Uncle Henry´s Universe.

Maybe not fifty … but many shades of gray have characterized the first tracking week of the season.

Yesterday the clouds were so low that the visibility was almost non-existent when I came up high in the mountains. The diesel engine had to idle, but I still had to stop from time to time and get out to make sure I was not about to leave the road.

There was a few cm of snow every night, so it was easy to see fresh tracks but at the same time it becomes more random to come across them. No wolf or lynx tracks, just a wolverine, but that’s okay too. If several days have passed since the last snowfall, the animals have had time to move over larger areas. This increases the chance that our tracks will cross. Better luck next week!

Have a nice weekend to you all.

Say what you want about Christmas shopping on the internet and supposed delivery problems, but I ordered snow for the first of December and delivery seems to be done at just the right time, fantastic!

A good winter starts with cold, snow on unfrozen ground just gets wet and sticky. The last few days we have had down to minus 10 degrees, perfect.

Hoarfrost lights up the landscape and gives a taste of the winter that is hopefully underway. The forecast tells of snowfall tonight and even more snow in the coming days during the week. Time for the tracking season to begin.

The last week has mostly been spent on repairs and service of equipment after this year’s work with the management of nature reserves. Our company cars live a tough life on bad forest roads and need a little extra love from time to time.

Some equipment must be stored in storage rooms, while others must be lifted out and prepared for new operations. On the whole, the same procedure as in previous years and with the same feeling in the body, a tingling sense of anticipation, excitement, curiosity … A new tracking season.

Presidential elections in the USA and the pandemic that is closing parts of Europe again, these are dizzying times … but in our nature reserves everything is calm and quiet.

We are privileged who are not affected by lockdown rules, who live in a sparsely populated area and have our workplace in the wilderness. Our only tiny “problem” right now is that the recent heavy rains have turned even small streams into foaming rivers. Upstream, however, there is always a place where you can cross the watercourse. I’m starting to become a champion at “kangaroo jump with chainsaw and backpack” …

Work on the reserve boundary is still in progress. We are lucky with the weather and the heat continues. Normally it should be snow-covered ground now, but some days are instead warmer than it has been since temperature measurements began in our county 1858. I’m not complaining, not yet … but when December arrives, I want snow. Winter should be snow and cold, do not want a repeat of the tracking season last year.

Large flocks of thrushes pass during the day, there are still a lot of birds left that have not yet moved to warmer latitudes and the summer has been good for grouse. There are plenty of capercaillie, black grouse and hazel grouse and we had a nice sighting of a golden eagle hunting in the area this week.

I look for northern hawk owls daily but have not yet seen any, they should start appearing soon. There is probably a shortage of small rodents in the north of the country, but all the more here with us. Some summer cottage owners have caught hundreds of mice.

It has been a great time in the Gobackberget-Berttjärnhallen nature reserve, and we hope to finish the reserve boundary this week. With its varied nature and wilderness character, it is a nature reserve that I will gladly return to in the future, both at work and leisure.

During the current pandemic, it has suddenly become clear what a great resource protected nature area are for human recreation and well-being. We have more visits to our nature reserves than ever before.

I visited the Branäsberget nature reserve this week, a small, protected area around one of Sweden’s finest premises for long bearded lichen. When, in the eighties, I tracked lynx in what was then a fantastic wilderness, I could not in my wildest imagination imagine the tourist facility that exists in the area today. Hotels and holiday villages with room for over 10,000 guests, 22 ski lifts, lots of slopes and an ambition to double the facility within a few years.

 I prefer wilderness but there we are different; others want adapted facilities and a wide range of activities. That’s okay, there should be something for all of us, but it’s important to protect certain parts of our planet from exploitation. Biodiversity is not something you recreate on a coffee break.

Mangslidberg is an area I would like to see as a nature reserve. Fantastic bogs but unfortunately only remnants of the genuine forest that previously surrounded the area. Large-scale forestry has ravaged mercilessly.

I visited it this summer to look for a hill where I once found the first rendezvous place for wolves in the early eighties, when wolves returned to the area after disappearing for almost a century. I found no traces of wolves but all the clearer of humans. Someone had played with an ATV on one of the bogs and left tracks that will be visible for several decades to come. Unnecessary and irresponsible.

Work on the Gobackberget-Berttjärnhallen nature reserve will continue for a few more weeks, unless the snow falls again, of course. Then there will be a transition to predator inventory and tracking. Right now, there are plus degrees and it looks hopeful next week as well. Took a picture of Berttjärn (Bert Tarn) while I heard the first pine grosbeak pass yesterday.

A large part of the autumn will be devoted to work on the border of a fairly new nature reserve with the overall name; Gobackberget – Berttjärnhallen. 1170 hectares of pure wilderness.

It takes a lot of time to clear the 22.6 km border with a chainsaw, paint the nature reserve’s symbols on trees and carry out the poles needed to complete where suitable trees to paint on are missing.

