Uncle Henry´s Universe.

Early morning, when the fog clears and hundreds of resting redwings clear their throats. A flock of whooper swans cries desolately as they cross the lake, I see them for a brief moment before they disappear into the clouds again.

It’s time for the annual moose hunt in our area this week and I’m staying away from the forest, for several reasons. First of all, I do not want to disturb the hunt. For many hunters it is a holy week so let them enjoy it to the fullest. I still prefer kayaking than working with a chainsaw.

It can also be unnecessarily risky to be in the areas where it is hunted. A bullet that misses its target can travel far. It is extremely unusual, but I have actually witnessed a long-range bullet hit the chainsaw just as I was about to grab it. And it’s a little too close for my liking.

When the sun breaks through, the fog disappears and the temperature rises to 11 plus degrees. A degree warmer than in the water. Autumn is really here. 12 km at a leisurely pace to enjoy the tranquility, listen to migrating birds, large flocks of finches and thrushes populate the sky and a lone common chiffhaff sings from a spruce. You know that charming warbler who insists on chiffchaff – chiffchaff – chiffchaff – chiffchaff – chiffchaff ……

Winter solstice yesterday, now we are moving towards brighter times … Although it does not feel that way. Gray, rain, plus degrees, pandemic and even more gray. I think the best thing is to stay indoors and go all in for Christmas celebrations, the rest of the year!

Wolves often follow in each other’s tracks, especially when there is deep snow. Then you can track long before they suddenly divide, and the tracks show how many individuals the pack contains. In open terrain and where it is easy to walk, such as on a sea ice or along a road, it happens more often. The local wolf pack seems to be 5 individuals right now. I hope they got hold of a Christmas moose to chew on during the Christmas and New Year weekend.

Take care of yourself, keep your distance, throw something soft at Santa if he gets too close. I hope you all have something good to chew on during Christmas, whatever it is. Fish, turkey, only vegetables or a fat pig, the traditions are so different around the world, you may not even celebrate Christmas or have a new year on January 1st. Still, have a great weekend everyone.

Climb, crawl, jump, balance, slip, swear, wrestle with snow-filled spruces or dense thickets, that is to track lynx!

The gray weather has ruled all week. Around zero degrees. Wet, very wet. But the work has still paid off well. I have tracked two different wolf packs, a wolverine, and a female lynx with two cubs.

Cats sneak smoothly through the terrain. Often under obstacles because they are so agile, or along lying tree trunks because they have such unmatched balance. Trackers often lack those features, at least signed. I do not need a gym pass after a day of lynx tracking.

The kids play a lot. Rarely misses an opportunity to chase each other in playful jumps from rock to rock. Imagine if you had only a fraction of that energy!

There are several meters between each boulder in the picture but … no problem for a cat.

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.

Restaurant happy bird has opened for the season. Free buffet, no corona restrictions and perfectly timed, the snow is pouring down today.

Second-hand contract is offered for the winter, a room, without kitchen and toilet – not needed …

It has been a wet and rainy work week, but I found a very good rain cover for the lunch yesterday, cozy but a little nervous, trembled at the possibility that the landlord would show up!