Living in the tiny, country settlement of Skifors brings a myriad of creatures and critters to your door that you very rarely - if ever - encounter in a large city. Most of them I’ve never seen before in real life and so it’s been quite an exciting time for me whenever something new appears. I understand it’s also been amusing for Kristian as he gets to experience my child-like screams of delight or terror every time something new appears.
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| A beautiful bee-bug-beetle thing I haven't been able to identify...yet |
The wild animals roam freely and happily wherever they want to taking full advantage of allemansrätten (‘all man’s right’) - especially at night.
Elk (also called moose) are spectacular animals but not exactly pretty. I think they look like a cross between a horse and a donkey on steroids and are actually quite intimidating. They are normally timid animals however and are much happier moving away and hiding behind trees when we get too close.
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| Some elks will let you get close if you are quiet |
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| Young elk trying to hide behind a tree |
It’s a natural reaction to get a fright when something steps out in front of your car. But I’m not sure who got the biggest shock when an enormous elk (in my mind it was at least 5 metres tall) lumbered slowly across the road in front of our car one night. Me - because I’d never seen an elk that close before, or Kristian (who was driving) when I let rip a blood-curdling scream, jumped about a metre and tried to put the brakes on from the passenger seat.
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| This big guy kept a close eye on us |
Badgers are occasionally out and about at night too. I was driving home one night (very slowly keeping a close eye out for elk) when a badger stepped out in front of me. It paused (like a possum does in NZ), looked up, stared at the car lights (like a possum) and waited for me to stop (just like a possum does). Which I did. Another badger joined it. And then a third one! Mother Badger and her 2 young ones stared at the car for a few seconds then raced through our light beams across the road to safety. They were the lucky ones. I more commonly see badgers ‘sleeping’ on the side of the road (just like possums do!)
Jack is dad to a couple of Kristian’s friends and seems to attract wild animals. I hadn’t seen any foxes so the boys arranged for me to go and see one at Jack’s place. For some reason, this particular fox decided that Jack would make a good mate and she started showing up when he was out walking. She kept hanging around and eventually Jack started feeding her.
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| Mother fox |
The fox showed up at 5pm just as predicted. She was beautiful. Course orange-brown fur, a sharp, pointy nose and a huge bushy tail that looked far to big for her thin body. She paused in the bushes initially, checking out the surroundings for safety, then decided it was fine to approach. She wolfed down the food Jack had put out, then sauntered off into the bush again.
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| Scoping us out... |
We found out that a couple of weeks later, she brought her puppies along for a feed. So it was back to Jack's place another night to see the puppies...
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| One of the little foxes |
And while I'm on the subject of puppies...Kristian's sister's King Charles Spaniel had a litter of 6 beautiful puppies (not exactly wild animals but too cute not to mention). They're at that lovely playful, biting, licky, cuddly stage - and there's still 2 up for sale!
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| Having a break between playing |
But I diverge. Back to the wild animals...
I didn't think there were many birds around when I first got here, especially as I very rarely heard any singing. But once I had them pointed out to me, I started seeing birds everywhere.
Skäggdopping (pronounced h-wegg-dopping) are common on the lakes. Skäggdopping translates wonderfully to become the 'beard dipper'. I think they look a bit like cartoon ducks out of a Walt Disney show and they make me laugh every time I see them.
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Skäggdopping aka the beard dipper
Storlom are another stunning bird. They are about the size of a large duck with fabulous purple, grey and brown markings. And their call is quite haunting and gets into your bones - especially when it echoes around the lakes late at night.
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| Storlom - largest of the 'lom' birds |
Sädesärla are super common everywhere (a bit like sparrows!). They never stop moving, flicking their tails up and down constantly and darting around eating insects. I think they are beautiful and have not grown tired of watching them flit around.
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| Sädesärla |
One of the largest birds of prey in Sweden is the fiskgjuse (fisk-you-ser). It's an osprey with a wingspan of up to 1.75 metres and wickedly sharp talons for picking up fish out of the water. This pair have been renovating their nest for the last five years or so and were feeding a young bird when we went by.
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| The fiskgjuse flew away from it's nest and tried to draw us away |
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| In the top branches of the pine tree... |
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| ...is a pile of logs! Amazing how they get those huge branches up there. |
I've never done any serious bird-watching before. We had some time to spare one afternoon, so drove for miles along narrow country roads to Kvismaren to see what birds we could spot. Jack was with us and was great at pointing out loads of birds, both common and rare.
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| Magical day for a spot of bird watching |
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| Jack kept watching...the boys drank coffee |
One of the more rare birds he spotted was a buskskvätta. This translates to mean 'bush pee-er'! It sat on the fence not far from us and … sang (what else do you think it would do???)
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| The tiny buskskvätta |
Blue herons, swans, geese, canada geese, ducks, seagulls. They congregate here in large numbers to breed and feed. And we certainly picked the right time to come - there were fluffly, young birds everywhere!!!
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| Blue heron standing guard |
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| Baby signets climbing up onto mum's back for a ride |
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| Geese, geese, geese...are everywhere!!!! |
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| Canada geese with a creche of goslings |
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| It's just a seagull chick...but so cute! |
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| Skrattmåsen aka the laughing seagull |
There are plenty of other wild animals out roaming through the forest and lakes. Deer, squirrels, beavers, snakes, kanin (pronounced cannon, aka rabbits) and lizards. Thankfully, there are very few poisonous or dangerous animals around here and so I feel quite safe every time I go walking.
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| I haven't seen any beavers yet, only their old homes |
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| Water snakes are common enough and quite harmless |
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| Kanin are huge here! |
I've been told there are bears in the forests too. But so far, these are the only bears I've come across...
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