Put the kettle on
Text and photo: Stefan HanssonI look to the other side of the lake; John’s hide looks like a small bunker, a tent in camouflage, his Canon sticking out. It is cold a morning; sunny, but the mean wind blows right through the jacket. We have had a whole week of unexpected heat and maybe I am just spoilt, unprepared for this relapse into normal temperatures. In my binoculars I can see John coming out of the hide and I start walking back to the Land Rover where Eileen already is waiting for us to return. It is 9 o’clock and we have been here since 4. We drive home, it is time to put the kettle on.
I have learned to appreciate The English Breakfast; spam and eggs, bread, and buckets of tea. Though I have realized that this need for the English to “have a brew” or “a cupper” as soon as they have a break, not always is a need for tea, but a chance to sit down with friends to have a chat; it is a social event. Not that I am complaining. This is nice and we spend hour upon hour talking about everything; bird photography of course, but also politics, film, hunting, fishing and cultural similarities and differences between England and Sweden, the English and the Swedes. John laughs and predicts that by the time they leave I will have become a tea drinker. I suspect that Eileen have seen us both through; we are unable to keep our mouths shut. Wha’, what’s wrong wi’ talkin’!?
So far we have not had the best of luck. The first few days we spent in the outskirts of Umeå, trying to photograph beavers, but to do that we had to find them which we did not, so we went into the country. Our attempts to find beavers there also failed. The lodge proved to be deserted and even if there were plenty of signs of beaver activity, they were no where to be found.
Smewing in the morning
One of the birds John and Eileen want to photograph is the smew (sv. salskrak). So far we have not been very successful. Normally there are 3 to 5 pairs in our lake; so far we have seen two males and one female and everywhere we go smews seem to have taken their business elsewhere. We can see them, but always far, far off on the other side of the lake and the problem is that they are to few; more smews mean that they travel around a lot more, rotate round the lake, disturbing one another and therefore give us a lot more chances to have their photograph taken. More will come, we just have to be patient and wait for them.
Much of the problems we have had to face so far are caused by this very strange spring. We are used to see a lot of hen capercaillie (sv. tjäderhöna) and greyhen (orrhöna) feeding of the early grass, but something is very wrong this year. Our guests have been successful in photographing greyhen, even though they have been unusually skitty, but we have not seen one single capercaillie yet. My guess is that this “instant summer” has altered the normal conditions we are used to. Most of the birds are done and have disappeared back into the woods. Their grass eating period is already over so to speak.
On the other hand; spring is late in our lake. It was bound in ice a lot longer than what can be called normal and the birds have had to wait for the ice to melt and therefore only a few have come back so far. The tufts of sedge (sv. starr) are still barren and brown, not a green patch anywhere, but to my surprise the slavonian grebe (sv. svarthakedopping) is already occupied with brooding. So far we have discovered two nests. Other species are fighting for the females, there is a lot of action going on there, but there is a lot more to come.
Bird photography
We have come to realize that John and Eileen belong to a group of very skilled bird photographers and they are very serious about it. Only the best photos will do and since birds very rarely do what you want them to do, they have to be just as patient. By now we have hides all around the lake and we try every day to find that hen capercaillie. They have been successful to a certain extent in getting what they want, but there are still some species missing in their Swedish portfolio. Their plan is to stay yet another week and I will join them again on Wednesday and I will try the best I can to assist them in getting what they want. I find the whole thing very interesting and be sure I want to show them the best we have in this country, the wildlife and nature! John and Eileen have told me about English legislation concerning preservation and wildlife protection – and it is BIZARRE. In some parts the English wildlife photographers have to get a license to be ALLOWED to do what they do. The police are authorized to search your car, caravan, your belongings in search of “controlled substances” like dead and endangered species or eggs. One would think that the police – anywhere in the world – would have to have just cause to ransack your belongings. No way that this kind of “Bird Gestapo” would be accepted in Sweden! Bird photographers are all environmentalists, not criminals. Besides, one would think that the police would have their hands full dealing with real crime.
Differences
Archive photos by Annelie and Stefan HanssonWe are surprised to hear about many things. For instance different species of thrush (sv. trast) and waders (sv. vadarfåglar) are very rare in Britain. The above mentioned are only found in Scotland and they are very few since Scotland is the southernmost part of their breeding area. We have millions and millions of them. Thrushes and waders may be rare in Britain, but we hardly ever notice them.
Like us the English have a problem with monoculture farming. In fact; it is even worse and many species have become very rare because of it. We still have quite a lot of the species that are found on the English red list. Hopefully we have recognized the problem in time.
All in all the Swedish wildlife seems a lot better off than the English and I think that we have a very good chance of keeping it that way. Not by copying English legislation, but by everyone working together; environmentalists, hunters, photographers and all the others that on a regular basis visit nature, not letting legislators and politicians mess things up. It is about time that we stop fighting each other and start working for the common goal; to keep the environment healthy.
What we have managed to do so far
We have had a bit of luck with the slavonian grebe, the greyhen and the wood sandpiper (sv. skogssnäppa) to mention a few of the most important species on our guests list. Others are still avoiding us, like the illusive smew, but we are still optimistic that we will get them in the end. Two experienced photographers and one local hunter can hardly fail. At least we hope so. See you next Monday.
