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Report on trip to Sweden - 30^th June 2000 to 19^th July ,

Most of our time was spent at our family house on the island of Tynningö which is in the Stockholm archipelago between Vaxholm abd close to both Rindö and Värmdö. It is therefore not entirely wild and has a permanent population as well as a lot of summer houses, It is about 8 kms long and about 1¼ kms wide at its widest point. Parts of the island are still wild. In particular the area we own which is 48,000 square metres is mainly forest that we disturb as little as possible, only removing trees which have died or need to be thinned to promote more vigorous growth by others. Other areas include a lake which has a water level about 10 or 12 metres above the surrounding sea level - this lake contains crayfish! - and there is a good wetland swamp area adjacent to it

Very nearly all habitats are catered for on the island - the obvious exception is there are no hills over about 135 metres high. Over the years I have seen fox (but not for quite some time, due to disease), hare, roe deer, elk, badger, otter, red squirrel, grass snake, adder and smooth snake. Recently mink (escaped) have been visible.

We were on this island from 30^th June to 10^th July and from 14^th to 19^th July and birds seen in the list below were either seen on Tynningö or were seen over the sea or on an adjacent island, but, in any event, with 5 kms of the island.

On 10^th July, we drove Stockholm-Täby-Rimbo-Gimo-Österbryk-Örbyhus-Älvkarleby-Gävle-Söderhamn-Hudiksvall

On 11^th July we drove Hudiksvall-Sundsvall-Härnösand-Höka Kusten-Örnsköldsvik-Ragusta-Östersund.

On 12^th July we spent in the Östersund area including visiting the island of Frösön which is in Lake Storsjön on the shore of which Östersund is built.

On 13^th July we drove, in appalling heavy rain, Östersund-Sveg-Mora-Rättvik-Sala-Enköping-Stockholm. I don't recommend 680 kms on roads which are windy and only about 60 kms were dual carriageway - it took us all day and we were very tired and in need of gin at the end of it. Luckily the gin was available!

Therefore when looking at the following table bear in mind the dates of where we were! Some birds were seen daily so I have devised a table to show when each was first seen and it has no bearing on relative frequencies, though I am sure everyone will be aware that Golden Eagles and Little Egrets are rarely seen at all.

I was struck by the shortage of Great Tits (and to an extent of Blue Tits) and normally Tynningö has them in abundance. Also I was very disappointed to only see Great Spotted Woodpecker twice as normally I would expect to see it daily. Also Lesser Spotted, Black, Green and Three-toed were all not seen this year and they normally can be seen on the island, though I must admit it is a very good year when you get to see Three-toed. It is a wet summer which must have an effect even though there is already in middle July an abundance of wild strawberries, blueberries and mushrooms and all those are a plus!

Among other birds which I did not see this year and whose normal incidence in and around the island means that I would expect to see them, if only on one or two occasions, were Canada Goose, Goldcrest, Mistle Thrush, Common Tern, Little Grebe and Crested Tit.

It was very noticeable that the large rivers of central and northern Sweden were very full of water and the power stations had to open their sluice gates and discharge white water in a most impressive fashion to relieve the pressure on the dams. I was told that in the mountains last winter upto 8 metres of snow had fallen and it was still melting. In some places, so I was told, skiers were warned not to go because the normally overhead power cables were on or even just below the surface of the snow.

If anyone has any questions, please contact me.

Michael Watkins

Bushey Heath, Herts, 20^th July 2000

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