Third and fourth day

As I speak I’m in the car with Johannes in his Ford Ka and we just passed Vilhelmina where we had pizza. Yesterday we said goodbye to Ester who had kindly taken us in for a second night in Lund. We started driving from Lund at 9, me and Johannes in 1 car and Juan, Paula, Manu and Rob in the other. It was clear that I had ‘chosen’ the better car ;) since both Johannes and me were keen on seeing birds of prey next to the road. After a smart and very close call with a Red Kite an Osprey was being chased by a Hooded Crow which was a good sight even from the car. Later on we had a dead Badger, a alive and kicking Red Fox and a Honey Buzzard. We visited some friends of Paula and Juan at Kvismarren, 2 lakes just north of Vätern where 15 pairs of Great Reed Warblers breed and thus the best location on seeing them and doing research in Sweden. The ringers were really kind and the surroundings of the ringershouse, which was situated a long way from the lakes, were nice. We saw lots of Common Cranes and there were Tree Sparrows and Pied Flycatchers breeding in the garden. We then pushed on north and had our first Elk! Especially Manu was really excited because it was his first Elk. A couple kms after the Elk 2 Black-throated Divers were a welcome sight, a bit later still we had an amazing sight of a breeding Black-throated Divers just 10 meters from the road! We searched a good location to sleep and found one just south of Eldforsen. There were several Woodcocks displaying and Rob and Johannes heard a Pygmy Owl which unfortunately wouldn’t call again. My first night in ‘the wild’ was nice though a slightly higher tent would’ve been better, my own fault. Rob, Johannes and I woke up early to try and look for some grouse. We succeeded in hearing distant Black Grouses displaying, 2 Black Woodpeckers were in a drumming contest and Common Cranes and Ravens were calling far away in the woods. The best sighting for me was, as always, a mammal; a small mouse ran over the road holding its tail up high, its tail was equally long as its body or fell just a bit short. Even though we don’t know exactly which species occur here, there can’t be too many species that fit that description. We had breakfast at a small cabin next to the road where 2 pairs of Pied Flycatchers bred. In the Netherlands the usual male form you see are grayish brown, slightly darker than the females but clearly distinguished by the white forehead patch. The males here in Sweden are stunningly velvety black which contrasts so nice with the pure white of the underparts, wing panel and forehead. Displaying Siskins were also a new sight for me, it resembled Greenfinch display very strongly. Birds along the road included White-headed Long-tailed Tit, Northern Bullfinch, Black-throated Diver and lots and lots of Fieldfares. Johannes and I had an exciting moment when shortly after breakfast I saw a shape sitting in a tree that resembled and owl, since it seemed so big I immediately shouted ‘Great-grey Owl, Great-grey Owl!’, we tried to signal to the others that we had seen something and quickly turned the car. Returning to the spot it seemed that my ‘shape’ was gone but there was a Common Buzzard nearby, bummer. We turned the car again and reached the spot for the third time and now there was a Honey Buzzard in the air flying really low! 3 bird theory or just my shortcomings? I held my mouth shut for a while..
This evening we will be in Ammarnäs and write about the rest of the day.

Well the evening was extremely nice. The first Reindeer started to appear just after Vilhelmina and a tame Red Fox next to the road was also nice, it seemed bigger and paler than the ones we get in Holland. Just before Sorsele there were some Whooper Swans nesting and flying by. Bad luck struck me and Johannes as we drove into Sorsele, a policeman directed us to the side of the road; he had taken our speed and we were driving 16 km to fast. Normally, in the Netherlands, I would expect a 70-80 Euro fine, we were fined with 2400 SEK!! This is more than 240 Euro, seems pretty harsh to me! You can imagine that it was a bit quiet in our car after that.
The way from Sorsele to Ammarnäs is about 90km long and really nice, unfortunately recent repairs to the road had the road covered in patched of gravel. Luck was with us again though when a Tengmalms Owl flew by just inches above the ground. Several Greenshanks and Woodcocks were flushed from the side of the road and we had a total of 12 Arctic Hares. Smart little hares these Arctic ones, slimmer and more stunningly colored compared to the European counterparts. When we were very close to Ammarnäs a bird flew over the road which turned out to be a Hawk owl! A new species for me and very unexpected to see one before reaching Ammarnäs.
The Ammarnäs field station is something I have never seen before, it’s an enormous house several 4 person and 2 person rooms. Rob and I were assigned nr 10 from which we have this view:





And this is my side of the room, I know, already a mess: