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. 

Merry Christmas 2012 !

Winter in Svångemåla

The deep forests in Svångemåla continues to be harvested. Huge piles of timber currently block the view over the Field and you feel a bit "locked in". Luckily they will not be there for very long and when they are gone the landscape will be more open and lighter.

The wild pigs seem to have disappeared and I hope they will not come back since I have now turned off the electric fence.

If you do not want to be in the hot seat, this might be a good place for you!

It is not easy to see the forest for all the trees!

The snow is a blessing since it covers all the damage done by the wild pigs!

Road problems

The heavy machines and large timber trucks together with the very wet weather have made the roads a bit difficult to navigate. Despite big efforts of those responsible for the maintenance of the road some sections are almost impossible for smaller cars to pass. One might wonder what they will look like next spring?

Deforestation and wild animals

One might think that the big machines and the totally changed forest had made all wild animals run away as far as they could but that is not the case at all. Maybe they know that the area next year will be a haven for them with lots of small trees and bushes that taste great.

Moose

Wild pig

Heaps of twigs, timber and more

The disforestation in Svångemåla is soon finished and it is interesting to see how everything has now been gathered and labeled. Even the cut off branches are put together in several huge heaps of twigs that soon will be cut up into very small pieces and made into fuel for heating up houses and water in our cities.

Most of the wood will be used for making paper (massaved) or timber (timmer) but the aspen trees will be matches (tändstickor).

Garbage

Many think that the destruction of nature that can be seen today is a new phenomenon but that is not the case at all. You just have to walk around in old settlements like Svångemåla to find all kinds of things that have been dumped without any considerations regarding neither animals nor humans. When I put up the electric fence, just outside the stone wall that marks the borders of my plot, I found a lot of old bottles, buckets,  two stoves, an old bicycle etc. They were covered by old leaves and moss but still dangerous to step on. It took just an hour to gather this heap of old junk that will go to the dump next year.

Late October

It looks like the wild pigs are not too keen on challenging my electric fence! I could not find a single trace of them when I spent a few days in Svångemåla last week. So far so good ....

The old forest to the north of the house was reap for harvesting and a big machine has made its way through most of it. It has left some hardwood but all conifers are gone. I actually do not mind since this will be a haven for moose and deer next year when new plants come up. It also makes the forest a bit lighter and not as dark as it has been before.

 The linden tree is wonderful this time of the year when it glows in the sunshine.

From "The ManKind Project"

Enough is enough !!!

A line or to be correct, a rope has been drawn in Svångemåla to keep the wild pigs (Sus scrofa) from destroying more of my plot. It was really hard work to set it up and without the help from a good friend it had taken me much more time than the three days it now took. As you know from previous postings, the ground is full of stones and it was as times impossible to get the fence poles down without removing rocks. When that was not possible, we simply had to go around them or in one case through a very small crack in a rock.

One of Sweden's more famous author and artist, Björn Gidstam, has experienced the same problem as I have and wrote a very good article about it in a newspaper, highlighting the fact that so little has been done to assist and help those who are hit by the pigs and that nothing will probably change as long as the politicians in Stockholm and other big cities are not affected.

http://www.smp.se/nyheter/lobbyn/insandare/ge-oss-ett-slut-pa-detta-svineri(3453528).gm

Gidstam also compared how much energy and emotions that have gone into the discussion about wolfs compared to how, relatively, silent it is about the damages done by wild pigs. I fully agree.

Here are some pictures showing the problems we faced setting up the fence. I really, really hope it will keep the beasts out!

The poles are treated to last for at least 15 years. By then I hope the wild pigs have moved on or even better, been reduced in numbers so that they can live in peace in the forests only.

 

 The equipment needed is not cheap. All together I had to pay more than USD 1,000! The instrument I am showing measure how high the voltage is along the rope and from my measurements it reached 7000V ! I do not think even a big pig can take that on the snout without feeling some pain.