Eurasian Treecreeper/ Træløber

Eurasian treecreeper

Certhia familiaris
The Eurasian Treecreeper or Common Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris) is a small, insignificant bird and has a curved bill, patterned brown upperparts, whitish underparts, a broad, white eye-stripe and long stiff tail feathers which help it creep up tree trunks. The spread of the treecreeper is the northern, eastern and central Europe and eastwards through Russia and Central Asia to the Pacific Coast and Japan. The treecreeper appears especially in hardwoods and parks, but also in older coniferus forests, the species is especially numerous in old nature-forest, where 20-40 couple can breed pr. km2. The treecreeper is relatively mobile and is found all over the Denmark, including most small islands. During the last decades of the 20th century it was during expansion, especially in the northern Jutland and upon the western Lolland. This might be connected to the mild winters of the 1990s and partly an ageing of the north Jutland forests, which made them more suitable for the treecreeper.

alder swamp

The Eurasian treecreeper can be most easily distinguished from the similar Short-toed treecreeper, which shares much of its European range, by its different song.The name refers to that it runs upon trees, where it is fishing insects from the furrowed bark with its small, curved beak. Unlike the nuthatch the treecreeper only runs upwards, when it seeks food. It is almost identically in appeareance with the short-toed treecreeper, which also breeds in Denmark, but the short-toed treecreeper is not as common, and it's mostly spread in the southern part of the country. The two species have very similar requirements for habitats, in spring there are sometimes fierce territorial battles between them. In the field they are best separated by their voices. The treecreeper's song is a light strophe in a falling pitch with an abrupt rise to finish, while the call is weak, uniform strophes in a high pitch.

The treecreeper is a strejf-fugl which means that it is roaming inside its area without being a migration bird. It stays in Denmark in winter, where it is often seen in mixed flocks with tits. Birds from northern populations are seen in migrations, especially on the island Bornholm, in spring and autumn. In cold winters the treecreepers often overnight close together to keep the warmth, and in very hard winters the mortality is high. The overwintering means that the treecreeper already in the end of February starts the breeding-activity, and the singing is at its highest in the middle of March. It begins to build the nest in late April, and it is typically placed in holes in old trees or under large pieces of loose bark.

alder swamp

The food of the treecreeper is insects, insect-larvaes and spiders, which it finds under the bark of the trees. Since the density of insects is highest in old trees with a knotty, rough bark, the treecreeper especially seeks its food in trees like oak, ash, fir and alder. It has a very characteristic way of doing this. It starts from the bottom of the tree and moves upwards in a spiral around the stem, while it's moving its head from side to side to find insects. When it has reached the top, it flies down again and starts the research in a new tree.
GB

Breeding couple in Denmark in 2000: 15.000-25.000

Source: Natur og Fugle, Dansk Ornitologisk Forening 

photo Klostermølle 10. March 2012: grethe bachmann

Earth Hour 2012

Sweet Flag/ Kalmus

 Acorus calamus

















 

photo Gudensø: stig bachmann nielsen, naturplan.dk
In the foreground Kalmus and højt sødgræs (Glyceria) out in the water vandpileurt (Amphibious bistort).In the background bathing guests.

Acorus comes possibly from a Greek word meaning without, chore means pupil, referring to the medicinal use of the plant. The Danish name kalmus is Latin, and the same name is used in Germany and Sweden. The name kalmus origins from  the 1200s, from the older name calamus meaning tube or pipe.  Most used English name according to Liber herbarum is Sweet Flag. Other names: Calamus, beewort bitter pepper root, Myrtle Flag, Sweet Calamus, Sweet Myrtle, etc.

Kalmus has a thick white rootstock and sword-shaped 40-100 cm long leaves, the small flowers sit in a green bulb, "like little needle-houses". The whole plant has a strong spicy scent. It's found in Denmark in ponds by lakes and water streams. It is sometimes confused in non-botanic literature with German iris and reed. Kalmus likes to grow in water, best along water streams, but the plant can easily thrive in moist soil. It rarely produces flowers in Denmark, and it is reproduced by the outlets.

