After two weeks our trip to Ånnsjöns Fågelstation in Sweden has come to an end. Although daylight lasts remarkably longer at this latitude, compared to the Netherlands in this time of year, it did not affect the mental speed of time in which this two weeks passed: extremely fast. So, the time has already come to settle down again and process all the new experiences.

Our (Willem, Wender and Gerrit) trip began on the evening of July 30th, we drove the whole of the night to arrive the other morning at the harbour of Frederikshavn in Denmark where we embarked on the boat to Oslo. Our plan was to sleep during this trip so we would be rested once we arrived in Oslo. This turned out to be a little more difficult than expected, which made the remaining trip from Oslo to Ånnsjön, about 600 km on winding roads, severely exhausting (tough some Moose and a Capercaillie on our way made it a little more bearable). Finally, at three o’clock in the morning we arrived at the ringing station where we immediately vanished beneath the sheets.

The Ånnsjön bird observatory

A few hours later, on the same morning, we were introduced to the ringing location on the other side of the road which we would staff for the next two weeks. The ringing site consist of a fixed emplacement of mist nets in an open woodland near the river Handölan; a melt water river which flows out of the mountains and the raised bogs in the south. The vegetation on the ringing site looks very wealthy with a low canopy consisting of birch, alder and willow species. Underneath it grows a wide variation of herbs like Aconitum and Water avens. The bird-ringing takes place in a hut near the river.

The hut near the ringingsite where the ringing and measurements takes place.

The procedure is to check the nets for every half an hour. During the intermediate time, if there are no birds to process, you can sit down near the river where mosquitoes thrive on your presence: the only way we could quietly enjoy our coffee was by liquoring ourselves with DEET. Though, this small downside was broadly offset by the beautiful surroundings and its containing species. It was great fun to watch a regularly present juvenile Common goldeneye losing his fluffy head feathers within two weeks (and luckily his new headdress confirmed our identification).

The juvenile Common goldeneye (here still with fluffy feathers) which accompanied us most of the time at the coffee site near the ringing hut.

During our stay we were able to ring almost every day at the site; ‘almost’ because for two days we stayed home because of bad weather. However, in those cases we could still catch some birds at the feeding place behind the observatory. The main species we caught concern Siskin, Great tit, Bullfinch, Song thrush, Redwing and Willow warbler. Other less occurring species were Field fare, Willow tit, Redpoll, Icterine warbler, Chiffchaff, Eurasian treecreeper, Greenfinch and Chaffinch. Very special to us was to catch birds like Siskins and Redwings which were actively moulting; something you do not see when they are present in Holland during wintertime.

Adult Redwing with primary moult: something new for us since we only catch this species in Holland during wintertime.

During the ringing we were assisted by a French guy who also stayed at the observatory. Because he had already stayed there for two weeks before we arrived, he could already tell us something about nice sites in the surroundings. Furthermore, we were assisted by a 12 year old Swedish boy who stayed on vacation in the village. He was already very skilled in the handling of birds, and spoke remarkably well English. He taught us some Swedish bird names, and we in return could tell him some Dutch and Frisian names. Altogether, we really enjoyed the company during our stay.

After ringing we had some time left to explore the surroundings. During this trips we saw lots of new species (birds as well as plants, mammals and insects). Especially hiking trips in the mountains yielded new interesting species for us (as being flatlanders). Just a grasp of bird species we saw up in the mountains contains Golden eagle, Gyrfalcon, Rock ptarmigan, Eurasian dotterel and Snow bunting. Other species we saw more down to earth were Golden plover, Great grey shrike, Dipper, Black- and red-throated loon and Siberian jay.

A male Capercaillie photographed near the roadside of the E14; one of the biggest motorways in the area of Ånnsjön. Still there is plenty of time to stop the car and take some pictures before any traffic is approaching.

A view on the mountain called Storsnasen: with 1463 meter one of the highest mountains in the area.

Once you have reached the top there is plenty of view, so a telescope can be very useful. But first there is time for resting..

A watchful adult Eurasian dotterel on the top of a hill which had his chicks somewhere nearby.

Finally, after two weeks packed with nice experiences we had to leave again. This time we were better prepared for the way back, at least we thought. This was indeed true for the first half of the trip; we were able to drive quietly through Norway and get on time for the boat in Oslo. However, once we had driven through Denmark and had passed the boarder of Germany our car started to give an engine error message. This resulted in some frightening hours of driving through Germany on decreasing engine power, and an early end of the trip at about 50 Kilometres from the Dutch border. After three hours of waiting underneath an overpass, we were finally picked up by a Dutch towing service who brought us home.

After all, it was a very nice trip to Ånnsjön, with lots of new gained knowledge. For instance, if we see the first Redwings and Field fares again this winter, we will have a little more notion of the performance they have had to deliver before getting here..