HIGH SUMMER IN TROMSØ, N.NORWAY (70*N)
The summer of 2004 up here is a quite normal summer, meteorologically
speaking. That is to say that the weather is and remains changeable, with
frequents showers, many grey days with low-lying clouds smothering the
mountainous landscapes, but also days of glorious 24-hrs sunshine, although
as yet we have not yet enjoyed longer periods with easterly and
south-easterly winds and temps above 20*C, what we call Russian weather. S.
Norway has in general had a still much more wet and windy summer than we in
the north (several days last week the northernmost stations were the
warmest in the country early in the mornings), and as the people in the
south, --and the mainly Oslo-based media--- always brag about their
summer-weather and have a tendency to expect it, so that they complain
bitterly when it rains a bit more some summers, we must confess we up here
are not always quite as sorry for those 'southerners' as we probably ought
to be.
For the plants, and until now for the farmers too, this summer here north
has been a good one, and with ample precipitation and 24 hours of daylight,
our plants grow enormously quickly and luxuriantly, esp. where, as here in
Tromsø, the ground is nutrient-rich in addition. In Folkeparken, the
remnant birch-forest (with fields of planted spruce) between my home and
the museum, the underground vegetation is lush and man-high, and along the
roads the 'Tromsø-palms', the giant hogweeds that are so characteristic for
our town, are in flower and stretch 7-10 feet up, with their enormous white
umbels full of visiting flies and bees. White and red clovers (Trifolium
album and T. hybridum) are much to the fore now here, the white sticks of
the Viviparous knotweed Polygonum viviparum are everywhere, and here and
there the innocent blue of Harebells Campanula rotundifolia and the
different blue of vetches Vicia cracca are codominant. In the forest
undergrowth the carpet of violet Storkbills , punctuated by the large firm
rosettes of large ferns, still reign supreme, but that won't last long
anymore, and the next generatiion of summer flowers is already in flower on
open coastal areas and will soon take over also in the forest; the creamy
white of the Meadow sweet Filipendula ulmaria, the pink violet of the
Valerians, and the blue flower-heads of the Blue Sow-thistle Cicerbita
alpina, and in the drier areas the yellow rods of the Goldenrod Solidago
virgaurea. In the corner near the shop, as every summer, the ditch is full
with the beautiful flowers of the local leek Allium sibiricum, and in the
almost dry ditches the Pinguicula is faded and now only represented by
their yellow-green fatty looking rosettes (The species is called Vetblad=
Fatty-leaf is Dutch) and their violet flowers are exchanged for the pure
white of the Grass of Parnassus Parnassia palustris. This morning I saw the
first Fireweed Epilobium in flower (I'll try not write this Firewood this
year, as I have done several times in years past); in a few weeks, this
will be the absolutely dominant flower-colour around here, as Fireweed
occurs on large stands wherever the ground has been disturbed.
The other day i was at my favourite wetland of Tisnes, searching in vain
for the first flocks of migrating shorebirds. This was a warm day, and this
gave me the chance to rejoice in what maybe is the finest little flower of
all, the Snow Gentian Gentiana nivalis; there is no bluer blue than that of
this little flower!! The flowers only open on warm days, and you can't pick
them and have them at home: they will close up soon, never to open again,
so this is a treat to be enjoyed outside and on nice days only. On Tisnes
there are quite many, so although every flower is small (and Alpine gentian
lovers will probably scoff at them for that reason), the whole spectacle is
still most impressive indeed! In addition I found this time more Moonwort
Bostrychium lunaria than ever before here; but this little strange
yellowish-green fern (the colour betrays them among the taller grasses
around) is probably more a plant for the specially interested.
As I said, there were few shorebirds as yet at Tisnes, only the resident
Redshanks, Curlews, Oystercatchers , Ringed Plovers, and Turnstones; no
Ruffs, to my surprise. The ducks are mostly in eclipse and inobtrusive, but
still present; I even noticed the Gadwall still, in addition to wigeons,
teals, mallards, Shelducks and the local sea ducks. A week earlier, at
Rakfjord, Riet and I had enjoyed the trills of the Whimbrels, the nervous
excitement of the Redshanks, and the tameness of the local Phalaropes; to
our surprise, the Cuckoo was still calling frequently that day, and the
loons had two half-grown young.
But in Folkeparken, there is little bird song by now. An irrepressible
Greenfinch or two, the tail end of the chorus of Willow Warblers and, as
almost every summer, suddenly everywhere the dry trills and rattles of the
Redpolls; these birds seem to spend the first part of the summer (and their
first nesting?) elsewhere, and first arrive here at mid-summer. The
thrushes have young, and spend much of the day scolding, often targeting
the young and newly fledged Magpies and Hooded Crows that blunder clumsily
through the undergrowth and still loudly beg to be fed by their solicitous
parents.
Midsummer is a time of vibrant life everywhere up here, but not an easy
time to show birds, as the songbirds have stopped singing, the ducks hide
in the reeds and the shorebirds have not yet quite started their autumn
migration. A prime time for botanists, for people studying insects (we have
heaps of those in summer, and many of them bite, suck, sting or annoy in
different matters, so that it takes a patient sould to be able to enjoy
e.g. the beautiful colour patterns in horsefly eyes), or for f.ex.
malacologists: this has been a great summer for snails and slugs.
Wim Vader,
Tromsø Museum
9037 Tromsø,
Norway
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