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It should have been just a couple of days of nature guiding, but because of the amount of things to see and the pleasantness of the participants it ended in a full week... full of wildlife, photos and high spirits. I'm talking of the visit paid me by the Marche section of AFNI (Italian Nature Photographers Association) here in Särna at the beginning of June. You can see some memories from the Family Album. Here it is now a selection of pictures they kindly shared with me to be in the Chronicles. Let's start with some landscapes... ...and let's finish with some animals.
 And to be precise a marsh marigold, shot during a long session in a hide on the shore of Särna lake, when the light of the approaching sunset was combined with the rippling water: as a matter of fact the true subjects of the picture, with the plant that merely acts as filling and contrast element.
 A similar situation to the one from the previous post, but with one more element.
 Classics.
A classic, not to say a cliché: an anemone in backlit, a picture a thousands of time already seen. But how to resist temptation of that sun finally warm and low (not a great spring this year, weather wise) which lights the Pasque Flower’s furry coat, and makes it shine as a tiny bonfire in the underwood? And how not to photograph the first anemones I’ve ever found in Särna? (actually, they were shown to me: thanks again Sara). As every year in early April, the cranes arrived. Not alone, I have to say: whooper swans, goldeneyes, goosanders and Canada geese came with them to fill every early crack which makes a pond in that slab of ice which still is, and still be for a few more days, the lake. And in the gardens chaffinches, bramblings, redpolls and siskins in blasts, in battalions. The cranes are special, though. Special because of the animals they are, and special because they are here, just out of my home; I can hear them singing from my garden, as they explode their blaring calls from a distant shore, and you’d never believe that such a powerful sound could come out from such slender and graceful necks. They land in small groups or pairs, and slowly graze on the exposed banks. Some will leave soon, bound for new waters northward; others will remain in the area, choosing a swamp around here to nest . You can see them along all the shores: here nearby a couple who start a nuptial dance for a little while; behind it another group in distance, in the sky a family is gliding towards a bank out of sight, and each time they cross a look, a trumpets concert starts, only to vanish with an echo. The following pictures are unpretentious: they are just photo memories of special travelling companions.  The first cranes have been spotted here in Northern Dalarna, and I'm now waiting for them here in Särna. Just off the town a narrow strip of land stretches into the frozen lake, towards an area where the water is freeing itself sooner than elsewhere. There, some pairs of cranes regularly stop every year right in the middle of April, before to scatter into the surrounding marshes to breed.
I thought the whooper swans were the sign of spring, and as a matter of fact they are the first birds to return from the winter migration. Nevertheless, I discovered that in Sweden that role is taken by cranes, which are acting as local "swallows" (the swallows will come too, but in late May), and are also considered to bring good luck, to the point that the first spring observation is usually a news on local media. The picture here has been taken last week at Lake Hornborga in southern Sweden, where every year the cranes make a stop over during their trip to north: along three weeks up to 18,000 cranes stop to rest and feed, before the final leap to the nesting quarters. The sight is extraordinary for the birds amount and confidence along with the passion and respect from thousands of people who go watching them: that took a chapter in my last book, and will be the subject of a future portfolio on Exuvia. I went back there for a couple of days, this as almost every year in a sort of sentimental pilgrimage; each time it's fascinating to think that I'll meet later here in Särna some among the cranes I see there. Yet I'll never know which ones they are. |
All site contents are: © Vitantonio Dell'Orto, all rights reserved worldwide. The Chronicles of Särna, and other stories from the North.
I live in Sweden, in Särna (Dalarna). The Chronicles are a photo diary about the nature (but not just) here around and from all the Scandinavian areas where my photo job takes me.
It is possible to purchase the pictures in these pages, as for all those in Exuvia, as signed prints. Here the info.
In Särna, close to national parks and nature reserves, our vandrarhem (family hostel) offers a simple but nice accommodation in private room for 21 euros a night (and even less if you are a group)
My book: "My Sweden - Tales from an Italian photographer in the North" is available in the bookstores and by the publisher.
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