The species is said to be brought from Asia minor(Constantinople) in 1557 to Europe, where it reproduces only with loose rootstocks, but it was known in Europe long before as an imported droge (medicine) from India, and it might already have been brought from Baltikum in the Middle Ages to the Danish kloster- and castle gardens. In the 1600s it was both wildgrowing and plant in fish ponds. The roots were used for medicine, and descendants from kalmus have been found in several kloster- and castle ruins.



Cancer 
It has been discovered that the etherial parts of the plant can cause cancer, and the plant is prohibited for internal use in Denmark today.


Today's Use: 
The dried and pulverized root is now only used as a fixative in potpourris, since it holds on  to the scent of the other dried scent herbs. Internal use of kalmus was prohibited by den danske levnedsmiddelstyrelse in 1977.



 Folk medicine:
1300s: decoct as a drink for liver and bowl disease; boiled and put in a compress upon abscesses; cures old cough.
Henrik Smid 1546: pickled roots against stomach ache and coldfever (malaria); eaten in the morning for evil and poisonous smell - and it gives a fragrant breath; it is diuretic, it heals disease in blatter and kidneys, it crushes blatter stone and promotes menses.
Christiern Pedersen 1533: decoct to drink for heart trouble; the crushed root in wormwood-water as a drink against stomach diseases; pulverized kalmus together with the juice of mullein (kongelys) against haemorrhoids.
Simon Paulli 1648: The juice works as a diuretic, helps the spleen, "which is hard from evil mucoid and salten fluids", makes impure eyes clear; the roots pickled with honey and sugar is "an extremely wonderful and good healing for cold stomach and cold head", katarr and cold diseases; furthermore against cough and heart's distress and anxiety, bad breath is driven away, in times of plague it makes the air healthy; pulverized and drank in chervil-water to drive out the sweat in order "to loosen the blood which has gathered after blow and impact".

Medicine and Good Advice:  
The rhizome is a component in an appetizing vinegar-drink, (1600s); and it was very used in stomach tonics, put on snaps against colic and used to stimulate digestion; a decoct against stomach ache and a tea from the root to regulate the gastric acid. The droge (bought at pharmacy) was still used  in the 1900s against indigestion. If it was added to snaps together with the root of elecampane (alant) and angelic, then it became "the wise man's snaps" against heartburn, the root was also used against arthritis; together with the root of European birthwort (slangerod) and angelic in rum against chest disease (tuberculosis) and cough; a wise woman let her jaundice-patient drink snaps with kalmus root, and "it had to be drunk by a full moon".

The rootstock was noted in the pharmacopoeia in 1772, and its reputation as a highly invigorating and strengthening medicine caused a big sale of the droge. Det kongelige landhusholdningsselskab ( a union of farmer households) rewarded in 1814 a man, who had gathered 1251 pounds of kalmus- and angelic roots for the pharmacies, and in the late 1800s large amounts were gathered in the river Gudenå by Randers.


If it was very cold, people did chew a piece of kalmus root and sank the juice (1789);  the root was chewed against toothache - or the sore tooth was rinsed with a decoct of water and vinegar, the last drink was also used against scurvy, and the gums around loose teeth could be rubbed with pulverized kalmus root and china bark.

If people were afraid of being infected from patient visits, they chewed a piece of kalmus root; this promoted  a large portion of saliva, "therefore it is used as a means against infection". In 1800 it was said to be enough to walk with the root in the pocket. Kalmus was chewed against infection during "The Spanish Flu" in 1919-25.

Cattle and Horse.......
If the root is thrown into the water, the animals stay healthy. The kalmus root is included in a complex cure "from ancient times" against cattle diseases, and especially if the cattle is bewitched. If the cow is able to stand up in spring, kalmus root and pepper is put into a scratched wound; kalmus was used against abortion of the calf, used together with juniper or the root cooked with juniper and resin in beer. If the cow gave blue milk,  it was given kalmus and cumin in chalked water, and if the milk was without cream, the cow had a powder of kalmus and lovage root, mixed with slaked lime dissolved in water.

