SUMMER 2012 IN TROMSØ, THE SUMMER THAT NEVER WAS
Yesterday I drove and walked in the neighbourhood of my home town, Tromsø in
N.Norway (70*N), in the hope of finding some migrating shorebirds. Usually
flocks of Dunlin and Ringed Plovers, with smaller numbers of Curlew Sandpipers
and Little Stints, are a common sight this time a year, and also Ruffs,
Redshanks and Spotted Redshanks are quite conspicuous. Yesterday I found none
of them at all (not quite true, I heard a Ringed Plover somewhere, but could
not find it), the only flocks were of Oystercatchers. Have the shorebirds done
what many of the human inhabitants also have done this 'summer' (albeit only
for a few weeks) and moved south to find better weather?
Tromsø is, as I fear I have by now told you all too often, far north and even
though we have much better summers (courtesy of the Gulf Stream) than all other
areas at the same latitude (70*N), our climate is far from stable and one
summer is often very different from the last, and the next, one. (In addition
global warming models threaten 'warmer, wilder and wetter weather' in our
region, and we see some signs of that too)
This year our summer has definitely been wilder and wetter than usual, but as
definitely NOT warmer. Tromsø has had about half of the average numbers of
sun-hours (We have a lot of those potentially in summer, with two months of
midnightsun), 80% more rain and only two days with the maximum temperature
creeping above 20*C (I was away on both days. We have an old saying here: 'I
overslept one morning and missed the summer entirely', but that only shows that
the locals like to exaggerate). No wonder then that the breeding season for
many bird species has been a partial or even total failure this 'summer'. Very
strong rainfall in Troms inland has also led to huge damage on roads, bridges
and arable land a month ago, as the rivers broke their bounds.
This nesting failure was also caused by another unfortunate circumstance: 2011
had been a lemming-year in N. Norway, esp. in the inland and in Finnmark, the
northernmost province, but last autumn rodent numbers collapsed and this year
they are at an absolute minimum. This has as result that the rodent
specialists: various owls, Rough-legged Buzzard (Hawk), Long-tailed Skua
(Jaeger) mostly did not even try to nest at all, but also that all kind of
less specialized rodent-hunters (both birds and mammals) searched for alternate
prey, and therefore the eggs and young of ground-nesting birds suffered a lot
of predation.
For insect-eating birds---and as you know, a lot of seed-eaters feed their
young the first weeks mainly on insects, even our grouse and ptarmigan-- this
summer also has been almost disastrous, and many people have found dead tits
and flycatchers young in their nestboxes.
The flowers were less bothered by the weather, but all were 2-3 weeks later in
flower than usual, and the local strawberries are only just now coming into the
shops! It may well become an extra good autumn for mushrooms, however, if no
further calamities (A strong Indian summer, seen from the mushrooms'
perspective) interfere. The people here generally are quite hardy; they know
that summer in Tromsø can be both wonderful or almost absent. 'After all, we
live at 70*N', somebody remarked in the local newspaper. And others have found
solace in the thought, that sunburn is not much of a problem this summer in
Tromsø!
Today the sun shines, but there is a brisk northerly wind, and the temperature
is around 10*C now in the afternoon
All the best from the high north!
Wim
Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037
Tromsø, Norway
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