A little about Bird Migration

Geese gathering at Alrø bird reserve

The migratory birds move thousands of kilometres each spring and autumn, in spring to the north to their breeding places in Scandinavia in order to nest and have kids. Here is a lot of space and food in summer. In autum the migratory birds fly south to their winter-quarter in the warm countries, where they can rest and find food while snow and frost cover the earth in Scandinavia.

Denmark is a crossroad for both water birds and land birds Birdwatchers estimate that about half a a billion birds pass the southern Scandinavia each autumn.

The land birds prefer to fly over land as far as possible before the flight across sea - therefore they follow the coastline until they are forced to cross the sea.
The water birds prefer to fly across water as far as possible -  therefore they also follow the coast line  until they are forced to fly over land.

An extreme example of bird migration is the Arctic tern which breeds far north near Arctis and overwinters at Antarctis. The species fly usually a yearly migration of ab. 34.000 kilometer. Some individuals can even traverse over 80.000 kilometer yearly, which is the double of the circumference of the earth.

The birds' orientation, the ability to find their way, is genetically determined. How the birds orient themselves is not quite clarified, but it is known that birds use several methods like the Terrestrial magnetic field, constellations, the sun and moon position, polarized light and visual Memory.

Some examinations have shown that the birds not only feed on their fat-reserves but that some of their organs grow smaller during the migration - so the birds exploit the bound energy from fx muscles, stomach, liver and other inner organs. In this way the birds get both energy and a lower weight, which makes the flight easier.

During the migration the birds feed on metabolic water, which is released as a biproduct during the metabolism when the stored fat is burned. The biggest loss of fluid during the flight happens via the exhaled air,  but the birds lose only little fluid through their droppings.

Most of the big birds, like swans and geese, must be taught by their parents in order to find the right migratory route between the winter quarter and the breeding place.

Several migratory birds can fly at least a week in a row without landing.

Some species, like geese and swans, fly in formation during the migration like the V-formation (the wedge formation). A common misunderstanding is that a formation like this has a leading goose in front,  but the birds change place alternately.

It is relatively easy to imagine that a big bird of prey can hover all the way to southern Europe or Africa on spread wings, but it is difficult to imagine a little bird on such a long trip. A bird weighing 10-15 gram has to bring fat in order to be able to survive the tour over long stretches, where it might have no possibility to seek food, water or shadow.

And what I have found here above is just a small part about this fantastic bird migration, the source is wikipedia, the photos; grethe bachmann . 


The bird migration is a wonderful miracle, isn't it? 

Childbirth in Scandinavia in the 16th century

Dagligt Liv i Norden i det 16 århundrede 
Fødsel og Daab

The mother gets a drink

Superstition was still alive in the 16th century's Scandinavia , much  like in the dark Middle Ages,  but it was more spread among people, and more common in the countryside than in the city. It might also have something to do with people being afraid of the dark at night. The city streets were relatively lighted up by the lit windows in the houses, but in the country the night was really black, especially in the winter season, and Christmas was a special dangerous time. No one went out after dark. The cattle had been taken care of - there was no need to go out in the stable. The household stayed inside in safe surroundings. Outside ruled the trolls and the elf-people

The situation around the birth of a child was filled with dangers. "The mother to be" was assisted by a group of women who had to help her with everything possible, but their most important job was to watch that the newborn child became a * changeling - a a troll came and changed it with a troll-baby. Whatever the group of women were many or few,  they all stayed in the same room at nightfall - the delivery room. In common or poor homes the assisting women were usually a group of wives, who also had to go home and take care of their own house and children, only two or three could stay all the time, but in the nobility the women were family and friends, often from far away. They were invited to witness the important family event and they stayed in the house for some time.

the baby is being wrapped.

It might not seem a good idea to disturb the mother's nightrest, but the precaution  around the newborn child was one of the most important according to the contemporary concepts. The most difficult fight was in charge and many were needed to assist against the evil trolls.  All night through the women had to protect the two heathens, the mother and the baby, against the powers of the dark.