A horse who has "stepped over" = sprained the hoof joint, is bathed with a spirits-extraction of the root cut in  cubes, the extract is also poured over the bandage (ab. 1900). It was given for the pig's vomiting, and was the part of an advice against defects in geese. The veteranians used the root as a stomach and appetizing tonic.


 
Other use:
In order to protect the harvested corn and the heaps against mice and rats, fresh cut kalmus roots or leaves were placed upon the barn floor and/or between each layer of sheaf. It was recommended to plait a cornband of the leaves, since the mice could not cut them; the root or leaves could also be placed in rooms and spread on the floor against fleas, or put into the mattress to keep away the fleas. "Who did not sleep in kalmus root in the old days?" This plant was extremely popular as a bedstraw, and it was harvested in numbers and sold to the citizens. Kalmus mixed with carbamate (hjortetaksalt) was used to drive out ants. Many Jutlanders chewed the root instead of chewing tobacco.  "He's smelling of kalmus root, of smoked lard and fish",  is told in an old song. The children gathered the bittersweet rootstocks to chew them.

The hay bundles were tied with kalmus band, which could last for 10 years, reed mats made from the kalmus leaves had a strange smell. Sour beer would be welltasting, if kalmus root was put into the barrel, (1600s). The root was also used for smoking against bad smell in rooms.

Food and Drink:
A jam from the root is mentioned from the 1500s till the 1800s. It was often put into snaps as an extra taste and it was the part of many herbal snaps, stomach bitters and liqueurs.  (like Benedictine liqueur and chartreuse).

Superstition
If you put a piece of the root into a wash bowl or a water tank, it could rinse the water from toxic substances. The root was also used as a sacrifice to the gods.

Source: V. J. Brøndegaard, Folk og Flora, Dansk etnobotanik, Rosenkilde og Bagger, 1980; Anemette Olesen, Danske Klosterurter, Aschehoug  Dansk Forlag, 2001.
photo Gudensø: stig bachmann nielsen, naturplan.dk
photo and photo copy: grethe bachmann

From wikipedia: 
Use in other countries:
In Britain the plant was also cut for use as a sweet smelling floor covering for the packed earth floors of medieval dwellings and churches, and stacks of rushes have been used as the centrepiece of rushbearing ceremonies for many hundreds of years. It has also been used as a thatching material for English cottages.
In antiquity in the Orient and Egypt, the rhizome was thought to be a powerful aphrodisiac. In Europe Acorus calamus was often added to wine, and the root is also one of the possible ingredients of absinthe. Among the northern Native Americans, it is used both medicinally and as a stimulant. It is believed by some that calamus is a hallucinogen. This urban legend is based solely on two pages of a book written by Hoffer and Osmund entitled The Hallucinogens. To date there is no solid evidence of any hallucinogenic substances in calamus. Acorus calamus shows neuroprotective effect against stroke and chemically induced neurodegeneration in rat. Specifically, it has protective effect against acrylamide induced neurotoxicity.The essence from the rhizome is used as a flavor for pipe tobacco. When eaten in crystallized form, it is called "German ginger". It's also used in bitters.

Zephyrus and Chloris

The kalmus has long been a symbol of love. The name is associated with a Greek myth: Kalamos, son of the river-god Maeander, who loved the youth Karpos, of Zephyrus, (the West Wind) and Chloris (Spring). When Karpos drowned in a swimming race, Kalamos also drowned and was transformed into a reed, whose rustling in the wind was interpreted as a sigh of lamentation. The plant was a favorite of Henry David Thoreau,  (who called it "sweet flag"), and also of Walt Whitman, who added a section called the  "Calamus" poems, to the third edition of Leaves of Grass (1860). In the poems the calamus is used as a symbol of love, lust, and affection. The name Sweet Flag refers to its sweet scent (it has been used as a strewing herb) and the wavy edges of the leaves which are supposed to resemble a fluttering flag.  
                                                               GB

Bog Arum/ Kær-Mysse

Calla palustris

Bog Arum is native to Denmark and other European countries, northern Asia and northern North America. It often grows in large stocks. It is seen here and there in bogs and fens, it is a characteristic plant of  raised bogs. The Bog Arum has a characteristic inflorescence, where the flowers sit together in a yellow-green bulb, surrounded by a white spath. The plant is also known by the name vandkalla/ Water Calla, because it is similar to the Kalla-flower (which also belongs to the Arum-family). Other names are Arum lily / Calla lily / Water arum / Water dragon / Wild calla. The Latin name  ”Calla” was by the ancient Romans used about another, unknown water plant. The name palustris means "growing in swamps."

