Notes from Norway

[Hoy]

Here I plan at irregular times to show pictures from around where I go in Norway. Please feel free to comment and add to the thread!


I am starting at 1100m just above the treeline in the middle of southern Norway. It is still full winter here!

[Hoy]

It is not devoid of life though.

A lazy hare has crossed the snow in slow stride  to look for better food another place.




Ptarmigans have eaten the buds of the dwarf birches.







My shadow in the corner!

[Chris Johnson]

I sometimes think we live in a similar environment of wind and wet, but there the similarity ends. Our archipelago would get lost in one of your fjords and we don't have the lumpy bits ... or trees 

Looking forward to this thread developing.

[Hoy]

Even in years with more snow cover than this the ridges ("rabber") are free of snow. The wind carry the snow from the higher places down to the leeward side of the hills.
Here are a few of the commoner plants at the ridges.

Crowberries (Empetrum hermafroditum) grow everywhere. The sap of the berries are very good.




another common shrub is juniper (Juniperus communis). We use the ripe "berries" as spice and you can also make a kind of licorice of them.




Dwarf birch, cowberry and reindeer moss (Cladonia stellaris).




Our ski track to the left in the last picture.

[Hoy]

I sometimes think we live in a similar environment of wind and wet, but there the similarity ends. Our archipelago would get lost in one of your fjords and we don't have the lumpy bits ... or trees 

Looking forward to this thread developing.

Chris,

The outer Hebrides  would fit excellent along the west coast among other similar islands!

[Hoy]

A few very hardy plants stay green all winter under the sow cover. They are among the first to flower in the spring (which is May here). The snow disappear firstly along the cabin walls where some green leaves can be seen.


Silene dioica  - very common.




Potentilla crantzii - a very nice plant especially when it starts flowering in April.




Dryas octopetala - I have planted this one in the steps. It is from higher altitude. Not showy at this time of the year.

[David Nicholson]

Enjoyed it Trond, keep up the good work.

[Maggi Young]

Trond, I am delighted to see this new thread - even if I had to go to put on another sweater to keep out the cold from all that snow!

[brianw]

Thank you Trond. Your Dryas is quite brown, whereas mine in southern England stays green all winter. Not a pleasant green but definitely green. Maybe this is why we can't flower it as well as I see it in the wild, no proper dormancy?

[Robert]

Trond,

This is great! I look forward to following along as spring progresses.

I looks like it may not be far off.

[Hoy]

Enjoyed it Trond, keep up the good work.

Thanks David. I will - at irregular intervals!

Trond, I am delighted to see this new thread - even if I had to go to put on another sweater to keep out the cold from all that snow!

Thanks Maggi! You certainly had needed one yesterday

Thank you Trond. Your Dryas is quite brown, whereas mine in southern England stays green all winter. Not a pleasant green but definitely green. Maybe this is why we can't flower it as well as I see it in the wild, no proper dormancy?

Brian, I have seen plants greener than this one after the winter. I had one in my garden and it stayed green all winter. The plant shown stays almost uncovered by snow all winter and has to take down to - 30C unprotected. Although some with better snow cover stay greener, the old leaves get brown early in spring.

Wild plants from higher altitude in July:

 

[Hoy]

Yesterday was a grey and cold day with wind from north. We decided to go in the woods in stead of in the open plains. The woods are mixed conifer forests, mostly consisting of Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). Also mountain birch (Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii) are common here.
In the warm period 5000 years ago and until 2000 years ago the pine forest covered all the plains here up to about 300m higher than today. Today the forest limit is at about 1100-1200m. The spruce is a very late immigrant here and has not yet reached the maximum distribution even in the valleys. The forest also slowly creep upwards due to warmer summers.





Sparse pine forest covers the sandy dry moraine. My father in law told that when he was a kid people used to meet huldra (a kind of wood nymph) here.





The warm summers in the later years means that the spruce manage to produce viable seeds even at this altitude.





The forest opens up to a bog. It is may sphagnum bogs in this area.

[Hoy]

The forest can be quite dense. You rarely meet anybody here  except in winter when a few ski tracks cross the area. It is not far from the nearest cabins though but people prefer the open landscape higher up.






You can also find stands of aspen in the forest. It is an important tree for the wildlife. The wood is soft and rot easily. Woodpeckers love to make their holes in the trunk. This one was healthy though. I like the bark of old specimens!

[Hoy]

The dense humid woods facing east gets a lot of snow during the winter. Although the climate here is rather dry (600-700mm precipitation/year) Especially the birches often breaks under the heavy burdens. The amount of lichen growing in the branches also help catching snow.




Cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idea) often grows on old ant hives but rarely flowers here in the shade.




A woodpecker's smithy.

[Hoy]

The catsfoot (Antennaria dioica) waits for milder weather where the sun has melted the snow.




This is what it looks like later in the season:




A lonely red fox have walked by during the night. The frozen crust (skare) can carry light animals (and skiers) when it is still solid.