I have no heavy training... Barely Elementary School. Preferred the wilderness, it became my university, but I got muddy boots and experience instead of School knowledge so my English was therefore quite inadequate. This blog is a project to improve my skills in English language.
We all have our own universe, welcome to visit mine.
Stays to
rest in the work to mark the boundary of the nature reserve Stormyren when a
robin suddenly leaves the stump next to my feet. I bend down and admire the
beautiful and skilfully crafted nest with five shiny eggs. Quick photo with the
phone and then passed on to not interfere.
Then
passing several times during the day without stopping, chatting with the female
that confidently remains on the eggs. Trust?
Or perhaps
she just wondered, why that big stupid not discovered her …
After the
tremendous success of “A minute on the job 1” it’s time for the
sequel, A minute on the job 2. I know, the sequel is rarely as good as the
first one, but you must dare to look forward! 
When
comparing the videos, taken about the same time, you see with frightening
clarity how large the difference in quality is between Gopro Hero 1 and 2! I
own yet no Hero 3, (which is said to be significantly better than the Hero 2)
You can guess if I’m hungry… There is always new stuff to languish for!
Oh deer, I have to become more focused…
Branäs 2013-05-08.
It’s mating
season for the frogs in our garden pond. An audible spectacle going on around
the clock, and with a clear quack peak
between midnight and four o’clock in the morning. That is exactly when I want
to sleep my beauty sleep!
When I
built the pond, I came up with a smart idea. I connected the drainpipe to a
tube leading to the pond. This makes the pond abundantly filled every time it
rains with lots of clean clear water from the building’s roof. Brilliant!
But even
the sun has spots … Did not think of that the valve at the head end of the
bed, becomes an audio amplifier for drainpipe. While gentle summer rain gives a
soporific effect becomes frog’s choir not quite as enjoyable. Okay, I stand out
with nine of them, but the tenth gets on my nerves. The smart ass has found his
singing arena inside the tube and fills it with a muffled echoing QUACK – QUACK
– QUACK!
Sometimes
nature is so incredibly annoying!
Glorious
sunshine, fresh breezes and 15 degrees, today arrived the spring for real. Wonderful
but at the same time, it is the beginning of everything that must be done. Both
here at the farm, with woodcutting and gardening, and at work, where almost 50
nature reserves waiting for care.
Chopping wood with an ax and put in the stack
is pure therapy. Hands and arms are working calm and methodically while nose
registering the spring all scents. Fresh birch wood, grass fires in the
distance and mouldering leaves from the compost. With your ears you hear the
song from new birds arrive, the neighbours complainants wood splitters and
severe started tractor.
Gosh! Everything is wonderful, sleep will I do
in the autumn, now I’m going to live! A lot! 
Right now swarms the beetle
Apalus bimaculatus on open sandy areas that gravel pits and ditches. It has
overwintered in the ground as imago and is now ready to mate. The adult beetle
is only seen above ground during a few weeks just after the snow melts in
spring, normally from the end of March to the beginning of April. Today I went
to the best venue I know, there was full speed, I stopped counting after two
hundred!
The larva of Apalus
bimaculatus live in the nest of the solitary bee species Colletes cunicularius,
who primarily collects pollen on Salix caprea. When it finds a nest it will eat
the food stored for the bee larva and supposedly eventually the bee egg or
larva itself. It seems to stay as a triangulin larva at least a week and after
that it goes to the next larva stage. The pupa will then hatch during autumn
and the imago will stay the winter in the bee nest to emerge early next spring
to mate.
The species is considered endangered, NT on the Red List.
I have made
some tentative attempts to start up this year’s conservation work, but it’s
hard. Spring is very late, probably at least 14 days later than last year. Was
today to Gultbergets nature reserve and where carpets of blue anemones spread
out April 18, 2012, there were now only a few. Golden Saxifrage not flowers at
all. At several places along the trail was snow and ice still retains so it was
a real challenge to get through. Melt water on top of ice makes it terribly
slippery; if it is inclined it may go fast between the trees 🙂
Birdlife
impressed today. I got 28 species, of which 8 were first observation of this
year. An osprey circled over the mountain with ten ravens and two buzzards.
Dunnock, Chiffchaff, marsh tit and a variety of other voices did birdsong into
a wall of sound. It’s a great time right now.
It is dusk
and a bear is heading straight towards me. The wind is weak and in my direction
so I stand completely still and enjoy being invisible. It’s awesome! When I
think that the distance is close enough, I move the camera from side to side a
few times whereupon the bear stops immediately.
Since it is
not aware my scent it becomes insecure, what am I, friend or foe? It sweeps
back and forth with its nose but got no answer. The bear blowing the air out
through its nose with immense strength, as if trying to clear it and a loud
whistle arise. This is repeated a few times. I have often heard about the bear
whistling sound, but it’s the first time I experienced it.
It get for
me to pretend to be another larger bear so I imitates with all the power I can
muster its whistling by pressing the air stream between the teeth, and I
succeed! It gets really frightened, throwing aside and rushes then up a slope
where it stops for a moment and look at me. What an experience! It really
strengthened my male ego 🙂
Some dances
with wolves while others run with bears … I know it sounds crazy, but
sometimes you don’t have time to think. It was the first time I saw a wild
unmarked bear, it was dusk and it suddenly ran in front of the car along a
forest road. I panic braked, grabbed the camera, rushed out of the car and ran
after the bear into the woods.
It was
magical. I ran like a madman and found to my delight that I actually
approached. It was then that the bear stopped and looked at me. I don’t know
if it was my imagination or if the evening light played tricks on me, but I got
a very clear message.
– Read my
lips: what the hell are you doing? Have you really thought this through? And I
must admit that I had not … The bear went on the crust of snow while I sank
to the groin… my chances to run away from him if he would like to take a taste
of me, would be non-existent so I wished him a really nice blueberry season and
returned to the car, happy to be a bewildering experience richer.
1 Minute: a
Vimeo Project.
I devote
myself sometimes to small humble video project on Vimeo, among others one
minute sequences. It is sometimes amazing how long a minute is, or how much
that could be accommodated within it.
Blake
Whitman on Vimeo writes;” With the chaos of everyday life consuming our senses,
it is nice to sit back and enjoy moments and experiences that are often
overlooked. This project aims to study the forgotten moments and times in life
that we often pass by without acknowledging”.
Transportation
of timber footbridge to a nature reserve is best done in late winter by
snowmobile. It’s good to remember a stuffy hot summer day. Horsstomyren, Varmland,
Sweden.