In the autum the inflorescense is changed into a bulb of crimson berries. The leaves are heartshaped and shining lightgreen; leaves and inflorescense sit upon fleshy, lightgreen stalks, which form the juicy rhizomes. The plant cannot be confused with any other Danish plant. The whole plant and the berries are poisonous, it has a high oxalic acid content, but the rhizome is edible after drying, grinding, leaching and boiling. In Viborg, Jutland, it was in 1795 recommended to use the dried, crushed roots for flour.

Large stocks of bog arum can both form a *hængesæk out into the water or be spread upon land. It is therefore necessary to take care and not walk among the plants, since there is often water down under.

 
*Hængesæk:  A socalled hængesæk is a society of plants, formed by entangled roots and stalks, which grow in the surface of a bog or across open water without connection to the bottom. The stock of plants might be so close that the water below the plants are not sensed. Old hængesække might carry the weight of a human, but not everywhere. It can be highly dangerous to walk out upon a hængesæk, a person can fall through and down under the plant cover.

The flower is polluted by insects, and the seeds are spread by birds, who eat the berries( the plant is hardly poisonous to the birds). It seems like the spread in Denmark is mostly vegetative, since pieces of the rhizome are introduced to other localities by water birds. The bog arum in Denmark is common in northeast Sjælland (Zealand) , but it is rare in other parts of Denmark. It is now and then seen plant in garden ponds etc.


The Danish name Kærmysse: 1793, the syllable mysse might origin from Norwegian myr = mose/moor. It was also called water-ginger in Denmark, since the root and seeds tasted like the spice ginger, and it had the name kalla in many connections, because it looked like the kalla-houseplant.



Some plants from tropical Africa, often termed "calla lilies", have now been transferred to the genus Zantedeschia and should not be confused with Calla palustris.


Source: 
V.J. Brøndegaard, Folk og Flora, Dansk etnobotanik, Rosenkilde og Bagger, 1980. Danmarks fugle og natur, Felthåndbogen, 2012; haveabc, Danmark; Liber herbarum.  

photo: Aqua Mose, Silkeborg 2009: grethe bachmann

Djursland - on the first Week-end of March

 

The fields are definitely more green now, this first week-end of March. It's lovely to see the snow has gone - until further notice. You'll never know when it comes back. You'll just have to enjoy this day with almost 10 degree Celsius. The horses are out in their grazing fields , but they are still wearing an overcoat, except the small ponies and the Icelandic horses with their thick woolen fur. They don't need an overcoat, they never freeze. Denmark is not a challenge to them, they are used to something colder. Well, most of them might be born in Denmark. Iceland will not have other horses "imported" than the purebred Icelandic pony; they want to keep the unique Icelandic horse "clean".

We came to a place after a  village Stabrand where we suddenly discovered a large dolmen out in the field. There are lots of dolmens and hills in this district, but this one was unique. The table told us it is  called the Ildbjerggård-dysse. It's 5.000 years old, from Stone Age,one of the finest in East Jutland. What is also interesting today is that the earth in the dolmen has mostly not been touched since Stone Age, which might result in interesting finds. Between the village Stabrand and Nødager is another dolmen close to the road,  called "Mejdkirken", from the old Danish word Meje, meaning midday time. It is told that the priest of Nødager and Feldballe parish, which belonged to the same priesthood, always passed the dolmen at midday , therefore the name Mejdkirke. This round dolmen is a fine representative of the Danish Megalithic tombs 

A very short summary from a very long report from Naturhistorisk Museum, Århus:  Among many other finds was a new insect species discovered in a Bronze Age grave hill at Skelhøj in 2003. The only place in the world it has been found is in Denmark in a couple of gravehills. This indicates that these insects are prehistoric relicts, which have survived since the hill was digged 5.000 years ago. The soil conditions in the gravehills are unique in the Danish landscape, and the gravehills are therefore  worthy of preservation of the highest degree.