First of all the room had to be continously illuminated. Poor people - who daily used some special sticks which could not be kept lit all night - had  to keep the fire burning in the hearth day and night as long as a heathen child was in the house. This was still a custom around 1900 in some districts in Norway and Sweden. The prosperous and rich people in the Catholic period had consecrated lights. They also sprinkled the room with holy water, and smoked it with consecrated herbs. But after the reformation people just used common lights and crossed themselves and put a book of psalms upon the baby's chest. Still on the time of the writer Ludvig Holberg (1684-1754)  this custom was used. The lights had to be as oldfashioned as possible, the waxlights were not as effective as the old tallow candles. (Ludvig Holberg wrote a comedy Barselstuen (The Delivery Room)

Trolls, fresco Voldby kirke

By using these precautions and still being two or three watching-women in the room they were able to secure the two "heathens" -  ( as they were considered to be until the baptismal) . But the women were sometimes in doubt if they - while they were in a hurry - had done one of some fatal errors. They  might have been drying the child's clothes out in the air,  or they might have borrowed something out from the house, or they might have been rotating the grinder etc. - there was no end on all those dangerous things they might have done. And this could be fatal in a house with a little heathen child. Especially the Christmas period was dangerous for the child.

A son for the knight's wife.

In such circumstances the women could do nothing else but try to have the damage fixed. The baby  was the weakest of the two heathens, it had to be cured first of all. It might be cured by a lead coin, best if it was cast of church lead and with a carved cross, hung around  the baby's neck in the name of Christ. A stronger cure was a ring, cast in silver, collected from nine various women, whose first born was a boy. The most effective cure was to bear the child again by putting it naked through a priest's collar, or through the hole of a together-grown tree, or through an opening in a grass turf from the church yard -  or through the fence by a cross road. And all the time while saying Lords Prayer.


If none of those cures were good enough,  it really seemed that the child in spite of the care of the women had been confused with a troll's child. The women had been overwhelmed with fatigue and the woman, who had to do the watch had unfortunately fallen a little asleep. But even though they were all awake the cunning troll might sneak into the room anyway, while the tallow lights burnt drowsily. The troll might sneak along the deep shadows, remove the book of psalms from the baby's chest and change the baby with his own troll-baby without anyone noticing it.

A changeling is whipped.

If the women had a reason to believe that this had happened, there was nothing else left but having this little monster sent back to its home and get back the right child. But first they had to be sure that the child really was a changeling. A changeling-baby might be recognized by its big head and excessive appetite, but since human babies might be alike, the women had to do two tests. One was to hold the naked baby towards the sun in the morning - especially on Easter morning. If the child was a changeling it would crack at once. The other milder test was to lure the changeling to talk and thereby reveal its real age. For although it looked like a baby and lay in a cradle it was really an old guy. It was all foul play from the troll's side when the baby pretended not to be able to talk or understand but only knew how to eat.

Many tricks were done to lure the troll-baby to reveal itself. A Jutland woman was brewing some beer and did it in a special odd way, and the baby suddenly said. "I have lived for many years and have never seen it done in this way!". Another woman used another trick. She promised to give the child some sausage but served roast pork and the baby said. "I have never seen such a sausage in all my life," And such the women tried to make the troll-child reveal its true nature.

It was more difficult if it was impossible to see if the baby was a changeling. But if suddenly there were two babies in the cradle then there was really panic among the women. Which one was a changeling? Such cases are told in both Scandinavia and Germany. There was an advice to find out which child was a changeling. A wild foal was fetched. The two babies were laid upon the ground, shrouded in a cloth and the foal sniffed to them. The foal sniffed to one child and wanted to lick it, but when it sniffed to the other child, it became quite wild and crazy and wanted to kick it. There was no doubt who was the changeling! But before anyone could do anything a tall woman came along, took the changeling and disappeared.

Delivery room, 16th century.

If the watch-women and the parents had found out that the baby was a changeling, they had to mistreat it so forcefully that the true parents, the trolls, had pity and took it back. So the women whipped the little monster, they spit on it and swept it out of the house with the dust rubbish , they pretended they wanted to burn it in the hot oven -  but sometimes the changeling in the shape of a little guy, run off himself, he curled up and roll along up hills and down valley - or else it might happen that an old man or woman showed up, took the changeling and put the human baby in the cradle instead. Such strange stories are told from Germany, England, Scotland and Ireland.


