Stranddalen, in the south-west of Norway

[Knud]

Hi,
I have been looking at pictures I took last year, a favourite midwinter pasttime. Most of the pictures are of plants and flowers, trees and landscapes, mostly in gardens and parks. Last summer I went for a hike in mountains not far from her, in the southwest of Norway. I have picked out some of the photoes, and would like to share them with you in a few posts to the Forum. But first an introduction.

The trip was late June 2024 and I visited our local alpine haven of Stranddalen. It is a two and a half hour’s drive northeast from Stavanger, followed by a (nominally) two hour (it took me six, too many flowers) somewhat strenuous walk, about 6 km (4 miles) in length and about 300 m (1000 feet) in elevation gained. May sound easy but all of those 300 elevation meters comes in the first couple of km’s.  Once up, you are in a landscape with lots of alpines at an elevation of about 900-1100 m. Having said that, its flora is not quite like the Alps’, but still plentiful, varied, and exciting. As it is near the coast the region has a tree line (exposure) of 600m-800m, so 1000 m up is quite alpine.

Even among hillwalkers with only a slight interest in the flora around them, Stranddalen is known for its many Rheindeer Roses, our name for the Mountain aven, Dryas octopetala (Photo1). Not only the club emblem of the SRGC, the Dryas has also given its name to three geological periods, Oldest, Older, and Younger Dryas about 18 000 to 12 000 years ago. They were so named because of the abundance of Dryas ‘fossils’ (pollen) found in Europe from those periods of sudden cooling around the North Atlantic, towards the end of the last ice age. Walking on the Dryas carpets of Stranddalen one might imagine what much of northern Europe may have looked like all those years ago.

Stranddalen is home to a popular cabin run by the Norwegian Trekking Association where, if you wish, you can enjoy excellent ‘full board’ accommodation. Camping is of course also an option, with many idyllic spots to pitch a tent. Photo2 shows the Trekking Association cabin in the background, with tufts of the sedge Deergrass (Thrichophorum cespitosum) in the foreground. This sedge is very common, and quite beautiful in bloom.

For the plant life, Stranddalen is a lucky combination of geography and geology. Please, when reading the following, keep in mind my very amateur understanding and schematic description of the geology. Stranddalen is ‘cradled’ among hills and thus protected and (relatively) warm, and those hills are remnants of the Caledonian mountain chain the erosion of which has produced good alpine soils. The southwestern boundary of Caledonian mountain chain in Norway passes through the middle of our county, Rogaland. Further east and north right up to Spitsbergen Norway is essentially left-overs of the Caledonin mountain chain.

Locally this ‘Caledonian’ boundary is very noticeable by a stark change in ‘fertility’ of the soils in the mountains as you move north from the granite-dominated ‘old rocks’ and into phyllite rocks of the Caledonian chain. So, walking from south of this boundary, literally ‘on the rocks’ of grey, alpine plant-poor (there are some) granite, on crossing it you enter a world of green mountains over a relatively short distance. Stranddalen is about 10 km north of this boundary and its mountains have the typical ‘cake’-layering of the Caledonian folding as occurs in this region, with relatively soft and readily eroded phyllite forming the cake filling between layers of harder rock.

Photo3 is taken from the cabin looking west, back towards where Photo2 was taken, and shows the ‘cake layering’ with the paler and rounded rocks down by the lake and on hilltops, and the blackish, broken layer between. This structure is also seen in Photo2 with the paler, rounded ridge stretching behind the cabin to the right (southeast) with the darker layer below. The slope below this southwest-facing ridge is essenrially a scree of eroded phyllite and is one area with many alpines.
 My trip to Stranddalen was just two-three weeks after most of the snow had gone, and it was surprising how many species were already flowering. The Purple saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia) had already finished, I saw only one ‘scruffy’ one still with a few flowers, Photo4. Mountain avens and Moss Campion (Silene acaulis) on the other hand were flowering everywhere in sunny spots which were also dryish; screes and such, often quite steep and inaccessible. Photo5 shows pockets of alpines around a steep rocky outcrop, all pink is Moss campion and most white is Dryas, including the white rim against blue sky top right in picture. And no, I did not get up there to check…

The Dryas, or ‘Reinrose’, is a great indicator of other interesting species growing around it. Photo6 is of my sister Mariann, a keen walker who joined me on the trip, on a steep slope covered with alpines and grasses, so an alpine meadow of sorts. We saw the Dryas from the path below and walked up to find a treasure-throve among it, in completely intermingled ‘plant communities’, impossible really to see ground between them. It was like walking on a Dryas carpet embroidered with Silene, Potentilla, Antennaria, Alchemilla, Saxifraga, and many more.

