An update is appropriate, don't you think?

Yeah, I've been away for a while. It's been a lot around me the last few months but I promise I will update as much as I can and as often as I can. Now, I will update this blog with a few pictures :)

We'll start with a few pictures from when friends of my dads came down to us. We went for bird watching over the weekend and this is the result:

(Click the image to enlarge)
Picture © Vargen Johansson
(NO TAKING FOR OWN USE!)

This is a really bad picture of a Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena). This one had it's nest not far from where the picture was taken. Both birds where extremely hard to photograph since they kept diving all the time. It's frustrating, but worth it once you get a good picture :)

(Click the image to enlarge)
Picture © Vargen Johansson
(NO TAKING FOR OWN USE!)

This is a rare bird here in our part of Sweden. It's called Carrion Crow (Corvus corone corone), but here in Sweden it's called "svartkråka" (Black Crow). It's not so common over here. It's only known to live in Scania and the other southern parts of Sweden. The picture was taken at a distans, later the crow was a few feet from the road, not even worried about people almost walking over it!

(Click the image to enlarge)
Picture © Vargen Johansson
(NO TAKING FOR OWN USE!)

I hope most people recognise this bird: the Canada Goose (Branta canadensis). The male in the picture (the adult one to the right) kept his eyes on us all the time as we walked by.
Apparently we where a little to close for his liking :)

(Click the image to enlarge)
Picture © Vargen Johansson
(NO TAKING FOR OWN USE!)

Now, this is maybe the only picture you'll see on a church on this blog.
This church is called Saint Birgitta and was founded in the 13th century.

(Click the image to enlarge)
Picture © Vargen Johansson
(NO TAKING FOR OWN USE!)


This image contains the church from the picture above, the stone cross and the lighthouse. The stone cross was on the sight before the church. It was founded in the 12th century. The lighthouse is way much younger, it was founden in the 1840s. The people in the picture is (from the right) my dad and his friends.

(Click the image to enlarge)
Picture © Vargen Johansson
(NO TAKING FOR OWN USE!)

Now, this cutie has come back for years to our backyard since we moved here. Although resent suggestions from scientists says they move around a lot, but I think I recognise my "hedgie" after all these years :)

Well, that was all I had for this time. Hope you enjoyed it! :)

The nature through my window

Blue tit (Parus caeruleus)© Vargen Johansson

I thought I might show you some of the photos I took today. These nutcrackers (or birds if you like) has been seen through my window today:

A pair of Blue tits (Parus caeruleus)
A bundle of Great Tits (Parus major)
A couple of House Sparrows (Passer domesticus)
A lone Dunnock (Prunella modularis)

It's quite funny actually. During the whole winter we have fed the birds but no bird has been seen at all at the "bird table". We've only found some tracks after the Roe Deers that has have a bad winter this time. But now that the spring is here and people are starting to stop feeding the birds.... Well, let's just say that the food is good enough now. It's practicly packed every day! But if they spot you, they disappear directly and won't come back until the day after. Well, I though I'd share some more photos with you. Enjoy! :)

Oh, by the way. Click on the images to enlarge them!

The Great Tit (Parus major)
© Vargen Johansson

The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

© Vargen Johansson

 The Dunnock (Prunella modularis)

© Vargen Johansson

Ottenby here I come!

 Click on the picture to see the Fallow Deers better
© Vargen Johansson

Or well... If the weather had been better it would have sounded better. It was foggy and when we came closer to Ottenby it started to rain a little and then even more. When we got there it was raining constantly. But we did see some animals and birds along the way.

This is what we saw:
2 Ringed Plovers
Unknown number of Eurasian Oystercatchers
A big flight of Eurasian Golden Plovers
Unknown number of Northern Lapwings
1 Rough-Legged Buzzard in flight
1 Common Buzzard in tree
Unknown number of Fallow Deer (see picture)
Unknown number of Roe Deer

It was to bad that the weather wasn't great. The more south we came the more foggier it got. We barely saw anything in front of us.

Hopefully the weather will be better the next time we go somewhere :)

Camels, museums or my own store?

I've got a lot to think about these days. What job do I want? What kind of work do I want to do? Of course I still want to photograph and make movies about wildlife but I simply can't do that if I don't have any cash or equipment. It's so frustrating!

I've found a place near were I live where they have camels and llamas. I've worked with llamas during my highschool years but never in my life have I been near a camel. I did send them an e-mail a while ago, but they didn't answer.

And then there's the museum. It's about 60 swedish miles away from where I live now, it's located in my home county Wermland<3. Yes, I do smileys every now and then. I love history and this museum got lots of it. It specializes in the history in Wermland, the people who lived there and still do.

And there's is this third thing. My own store. Lately I've been almost terrorised by the thought of having my own store. My mother think it's a bad idea, she says I don't have the money and so forth. But if I remember right, when a new company/store opens they get an allowance or contribution from the state. But that's if I remeber right. I so hope I remember right!