With all these terrible dangers it was no wonder that the parents wanted to baptize their baby as soon as possible, and it was usual at that time that a baptismal came soon after the birth.  People considered the baptismal like a new life where the child was dressed in some kind of armour. The child was hardened they said. This expression was still used in the 19th century.



* changeling, Danish word: skifting. 


Source
Dagligt liv i Norden i det 16 århundrede, Troels fr. Troels-Lund, 1914-1915, Tema: Danish Literature, Middle Ages. .

A Misty Day in November...

The old Danish name for November was slagtemåned (slaughter month). The livestock had to be stabled  It was now time for slaughter  and salting  down the meat, It was cold enough and without risc for ending up with some tainted meat. 

When the farmers had done the slaughter, they examined the spleen of the slaughtered animal. They were convinced this would tell them a lot about the weather to come. .

Nove means nine. November month origins from the old Roman calendar of king Numa Pompilius ab. 500 bc. At that time the Roman year started with the month of March, which made November the ninth month. When the Gregorian calendar was introduced, the year started with January, which brought disturbance in the old numerical order.! 

Aalsø kirke, Djursland

November is dark, but a landscape swept in a haze is like a landscape from a fairy tale, a mysterious place where everything can happen. This is a landscape which a movie director could use in Lord of the Ring or in a movie about the legendary King Arthur. 

Yes, the landscape is swept in grey shades but when the sun suddenly comes through, it reveals a beautiful golden tree upon a hilltop. Such is the weather in autumn. Filled with surprise and beauty. 





photo on a misty day at Djursland and Kolindsund November 2015: grethe bachmann

Fine-leaved Vetch / Langklaset Vikke

Fine-leaved Vetch / Langklaset Vikke

Vicia tenuifolia 


In Denmark: 
Fine-leaved Vetch / Langklaset Vikke is native and first of all registered in the Danish Isles  At Funen at Hindsholm, at Zealand along the coast of Storebælt, the inside of Isefjord and Roskildefjord and at the island Møn. (Jessen 1931)


Fine-leaved Vetch has still a main occurrence area in the northeast of Funen, Northwest Zealand, Stevns and East Møn. Also some sporadic discoveries in Jutland and at the island Falster. 
(Christiansen og Prehn 2009, Faurholdt 2006, Næsborg et al. 2001, Tranberg et al. 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009) and at Bornholm, where it was observed in 1985. (P. Wind pers.obs. 1985).

There are no informations about the population-development  of Fine-leaved Vetch/ Langklaset Vikke. The species is possibly vaguely declining .  It seems that it tolerates mowing in light-open facilities. (Næsborg et al 2001). It is able to spread secondary to culture-affected soil in edge of ditches, at railway slopes, in cultures with greenery and edges of roads. (Faurholdt 2006, Hansen, A. 1977, 1981, 1982, Lyshede 2004):

Fine-leaved Vetch /Langklaset Vikke is native to most of Europe and the northwestern part of Africa. The spread of the species reaches the Caucasus to the east and the central part of Asia. The northern limit of its distribution is the middle part of Sweden  (Hultén og Fries 1986) (.Christiansen og Prehn 2009, Faurholdt 2006, Hansen, A. 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, Hansen, K. 1981, Hultén og Fries 1986, Jessen 1931, Lyshede 2004, Næsborg et al. 2001, Tranberg et al. 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, Tutin et al. 1964-1980).


Source: Fagdatacenter, Biodiversitet og Terrestrisk Natur, for Den Danske Rødliste , Roskilde. 

 photo: grethe bachmann

View from the habitat Høvblege, (Møn) to the Baltic Sea.

Short summary  from Wikipedia
Vicia is a genus of about 140 species of flowering plants commonly known as vetches. It is in the legume family (Fabaceae). Member species are native to Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa. ( subfamily see Vicia, wikipedia) 
(...)
Fine-leaved Vetch is an established scrambling perennial, known only from Breadsall Cutting (SK3839). It was first discovered in 1979 and was still present in 1997. It is introduced to England from central and southern Europe as a grain contaminant.

A perennial herb occasionally found naturalised on grassy banks, verges and waste ground, especially by railways. It is often introduced as a contaminant of grain. Lowland.

(...)