The reserve is sometimes difficult to access. Bad gravel roads, sometimes very bad. Long distances to walk with heavy equipment over wet bogs or in steep and rocky terrain. Heavy working days but rewarding, often in the company of some talkative Siberian jay.

And the color palette is seductively beautiful …

It’s bear country. There are several examples of encounters with really big bears. We have not seen anyone here yet but are constantly finding signs of its presence. Exciting. A spice for the working day.

My internet service provider decided to turn off the copper wire network at the end of the month before they had completed the fiber connection … so now we are many loyal customers who are slightly irritated. (The fiber connection should be ready this autumn, but we have heard that for several years now!) After some calls to the support and some less successful solutions, I have now switched to another company. And a few seconds later – woops, a well-functioning internet via 4G.

Summer is here, great! First kayaking trip completed. If paragliding is freedom in the sky, then kayaking is freedom at sea. Both are refined nature experiences, subtle silence, and freedom to be where rarely others are. You move quietly and show up unexpectedly, which is why it is important to respect the home peace zone for both humans, animals, and breeding birds.

When we are free from our work with nature reserves, we like to visit other nature reserves … Okay, a little geeky maybe, but it is relaxing and interesting to visit other types of nature than the ones we find on a daily basis. Last time we visited Gullrosas Berg (Mountain). Gullrosa is a traditional name for a cow, and according to legend, a cow of that name should have crashed and died in the ravines that run across the mountain plateau and the reserve. Nowadays there are no grazing cows in the area, it is exclusively a nature reserve and outdoor area.

Cloudberry flowers and common cottongrass shone white on the marshes. Atmospheric, hope for good berry season this year.

The varied forest and beautiful views made the visit pleasant. A nice reserve that we would love to visit again. We walked the “tough” trail with a little steeper section, the family trail may be next time.

In conclusion, I would like to tell you that we were ringing this year’s new golden eagle kids this week. In one of the nests, which I could not see into but had only heard one kid, there turned out to be two. Both in good health. Lovely! Three kids ringed total.

We saw, we nail, we carry, and we lift. We have a very varied job; it will never be boring!

The work on maintaining hiking trails continues, a lot of chainsaw for us but it makes it easier for the visitors. Enjoying the same view during lunch as the lynx did last winter.

New picnic table to the nature reserve Abborrtjärnsberg. Rough lumber and heavy to handle, lucky that we have tools and machines to our aid.

Up in the mountains, the vipers are rarely gray (male), they are usually very dark, almost black and the zigzag line on their back is barely visible. The females, on the other hand, are brown. This charming lady we found because she was hissing so loudly as we passed her resting place.

The work with the golden eagle has now gone over to the control of known nest to see if there are youngsters. So far, we have found two successful breeding’s, with one kid in each nest.

Unfortunately, our biggest golden eagle nest had fallen during the recent storm. Lots of fresh twigs, grass and other tree material indicate that nesting was in progress when it happened. We found neither eggs nor chicks in the remains of the nest, perhaps a marten or fox had cleaned up after the accident.

If you know how big the key is for a Toyota Hilux, then you also understand how big a feather from an adult gold eagle is.

The hot and dry summer 2018 gave rise to drying stress on many spruces, they became weakened and an easy replacement for the bark beetle. They have become very numerous and if the summer gets hot and dry this year, we fear an unusually large attack from bark beetles.

Small piles of brown powder show where the larvae are. The only way to prevent them from becoming adult bark beetles that swarm and create even more bark beetles… is to remove the bark.

First, twig the trees and cut it at the root. Then remove the bark using tools from the beginning of the century. It is a heavy and hot work in the summer heat.

Usually we do not care about bark beetles in protected areas, they are part of the ecology. This year, however, the government has asked us to look at it a little extra, if there is a major attack, we do not want it to hit surrounding forests.

In a blossoming sea and with a sky of birdsong, our work continues to clear hiking trails in the nature reserves.

It’s a crappy job, but someone has to do it…

Wood anemone, common hepatica and alternate-leaved golden-saxifrage will be our floor throughout the day’s work in Gultberget nature reserve.

Common wood sorrel, Oxalis acetosella, with fresh sour taste, covers the ground between coarse spruces and has also found a sanctuary in the crevice between two tree trunks.

There has not been much snow in this winter, but more wind, which has caused some disruption along our hiking trails in the nature reserves.

Because of the corona pandemic, many seek refuge in our nature reserves. We have more visitors this spring than ever before, especially in the southern more densely populated part of the county.

Here in the north there is still snow in the altitudes and many roads are wet with thawing, but we have started to look at the southernmost reserves in our area of work. Ginbergsängen is one of them and there was a lot of clearance required before the hiking trail was open. We were two with chainsaws that worked all day even though the distance is only 3 km.

Now we only have 65 km to go before the work on the hiking trails is ready for the summer.