More stones, this time used to build a stable. I like that pretty stone wall. Yellow is a good colour for a house. People in the town of Skagen are familiar with yellow houses. The halftimbered building in black and white is  a stable, it's a well-know building people pass on the country road. It belongs to Skærvad manor. The pretty main building lies close behind the stable. Skærvad origins from the 1300s, and the owner since 2007 is Lone Moldrup, who's a very nice and creative person, not a usual "Lord of the Manor". She lives at Skærvad Hovedgaard with her husband and 6 children. She's a very energetic woman, who has started various activities, also for children. I have included a photo from Skærvad  in 2009, when it was being renovated.

 

The farmers were busy, there were tractors out on each field, they had to use the good weather.  Two buzzards were on their wings, it was a good day for them too, they could rest and sway upon the windy air. And here was a very old house by the edge of the forest. Odd to imagine that someone lived there once, maybe it's a forester's house. It will soon be completely demolished, and no one will be able to see that here lived people, maybe a family for many years.  In a bush out in the next field was a light buzzard, or should I say a blonde buzzard?  Well, the birds' migration has begun little by little, but it's not the big day yet. It might be a migrating bird this one. The photo is blurred, sorry.

 

 

Some horses next to a church were dressed very warmly, overcoat and more than that, one horse had some strange clothing around the neck. I think it was embarrassed, the other horses were laughing, I'm sure! The red house was my grandparents' house once. It is now neglected and dilapidated, and I don't like to look at it. I don't know the people who live there, and the village in itself is not the wonderful village I remember, so there is no reason for a stop. The district has numerous gravehills and there are moors from Stone Age with finds indicating that sacrifice has taken place here.

A stop by a blue lake, Ramten sø. Here were some birds, goosander and great crested grebe, and further away a flock of  white seagulls in the blue water. It was very blue today. The lake is listed together with a joining lake, Dystrup sø. There are many breeding ducks and grebes in these lakes. In the moor district east of Ramten sø were valuable finds from Iron Age.

  

 

 

And a few photos of the landscape on the way home. The twilight is coming a little later than before, but sooner now than later on! ´)

See you soon!
GB


photo Djursland, 3. March: grethe bachmann

Burr Marigold/ Brøndsel

Bidens tripartita
 
The family Bidens (DK: Brøndsel) is spread in Europe and in North and South America. They are herbs and bushes with opposite leaves and small composites of yellow flowers in august-September. The fruits are equipped with barbs.The Burr Marigold is common at ponds, village ponds, lakes, in pit bogs, ditches etc.  The Bidens cernuus grows in the same habitats but is not as common as the tripartita. The common names beggarticks, black jack, bur-marigolds, stickseeds, tickseeds and tickseed sunflowers refer to the burrs on the seeds, most of which are barbed. The generic name refers to the same fact; it means "two-tooth", from Latin bis "two" + dens "tooth". 

The old Danish name Bryndsel means ildebrand (fire), because the flowers dye fabrics in a strong yellow hue called brandgult ( fire yellow).

Painted Lady/Tidselsommerfugl

The plants are zoochorus; their seeds will stick to clothing, fur or feathers, and be carried to new habitat. This has enabled them to colonize a wide range, including many oceanic islands. Some of these species occur only in a very restricted range and several are now threatened with extinction, They were and are still used to make a refreshening tea. Some of the species are sometimes eaten as a vegetable, others are very bitter, others are fine honey plants - and several Bidens are used as food by caterpillars of certain Lepidoptera, like Painted Lady.


