WHAT A DIFFERENCE THREE DAYS MAKE!
Last Thursday, during my marathon trip'around the Balsfjord', the weather
was nice and sunny, but cool, and there were disappointingly few signs of
spring. Friday was a similarly beautiful day, but yesterday a front came
through, and rain modulated to sleet and later even snow, at a temperature
around the freezing point. Fortunately this morning I woke to blue skies,
+3*C, and yesterday's snow had morphed into melt water. As I'll leave
Tromsø for some weeks in Holland and France on Wednesday, I decided to
grab this last chance and drive 'the outher loop', across the large
outlying island of Kvaløya and to the sea coast, and I'm very glad I did.
Even though the scenery was basically the same as Thursday (although there
is much less snow on the outer coast) and I still have seen only very few
Coltsfoot Tussilago flowers out (and there will be thousands along the
roads soon), there were many more signs of soon arriving spring today.
It started already at home, where the few Greenfinches in my garden had
got company from a single male Redpoll, the first one I've seen here this
year. And from Folkeparken I heard several Redwings sing, and from the
spruce plantings a Songthrush shouted his spring messages: 'spring spring
spring! It's here, it's here, it's here!'
>From home one drives over the long bridge to the island of Kvaløya; this
is one of the larger islands in Norway, but it is very deeply indented by
fjords from almost all sides, so that in several places there are only
narrow isthmuses. One of those (maybe 2 km) led to the Kaldfjord (the cold
fjord; why it is called that, I don't know, as it never freezes over).
After a few kilometers along this fjord, the road takes off to a higher
'pass', Kattfjordeidet, where there is nary a bird to be seen in
winter.NB. It may be presumptuous to talk about passes and mountains in
our area, when the pass is maybe 200 m a.s.l. and the 'mountains' in
reality are not higher than 1000-1200 m, but they are steep and start at
sea level, and to our eyes they 'look like real mountains' (When I was in
Bhutan 3 years agom, a local told me: 'Everything below 4500m we call
foothills'!)
Be that as it may, Kattfjordeidet rises above the tree limit, here at c
200m, and the whole area, with very steep mountainsides, is a very popular
skiing area, esp. for Telemark skiing. It is about 10km to the next fjord,
Kattfjord; the freshwater lakes before that are invisible still below ice
and snow. Also the innermost part of the Kattfjord is frozen over,
although the ice looks much less firm here than in the Ramfjord. A
shortish and shallow sidefjord of the Kattfjord is the location of the
typical fjordfishermen-village of Sjøtun; for once there is no bridge or
tunnel here, so we have to circumnavigate this fjord. Here there are signs
of spring galore, as many Fieldfares and Redwings, with a single Meadow
Pipit, forage on the bare grass close to the shoreline, and in a garden I
find both a Pied Wagtail and a Twite, while the melodious, but somewhat
monotonous song of Ring Ouzels filters down from the hillside.
The outher part of the Kattfjord is much wider and 'looks more like a sea
arm', and the village here, Sandneshamn, houses coastal fishermen. This
used to be the end of the road, but since some years a tunnel has made it
possible to get to the outer islands along this c 20 km shorter route.
Sommarøy, reached by a slender and very narrow bridge (there are traffic
lights here now, after a collision on the bridge itself) lives up to its
name, as virtually all the snow has gone; the island also has many fine
sandy beaches, but swimming remains a quick affair---the water temp. never
exceeds 14*C). I cross over another small bridge to the next island,
Hillesøy: this island has a high hill (with a large radar on top) and a
more or less flattish moraine, and it is on the latter that I always walk.
More and more houses are being built on the edge of this nature area, and
on one of these 'ruined sandy areas' I find a pair of Ringed Plovers,
clearly already on territory, another sign of spring. This is quickly
followed by a Snipe, which I kick up when a snow drift forces me into a
waterlogged area. Otherwise the 'usual suspects' are here: lots of Common
Gulls, several pairs of Greylag Geese, and curlews with their bronze
whistles. No less than 3 White-tailed Eagles here today, among them one
beautiful white-tailed adult, but I can't find the Rock Pipits, for which
this usually also is the easiest spot in my region. An outlying island
houses usually a sizeable colony of Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls,
which should lie on eggs by now; but there are far fewer gulls around than
most years this time, and I am not harassed at all on my walk along the
periphery of the area. On the sea there are a few Black Guillemots as
usual, and loafing Shags occupy a distant skerry, while here and there
small flocks of Eiders and Red-breasted Mergansers clearly also feel
spring coming.
I drive back along the outer road, formerly the only one, which skirts the
south coast of Kvaløya all the way. It start with the village of
Brensholmen, where a pair of Redshanks give further spring feelings. There
are large flat cloudberry marshes here, where usually many pairs of Arctic
Skaus (Parasitic Jaegers) nest, but clearly they have not arrived as yet,
even though also these marshes are almost snow free. Instead, a flock of
20-30 reindeer relax here now, chewing the cud.
The long drive along the coast is again scenically very beautiful, but in
the end-- dare I say it--, a tiny bit monotonous. A few Lapwings in the
fields, and a single Raven. are the only newcomers on the day list. But
there is always a last place to look forward to, the wetlands of Tisnes,
about I have written probably all too many times by now. They are also
still partly covered by snow, or rather ice, but the colony of Common
Gulls is back, and in full activity, with much mating going on (defintely
a sign of spring!). Otherwise there are not all that many new birds here
today: a Cormorant on a stake in the sound, and a Greenshank, that I only
hear. Many Fieldfares and Starlings also here, and a small intriguing
songbird, that flew off before I could watch it properly, and that must
remain 'the one that got away'
And it all ended with the yearly wonderful miracle: the red and purple low
cushions of the Purple Saxifrage Saxifraga oppositifolia, suddenly
appearing among all the browns and yellows of yesteryear's plants. This
time in full sun, with Vanessa butterffies sunning on the flowers and the
wonderful display song of the Curlew in the background. What more can one
wish for!
Wim Vader,
Tromsø Museum
9037 Tromsø,
Norway
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