December in the Northern Hemisphere

[Gabriela]

Leena and Ashley -
I hope the local rabbits won't get a like on the Helleborus, otherwise I saw them eating almost everything else (except Epimediums too).

Regarding voles, I think you are right Ashley; they are also known to remove other species/seeds with elaiosomes, with the habit of 'stealing' them all overnight. I am sure they are the reason I never get to collect Erythronium seeds from one particular location.

[Robert]

Nice pictures. I love snow!
But no snow here and probably no snow this year. No frost either.

Gabriela,

I love the snow too... and frosted plants with ice crystals all over them! 

Trond,

Serious - no snow this year!     No frost either!    When I checked the maps of Arctic sea ice formation this autumn the pattern seemed very odd and unusual. Who knows? Right now here in California we are still under a strong zonal flow with mild temperatures. It does seem like winter will arrive by this weekend with more frosty nights and low snow levels.

[Hoy]

You can always move to Canada Trond 
It is beautiful right now and more snow this week; I can start sowing.

They have gotten a lot of snow in northern Norway the last days

And thank you very much for the special Christmas card

[Hoy]

Trond,

Serious - no snow this year!     No frost either!    When I checked the maps of Arctic sea ice formation this autumn the pattern seemed very odd and unusual. Who knows? Right now here in California we are still under a strong zonal flow with mild temperatures. It does seem like winter will arrive by this weekend with more frosty nights and low snow levels.

Robert,
It is true! But it is not that special either. Usually we don't have snow that lasts more than a day before January. Last year we had one day with snow before January, but January was very cold.

The sea ice has retreated a lot and now it is ice free waters on the west coast of Svalbard almost all winter. This fall they have had more rain than snow and the mean temperature for the whole year has increased by 6C.

[Hoy]

Very nice weather today with sun and calm weather. Max 8^oC, min 4^oC.

I made a stop at the road only 2km from home, close to a small oak forest.

On the other side of the road is a little tarn with a flock of ducks and usually some swans also as long as it isn't frozen over.






It is few flowering plants inside the wood and none now! Out of flower but still green, Hypericum pulchrum, among the fallen oak leaves.




Only Lonicera periclymenum  has a few green leaves.




A rock face with Polypodium vulgare, one of several winter green ferns.

[Hoy]

Another winter green fern, Blechnum spicant, has found a crevice.




Dryopteris dilatata also stays green.




Greenclad rocks and an oak.




It looks like the sun is about to set - on the far side of the fjord, but actually it takes another hour or so.




The humidity makes it possible for moss to cover the oak stems rather high up from the ground.

[Hoy]

The leaves of a Geum waiting for spring!




Not native but very common, spreading from gardens. Prunus laurocerasus. This one is more or less prostrate, others are more upright and treelike.




"Flowering" moss on a fallen log.




Another rockface, almost covered by Asplenium trichomanes. Also green all winter.




At home. Just too late to see the sunset. The clouds are vapor trails from aeroplanes on their way to the other side of the world.

[Cfred72]

Again, these are beautiful photos that you offer us. Thank you

[Robert]

The sea ice has retreated a lot and now it is ice free waters on the west coast of Svalbard almost all winter. This fall they have had more rain than snow and the mean temperature for the whole year has increased by 6C.

(Attachment Link)

Trond,

I will pass this information on to some folks who will be keenly interested! Thank you so much. 


It is absolutely amazing how similar your last set of photographs are to scenes on cool, moist, north facing slopes right here in the Sierra Nevada Foothills. This time of year the tree trunks are completely blanketed with moss. Dryopteris, Polypodium, Lonicera, and Adiantum are very common plants seen on our northern slopes. Now the south facing slope are completely different....

[Gabriela]

Wonderful pictures Trond! In rare occasions this 'ferny' scenery can also be seen here in December, but most often everything gets covered under a blanket of snow (for the best considering the low temp.).

[Maggi Young]

Greenclad rocks and an oak.

Whole new meaning to "green oak" !! 

[Leena]

Trond, I love the pictures of the ferns and mosses. 
In winter (if you don't have snow) all evergreen plants are so important.

[Hoy]

Thanks for comments, all of you 

Yesterday afternoon the rain ceased for a couple hours and the sky cleared a bit so we could discern a few blue spots! We went for a walk along  Stakkestadvatnet, the lake which is the water reservoir for the area including Haugesund town. Although still early in the afternoon it was very gloomy due to the low sun, clouds and patches of fog.

The area was previously intensively used as pastures for sheep and cattle. Now only deer and a few sheep use it. The vegetation is poor though. Trees like birch (Betula pubescens), spruce (Picea sitchensis) and pine (Pinus sylvaticus + P. mugo) are rapidly spreading. The grass is predominantly purple moor-grass (Molinia caerula).








In winter even some mosses can give a little colour, like this Polytrichum juniperinum.




Huge areas were planted just after WWII. They used sitka spruce and many other foreign conifers. It was done to increase timber production but also for providing shelter for the westerly winds.

The sitka spruce thickets are very dense and only mosses (and fungus) grow beneath them. Some of the specimens are getting rather big.

[Hoy]

Stakkestadvatnet.




The ridge in the background is Valhest 313m. It looks barren and it is but the forest is steadily climbing higher. Spruce plantations at the foot of the mountain contribute to the seeding.




At the foot of a pine I: Lycopodium annotinum




At the foot of  a pine II: Lycopodium clavatum




It wasn't much of interest to see and the dull light made it difficult to take pictures, especially inside the forests.

[Robert]

Trond,

I understand the difficulties of photography when the weather or other conditions create very low light levels. Last week when I went to Ione, California and Peavine Ridge it was gloomy all day. Many photographs did not turn out well at all. 

Saying all of that, I still enjoyed your picture journey. Polytrichum juniperinum is very fascinating. I have never seen a moss like that. During this past summer I hiked in some "waste areas" near the town of Placerville, California. Compared to wild areas of California it is not very interesting - lots of invasive species and a trashed ecosystem. Despite such conditions I still found interesting plants and situations.

Here in California there are also mono-cultures of "farmed" forest trees, maybe something like the Sitka Spruce forests in Norway. Nothing else is allowed to grow except mono-cultures of Ponderosa Pine, Pinus ponderosa, or Douglas Fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii. Such places are not interesting at all.