Øvre Pasvik, Finnmark, Norway (Øvre Pasvik, Finnmark, Norwegen) (Øvre Pasvik, Finnmark, Norvégia) 07.2011.

One of the most interesting destinations to visit on our spider-excursion in Finnmark was the so-called Pasvikdalen, the valley of the Passvikelva river located at the southernmost tip of the county. This is not really a valley, but instead a comlpex network of lakes and rivers and streams. The area is at the triple border of Finnland, Norway and Russia. It is also home of the Øvre Pasvik National Park that is famous of its brown bears. We visited this area on two occasions. The National Park is located more than 100 kms Southwards from Kirkenes in a largely uninhabited area.

Kirkenes, Finnmark, Norway (Kirkenes, Finnmark, Norwegen) (Kirkenes, Finnmark, Norvégia) 07.2011.

Ending the series of posts about Norway, this time I write about some areas around the city of Kirkenes. We visited several interesting habitats here: fjords, birch woods, lakes and barren hilltops.

Pasvik Valley, Finnmark, Norway (Pasvik-Tal, Finnmark, Norwegen) (Pasvik-völgy, Finnmark, Norvégia) 07.2011.

On the last week of July we - 3 members of the German Spinnen-Forum - traveled to Finnmark (Finnmárku), the extreme Northeast county of Norway. We were invited there by three Norwegian arachnologists and we spent there a whole week. Our aim was to investigate the really poorly known spider fauna of this county and to find species of spiders that have never been recorded from Norway before. With a loaned car we traveled to many breath-taking landscapes in Sør-Varanger commune (Máttá-Várjjat in Sami) and spent every daytime with collecting and photographing the remarkable local fauna and flora. And luckily, daytime here in summer is really a long period. In a series of posts I will report about this journey.

Grense Jakobselv, Finnmark, Norway (Grense Jakobselv, Finnmark, Norwegen) (Grense Jakobselv, Finnmark, Norvégia) 07.2011.

On one day on our field trip in Finnmark, we traveled some 60 kms eastwards from Kirkenes to the border area of Norway and Russia. The border is along the small Jakobselva river, and one of the main villages here is Grense Jakobselv (basically just some houses). The avarage population density in Sør-Varanger is 3/sq km, but that of the border area and the adjacent easternmost part of Sør-Varanger is definetly lower! During this trip, we stopped at Jarfjordfjellet, collected some spiders at the Jakobselv river and at the shores of the Barents sea, and than traveled to the uninhabited tundra zone of the border area.

Jakobselv tundra, Finnmark, Norway (Jakobselv Tundra, Finnmark, Norway) (Jakobselv Tundra, Finnmark, Norvégia) 07.2011.

The Southern part of the border region is an uninhabited tundra, a part of the Kola Peninsula Tundra Ecoregion. It differs a lot from all the other areas that we visited: there are no trees, just dwarf and middle-sized shrubs, and although there is much water everywhere, it is not like the bogs. There are few mosses and peat, the ground is quite solid and water accumulates in pits. There are plenty of lichens and Black Crowberries on the ground and on the rocks. Lichens that cover the ground are so firm that walking here is like walking on pieces of plastic. It even makes a certain sound. Also, there were many smaller and bigger stones everywhere. As we usually do in more temperate areas, we lifted stones to search for spiders. Unlike in Central Europe, there were few spiders and arthropods under these: we had to turn up dozens to find a single specimen. Location: South of Grense Jakobselv. Date: 27.07.2011.

Færdesmyra, Finnmark, Norway (Færdesmyra, Finnmark, Norwegen) (Færdesmyra, Finnmark, Norvégia) 07.2011.

On the last week of July we - 3 members of the German Spinnen-Forum - traveled to Finnmark (Finnmárku), the extreme Northeast county of Norway. We were invited by three Norwegian arachnologists and we spent there a whole week. Our aim was to investigate the really poorly known spider fauna of this county and to find species of spiders that have never been recorded from Norway before. With a loaned car we traveled to many breath-taking landscapes in Sør-Varanger commune (Máttá-Várjjat in Sami) and spent every daytime with collecting and photographing the remarkable local fauna and flora. And luckily, daytime here in summer is really a long period. In a series of posts I will report about this journey. The territory that we visited is the easternmost part of Finnmark, its main city is Kirkenes with a population of 7300 (with nearby villages included) connected to the Barents Sea through the Varangerfjorden, situated 400 kms Nort of the Arctic Circle. The landscape is quite different from other parts of Norway, there are much lower mountains than on the Western coasts facing the Norwegian Sea. There are some tundra-like areas, but real arctic tundras are only found near the Nordkapp. The Southern part of Sør-Varanger is the westernmost part of the Russian taiga region, and it is also the triple border of Norway, Finnland and Russia. Climate is relatively mild especially along the coast. In summer one can observe the midnight sun and the temperature is quite comfortable, ranging from about 8 to 20 degrees Celsius when the sun is high. We visited the huge bog called Færdesmyra on the second day's morning. The protected areas of this is about 3 by 3 kms wide! The special feature of this bog is that it is partially a palsa-bog, so it has parts with permafrost. The ever-frozen ground water in the palsas forms ice-rich layers (lenses) in palsas and in the next winter another lens is formed, which pushes the older one downer, while pushing the ground above it upwards. This forms the characteristic landscapes of palsas. Because of the summers getting more and more hot this habitat type is under serious threat in Southern Finnmark. The flora here is characterized by peat forming sphagnum mosses, sedge, and other acid-water plants. On the top of palsas, several delicious berries can be found. Location: Færdesmyra. Date: 26.07.2011.

Gardermoen, Norway (Gardermoen, Norwegen) (Gardermoen, Norvégia) 07.2011.

As we traveled to Finnmark via Oslo in July, 2011, I spent a day by the Airport of Oslo in Gardermoen. I went out to take some photos, as the weather was nice. But than a heavy shower came and I returned to the bread-and-breakfast hotel, so there are only a few photos to show. Regardless of the short time I spent there, I found the Southern-Norwegian boreal pine forest to be a really interesting habitat, that differed quite a lot from the forests of Finnmark. Location: Gardermoen. Date: 24.07.2011.