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Winter wonderland
Svartskog, Norway
The bone-chilling Siberian winds are making it very unpleasant outside now. All the softness of new fallen snow is gone, no frost is to be seen anywhere. Only where the waves are splashing against the shores or structures sticking out of the water will you see any artistic winter manifestations.
Yet winter can be so incredibly beautiful, like seen in this image taken many years ago. In this capture the air has been still for days so the frosty paintbrush could slowly create intricate structures everywhere. Here the trees were also full of new snow, making it truly a winter wonderland.
This winter has been one with a lot of snow, but here by the coast every snowfall ended with sleet and rain, so the wonderland never lasted. Further inland it is a different matter – more snow than in decades and wreaking havoc on buildings not cleared of snow in time. In areas the snow is so deep that the cabins are completely buried under the snow and not distinguishable from the landscape.
Image Copyright © 2009 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 30 December 2009 12:59
Altitude: 6 meters
#winter #snow #ice #frost #svartskog #norway
Svartskog, Norway
The bone-chilling Siberian winds are making it very unpleasant outside now. All the softness of new fallen snow is gone, no frost is to be seen anywhere. Only where the waves are splashing against the shores or structures sticking out of the water will you see any artistic winter manifestations.
Yet winter can be so incredibly beautiful, like seen in this image taken many years ago. In this capture the air has been still for days so the frosty paintbrush could slowly create intricate structures everywhere. Here the trees were also full of new snow, making it truly a winter wonderland.
This winter has been one with a lot of snow, but here by the coast every snowfall ended with sleet and rain, so the wonderland never lasted. Further inland it is a different matter – more snow than in decades and wreaking havoc on buildings not cleared of snow in time. In areas the snow is so deep that the cabins are completely buried under the snow and not distinguishable from the landscape.
Image Copyright © 2009 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 30 December 2009 12:59
Altitude: 6 meters
#winter #snow #ice #frost #svartskog #norway
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A smorgasbord for the slugs
Brittlegill (Russula sp)
Svartskog, Norway
Although I try to find pristine and unscathed mushroom specimens, I like those with a clean cut like this one, as it makes you wonder what kind of creature could make such a clean cut.
It is like a hidden creature has had a big bite and vanished into thin air. The truth is that the culprit is a creature perhaps as watery as the mushroom itself – a slug.
And it definitely does not vanish into thin air, but hide in the dark of the dirt from which this mushroom has emerged.
Last autumn was the best mushroom year in a very long time, and I like to believe that the sheer number of mushrooms overwhelmed the slug populations, so that several mushrooms were left intact or partly so until their cycle of reproduction was complete. In most season the number of fungi are rather few and many are inundated and eaten by slugs before they can grow to their full potential.
I for one have savored last mushroom autumn to the max as I might never again experience the like of it.
Image Copyright © 2017 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 08 September 2017 15:22
Altitude: 26 meters
#fungi #mushrooms #autumn #svartskog #norway
Brittlegill (Russula sp)
Svartskog, Norway
Although I try to find pristine and unscathed mushroom specimens, I like those with a clean cut like this one, as it makes you wonder what kind of creature could make such a clean cut.
It is like a hidden creature has had a big bite and vanished into thin air. The truth is that the culprit is a creature perhaps as watery as the mushroom itself – a slug.
And it definitely does not vanish into thin air, but hide in the dark of the dirt from which this mushroom has emerged.
Last autumn was the best mushroom year in a very long time, and I like to believe that the sheer number of mushrooms overwhelmed the slug populations, so that several mushrooms were left intact or partly so until their cycle of reproduction was complete. In most season the number of fungi are rather few and many are inundated and eaten by slugs before they can grow to their full potential.
I for one have savored last mushroom autumn to the max as I might never again experience the like of it.
Image Copyright © 2017 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 08 September 2017 15:22
Altitude: 26 meters
#fungi #mushrooms #autumn #svartskog #norway
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Freezing
Svartskog, Norway
Even though the sun is rising ever higher in the sky each day it has no power over the Siberian air flowing in. Each day it has gotten colder, and every day more and more ice is forming on the sea which will soon be frozen over if the wind continues to be absent.
It might be beautiful to behold from inside a warm and cozy home, but being outside is pleasurable only to the eye as the body definitely prefers the indoors.
March is just a couple of days away, and with it the promise of spring is coming one step closer. Yet it seems the cold spell could last the entire length of March as the high pressure is of a powerful and stable nature, fending off any low pressures challenging it. This forces low pressures well south of the high, which could mean that north of Africa could see some rain and even snow in the mountains.
Image Copyright © 2009 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 30 December 2009 14:43
Altitude: 10 meters
#winter #snow #ice #frost #svartskog #norway
Svartskog, Norway
Even though the sun is rising ever higher in the sky each day it has no power over the Siberian air flowing in. Each day it has gotten colder, and every day more and more ice is forming on the sea which will soon be frozen over if the wind continues to be absent.
It might be beautiful to behold from inside a warm and cozy home, but being outside is pleasurable only to the eye as the body definitely prefers the indoors.
March is just a couple of days away, and with it the promise of spring is coming one step closer. Yet it seems the cold spell could last the entire length of March as the high pressure is of a powerful and stable nature, fending off any low pressures challenging it. This forces low pressures well south of the high, which could mean that north of Africa could see some rain and even snow in the mountains.
Image Copyright © 2009 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 30 December 2009 14:43
Altitude: 10 meters
#winter #snow #ice #frost #svartskog #norway
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Exposed
Bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus)
Svartskog, Norway
During normal tides the bladderwrack is in or out of water in regular intervals, but come high pressures and it can be out in the air for days or even weeks.
