Thursday 28 April 2011

Unexpected sightings

In the last few days I have been feeling very frustrated. No job, an undedicated boyfriend and barely any sun, can really get to you. So, in one of these days I just ran away. I went where no one could find me, relaxed alone and enjoyed the sounds of sea birds. When I came back, everything was the same and I still felt like escaping...There is a small island close to the house, and that was the place I chose to hide. While sitting on a rock, I found myself looking at the sea in search for something. It was very quiet and that is usually when you see harbour porpoises around here. So I stared and stared, enjoying the breeze and the sound of the water hitting the rocks, when suddenly I saw this black thing in the water. It was hard to be sure because the light reflected even shadows of small waves, but once I saw it for the second time I had no doubts. It was a mother with its calf and they were swimming through the fjord, just passing some small fish farm cages. They quickly disappeared, but a few minutes after there was a single habour porpoise in the same area. I was really happy. It truly made me smile, the first and last heart-felt smile of the day.

Monday 28 March 2011

Photo practice


The day started with a beautiful light, full of great shadows that made a fantastic effect in the snow. I was lucky to find for the first time, tracks of an otter. Here, the otters slide in the snow and aim for the water. You can clearly see the swoop of the sliding and suddenly you see the marks of its paws! I also had the pleasure of seeing a perfectly marked print of an Elk (Alces alces) which usually go around scrapping the trees.
Roads here are full of warning signs to alert people for elks crossingthe road. Apparently, that happens very often! I saw it happening only once, but at that one time 4 elks showed up!

VesterĂ¥len is full of wildlife and, although birds here don't sing much, you can have great close up encounters with fantastic animals!

Norway Wildlife

The first morning in Norway, just after you wake up, what do you think you can hear? Absolutely nothing...Well, maybe some magpies, but not all that crackle and mix of bird songs that I am used to hear in Lisbon. There, birds even sing at night! Here, not so much...you may be lucky enough to hear the white-tailed eagles, but when it comes to birds so far I haven't heard any special songs. Perhaps birds here spend less energy in singing and more energy in gathering food - that's my theory. But one thing that Norway has that not so many places have, is a great light. No matter which time of day it is, you can go outside and be dazzled with how fast it changes and wonderful everything looks, especially with tonnes of snow around you. So, that will be the plan for today - go out with my compact and practice nature photography, so that I can capture the best of this wonderful light, and hopefully some wildlife too! It is very often to look outside from the window and see an eagle just circling around followed by sea gulls! Apparently, sea gulls don't like eagles and chase them away from where maybe they have their young. Eagles are known here for also taking cats! So, don't leave your cat outside when you know there is an eagle around.
Tonight I will post some photos for you to comment on. I will try to go around and take photos at sunset, but usually here animals are most active at sunrise. Wish me luck!

Tuesday 15 February 2011

Space dynamics

In viking lands it is very often that one feels dazzled by the beauties of nature. It is so different from the hussle and bussle of the city...You wake up in the morning and just feel purely amazed by your surroundings. Mountains, fjords, and all the wildlife that comes with it, just make a true nature lover feel at home. One of the things that still dazzles me are the northern lights. Visible only at high latitudes, these gorgeous events caused by Sun activity remain one of the wonders of nature.

I found this website that describes and updates solar activity:

as you can see, solar flares have been very intense recently, and I hope I am outside when the northern lights happen.

Also, you may be able to find some other curious things up in the night sky

the Cassini spacecraft has been going around Saturn and is going to pass through its largest moon - Titan - in 3 days! Curiously, one of the moons is called Pan :P

So, keep that in mind and don't forget to have your eyes in the sky when you go out at night!


Tuesday 25 January 2011

It's just life...

There are days that you wake up in the morning, look outside and think - what am I doing here? How did I get here? What am I going to do?
Well, those are the questions that make you move forward. Of course, they bring lots of pain and despair, but when you get there, when you reach that point, it will all make sense. I don't mean like you should have daily doubts about yourself, which you shouldn't, but you should always try to push yourself further and still be happy with what you have.
I have been under this philosophical state of mind, where I get like this every single day, every single morning. That's what you get when you don't have a job - you think too much...You always wish for the best and try to keep yourself positive, but that's hard work! The world spins faster every time and you see yourself always going around and around with nowhere to go. How do you get out of this cicle? How do you break it? How do you make your dreams work when everything seems to be against you? When you make your choices for love, but they do not seem to favour your professional life? How do you move forward when everything goes around and remain untouchable?
Part of the answer is to watch british tv shows, get inspired, contact people, and always approach someone new with a smile on your face. You know what else helps? FRIENDS! yeah! of course!
Just try not to run out of money :P
Oh! and just so you know, my work with Fin Whales in the Bay of Biscay with be presented by me at the European Cetacean Conference in Cadiz in March!