20 km south, 40 years back May 21 2016

Today I took the car to the peninsula Vånören – ca 20 km linear distance, ca 35 with the car. I thought, I would experience a new place, but well, I just forgot, that I’ve been there already. Anyway, a nice place with quite different types of landscapes. Forests, shallow bogs, rocky coast, small lakes and big granite rocks.

When I came to a rock pool, I saw the first tadpoles of the year. I kneeled down and had a closer look. After a while I discovered other animals in the shallow and clear water – most of them insect larvas. Some of them I knew, others I had to look up when I was home again.

Here they come:

Dragonfly nymph · Libellenlarve · trollsländelarva

Great diving beetle larva · Gelbrandkäferlarve · Larv av en gulbrämad dykare

Büschelmückenlarve (Glasstäbchenlarve) · Chaoboridae larva · larv av en tofsmygga

Caddisfly larva · Köcherfliegenlarve · nattsländelarv

For an hour I was an eight year old boy again. A boy, that has been loving water and all the small animals in it. When I was a child I had tadpoles, water insects, newts or water snails in big plastic bathtubs in the garden each summer.

Back to present age: I kneeled on the rocks, looked at the tadpoles, the great diving beetle larvae (they look like small aliens) – and the shy caddisfly larvas in their self-made “burrows”.

The photos are not the best – the animals were under water, the camera over water. The refraction of the light made it hard to focus and many photos were blurred. But anyway, it was great fun (beside of the hurting knees kneeling on the rough rocky ground).

One question is still open. Have a look at the 5th photo. What is it?! It floated underwater, was round 15 mm long and almost transparent. I don’t think, it’s an insect, perhaps a fish larva, but I don’t have any clue. If you know, what it is, let me know.

Postscript

Number 5 is a mosquito larva, not one of the biting ones, but probably of the family Chaoboridae. German wikipedia describes the larvae as Glasstäbchenlarven which means “glass rod larvae”. A good description in my opinion.

Two images of the lake Snesviken Apr 29 2016

The heavy snowfall some days ago is history. Heavy rain melted the snow away. More and more ice on the lakes and the Baltic Sea disappears, too and only rests of snow and ice remind of the last winter.

Two images of the lake Snesviken – the first one shot yesterday, the second one made some hours ago.

“A spring day in Skelleftehamn” Apr 25 2016

Yesterday smhi – the “Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute” – issued a snow warning level 1 for Northern Sweden’s coast. Yesterday evening it changed the warning to level 2: 5-10, locally 15-20 cm of snow in a short time.

Well, Skelleftehamn didn’t get that much snow this time, only 5 – 10 cm, but it snowed crazy between 11 and 16 o’clock. That’s what it looked like directly at the seaside:

In Skelleftehamn it was a bit less windy but still a lot of very wet snow poured down. It wasn’t easy to take pictures, because not only the outside of my clothes, but also my cameras and lenses were soaking wet almost instantly.

Heavy snowfall above Kallholmen in Skelleftehamn

Now it’s + 1°C and the snow starts to melt. But still my backyard, that was free of snow this morning shows just a plain white surface of snow.

Old ice and new ice on the lake Snesviken Apr 20 2016

All ice is melting. The Baltic Sea is almost completely free of ice, while the sheltered lakes in the wood are still frozen up. But even there the ice has started to thin down and melt, especially near the shore and around the rocks.

On the other side we have still frost temperatures on clear nights. Then the air is still cold enough to make the water freeze over again with a fine layer of new ice. The photo above is made at 20:15 and the process of freezing has already begun.

Between ice and spring Apr 16 2016

Cold, clear and crisp Apr 14 2016

It’s mid-April and the civil twilight already starts round 4 o’clock. A quite stupid time to wake up, but it happened to me today. Normally I would roll over in my bed and continue sleeping, but the sky was so incredibly clear, that I just had to stand up and take the car to the coast.

As clear the sky was, as cold was the air: -8 °C. Time for gloves and down parka again. East from the peninsula Näsgrundet the Baltic Sea was still open – just as on Monday, when I opened the kayak season.

Ice edge and blue sky on a clear and crisp morning

West from Näsgrundet however, the frost has frozen together the drifting ice floes and put a thin layer of fresh sea ice on the bay Kallholmsfjärden.

Kallholmsfjärden froze over last night – Rönnskar in the background

Now I have to get some more sleep, it’s still quite early.