In summer that means being dried to a crisp in the heat of the sun, but in winter it will be frozen, and that is what is going on right now.
Currently a high pressure is building over Scandinavia, drawing in Siberian air with it. Thus the short days are sunny, but very cold and the nights are double digits below freezing, and with hardly any wind to create waves to soak the stranded bladderwracks they will feel the full force of the freeze.
Sometimes, when the sea is not yet frozen over, this process is very beautiful as they will be lined with delicate frost formed by the fog from the open sea, as seen here. This is what we love to see on land, when the landscape and everything in it is covered in intricate shapes of frost. Only very occasionally this also happens with whatever is growing on the seashore and that makes it all the more special to behold.
Image Copyright © 2013 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 12 January 2013 14:29
Altitude: 0 meters
#seashore #frost #winter #svartskog #norway
Bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus)
Svartskog, Norway
During normal tides the bladderwrack is in or out of water in regular intervals, but come high pressures and it can be out in the air for days or even weeks.
In summer that means being dried to a crisp in the heat of the sun, but in winter it will be frozen, and that is what is going on right now.
Currently a high pressure is building over Scandinavia, drawing in Siberian air with it. Thus the short days are sunny, but very cold and the nights are double digits below freezing, and with hardly any wind to create waves to soak the stranded bladderwracks they will feel the full force of the freeze.
Sometimes, when the sea is not yet frozen over, this process is very beautiful as they will be lined with delicate frost formed by the fog from the open sea, as seen here. This is what we love to see on land, when the landscape and everything in it is covered in intricate shapes of frost. Only very occasionally this also happens with whatever is growing on the seashore and that makes it all the more special to behold.
Image Copyright © 2013 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 12 January 2013 14:29
Altitude: 0 meters
#seashore #frost #winter #svartskog #norway
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Bitten by a fairy?
Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria)
Svartskog, Norway
This otherwise perfect specimen has lost a chunk that will never be repaired and makes this mushroom look rather mutilated. Yet this is more the norm than not, which makes finding a perfect specimen difficult and requiring a lot of luck.
This is from a ravenous slug having had a feast in the dark of night, which makes this frustrating as during the day they are nowhere to be seen and you can locate a beautiful specimen only to find it completely demolished the next morning.
Thus, as with life as a whole, never postpone. Never wait for a tomorrow, as now is when you have all the opportunities in the world to harvest what is available.
That said, I do find this artistic and beautiful as it is a beautifully carved bite and often a mushroom is crisscrossed with holes like a Swiss cheese and looking like a complete mess. This one is for a brief moment a piece of art.
This was shot in the very last minutes of daylight and I assume the slugs were already on their way to gnawing off another piece of the mushroom, making it much less of art and more of a disaster.
Image Copyright © 2017 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 08 September 2017 18:22
Altitude: 51 meters
#fungi #mushrooms #autumn #svartskog #norway
Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria)
Svartskog, Norway
This otherwise perfect specimen has lost a chunk that will never be repaired and makes this mushroom look rather mutilated. Yet this is more the norm than not, which makes finding a perfect specimen difficult and requiring a lot of luck.
This is from a ravenous slug having had a feast in the dark of night, which makes this frustrating as during the day they are nowhere to be seen and you can locate a beautiful specimen only to find it completely demolished the next morning.
Thus, as with life as a whole, never postpone. Never wait for a tomorrow, as now is when you have all the opportunities in the world to harvest what is available.
That said, I do find this artistic and beautiful as it is a beautifully carved bite and often a mushroom is crisscrossed with holes like a Swiss cheese and looking like a complete mess. This one is for a brief moment a piece of art.
This was shot in the very last minutes of daylight and I assume the slugs were already on their way to gnawing off another piece of the mushroom, making it much less of art and more of a disaster.
Image Copyright © 2017 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 08 September 2017 18:22
Altitude: 51 meters
#fungi #mushrooms #autumn #svartskog #norway
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Hello
Red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)
Svartskog, Norway
One of the many squirrels I enjoy around my home, and this one is on the hunt for immature pine cones – at least to me as they are green and far from opening up. But inside these green cones are the seeds of choice, and every season the squirrels come to shred as many cones per tree as they can. And this tree right in front of my house is being picked clean every year, so it must have really yummy seeds.
And under each pine tree is a huge amount of cone pieces – the annual gift from the squirrels, and a reminder of my childhood and how my bare feet were hurt every summer by these sharps pieces.
Now it is midwinter and very much snow, and I enjoy 5 squirrels eating from my hand-outs every day, yet I dread the cold and snow so much that I’d rather pick a picture from summer than sitting outside in the cold capturing a winter wonderland squirrel….
Oh spring how I long for thee!
Image Copyright © 2017 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 26 June 2017 15:18
Altitude: 10 meters
#squirrel #mammals #svartskog
Red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)
Svartskog, Norway
One of the many squirrels I enjoy around my home, and this one is on the hunt for immature pine cones – at least to me as they are green and far from opening up. But inside these green cones are the seeds of choice, and every season the squirrels come to shred as many cones per tree as they can. And this tree right in front of my house is being picked clean every year, so it must have really yummy seeds.
And under each pine tree is a huge amount of cone pieces – the annual gift from the squirrels, and a reminder of my childhood and how my bare feet were hurt every summer by these sharps pieces.
Now it is midwinter and very much snow, and I enjoy 5 squirrels eating from my hand-outs every day, yet I dread the cold and snow so much that I’d rather pick a picture from summer than sitting outside in the cold capturing a winter wonderland squirrel….
Oh spring how I long for thee!
Image Copyright © 2017 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 26 June 2017 15:18
Altitude: 10 meters
#squirrel #mammals #svartskog
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