Saturday, June 26, 2010

wishlist (sort of)

Back.




We got some car troubles (power steering oil leaking, in Norway this is not what you want, got it fixed in Finland on the way back...), I took some minor damage to tendons in my right knee for descending 1000 meters too fast (took about 3 hours). Then the weather changed from 22 degrees, sunny to 7 degrees, foggy and rainy, in a day. The locality we visited was in the early summer so many of the species mentioned were impossible to find. After this we decided to cut the trip short. Luckily we didn't initiate any rock slides over each other nor did the fog surprise us in the fell.

Results:
Butterflies and moths: Oeneis norna, Colias tyche (VU), Of the Geometrids, high arctic Entephrias (specially nobiliaria (VU) and flavicinctata (VU) (didn't get to the place for the knee) , they fly at night in the shade (in the midnught sun, huh?)), Some of the rarer Noctuids (one protected) (strike two over), and with great luck Holoarctia fridolini (tried to find, but only for about 10 minutes) from Norway. Of the taxonomically more primitive species, I'd like to encounter Hepialus fuscoargentus (flies in august, can't remember everything), Catastia kistrandella (RE)(didn't get to the place due weather), Sesia bembeciformis (NT) (tried to find, but didn't) and Stenoptilia islandica (CR) (nope, but a Platyptilia gonodactyla from a new province).
Of other insects, some Carabidae and a couple of Cerambycids are of interest (went too early for these...) ... Some of the other flying ones would be less favoured (read: Culicidae, Simuliidae, Ceratopogonidae (mosquitos, blackflies, sandflies)) (Only mosquitos present this early in the season, quite pleasant)

Arctic fox (CR) in nature (They could have a traffic warning sign for this one near the border of Sweden and Norway)
Pine Marten (carrying some prey) (LC)
(The big one I saw and missed due exhaustion was probably Xestia lyngei (Noctuidae, NT))

Other ones on the non-wishlist are Epirrita (LC, which is somewhat funny) and Operophtera (LC, which also has the potential to cause a little concern), but I strongly suspect these are present somewhere along the way (yes, there they were).

Overall, a fine, succesful and enjoyable trip, though a bit short and the roughness of the terrain was a bit too much. Trying to top the fell from the south did it I guess. More planning should be involved (we didn't know what the name of the fell was until we were back... we didn't have an accurate map... and I need a new compass). Thinking of going again, but the next trip should be later in the summer (mid-July) to avoid the snow still present this time of year (at altitudes of over 900 meters on all slopes but the southern one). Posting some photos in a few days.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Note #8

And so it came to be that the Month of Admixture begun and the minions were busily preparing the Plane and the Way of Admixture that were needed to cross the vast expanses of NoSwetlands. The Chosen Clean Ones were preparing themselfes to join the Duchess in this yearly ritual. As they were settled in their seats the Duchess pressed the button in her holy sceptre and the plane started it's journey. Even the Duchess didn't know where they would end up, as this was a matter of the Admixer. The reproductive Cycle began.