Autumn begins to turn into winter. Subzero temperatures during more and more nights but so far, the frost is thawing during sunlit days. Flocks of waxwing make their way south, the sound of their chirping, like a thousand silver bells, fills the air where they advance.
The work with the nature reserves moves towards the end of the season, soon the predator season will start again. Last week we finished the work on the boundary of the reserve. About a hundred poles with reserve marks have been carried out and knocked down along the 35 km long border. A time-consuming job, the mire is wet, and the steps become heavy. Good weather still makes the days fantastically beautiful, there is unlimited fresh air, just the right amount of cold and no biting insects!
On Märramyren you can find old dead conifers with wolf lichen, Letharia vulpina, a bright yellow-green, shrubby, and highly branched lichen. A species toxic to mammals due to the yellow pigment. It contains vulpinic acid, which attacks the central nervous system with respiratory paralysis as a result. Wolf lichen has been used historically as a poison for wolves and other predators that visit carrion. It is a protected lichen in our country, and it occurs sparingly from the northern part of our county and northwards.
