IT TAKES ONLY A FEW NICE DAYS, SPRING HAS SPRUNG IN TROMSØ,
N.NORWAY
Last Saturday, 17 May, we had our big national day in Norway, full of
street parades, women (and also some men) in their beautiful regional
costumes (which now are used as feast finery and as a statement of your
area of origin, here in Norway), and street life, in this weather even with
beers in outdoor café's; this year the max. temperature in Tromsø that day
was 14.4*C (and 16.6*C the day after), both sunny calm days, that felt
considerably warmer even than the actual temperature (itself the highest I
have experienced on 17 May in all my 30 years in Tromsø. The last snow pile
in my garden will melt either today or tomorrow. I know this won't strike
you as particularly hot days, but for us it is almost paradise.
And also nature has reacted to these doses of warm weather, combined with
almost 24 hours of daylight (midnight sun here officially from tomorrow),
and the differences in a week are enormous. When I look out my office
window today, the birch forest has a definite green colour; the Rowans are
in full leaf and the birches are only just before leafing. In Folkeparken
(these have been busy days at work, and my natural world has almost been
restricted to Folkeparken the last two weeks) all the plants I mentioned
last week have now unrfolded fully and grown much bigger, and now also the
many many bishop's staves of the large ferns are quickly unrolling, while
the white anemones Anemone nemorosa somehow have managed to produce both
leaves and the first white flowers, all in the course of two days.
Yesterday I found the first Marsh Marigold Caltha palustris in flower, and
this morning there were already a number out.
The bird chorus is still somewhat tentative, although there are more and
more voices involved. The other night when I walked home after an official
dinner after midnight, the Redwings dominated completely; no wonder then
that they are mostly silent in the mornings when I walk to work. Then the
Pied Flycatchers are the number one musicians. Theirs is a cheerful, but
quite simple song, but if you listen carefully , you'll notice that every
bird sounds a little different. And if you stop and listen even more
carefully, you'll find out that, in addition, each individual bird has
several song motives, which he changes after a few strophes. (The same
applies to the Great Tits, but they already sing less than before and
probably are already busy nesting). the Willow Tit, on the other hand,
seems to have but the one summer song, the eery high suite of 'ee ee ee ee'
tones (It has, in addition, a trilled winter song, which I do not hear
nowadays). A newcomer the last days, eagerly awaited , is the Willow
Warbler, with its sweet melancholy tunes; I heard the first one in
Folkeparken on Friday, and today there were already at least ten. But I
still miss the silvery cadences of the European Robin, a newcomer the last
years in this area; I have only seen one bird hitherto, and have not heard
them sing as yet in Folkeparken. The Fieldfares, the Dunnocks, a
Chiffchaff or two, and a lone Chaffinch are present and conspicuous, the
Bramblings, which were so dominant for a few days, seem mostly to have
moved on again, while I've noticed only one or two Redpolls. The
Bullfinches are still here, but have become almost invisible, as always in
the nesting period. Rob tells me that the Arctic Terns also are back in
force, so it is high time to break out and make another Balsfjord trip, if
only there were fewer deadlines!
Wim Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037 Tromsø, Norway
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