A SUMMER WALK TO RAKFJORD-RISVIKA, KVALØYA NEAR TROMSØ,
N.NORWAY
The summer in N. Norway has been reasonably good to us hitherto. True enough,
we have had very rainy periods, but also stretches of several sunny days with
clear blue skies, not too much wind (usually NE) and definitely not too hot
summer weather (14-16*C)---this sounds probably chilly to many of you, but with
little wind and 24hrs sunshine a day there is no better place to be than N.
Norway in such summer weather! Today we even have an influx of warm weather
(20-22*C here in Tromsø), but that will change quickly: thunderstorms this
afternoon, and afterwards northerly winds, rain, and 8-10*C maximum for the
coming week. So I grasped the chance to do one of my usual walks this morning,
i.e. along the road through the marshes and heathland of Rakfjord and Risvika,
along the Kvalsund on the island of Kvaløya, the large island between us and
the open sea. As I have explained before, by now probably ad nauseam, I fear,
this part of Kvaløya has hard, acid rocks, and the vegetation is therefore much
less diverse and luxuriant than here on Tromsøya, where we have chalk in the
ground.
Neither the marshland nor the heath is rich in flowers here, even now in
midsummer. Some of the small lakes are ringed by a dense fringe of Bogbean
Menyanthes (mostly already in fruit), and there are at least three species of
Cotton-grass Eriophorum, but that is about all. And in the heath there are just
now also few flowers, mainly here and there a Goldenrod Solidago, the heather
Calluna is not yet in bloom. But along the road there are flowers galore. Many
are common roadside plants, such as buttercups, white clover, vetch, Meadow
Vetchling, Water Avens, and Caraway Carum carvi, which here replaces the Cow
Parsley of the richer grounds. There are also lots of the white rods of the
Viviparous Knotweed, which we here in Norway call hare-rygg= hare-rye. Other
species profit from the humidity in or near the ditches, the likes of the Grass
of Parnassus Parnassia, Butterwort Pinguicula, the multihued orchids (I think
mainly Dactylorchis maculata), and probably also the miniature irises of the
Scottish Asphodel Tofieldia pusilla, that are so easily overlooked. As every
year, I do not rest before i have found a few small plants of Sundew Drosera
rotundifolia.
The walk started auspiciously today, as a mink crossed the road just at the
place where I always park the car (Some 35 km from home). It was high water,
and the lagoon that has been formed where the road crossed a bight of the
sound, was full of water. No mergansers at all, usually the most common ducks
here; instead quite a number of eider females with small or half-grown young.
When I start walking along the road, the most numerous bird is the Meadow
Pipit, often with food in the bill; they must nest here in considerable
numbers. But there is no sign of the Greylag Geese, also common nesters here;
they must already have taken their young elsewhere. Instead the dominating
sound now is the stuttering alarm call of the Whimbrel, also a common nester
here; clearly some of the pairs have had their nests 8or chicks) close to the
road. Common Gulls also nest here in some numbers, but they are no longer
aggressive; apparently the young are by now large enough. The Arctic Skua
(Parasitic Jaeger), on the other hand, is still very territorial and even
stoops several times at me, always most impressive with these high-speed
attacks---but I know they rarely really hit you, not like the Great Skua or the
terns. Very different tactics are used by a Willow Grouse with small chicks;
she (or he?) comes out on the road, droops one wing, and is quite as
demonstrative as the small plovers. Two phalaropes Phalaropus lobatus spin on
the shallow pond where I have seen them before, but they seem to be both males.
It is always hit or miss with these birds: they are not at all shy, but easily
disappear completely among the Bogbeans. On some small willows I find the
reddest Redpoll I have ever seen, must be a very old male.
I continue until the top of the next hill, where I can overlook the lake where
a pair of Whooping Swans have nested for several years in a row. But this year
they seem to be absent, probably to another lake further from the road. Instead
I find a pair of Golden Plovers, and the first ripe Cloudberries Rubus
chamaemorus, probably the most popular berry in N. Norway (where we have a wide
choice). This seems to become a good year for these marsh-loving Rubus, which
change from red to orange-yellow upon ripening. Most berries are stil not ripe,
and I am careful only to pick really ripe (and delicious) ones; picking unripe
'molter' is one of the cardinal sins up here, almost as bad as hunting eider
ducks.
On the way back I have to brake sharply for a reindeer that suddenly decides to
cross the road in front of my car; this is a hazard few of you are confronted
with, I guess.
I have added a list of the birds seen today, 'without really trying'. The walk
lasted for 2-3 hours.
Black-throated Diver (Loon)
Mallard
Tufted Duck
Northern Eider, many with young
Red-throated Merganser(tight flock of c 50 on the sound, probably ready for
moulting)
Willow Grouse with young
Oystercatcher
Golden Plover /NB. the lapwings that always nested here, have been absent this
spring)
Whimbrel (missed the Curlew this time)
Red-necked Phalarope
Arctic Skua (Parasitic Jaeger)
Common Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Arctic Tern
Sand Martin (Bank Swallow)
Pied Wagtail
Northern Wheatear
Fieldfare
Willow Warbler
European Magpie
Hooded Crow
Common Starling
Brambling
Twite
Redpoll
Redshank
Wim
Vader, Tromsø Museum
9037
Tromsø, Norway
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