'Western Europe's last wilderness'

[TheOnionMan]

I like the Pedics too, but the variation on Athyrium distentifolium is quite the find, important to see first hand, just how variable some plants can be.  Enjoying this series.

[ashley]

Thanks Cohan and Mark.  Yes they're nice plants alright


When considering alpine plants we rarely include mosses and lichens, I suppose because they tend to be small and/or subtle, slow-growing and rarely cultivated.  However they are the dominant or only vegetation (‘pre-alpine’) in Sarek’s high country, playing a fundamental role in its ecology – not least the development of post-glacial soils that allows other plants to colonise.  ‘Lichenometry’ based on measurements of slow-growing crustose species has also been used to date moraine exposure and reconstruct glacial fluctuations in northern Sweden over the last millennium or so.

A casual visitor to these mountains can hardly fail to notice how extraordinarily beautiful many of these plants are.  Here are a few of those that caught my eye.   Unfortunately I don’t know what most of them are so would welcome IDs or suggestions.   

111   Branched (fruticose) lichen on a part of Sarektjåkkå ridge inaccessible to grazing reindeer.  Coin diameter 28.5 mm, for scale.
112   Foliose lichen with fruiting bodies
113   Crustose lichen, possibly Rhizocarpon geographicum
114   A miniature landscape
115   Acrocarp moss, possibly Polytrichum juniperum
116-119   Such wonderful colours.  The grey-blue & russet red ones were least common, mainly restricted to wet seep areas below snowfields. 
120   Vivid moss-scape on the east side of the Áhkká range.

[cohan]

stunning! mosses and lichens are a huge part of the environment here as well, but mostly not as prominent as these, since there are a lot more/larger vascular plants here..the moss-scape is great, as is the foliose lichen!

[Paddy Tobin]

Love the pedicularis. Paddy

[Graham Catlow]

I have to agree with Cohan - stunning moss-scape.
Wonderful lichens especially the foliose. Great mosses too.

Graham

[Panu]

I have no clue of the mosses and lichens, but just here´s a fairly good example of reindeer grazing in Norway, Finnmark

[ashley]

Finally, here are a few pictures of non-plant life & general landscape.

121-123   Santa’s helpers on summer holiday.   Why reindeer (caribou, Rangifer tarandus) spend so much time in summer on residual snowpatches and snowfields rather than grazing is unclear.  Possibilities include keeping cool (thermoregulation) and avoiding harassment by parasitizing nose botflies (though probably not mosquitos, as was once thought).
124   Long-tailed skua, Stercorarius longicaudus.  These fine birds swoop aggressively on anyone blundering into their breeding territory. 

Some more landscapes along my route this year:
125   Looking eastward down lake Sitojaure from Rinim.  This year I entered Sarek here at Rinim, after a day’s hike south from the road then a boat trip west along the lake.  Rinim is still a little below the treeline, where Betula pubescens dominates the pockets of woodland.
126   From Rinim I walked west through Basstevágge valley to lake Bierikjávrre; view north, with the southern end of the Sarek range in the background.   
127   Under favourable weather conditions Sarektjåkkå, the Sarek ridge, makes a spectacular walk that can be completed in a (long) day.  View north, showing near-vertical drops on the east side to glaciers several hundred metres below.
128   View westward from the ridge, with less extreme gradients, toward Norway on the far horizon.  The thin black line (middle to middle-right of the picture) is a strip of median moraine that provided a convenient way up the Tjågnårisjiegna glacier a couple of days later.
129   Colony of Ranunculus glacialis, on the east side of Sarek Nordtoppen as I came down from the main spine of the mountain range.
130   View south through the upper Rapadalen valley from Skárja, central Sarek.

[ranunculus]

A tremendous topic, Ashley ... many congratulations.

[ashley]

Thanks Cliff; glad you enjoyed it.  


Last ones

131   Upper Basstavágge valley near the watershed, looking west.  Mainly moss & lichen here, before descending to the grassy moraines around lake Bierikjávrre.
132   Guohperjåhkå valley; view east showing the complex network of channels and small lakes as the river approaches the upper Rapadalen valley (middle right).   
133   Fungi & moss beside stream.
134   Home sweet home, this time on the slopes of Niják mountain, view south-west along Ruohtesvágge valley.
135   Evening view westward toward Gisuris mountain.
136   Alpine lake on SE shoulder of Niják mountain.  Lichen land.
137   A vast expanse of lakes and marshes north of Sarek; view eastward from Áhkká.
138   Morning view from the east slopes of Áhkká (with apologies for domestic clutter ).
139   Leaving: footbridge across Vuojatädno river, west of Áhkká.
140   Sunset after several weeks’ daylight.

[Armin]

Ashley,
many thanks for taking us through the Western Europe's last wilderness and guiding us so excellently with your profound knowledge.
Amazing is the diversity to be found in such a harsh environment.

[Ragged Robin]

Ashley, your mosses and lichen photos are outstanding - I had no idea that a red moss existed! But then there are so many things that your wonderful report has brought to light in this astonishing wilderness .

Thanks so much for all that you have shown and explained.... what luck to see a rainbow arc from your camp and a glorious sunset on the first proper night - did the daylight day and night have an effect on you?

[cohan]

glorious, ashley--love those 'empty' landscapes! the ranunculus garden is fantastic

[gote]

The Aconitum septentrionale (for short) is not difficult but seed collection is awkward since the pods open more or less singly over a long period of time.
I will try to collect some this year.
Göte.
PS
Be warned.
It easily becomes a weed if the situation is congeinal to it.
It is also quite big. Can be 2m high (in cultivation)

[ashley]

Back again, belatedly.

Armin, I’m very far from an expert on any of this unfortunately.  Subarctic or alpine environments are generally ‘emptier’ and have lower biodiversity so seem ‘simpler’ too.   But maybe we’re just not looking hard enough
Yes climate in Sarek seems harsh relative to say Ireland or even the nearby coast of Norway, but plants and animals are so well adapted and snow cover gives good winter protection.

Robin, I’m very glad you enjoyed the mosses and lichens.  The red one was new to me too and so dramatic on the bare side of a mountain.
I think most people adapt quickly to long days in the northern summer.  Personally I tend to sleep less and feel more energetic.  On a trip like this, although you have to keep an eye on the weather, the continuous daylight  means that you can forget about time.  You just walk whenever you like and for as long as you like, which gives a wonderful sense of freedom.

Cohan, yeah the ‘empty’ landscapes of the north appeal a lot to me too - and you have those on such an epic scale in Canada
I find the lack of visual ‘clutter’ very calming and relaxing, as with sea or desert too.

Thanks Göte; very much appreciated.  I’ve sent you a PM. 

And thank you all for your interest and feed-back

[Armin]

Ashley,
probably you are right that in our hurry times we do not look hard enough and overlook too many things !