Red-throated Diver photography

The Red-throated Diver was the target for my visit to Hällefors in the province of Närke. In Hällefors you will find a wet bog that hold almost 6% of the entire Red-throated Diver population that we have during summer.

I had actually not seen a Red-throated Diver before I arrived from Västerås on the Swedish National day, Friday last week. I have only seen their bigger cousin the Black-throated Diver a couple of times as they are rare birds around Gothenburg.

The wet bog was easily found once I had arrived at Hällefors. The time was after 17 and there were actually already seven or eight cars parked there, even some people from Netherlands. I directly started to chat with a friendly man and it didn´t take long before we realized that we “knew” each other from the photo community Fotosidan. The fellow was Harald Ström and we had company during the three sessions that I spent at the bog.

From the start I had thought about two sessions both in the evening and in the morning, but I felt that the activity at the bog wasn´t bustling so I skipped the last morning session. I spoke with another photographer during one of my sessions and he told me the Red-throated Diver is lying on egg and that it will be quite until the eggs are hatched in July.

He also told me that there are two main periods of interest when you consider the young birds and that is when the parents constantly have to feed them and when they start trying their wings. Both those periods are action packed and seems to be of interest if you ask me. All in all that means one have to come back later in the year.

I really liked Knuthöjdsmosse with the Red-throated Diver, but it was also nice to hear the Common Cuckoo that seemed to be everywhere. The bog also seemed to be a good spot if you want to photo the Eurasian Hobby that hunted dragonflies. Sadly I didn´t get any good photos of this nice looking Falcon.

I also went to Björkskogsnäs, not far from Hällefors, to take photos of the famous orchid Gukusko, Cypripedium calceolus. Not a typical looking orchid for Sweden, but still sort of nice looking. I do prefer the Lupines that you see along the roads this time of year. They are much more to my liking, but it is certainly worth to visit Björkskogsnäs when the Guckusko is flowering.

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