V. tenuifolia was grown in Britain by 1799, but not recorded from the wild until it was reported as a casual arising from imported grain in 1859. Some European botanists treat it as a subspecies of V. cracca.

photo: grethe bachmann 

Field Cow-Wheat / Ager Kohvede

 
Melampyrum arvense, commonly known as field cow-wheat, is an herbaceous flowering plant of the genus Melampyrum in the family Orobanchaceae.

Field cow-wheat is like other cow-wheats a hemiparasite - although it is a chlorophyll plant and can assimilate itself it also sucks nutrition from neighbouring plant-roots. It cannot flourish without a host from which to take nutrients.

In an experiment where the growth of M. arvense was compared on rye grass, alfalfa and flax, it was found to grow much the best on the leguminous plant, alfalfa.

Field cow-wheat is quite rare in Denmark (only found in the Isles). It grows in dry and open land , in a dry habitat and chalky soil.  Field cow-wheat has pink-purple flowers from June till August- September.

The photos of field cow-wheat in this article are from the island Møn. (place Magleby)

It was earlier a problematic field weed, but apparently due to a change in farming methods it has disappeared from the fields. The best place to see the plant is probably in Seili, around the archipelago research centre. Field cow-wheat grows casually in different parts of southern Finland and on the shore of southern parts of the Gulf of Finland.

The upright stems of this species, which may branch, are terminated by a spike of pink to purple bracts amongst which the tubular flowers appear. Younger, lower bracts are green however, as the pink/purple colour appears and deepens only with time. The plant grows up to 40 or 60 cm high.

The ordinary leaves are lanceolate and opposite and may have short teeth. The bracts are also lanceolate and have long teeth up to 8 mm. The flowers are two-lipped with a closed throat and are 2 – 2.5 cm long. They are pink to purple with a yellow or white patch.

Field cow-wheat  is distributed throughout Western Europe, southern Spain, southern Italy, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, central and northern Sweden, and northern Finland. Also its range extends east to the Ural Mountains, and it is found in Turkey. In Great Britain it only occurs in a few locations in south-east England.It is becoming rarer, at least in Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland; this may be due to a reduced area of arable land and changes in farming practices, such as seed-cleaning and intensification.

The flowers are pollinated by bumblebees. The seeds may be dispersed by ants which are attracted  by a small oil body attached to each seed, and which carry them to their nests for food. Like some other species of Melampyrum on the undersides the bracts have minute nectar-producing glands, which attract ants, bumlebees and other insects. These glands are violet in the case of Melampyrum arvense, are visible under a hand lens and take the form of minute scales which secrete a sugary solution.

photo 2013 Magleby, Møn: grethe bachmann

Grazing with Cattle, Sheep and Horses in Mols Bjerge

So- called half-cultural areas like meadows, heaths and pastures can today - as a part of nature conservation - be preserved by grazing with cattle, sheep and horses.

 



Cattle 
Cattle is ideal for nature conservation . They eat the grass and don't like the bitter tasting flowers like buttercups. Furthermore they do not graze by the cow dungs. In this way several plants will be allowed to flourish for the benefit of the propagation of flowers and insects.

In public areas a specially developed forest breed is used, which is a crossbreed between 2 Danish dairy breeds and 9 various beef breeds. They are though animals , adapted for grazing in nature land all year.

At the Mols laboratory small longhaired cattle of the Galloway race is used. They are imported from Scotland and have the same properties as the breeds mentioned above.




.

A cute Galloway calf - just look at those eyelashes!

 
Sheep 
Sheep are especially good for nursing the archaeological sites, the slopes and other vulnerable places. Sheep are better than cattle to keep trees and bushes down, but their grazing results in a more flower-poor cover of plants. Icelandic sheep are used at the land of the Mols laboratory.




Horses.
Horses are used in a few places in Mols Bjerge for nature conservation. Horses are better than cattle and sheep to eat the wavy hair grass, which is the most common grass in the open fields. Unfortunately the horses are not well-suited where the public is allowed to go because of their curious and restless behaviour.   
  

 

a small part of Øvre Strandkær's buildings

Mols Laboratory is owned by Naturhistorisk Museum in Aarhus. It is used as a field lab by scientists and students from universities and colleges.

Øvre Strandkær is a property of Miljøministeriet (Ministry of Environment). Here is an exhibition and from here is managed the forest-district's cattle-herd , ab. 200 animals, which are used for nature conservation. at Mols and Helgenæs. They are peaceful animals, which thrive in the nature land all year.

photo: grethe bachmann. 
source: Aarhus Amtskommune Naturafdelingen. 

