Old tree down :(

An old damson tree ( Prunus domestica ) has for many many years grown on our plot's border. Like an old person it started to change shape a bit and became more and more bent and when it started to tilt more and more dangerously towards our well I tried to support it but it was all in vane. When the storm Simone came it went down and will now have to rest like this until I can chop it up next year. Its wood is reddish and might be useful as material for some sort of wood work. It is still sad and I will miss it dearly.

One bright spot in an otherwise rather dull garden was this little flower but if you look carefully you can actually see something looking like a tear drop ! 

Good news! Svångemåla receives special protection.

This is really good news! Large parts of the forest that surrounds my plot is from now on protected from all forms of activities that can harm the flora and fauna. That means that not only I have realized that Svångemåla is a special place that needs to be protected and saved for future generations. My neighbor deserves a lot of credit for this and I can only congratulate all of us who live in the area for this development.

The area is now marked in various ways, including these signs of which a rough translation is below.

Protected Habitat /Biotope

Protected habitats /biotopes have high conservation values and the purpose of the protection is to preserve and develop these values. It is not permitted to take any actions or start any activities that may harm the natural environment. The area is protected in perpetuity and the land owner has received financial compensation for refraining from forestry. The Forestry Board has made the decision to protect this area under the Environmental Code and is responsible for the supervision of it.

The wild pigs are attacking again!

The pigs are back. After a few months of absence, the pigs are back in full force. All around our plot are fresh signs that they are very active and one night the scream of a pig that go 7000 V (!) jolt from the electric fence woke us up. Our neighbors garden is partly damaged and the small road leading up to our plot is now impassable for vehicles with normal ground clearance. It is amazing that this kind of destruction can go on without the "authorities" taking it more seriously than they do. Farmers are losing millions of Swedish crones due to damaged harvests as well as machinery. In the nearest village, Alsjöholm, several gardens have now been more or less destroyed by the pigs.

The height and seriousness of the damaged is difficult to catch in a photo but I can assure you that you now need a 4WD or larger vehicle to use this road!

Fall

No need to go to Vermont !

Spiderwebs

The dew makes the spiderwebs very visible this time of the year and one can wonder first of all how many spiders are there and secondly, do the catch anything in their webs? I am glad, however, that I am a bear and not a fly :)

Badger attack!

The badger (Meles Meles) has replaced the wild pigs as the prime hooligan in Svångemåla. It has managed to crawl under the electric fence and made a bit of a mess of my lawn. Not too bad but still a bit annoying. The pigs have again increased in numbers but have, so far, not managed to force their way through my fence. Some of my neighbors are less lucky.

Time to leave Sweden??

According to old wisdom a lot of rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) berries is a sign that the coming winter will be very long, cold and snowy. I have never seen the rowan trees as red as they are this year. Brrr...

Rhinoceros caterpillar ??

What on earth is this??  It looks like a combination of a normal caterpillar, a rhino and a space creature with several yellow eyes. If you know what it is, please let me know!!

Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa coccinea)

Several Cardinal beetles have invaded parts of Svångemåla. Good looking and hungry creatures. Not my favourites.

What is Mr. Bullfinch brewing??

He is getting less afraid of me and looks down on me with a very daring stare so the question is if he is brewing something "a bit stronger" in his house made up of hops???

Bullfinch

The Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) is a bird you see very often in the winter but not so in the summer. I was therefore pleaseantly surprised when I one day saw a couple going in and out of my hop-pole to attend to their 

nestlings. I was also surprised to hear what a lovely, soft song they have.

Mrs Bullfinch

 Mr Bullfinch

The couple's  apartment "house".

Small but beatiful flowers and a bird :)

The Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) is one of the most common birds in Sweden and although this picture is not taken in Svångemåla there are plenty of them here. 

 The fragrance of jasmine has been heavy for a while but it and the flowers are fading now.

A flower that deserves more appreciation if the lime blossom (Tilia cordata). Tiny but beautiful!

Like the lime blossom, the lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea)  flower is small and difficult to see but well worth bringing out a magnifier to have a closer look!

Young moose in the middle of the pantry !

There are many areas in and around Svångemåla where the forests have been cut down to give space to new and fresh trees, full of juicy leaves. The moose and deers love those areas since they do not even have to bend down to eat.

Dramatic sky in Svångemåla !

No Photoshop needed !

Garden work

As you might remember, a group of wild pigs invaded and destroyed a large part of my garden / lawn last year. After having consulted several "experts" I decided to use a cultivator to smash all divots to as small pieces as possible, remove them and replace them with new soil.  Several "experts" told me that it would not be possible to do that due to too many stones and roots but it turned out to be no problem at all. It took two men about three days to go over the whole area and remove all divots.

The maximum load the truck could take was 13,000 kg ( 8 m3) so that was what we got.

The best part of the job was to fill in the areas where we had removed the divots / grass turf since the lawn then started to look nice again and gave us a hint of what the final result would be.

All areas are now sown with grass seeds and a mixture of various flowers, suitable for the environment. All it takes now is some rain and warm weather!

Twiggy 2013

She is not growing very fast but has again made some progress since the year before.

This is what Twiggy looked like four years ago.

http://svangemalanews.blogspot.se/2009/05/twiggy-twig.html

Spring came and went in about two weeks :(

I will remember spring 2013 as one of the shortest ever. A fast camera made it still possible to catch some of it although I miss the slow awakening of nature and the drawn out miracle called spring.

Anemone hepatica (Common Hepatica, Liverwort, Kidneywort or Pennywort) One of my favorite flowers since it is one of the very first you see when the snow has gone.

Anemone nemorosa  (Wood anemone, windflower or thimbleweed) In some parts of Svångemåla the ground is almost completely covered by anemones.

There are very few dangerous snakes in Sweden but this one, a Vipera berus (Common European Adder or Common European Viper) can be found in Svångemåla. This one looked unusually fat and was sleeping in the sun.

Acer pseudoplatanus bud (Maple) Click on the picture to get a better look!

Usnea (Old Man's Beard) is very common in and around Svångemåla.

It is just amazing how trees can survive and even thrive even when the circumstances are not the best.

March and springtime??

The end of March is near and I expected to see many signs of spring when I recently visited Svångemåla but no, it was very cold and lots of snow. The work that has been carried out in the surrounding forests seems to have scared away most animals since I could hardly seen any spoor in the snow.

Ice sculpture in my neighbor's garden.

The big loads of timber are gone :)

This was the only spring flower that I could find.

I hope there will be many more signs of animals next winter.

January 2013

It seems as if the big invasion of small rodents are over for this time. Not a single one in the traps and no signs of them except on the lawn. Big sigh of relief!  The wild pigs have also disappeared for the time being, probably due to the many foresters that are still working all around Svångemåla.

This little Thuja occidentalis (Danica) was completely covered with snow and almost flattened when I last saw it but has recovered completely!

 The Rhodondenron (Rhodendenron Ponticum) buds are larger than I thought they would be at this time of the year but it might just as well be my bad memory as the mild weather.

 The big heaps of timber feels like big walls and I really hope they are all gone before it is time to move back in May.