Stones

Småland, the part of Sweden where Svångemåla is located, is famous (or infamous to be honest) for its many stones. As you might have seen on many of my pictures, there are stones everywhere. In the fields, in the forests, in the lakes, well you can hardly find any uncultivated land that is not full of stones. It has therefore been a constant job for the farmers to remove all the stones to make it possible to grow something and one can today find heaps and walls of stones everywhere. One example is the enormous stone wall I put in the blog 2011 . (http://svangemalanews.blogspot.se/2011/08/stonewall.html)   The energy and time it must have taken to clear the land from all the stones was for sure one of the main reasons why so many from Småland left the country for stone-free and fertile soil in North America and other places.

These two photos are taken very close to my plot. The area around them is called Ida's plot, indicating that it was owned by a lady called Ida. If she is the one who built them I do not know.

This heap of stones is a good example of how stones were gathered together when they were not needed to build walls. The old trees around it is a clear indication that it was made a long time ago. 

Not far away from the above heap of stones, I found this very old and overgrown wall. 

These two photos show parts of the wall of stones that goes all the way around my plot.

I was reminded of all this when a strong and fit friend and myself the other day had to dig up and remove a stone in my garden. It was not very big but it still took us the better part of an hour to do it and when we had finished we looked at the stonewall that surrounds my plot and marveled at the size of the stones it has been built of and the exactness with which they have been stacked together. Simply mind-boggling.

And again...the Wagtail landed just in time to be in the picture!

Rain please!

We have had very little rain so far this year so I put some drops on the blog just to attract some more to come :)

Good looking visitors!

Two very different but still welcome visitors showed up in my garden. First and the most impressive of the two, was a female Stag Beetle (Lucanus cervus). They are not really rare but I do not spot one every year.

The second visitor, a Eurasian White Admiral (Limenitis camilla) is far more seldom seen in this part of Sweden. It is actually the first time I have seen it but hopefully not the last!

Happy Midsummer!

Flowers in my lawn...

 

Visitor from outer space???

Flowers

Here are some of the many different flowers that I enjoy this time of the year. As always, click on the picture to see them more in detail.

 Chive (Allium schoenoprasum)

Iris Germanica ??

Rosa dumalis (Glaucous Dog Rose)

and a bumblebee !

Peony (Paeonia officinalis ?)

Rhodendendron (Rhododendron ponticum)

Buttercup (Ranunculus acris)

Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)

Lupins (Lupinus perennis) at the entrance to my plot. Please note the wagtail in the lower left corner! It has started to follow me around like a dog :)

Early summer

When you walk around in the deep forests of Svångemåla you never know what you will see or find. Unfortunately a lot of rubbish has been dumped here and there and although most of old iron things have been taken care of by rust but one can still find old mufflers and milk bottles like this one in the most surprising places.

The linden tree, including "Twiggy" is growing fast this time of the year.

It looks like Bruno has got a girlfriend!!!  He is a bit shy and has not shown her in a proper way yet but I managed to see them for a short while when they were playing around in the high grass. If we are lucky we might have a lot more "brunos" next year!!

Svångemåla included in new Naturguide from Nybro Municipality

Nybro Municipality is acknowledging the special value of Svångemåla's nature. Have a look at object 19 on page 40 and 41 !

http://www.nybro.se/upload/Dokument/Nyheter/Samh%C3%A4llsbygg/Naturguide/Nature%20Guide%20eng%20webb.pdf

Not only birds in Svångemåla !

As a child I loved to watch squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris)  chasing up and down trees and dreamt that I could do the same. These days there are not that many squirrels around and I was therefore very happy when I saw this little fellow. I hope it will stay and enjoy Svångemåla as much as I do!