Spotted Nutcracker

few days ago, I was in haparanda and then we passed even the church on the way home, there will be no church images. But then I saw an unusual bird I had never seen before, and the bird was a Spotted Nutcracker. And yesterday, Me and my brother set off again for haparanda just to shoot the bird, they were quite a large group and they were at the cemetery to eat their favorite food which is seeds of Various pines.
We were there a few hours in the evening and we did get some decent pictures of them.
Here are some facts about them:
The Spotted Nutcracker, Eurasian, or just Nutcracker is a passerine bird Slightly larger Than the eurasian jay. It has a much larger bill and a Slimmer looking head without any crest.
The feathering over its body is predominantly a chocolate brown with distinct white spots and streaks. The wings and upper tail are virtually black with a greenish-blue gloss.
The Nutcracker Can Be found in Southern parts of scandinavia, northern Europe, Siberia and to Eastern Asia Including Japan inhabiting the huge taiga conifer forests in the north. The Nutcracker we took photos of was certainly from the Siberia. And they are very rare here. :)

On Sunday, Me and brother are going to FinnmarksVidda in northern Norway for fishing, so there will be no more blogging until I get back from there. See U :)

Grooming in the sun

Eating pine seeds

Relaxing in the sun

Eating seeds

Not the sharpest picture ;)

Some pics from Kalix

As I wrote in the last blog post I was going to Kalix, and there I am now. Have not had time to shoot as much as me and brother are already planning our fishing trip up to Finnmark Vidda Norway. But last night we went out a turn to shoot and today I was away for a while. And already I have shot 4 new bird species for me. Unfortunately I do not know what they're really called but I believe is called spotted flycatcher. So it was just a small report from here now we are soon off to Haparanda and shoot nutcracker

Morning pictures from Redmires

This morning I was awakened by 4:00 pm which is way too early, but what can you do when you want to be in place before the sun has risen. So it was just to bring some sandwiches, and then off with the bike to Redmires Reservoirs. Once in place,  I went to the middle reservoir, which has a minimum of water and wading birds, which usually go and eat by the water's edge. I lay down on the sleeping surface and put on my camoflauge and waited and waited but nothing happened in one hour. After about an hour, the birds begin to enter the sand bank, but unfortunately it was not them birds I was after that came but just ordinary wagtails. That was just to make the best of it and shoot them instead, that was pretty fun anyway to follow them because it was 4-6 wagtail chicks. They were not so afraid, for some of them landed just a meter away from me and stared at me :) Got some nice pictures of them, but after I had lain there for 2 hours it was enough, there were not any other birds. So I did my usual round first past the water voles and then the rabbits. The time was now 8:30 and it was fairly light out now which is not usually good photograph light, so I headed back home.
This may be my last blog before I go to Sweden again, I will be one week in Kalix (northern Sweden) and then a week in Norwegian Finnmark Vidda (Iesjavri). And there me and my brother are going to fish for large grayling, trout, char, so look out.

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water vole/Vattensork

Canada goose in the early morning hour

Pied Wagtail/Sädesärla (juvenile)

Pied wagtail



Pied wagtail in morning sun

some snail

tufted duck and chick

White wild rabbit

Willow tit/Talltita

Willow tit

Botanic Garden

Today I went to the botanical garden, it's been a while since I was there. And a lot had happened since last time, the flowers that bloomed last was almost completely gone now. but instead there is a lot of new species.
But it was a bit tricky to get the pictures today, partly because of the bright sunlight and then it blew a lot. And it did not help that I had the macro lens, because the slightest movement can create blurred images. But it was nice to go around there and see all the beautiful flowers and the quite squirrels. I saw something unusual today as well, namely the Water Boatman it's not in itself unusual, but I found it on dry land and it is a bit unusual for this insect is aquatic. They can fly, as they do usually at night when they travel between the waters. And this was pretty much about 15mm long, so it was nice to see one of those up close.

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Water boatman/buksimmare really funny name

buksimmare/Water boatman

Early morning at Redmires

Yesterday the clock woke me at 4:00 and it was time to take the bike to Redmires Reservoirs, I wanted to get there before the sun rises, which it does 0500. I wanted to be early on the spot to try to sneak me in the golden plower, but once in place it was only to find that they were not even there: (and also that there were 3 sheep farmers who went through all the fields and scare all the birds while they gathered all the sheep: ( So it was just move on, I decided to photograph morning dew and other things that were highlighted nicely by the rising sun. The morning was really hot around 20C and humidity, appeared to be a fine day. Went on down to the reservoirs to look for birds, middle pond had a whole flock of gulls nesting on the beach, also saw the typical species that tends to be there. On the way there as I passed the rabbits I took the opportunity to take some photos, got lucky that the white rabbit came up and ate, it's really cute. Then suddenly when I was down at reservoirs the fog came out of nowhere, then I decited to go home. It was now at: 08.30. The great day that was promised it disappeared completely in the fog.

Click the picture to enlarge it.