Dyeing:
The Burr Marigold  is mentioned in Denmark in 1670 among plants, which dye a strong yellow. The flowers with alum dye yellow, the flowers with potash dye a strong light yellow (1795) - the flowers were ab. 1800 used for yellow dye in general , fx at the island Bornholm. The plant itself dyes red-yellow and golden-brown.


Medicine:
In the autumn the sheep was given Burr Marigold as a protection against worm and disease. (1761).

GB


Source: V. J. Brøndegaard, Folk og Flora, Dansk etnobotanik, Rosenkilde og Bagger, 1980;
Danmarks fugle og natur; Naturegate; Wikipedia; Gyldendal, den store danske; Danmarks flora.


photo September 2010/2011: grethe bachmann

Goodbye to King Winter .................

I've got a lovely email from a blogging friend , Jack Mathews of Sage to Meadow in Texas. Jack has given his 2011 Prairie Sagebrush Awards for blogging, and the award recognizes bloggers Jack follows for their excellence in writing, photography and art on the blog. He included Thyra, and I was very happy and honored of being in the company of these other bloggers. I'm a Dane - and therefore it was a special joy and honor to me to receive this award for "Goodbye to King Winter", a post about my dear country, Denmark.



This post was one of the recipients of the 2011 Prairie Sagebrush Awards, created by Jack Matthews, nature writer, historian, and creator of the truly fine blog Sage to Meadow.
 


  

Norsminde

On the 19th of February was still snow everywhere and spring seemd to be far, far away. The small harbour of Norsminde south of Århus was ice-free though, and the sky and water had a lovely strong blue shade. A clear cold winter's day brings fine colours!

Skovmøllen on a foggy day.

 The next week-end was foggy and raw and the sun seemed so far, far away. It was nice to see that the people at the restaurant of  Skovmøllen (the old Water Mill-restauurant) saw to that the little birds were fed with Danish bread and fat-bowls. There was also morning bread with cinnamon and the birds seemed to like it!  Notice the little blue tit. It is so ruffled. I hope it will cope.

Great tit and a ruffled Blue tit eating Danish morning bread with cinnamon.

Mossø Lake

Torup Lake

dike at the army road (in the old days used for cattle-fence)

icy paths

A clear day on the 5th of March in the lake district in the middle of Jutland. There was a thin layer of ice on the big lake, Mossø, and a thicker layer on the small lake Torup, where we usually take a rest in summer. But the path along the meadows was icy and not advisable to walk on this time. The army road along the heath was better, but still lots of ice on the side-walks. How different it looks from the summer season. The colours are dark and brown, umbra and sienna. Not a sound from the birds, not an insect in the air.

winter aconite

a forest path!

icy feet

fresh kid

On the 6th of March my usual little walk down to the park between the sea and Marselisborg Castle. At the Donbæk cottages were still ice on the ponds, where the duck stood freezing- or are they freezing? I hope they don't feel the cold as much as we do. The first winter aconites. Still ice in the forest paths - and on the goldfish-pond. Where are the goldfish in winter? Probably well looked after in another warmer place.....

After a long unwilling pause I have reached the 24th of March on my daily walk, and suddenly I saw a fine spotted woodpecker in the Forst Botanical Garden. It was very busy and did not notice the disturber. Snowdrops and winter aconites en masse. The duck pond was almost ice free - only a small layer in the farthest corner. King Winter, get lost........

Mols Bjerge

Mols Bjerge

Mols Bjerge

snowy showers far away

And the last camera trip was to Mols Bjerge in the National Park on Djursland on the 26 of March. It was easy to see that the snow had covered the hills for a long time. The grass was yellow and withered, but soon the hills will be green again. It was very, very cold and windy that day, and there was snow in the air. Everywhere in the horizon we could see the snow showers fall over the landscape from dark clouds - and on our way home we drove through snowy weather. The last time this year I'm sure!

The next trip is to-morrow, the first Saturday of April, and the weather forecast says 20 degrees Celsius - a giant difference from the beginning of the week with 3 degrees Celsius. Welcome spring, oh! you don't know how welcome you are! The birds are singing - and I saw the first butterfly yesterday! Goodbye king Winter. 
  

photo in February and March 2011: grethe bachmann