Vrads Sande - Heath, Inland Dunes and a Veteran Railway.

A pretty vintage car in Vrads Sande

Vrads Sande, is a protected  heath and dune area northwest of the village Vrads in the eastern part of Store Hjøllund plantage 15 km southwest of the town Silkeborg. The area was listed in 1968,. It was never cultivated. It forms a pot-shaped hollow in the terrain, which falls in steep slopes from 120-110 m above sea down to a small heath-lake ab. 85 above sea level.

Vrads Sande - Sun and Rain .

Besides this hollow lie spread overgrowth inland-dunes and rests of meltwater-terasses. East of the road Vrads-Hjøllund are widespread heather, blueberry, lingonberry and juniper-vegetation, while a grazed grass-heath covers the area to the west.

 On the southside of some of the dunes are socalled lichen heath (low heath) dominated by plants which can endure drought ( lichener)

Vrads Sande has borders to the east to another and larger 300 ha protected area, Snabegaard with Salten Å- river. The Snabegaard-area with grazing, heath and forest hills was listed in 1976. The nature path Horsens-Ssilkeborg passes through this area.

Vrads Sande - golden autumn.

The open vintage car drives back before the rain and thunder comes!What a lovely car!

Veteran trail Bryrup-Vrads
 - is driven by a group of enthusiasts  they try to keep the old material, buildings and facility and to maintain a veteran trail operation on the stretch Bryrup-Vrads.

The railway drives on a 6 km stretch of the closed Horsens-Bryrup-Silkeborg railway, which was closed in 1968. The trip goes from Bryrup through a forest area and passes the lakes Kvindsø, Kulsø and Snabe Igelsø till Vrads Station. It is a very pretty tour which is called "Danmarks smukkeste jernbane". Vrads station is a restaurant and café and it is open, when the veteran trail drives its ordinary schedule.

Christmas tree-train.
In the first week-end of December a Christmas tree-train drives from Bryrup with a stop by a Christmas tree-place, where the passengers can buy their Christmas tree, the train drives on to Vrads station,  where the passengers get glögg, applecakes and Christmas goodies. Afterwards the train drives back to Bryrup station. It is a very popular tour. As far as possible the tour is carried through with a steam locomotive. 



photo Vrads Sande September 2015: grethe bachmann  
photo Vrads Station 2008: grethe bachmann 
   

Salten Langsø - undisturbed landscape

Salten Langsø holds a safe distance to disturbers.

Salten Langsø is a lake in Mid Jutland, about 12 m deep and 6 km long and very narrow, it lies in a tunnel valley in the lake district of Mid Jutland west of the lake Mossø. Salten Langsø has winding shores, and it mirrors the shape of the melted deadice-lump from Ice Age, which created the lake. The lake bassin has steep sides and is divided into four parts. In the western part is an island and the lake is here divided into two inlets.

 




the map is too dark, but you can of course see it better on Google Earth.

Salten Langsø with the valleys, the Salten river valley and the lake itself, is a side branch of the Gudenå river, and it is among the most undisturbed nature areas in Denmark.

Salten Langsø is like Mossø a part of Natura 2000-area in the Mid Jutland lake district , and it has some of Denmark's most beautiful and varied nature. The lakes and the valleys  are some of the most imprssive and illustrative Ice Age landscapes. ( the Gudenå river crosses north- south )

Salten Langsø is in several places only a few hundred meter broad. On the northside of the lake are high, forested hillsides (Høvil and Højkol skov) and Ildal skov. The southside, Addit Næs and Salten Næs in a relative flat area with forest, heath, farmland and several small lakes. The terrain rises again to the southwest , Addit skov, which is difficult to access. The highest point is Møgelbjerg (137 m).

Blueberry bushes

.

The forests are privately owned, but driven with great emphasis on nature - and therefore the planting is very varied, and several areas have the characteristics of a natural forest. 

 

Along the path were hundreds and hundreds of digger wasps nest in the earth. I saw no wasps

, but it was interesting to see those little nests, looking like little volcanos ! I 'll recommend you to search for the digger wasps on the net for there are so many species!
 


