It's that time of year!

It's that time of year!,
originally uploaded by Martin Kristiansen.

A couple of hours on the moors saturday night brought me this sweeties. Cloudberry and blueberry. Sunday I spent some time on the hillside in Stavedalen, and I did find some nice blueberries. They now live in my freezer :)

Who know what monday will bring?

Grattis!

Ja, ja. Det er vel en fin dag uansett - slik det sies, at alle dager er fine dager.

Villa og Volvo

Så ble det villa og volvo på meg óg. Nå mangler bare voffen og fast arbeid. Førstnevnte skal visst luftes sammen med barnevogn, så den kommer neppe i hus. Sistnevnte er jeg allergisk mot, så det er for tidlig å skrive nekrologen.

Snorkelling at Kinnvoll

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Originally uploaded by Martin Kristiansen
To hot to stay on
shore with 6,5 to
13 mm of black super
insulating neopreon.

There's a story behind this, but right now there are some shore crabs shimmering on the stove. Some catch to take care of.

Masse bubbelurer, for det meste strandsnegler. Tok med mange grønne kråkeboller. Var også noen røde, men små boller der. Brukte en uendelighet på å renske dem. Fullstendig fritt for fisk, hvis du ser vekk fra verdens minste flyndre - og lillebroren. Kom også over en fjesing eller noe som lignet.

Helt utrolig langgrunt. Hele nederste delen av bukta flødde igjen. Måtte vade tilbake fra holmen jeg tok ut fra.

Sikten var god, og mye mer enn ti meter, men kom aldri så langt ut at det ble dypere enn det. Svømte helt ut til det ytterste skjæret. Flere undervannsskjær underveis.

Lenger sør, mot elva var det mer uklart. Mye glassmaneter. Ellers var det strandkrabbe i søkk og kav. Mye eremittkreps av typen stor.

Svømte rett på ei havørn. Så ung ut. Mye grått, brunt og spraglete i fjærdrakten. Var litt liten. Virket litt puslete. Kom helt inn på den før den så meg. Tror ikke den helt forstod hva jeg var. Den gjorde et par spede forsøk på å fly. Enten var den ikke redd meg, eller så var den for avkreftet til å klare det.

Had to wade back from the islet. Kind of figured it out before I went out to the islet.

Possibly the whitest boy alive! Anyway, coffee and chocolate biscuits made it worth the effort.

Here, and out a kilometer or a half. Shallow, sandy bottom.

Who could possibly deny that this is a really, really nice place?

Foggy Notion

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Originally uploaded by Martin Kristiansen

After a few days with warm weather, and the first summerday - with 20 degrees celsius, the sea fog came. It stood like a wall out in the sea. Thick and heavy. Flowing slowly towards us.

I' always like this when there's some really good weather in sight. Andenes get covered in fog. Cold, wet and thick. The rest of the villages on the island usually get away.

This time I went up on a near by mountain to get a picture of the fog wall. The fog were to close to get a good photo of Andenes. It was just white on white, from the mountain foot and as far as sight could reach. But I managed to capture Bleik well. The little mountain top popping out of the fog is a birds nesting island, Bleiksøya.

The lighthouse

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Originally uploaded by Martin Kristiansen

The lighthouse. Photographed with my camera phone. Tried to get my self in to the frame. Me and the lighthouse in the same frame.

Turned out impossible. It's the mirror problem. The magic with left and right. It was just like being four years old again.

Coffee on the beach

Coffee on the beach
Originally uploaded by Martin Kristiansen

Coffee on the beach - the Norwegian way. Summer has finally arrived in Northern Norway. The temperature is rising, and today was a perfect day to chill out on the beach. You just remember to dress well.

It was not that bad. Just having a coffee after some hours snorkling in the evening.

Dette så jeg:

Kråkeboller. Grønne og en og annen svart. Massevis av kråkeboller. Ser ikke ut som om noen spiser kråkeboller her - utenom kråka da. Så bare to fisker. En rognkall og verdens minste rødspette. Kun to skikkelige skjell. O-skjell. Fin størrelse, selv om de var noe ensome.

Foruten at det var kråkeboller i overflod, var det også en overflod av snegler. Et paradis for snegleetere! Var også skikkelige kongesnegler her. De hvite med ordentlig skru. Strandkrabbe og eremittkreps var det også plenty med.

Dette var i Børrvågen, bukta mellom Nordmela og Børra. Langgrunt. Store dønninger i havgapet. Nesten som å surfe.

Gikk også på land og tok en tur til fots til ei bukt lengre ut. Her var det vedlig klart og fint vann. Grusbunn, men kun snegler, eremittkreps og strandkrabber.


- I fear nothing, said the common shore crab.

Things I saw. Only looking for edible animals ;-)

• Drøbakkskråkebollen - Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis - Green edible Norwegian sea urchin
• Rognkall - Cyclopterus lumpus - Lump sucker
• Rødspette - Pleuronectes platessa - European plaice
• O-skjell - Modiolus modiolus - Horse mussel

And I am pretty sure I met this snails:

• Strandsnegl - Littorina littorea - Common periwinkle
• Purpursnegl - Nucella lapillus - Dog whelk (purple snail)
• Kongesnegl - Buccinum undatum - Common whelk
• Neptunsnegl - Neptunea despecta - Rejected Neptune

But I now have learnt that it is very hard to determine snails. Did you know that they actually use the size and shape of the animals penis to determine the species? Although the books say nothing about determination of a female snail. If penis peering doesn't work out, they use DNA-analysis. So I am fairly pleased with my own determination, made through the goggles while floating in open sea.

• Strandkrabbe - Carcinus maenas - Common shore crab

And this little fellow, which is probably not edible, but funny too watch:

• Eremittkreps - Pagurida - Hermit crabs, don't know which. There were so many.

Funny to watch are also the goby, which I presume inflects to gobies. These were amazingly colorful. Hey! That's guppies, I told myself.


Børra sett fra havet. Børra viewed from the sea.