Photo7 is a typical sight for that time of year as it is dominated by patches of Dryas and Silene. Photo8 is of a Norwegian rarity that is quite common in Stranddalen but apparently found only one other place in Norway, Saxifraga paniculata. It was too early to see it bloom but there were plenty of buds on this one. It was difficult to see its rosettes in the Dryas carpet.

Photo9 and Photo10 are of Alpine Fleabane, Erigeron borealis. Note how last year’s stubble adorns this year’s growth, no gardeners to make it neat and tidy. See also the Deergrass in Photo2, growing through its stubble.

That will have to as an introduction. In posts over the next few days I will add more pictures, there will be less text.

Knud

[Knud]

Five more pictures relating to text above.

[Knud]

More from the slope.

[Knud]

Three that were not so common. The Draba could be D. incana.

[Knud]

There are 8-10 Saxifragas in Stranddalen and the surrounding hills, two of which I gather are now Micranthes (M. stellaris and M. nivalis). I saw six of them, four in flower.

[Maggi Young]

Wonderful photos! Almost as good as a visit - thank you!

[ashley]

Yes, such nice 'summery' photos to enjoy in mid-winter.  Thanks for reminding us of the long days to come Knud.

[ian mcdonald]

Great photos, the flora is very similar to the Cairngorms.

[Knud]

Wonderful photos! Almost as good as a visit - thank you!

Thank you Maggi, I am glad you liked them.

I dragged four kilograms of camera and lenses around up there only for the camera to give up its ghost permanently after the third 'click'. Luckily, I had my phone and a powerpack, so all pictures were taken with my phone. Many phones today have excellent cameras, and mine does, but I still feel I have better control over depth of field and such with my SLR-camera. Probably just me, and some exploring may give me better control also with my phone camera.

[Knud]

Yes, such nice 'summery' photos to enjoy in mid-winter.  Thanks for reminding us of the long days to come Knud.

Thank you Ashley. While our summer days are always long, not many are as nice as in my pictures from that trip. We were very lucky with the weather, we just have to keep in mind that good weather when hillwalking in western Norway is a bonus, and a double bonus if you go to see the flowers.

[Knud]

Great photos, the flora is very similar to the Cairngorms.

Thank you Ian, I can imagine it is similar.

I have walked a fair bit in Scotland, though many years ago now and not much in the Cairngorms. My walks often aimed to see alpines, and not always to bag Munros, so I have been on Ben Lui and Ben Lawers (both Munros, I realise). It is not only the flora that is similar, the landscape around Stranddalen and a bit north and east is very reminiscent of many places in Scotland, but then it is the Caledonian and it is relatively near the coast.

[Knud]

Here are five more, three of them with 'fjell' (mountain) in their Norwegian name, Fjellforglemmegei, Fjellsyre, and Fjellfiol.

The Mountain forget-me-not (Myosotis decumbens) is quite similar to most forget-me-nots, the Mountain sorrel (Oxyria digyna) maybe not so common as the Common butterworth (Pinguicula vulgaris), and the Alpine Yellow-violate (Viola biflora) is just a beauty. The pale violate was quite common from where we parked and right up to Stranddalen, though normally occuring singly, here and there. It ranged in colour from almost blue (V. riviniana ?) to paler violate than the one pictured here (V. palustris ?).

[Knud]

And here are five known for their berries rather than their flowers; the Bunchberry (Cornus), the Cloudberry (Rubus), the Blaeberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), the Bog bilberry (V. uliginosum), and the Lingon berry (V. viti-idaea). All are edible, but not all tasty.

The blaeberry and the Bog bilberry can normally be told apart any time of the year by the green twigs on the blaeberry, the Bog bilberry's are brown, as can be seen from the pictures. Both are edible, but the Bog bilberry is virtually tasteless compared to the blaeberry.

[Leucogenes]

Absolutely great pictures...Knud!

Not only the individual plant portraits are beautiful... the whole landscape in the background also inspires me.

Here in central Germany it has become almost impossible to provide ideal conditions for the typical representatives of the north. The plants suffer greatly from the surreal temperatures and drought in summer.

Many thanks for showing them.