The area around the lake is ,considering Danish conditions, sparsely populated. The lake is a part of Salten Å-river's water system, which is a side branch of the Gudenå- river. The lake is a natural eutrof lake with an average depth of 4,5 m, and a max depth of 12 m. Half of the lake area is under 4 m deep. The shore vegetation is mainly a narrow fringe of alder (Aldus glutinosa) (Danish: rød-el.) In a few places grow reed. 

In the DOF-list were in january 2012 registered well 17500 observations of 188 bird species, only few waders, but all other possible forest birds.The area north and south of Salten Langsø is mostly covered in forest, but it contains also a combination of lakes and forests which makes it one of Denmark's best terrains for birds of prey. Both the whitetailed eagle and the osprey are often seen. The white-tailed eagle has been breeding since 2008.

It is not a great fungus year this year, but at least there was one Karl Johan and a one of the little pretty red ones.



 








photo Salten Langsø September 2015: grethe bachmann

Skarrildhus 2015 - the Stone Salmon, the Church Yard, the Raven, the Hawker and the Tar Ovens

The Salmon

The stone salmon at Karstoft Å (near Skjern Å river.

The Salmon, head

A huge stone sculpture of  the Skjern Å-salmon was created  at the spot close to Karstoft Å, Skarrildhus in West Jutland  by the Aarhus-sculptor Jørn Rønnau.

Seven Danish artists will use nature in the future National Park Skjern Å as a gallery for six Land-Art Works.

Karstoft Å, Skarrildhus

Land Art is the description of a direction of visual art  which emerged in USA in the late 1960s based between sculpture and landscape architecture



 Jørn Rønnau's giant 45 meter long stone salmon at Skarrildhus is not the only Land Art work in this neighbourhood, fx an area will be decorated with winding paths with small heart figures made of chausse stones and grass; a poem will be created about light and words; a poetic landscape with four small islands in a forgotten wetland -  and much more.

 

fish bench, Skarrildhus

The coming National Park Skjern Å has already manyfold initiatives created by local citizens, unions and traders, and there will be a cooperation between them and the Land Art artists.

information about the Skarrildhus-area, Naturplan.dk

Skarrild church yard.

The Church Yard

Information from link: 
www.airmen.dk/p353.htm
 
"In connection with the RAF´s first bombing raid to Königsberg (here, now Kaliningrad) in East Prussia Lancaster ME650 crashed on 27 August 1944 at
Clasonsborg in the parish of Skarrild. All of the crew perished. The German Wehrmacht wanted to bury the deceased "on the spot", but local Danish citizens obtained
that they were interred on the churchyard. This was quite an achievement from the Danish side, as the Germans just from 27 August 1944 started obeying an order to
dig down allied airmen "on the spot". Residents of the parish were accused by the Germans of being pro-English, as they showed up to accompany the airmen to
their graves."

the Raven, Skarrildhus

I always like to see the raven in the air and listen to its rough voice. A very clever bird. 

Info from wikipedia: 

The Raven

Some notable feats of evidence that the common raven is unusually intelligent.  Over the centuries

it has been the subject of mythology, folklore, art, and literature.  In many cultures, including the indigenous cultures of Scandinavia, ancient Ireland and Wales, Bhutan, the northwest coast of  North America and Siberia and northeast Asia, the common raven has been revered as a spiritual figure or  god.

Southern Hawker, Skarrildhus 

Southern Hawker /Aeschna cyanea. 
It is one of the largest dragonflies in Denmark. 67-74 mm. Southern hawker is a great flier, it flies with a speed of 25-30 km hour, while it is catching insects in a fangkurv (trap) which it shapes with its legs. The prey is eaten in the air -  you can hear the crunch! 

Tar Oven,  foto stig bachmann nielsen, naturplan.dk

Tjæreovnene/ Tar Ovens
Near Skarrildhus are some interesting industrial buildings where two old tar ovens have been repaired and restored to remind about a trade which has died out long ago. The rebuild of the small industry was established in order to show the production of charcoal and wood tar and to communicate a piece of cultural history from the first half of the 1900s. The production functioned from 1910 until right after WWII.

      

photo Skarrildhus/Skarrild kirke:  2003/2015: grethe bachmann
photo: tar oven, stig bachmann nielsen, naturplan.dk