The Hunt for Orange Cloudberry

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Martti

Full Member
Mar 12, 2011
919
18
Finland
As a continuation for my previous report Vising the Reindeer Country, I am currently staying at the same cabin in Northern Finland. My main purpose is to gather cloudberries for the winter, but also continue testing the same equipment I used in the same location last winter. During the week the temperatures have been around 15-20 degrees centigrade during the day and around 8-12 degrees during the night.

1. Finnish lakeland on the way to Northern Finland, taken around 9 p.m.

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2. Your typical dirt road in Northern Finland.

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3. Another typical road type.

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4. Trap for a pine marten.

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5. Open mire.

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6. This one is yet to ripen.

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bopdude

Full Member
Feb 19, 2013
3,000
215
58
Stockton on Tees
Great pictures, you temps are about the same as mine at the moment ( North East UK ) that's where the similarities stop, you would have to look hard here to find anything a patch on your scenery ................ location envy, again :)

Thanks for sharing.
 

Martti

Full Member
Mar 12, 2011
919
18
Finland
The thing I remember vividly about picking cloudberries was that they grow in the places with the most mosquitoes.

I wouldn't be exaggerating if I say that there are usually two dozen of mosquitoes, gnats and flies around you at the same time. Then again, if you find a good spot, the berries almost collect themselves.

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Martti

Full Member
Mar 12, 2011
919
18
Finland
A Sami woman showed me the local variety of bog myrtle which worked surprisingly well as an insect repellent.

Not bog myrtle (Myrica gale), which grows only in the Finnish coast, but probably Northern Labrador tea (Rhododendron tomentosum). Study linked below argues that the plant protects its neighbouring birch trees from larvae up to five meters away.

Birch (Betula spp.) leaves adsorb and re-release volatiles specific to neighbouring plants – a mechanism for associational herbivore resistance?
 

Martti

Full Member
Mar 12, 2011
919
18
Finland
Quiet little river next to the cabin.

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Spruce needle rust (Chrysomyxa ledi) coloured many of the spruce I saw in yellow.

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Kind of a "tree hydra".

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Martti

Full Member
Mar 12, 2011
919
18
Finland
Another type of mire (called "neva") where one can really go for a swim, if not careful.

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It's safe here!

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Local inhabitants.

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