Wednesday, October 31, 2012

The Fallow Deer


The Fallow Deer (Dama Dama) is more of a herd animal than other deer. In the spring and summer, they prefer open landscape with good access to grass. During the autumn and winter, they often pull into the woods. They also use a greater degree of eyesight to orientate themselves, and are less dependent on sense of smell and hearing. This probably has to do with the fact that they often travel in open terrain, where vision is the most important sense. The Fallow Deer can recognize motionless human beings. It is not fond of swimming.
The Fallow Deer eats mainly grass and leaves from deciduous trees in summer, and nuts, berries and bark in winter. They graze mostly in forest clearings with lush vegetation. They have fairly regular meals, usually early in the morning and in the evening and they graze mostly in flocks. After eating, it is common that the herd pulls back into the denser vegetation. The night is spent cud-chewing and rest. It is quite rare to see a Fallow Deer drink water, as they usually get their needs covered through the food they eat, like dewy grass.
The Fallow Deer does not naturally exist in Norway where I am from, so these pictures are taken during my summer vacation in Denmark.











Friday, October 26, 2012

Common Blue Damselfly


You can find the Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) in all of Europe, except in Iceland. It is often mistaken for the Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella), but the latter does not have the mushroom shaped spot connecting the second and third element of the thorax. The Common Blue Damselfly can reach a length of 35 mm.
Adult damselflies live for an average of 20 days, and during this period they must breed. When they mate, the male clasps the female by her neck, while she bends her body back to his mating organs. This position is called a ‘mating wheel’. The mating can last up to 20 minutes. The females lay their eggs both above and below the waterline. After hatching, the damselflies will live as larvaes, sometimes for as long as three years, before emerging to a flying insect.

All pictures shot handheld with either the 70-200mm (the first three) or the 100mm Macro.









This post has been moved here from my previous blog at WordPress

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Ustaoset

Ustaoset is a small place along ‘Bergensbanen’, a railroad between Bergen and Oslo in the mountains of Norway. The station is 991 meters above sea level. Of course you can get there by car as well, taking RV7 across ‘Hardangervidda’. At Ustaoset there is a cluster of approx. 900 cabins, hotels and lodges. You will find great hiking possibilities in the summer, and in the winter you can enjoy cross country skiing. If you go 10 minutes by car, you find one of Norway’s most popular ski resorts, Geilo. During the winter, they have shuttle busses to trasport ski-tourists between Ustaoset and Geilo.













Friday, October 19, 2012

Autumn Colors

The nature provides quite a few shades of yellow, red and green at this time of the year.









Monday, October 15, 2012

Hardanger

A great piece of scenery not far from the west coast of Norway, with deep fjords and high mountains. Besides the beautiful nature, Hardanger is also known for it's fruit cultivation, brought here by the Cistercian monks from Lyse Abbey - also called Saint Mary's Abbey, Lyse - in the middle age. Among the fruit they grow here, you find apples, pears, cherries, plums, etc.