road made clear that I
had come home to the north again.
On Hillesøy the peat-covered low island showed off in all colours of
flowers, and the resident Arctic Skuas (Parasitic Jaegers, if you prefer)
had small young and were thus extra vigilant. This gave us the opportunity
to witness an impressive demonstration of ' aggressive flying', when they
saw off an adult White-tailed Sea Eagle that crossed their territory. Sea
eagles are good flyers in their own right, but compared to the skuas they
looked definitely lumbering. Also the gulls all have young, as have the
eiders on the coast, and the Red-throated Loons on the small lake
Prestvannet in town. that did not prevent one couple (or two rival males?)
to show off with a complete ' penguin dance', always a most beguiling show.
I hope to 'reconquer' my own territory gradually in the coming weeks; this
is necessary because this year I have not seen anything at all earlier, and
Ireland is definitely different from N.Norway--it also will be not so easy,
as the best time to find the nesting birds is already over, and I see that
the male eiders are staring their moult already. But we'll have still two
weeks of midnight sun left, and I'll have guests from abroad most of the
time, so I'll try to grasp the opportunity.
Wim Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037 Tromsø, Norway
PS Writing again because several people asked me not to stop after all.
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