Södra Gotland

On Thursday, 20 June we drove to the southern tip of Gotland. Along the way we stopped at a few places along the seashore where birds were especially abundant and diverse kinds could be seen. We were rewarded with some passable pictures of tofsvipa, skärfläcka, and större strandepipare. The tofsvipa (Lapwing) has a tuft of feathers sticking up from the back of its head, hence its name in Swedish (“Tufted Bird”).

The skärfläcka looks a lot like an Avocet because it is one. This one is purely black and white with the distinctive upturned bill of avocets. Here some of them are seen together with  tofssvipor.

The större strandpipare (“Greater Beach Piper” = Common Ringed Plover) sounds much like a killdeer and looks much like one too.

The wild duck that has been eluding Lar’s camera for weeks finally provided some really nice photo ops. In Icelandic it is known as brandönd (fire duck, apparently because of its very red bill). In Swedish it is called gravand (digging duck) because it makes its nest in holes in the ground. It is similar in size to a mallard, or perhaps a bit larger.  Males and females have identical plumage, except that the male has a red knob at the base of its bill.

Along the same coastlines we saw numerous pretty flowers. Here is a small collection of those that caught our attention most. The white flowers were found to look quite different when seen up close. Name of this flower is “brudbrödet”, in English “the bride’s bread”.

This flower is “Pukvete” in Swedish, and Field Cow-wheat in English.

Oddly, to anyone who thinks of orchids as large, showy, tropical flowers, there are lots of them in Sweden.  This orchid is Sankt Pers Nycklar; in English, “Peter’s keys” or Early Purple Orchid.

Here are some Johannesnycklar (“John’s keys” or Military Orchid)

Solvända means “Sun-turner”, though in English this is called a rock-rose.

Blåeld (Blue Fire, aka Viper’s Bugloss), very common along roadsides on Gotland.

Ag is a plant that was important to Gotlanders for making thatched roofs (agtak). We saw plenty of these thatched roofs, mostly on sheep sheds. Here are a couple of links, both in Swedish, that provide pictures of such agtak and text. (http://www.guteinfo.com/?id=1366 and http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ag_(v%C3%A4xt) ). This plant grows in shallow, fresh-water marshes (agmyrar) that exist because of unusual conditions that are largely restricted to Gotland. Thatched roofs have been and are used elsewhere but are made from plants local to those areas.