Blue sky, blue sea – opening the kayak season Apr 11 2016

Finally the Baltic Sea round the peninsula Näsgrundet has been open and free of ice. Time to open the kayak season!

To Näsgrundet it’s just a 2.8 km walk from home. The kayak is tied onto a small two-wheeled dolly. I wear the same waistbelt, that I use for my pulka. Hereby I can walk and drag the kayak behind me without using my arms.

My kayak on the ice behind the “lotsstation”

Soon I reached the peninsula and dragged the kayak onto the surrounding ice shield. After putting on my dry suit, lifejacket, neoprene boots, gloves and balaclava I was dressed for the first paddling. Perhaps I looked a bit overdressed, but despite of the springlike air temperatures it’s still winter paddling – the water is as cold as it can be.

I paddled along the ice shelf, that still connects the islands Bredskär, Klubben and Flottgrundet with the main land. The ice is soft and starts to get transparent, but it’s still quite thick.

Starting the tour – the island Klubben ahead

Soon I reached Klubben and paddled along the icy coast.

Klubben – ice above and below the water surface

From Klubben it’s just 200 metres to Flottgrundet and from that it’s only 500 or 600 meters to Gåsören …

… at least, if you take the direct way. I preferred a detour to paddle between the ice floes. It’s a great experience. Some ice floes are quite big and welcome resting spots for ducks, geese and seagulls. Others are so tiny, that they are hardly visible, especially if they are completely transparent and clear. They sparkle and glitter like huge diamonds.

After some detours I headed to Gåsören, circuited it to look for a good anchorage and went on land (or better said, on ice) to make a small rest.

After I stilled my hunger and thirst I entered my kayak again and returned to the Näsgrundet, this time on the direct way, which is round about two kilometres. When I got out from my kayak and stepped onto the ice that surrounds the peninsula, I heard a noise: A snow mobile crossed the same ice shield I paddled along some hours ago – in same distance to the open water. Spring, meet winter!

After taking of the lifejacket and dry suit I went home, dragging the kayak behind again and enjoying the springlike temperatures. No warm jacket anymore, no woollen cap – no gloves and no warm boots. Round 40 °C warmer than 12 weeks ago – glorious!

The ice weakens Mar 30 2016

The Baltic Sea is still covered with ice. The warmth of the last days however has not only melted away a lot of snow on land but also warmed up the ice on the Baltic Sea. The layer of snow has vanished and you can see the first open water round the stones.

Parts of the sheet of ice look soft and unstable. Probably it’s still thick and solid and probably it’s still possible to walk the two kilometres to the island Gåsören, but I wouldn’t dare to do it anymore.

The Baltic Sea – the island Gåsören in the back

I’m waiting for open water and the first opportunity for a kayak trip instead.

Almost spring …

Långhällan again Mar 22 2016

Two days ago Annika and I walked on the sea ice outside of Långhällan and had a view on large patches of open water.

Today I visited this place once more, but the whole area was covered with ice again. Some areas were covered with dark solid ice, some with ice floes that have frozen together. You could see walls of broken ice and dark channels between the different parts.

When I entered the terra incognita I half expected to fall through the ice and was equipped with the following:

my immersion suit, which is completely waterproof (and warm due to the thick neoprene)
isdubbar – handles with sharp peaks for pulling oneself out of an ice hole
my Nikon AW1 – a waterproof camera

To my big surprise all ice was thick and stable enough to bear my weight.

I couldn’t see any open water, but I could hear the sounds of ice and water below me. The cracking and clicking, the low, sonor pulsing drones echoing under the icy surface and sometimes even rhythmical beeping noises – like the Baltic Sea sending Morse code. An experience both fascinating and frightening.

Some impressions of today:

First day of spring Mar 20 2016

Today it’s the first day of spring. In the forest you could see the first snowless patches of soil covered with blueberry plants and the first birds sang their spring songs. But if you continued your walk through the woods until you reached the shore and had a look over the Baltic Sea, it looked like winter would be endless and continue forever:

But if you went on the ice and looked closer you could see, that the frozen surface only covered parts of the Baltic Sea. There was open water ahead. Blue open water. Blue open water with tiny little waves.

Oh, what I longed for my kayak – I would have loved to paddle on the crystal clear sea to the icebergs that you could see near the horizon.

The first day of spring in Skelleftehamn – still wintry but with a promise of spring coming soon.