So it is warmer but instead we got a wind that makes everything feel colder. The dogs and I have been in the forest mostly so we haven’t felt much of it to be honest. Nights can still be a bit chilly so the ground is frozen when we get out first thing in the morning.
I drove to the supermarket in Skara this morning, the big road was just fine but the smaller one just outside my village was a bit scary to drive on 🙂 I always do a test brake when I drive out on it now when it’s cold in the morning and even though I have really good winter tires on the car still slid around as if it was drunk 🙂 🙂 So all the way to the big road I wished no hogs or deer would jump up on the road 🙂 🙂
We haven’t seen much of the sun except for when the clouds were so thin it shined through them. We walked down to the bog and out to my favourite island and walked in the forest there. I could hear one hunting dog bark in the distance , last time they were all over the bog. I couldn’t find a single track from wildlife oddly enough, not even from the wild hogs that I know are plenty out there. I guess the wind and generally cold weather made them stay in the thickets until they really needed to eat something.
Now when all the leafs have fallen down we can hear the traffic on the big road but out on that island it’s totally devoid of traffic sounds. Mostly because most of the trees there are spruces and they’re so thick that not even sounds go through. It is a nature reserve so no one has cut a tree there since I don’t know when. The thought is that when these trees have fallen more “natural” for this area trees will start to grow there instead. I guess the idea is nice but since 70 years back nothing than spruces have grown there there will also be lots of spruce seeds just waiting for a chance to grow up 🙂 🙂
There was a small Sparrow hawk sitting on the table in front of the bird feeder this morning just waiting to have a small bird as breakfast. Well the small birds were nowhere to be found oddly enough 🙂 🙂 🙂 I think it must have been a young male (because of the size, males are smaller) and that he hasn’t figured out that being seen by his food is not a good thing 🙂 🙂 Beautiful bird and even though I like the birds by the feeder I do hope this one will survive the winter.
It is time for that last cup of tea for the day and then watch some tv if I can find anything that interests me, which I doubt.
Have a great day!
The Cottage by the crane lake. 
Hi! I’ll bet that spruce reservevwss clear-cut once, dog-hair growth like that usually happens after a clear-cut or a really hot fire. And you’re right, it needs thinning.
I hope the sparrow hawk survives the winter! Here, what used to be called a sparrow hawk is now called American kestrel.
Enogh factoids! Have a great week
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Hi Carol!
All trees here are the same age and was planted around 70-75 years ago. The ground is so bad that it didn’t even work for animals to feed on during summer I’ve heard, so instead they planted spruces. After it became a nature reserve the trees will now grow until they die and even though it’s a prefect place for bark beetles to thrive on and spread from they’ll not do anything about it. I do wonder what it will look like in 70 more years 🙂
I do hope so too and as long as we don’t have any severe snowstorms I think it’ll make it.
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Hi Carol, I’ll respectfully offer an example of how common names for bird species can be confusing and/or misleading.
Christer’s photo is an Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus). It is an Accipiter species. The old North American common name, sparrowhawk, refers to a Falcon species, which you noted is now called the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius.)
I tried to post a photo of male & female American Kestrels perched side by side, but WordPress won’t allow a photo to post in my comment.
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