After roaming the Swedish forests for 7 years, I’ve come over bear-tracks three times. The last time only three weeks ago in one of the Swedish bear hotspots between the counties of Gävleborg and Dalarna.
The chances of meeting a bear in, well, person, are modest at most. Research at the Swedish University of Agricultural sciences (just sent voluntary students with GPS-devices towards brown bears equipped with GPS-receivers!) showed that students could not get closer than approximately 40 meters from the bears. At that point the bears would run off, and less than 1 out of 10 actually saw the bear.
So, when visiting some sites in the county of Västerbotten, I did not expect to see any bears. But still, you always hope and fear at the same time to actually meet one. Well, at first sight from some distance…
Though a highly unlikely place for a bear cub, kind of still also and far too round, but strange enough a sight for a ‘what the..’ and ‘let’s take a closer look.’
Thoughts of a bear-hater that pinned a bear cub on a so called ‘high stump’ slowly made place for increasing laughter when we approached the object of confusion.
Forest Honey, it’s disgusting! ….but damn tasty, and healthy.
If you’re familiar with the phenomenon of pollination drops (link for pdf) on coniferous trees, you might convince yourself the bees have been collecting these tiny drops for your forest honey. Truth is however, they did it the lazy way and collected the easy accessible honeydew (that sounds great!).
Honeydew, in other words, aphid droppings (that doesn’t sound that great!).
But, ‘honeydewhoney’ does taste great (my humble opinion) and besides that, it’s considered even more healthy than the ‘honeyhoney’ collected from flowers! So once you accept the fact that aphid droppings might not be so bad after all (I assume you already knew that bees spit your everyday honey in the honeypot, or did you think they had a little rucksack?), start enjoying this wonder of natural recycling.
Update: As mentioned before on this site, climate change causes bird species like Blue Tit and European Pied Flycatcher to get out of tune with their prey species. Also their prey species like Winther Moths were initially having difficulties shifting to earlier springs. As temperature in early spring rises faster than temperatures later on in the spring season, these moths would hatch already before the bud burst of their host-trees. Dutch scientists however were able to prove that these moths can adjust and synchronize with their hosts again.
European oak (Quercus robur) defoliated in the vicinity of the city of Arnhem, the Netherlands. European beech (Fagus sylvatica) is obviously not a favorite.
Winter Moths, as well as Mottled Umbers and the European Oak Leafroller have been on the rise for some years now, and seem to thrive this year as never before. Early spring was cold in 2009, which might have helped them to fine-tune their timing. Or might we be witnessing the delayed effects of lazy birds?
Whatever the reason, the past few weeks numerous members of this family of geometers, could be observed rappelling down from the forest canopy towards ground level where they continued travels.
As brown bear populations are on the rise in Scandinavia, the Swedish Union for forest workers discuss possibilities of supplying their members with pepper-spray. According to a specialist of the Swedish Wildlife Research Station, use of pepper-spray showed already useful in warding off bear-attacks in Alaska (Source: Dagens Nyheter). For those of you reading Swedish.
Update: Not only blue tits, mentioned before on this site, also the European Pied Flycatcher is getting out of tune with its prey by global warming. Dutch scientists start experiments with transmigrating these to Sweden where their timing supposedly will be in tune again. For those of you that read dutch… Lets hope these broken homes won’t unexpectedly add yet another loop to the complicated effects of global warming..
Dutch scientistst discover the advantages of infidelity in populations of blue tits. One of the advantages, earlier hatching, may for example diminisch the effects of ‘getting out of tune’ with your prey species, in its turn caused by global warming. Mmm, might we thus conclude that global warming causes infidility?
O Rosalind! these trees shall be my books
And in their barks my thoughts I'll character;
That every eye which in this forest looks
Shall see thy virtue witness'd every where.
(William Shakespeare)
As brown bear populations are on the rise in Scandinavia, the Swedish Union for forest workers discuss possibilities of supplying their members with pepper-spray. According to a specialist of the Swedish