So.... this is what I go through during my days. Decision Agony!

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day everyone!
Brothers' birthday is today, sadly I can't celebrate him since we live so far apart. But that doesn't mean that I don't think about him, 'cause I do. And my cousin Mikael has his borthday today too. Happy birthday guys!

Tasmanian devils battles with disfiguring cancer. Help saving them!

Picture found at:

New Scientist - Hidden cancer threat to wildlife revealed

I know there will be strong reactions to this article, or rather the pictures, so therefor I warn you!
I have to warn sensitive readers. There might be pictures that can be grouse, terrible, gore and extreme or severe disfiguration.

Picture found at:

http://scienceblogs.com/

Today when I watched Nat Geo Wild channel around 18.00 they talked about the tasmanian devils and the cancer no one knew where it came from. The pictures are horrifying! Imagine yourself full of tumors coming out from everywhere: eye sockets, mouth, broken yaws from fighting. The list could go on for ever.

Picture found at:

ANU - Research School of Biology

The scientists first thought of poisoning from farms, extermination poisoning and plant poisoning. But the last place they found tasmanian devils with this cancer was miles away form closest farm. So poisoning doesn't seem to be the cause. Most people see this beautiful animal as a desease and a plague, and therefor it has to go. But the tasmanian devil is protected by law, therefor poisoning happens in the dark.

Is it a virus? There is nothing called cancervirus, but a virus can cause mutation. A problem is that scientist doesn't know how the devils immunrespons works. Checking the blood showed them that they had the right amount of white blood cells.

Cancer is not contageous like a virus might be. But yet several devils have come down with the desease.

Cell implantation came up as one of the ideas of how this desease spreds. But how does that work? The scientist coming up with this idea got it from when she walked her dog. Her dog had an argument with another dog and they locked yaws. That's how the idea of cell implantation started. Since the devils eat what ever they can get.

Picture found at:

About My Planet - A Devil of a Disease

Scientists looked at the cromosomes in the cancer cells, and they looked like they where the same cromosome. All looked like clones of each other. Another thought emerged. Could it be a mutation of ones own cells? A test showed it wasn't so. They catch the cancer from another individual.

Scientists started wondering what could happen to this desease. Can it become less leathal? Can it become worse? Or can it start jumping from the devils to other anilmals?

Young devils doesn't seem to get this cancer, so the scientists turned to the adults. An adult with a big red lump around its neck becomes a target during feeding. The other devils attack the infected devil. But the scientists didn't find the answer here either. So they turned to the mating season where the males ripps off chunks of each other in fights over females.

Why is the devil caught with this desease? No other animal gets it. The Tasmanian Island is not connected to the rest of Australia, and since man didn't care if the devils lived or not they killed many of them. Then when the devils where climbing back up again in numbers, what else would there be if not inbreeding? The cancer is not rejected by the devils immun system and the desease has spread on at least 2/3 of the islands population.

Picture found at:

National Geographic - Animals Printable Pages

How do we save it?
Another question is: How many cures for cancer do we have? Scientists are skeptic to find a cure for the cancer before the devils are completely gone. The devils that gets the desease dies within 3 to 5 month from catching it.

Scientists are trying to break the cycle by putting the devils in quarantine, both in the wild and in captivity. The devils are put in quarantine for 2 years to make sure no one of them has caught the desease. It's a desperate attempt.

The devils on the east side of the island have no variation in genes which makes them vulnerable for the cancer, but then the scientists found out that the devils on the west side had variations in the genes. They took one of the quarantine born devils with genes from the west coast and injected him with cells from the cancer to see how his immun system worked. They took a look at the white blood cells and they increased to fight off the cancer cells. Maybe the devils from the west coast has an answer on how to stop this horrible desease!

Picture found at:
I Want To Breathe - We are almost gone

Help saving these cute critters!

Save the Tasmanian Devil! 

Finally! Starting up an aquarium / tank

Yeah, I know I should have posted this about a week ago, but I've been lazy lately. But now it's on its way! Go me!

First of all:
You have to purchase an aquarium or a tank as some people say. You can either buy a brand new tank or you're buying a used one. If you're buying a brand new one, you've have to wait about a week before plants and fishes can be put in the tank. Of course there has to be water in the tank and the inflater has to be running.

But if you're buying a used one you can pretty much start it up as soon as you get home. But how do I do that? That's what I'm going to show you now.

 

First: You have you're used tank where you want it to be. Then what do you next? Well, take a bucket of clean fresh water and an unused sponge. Now you start to clean the whole tank with the water and the sponge. Rub every small green spots you can see on the glass, if there's any small green spots at all.

Done? Then we go to the next step!

 

Water at the bottom of the tank? Wipe it away with a towel or something else you can use.

Now prepare the gravel or sand. Wash it as carefully as possible. Filtrate it if you think it's necessary. Just remember to use a fine filter if you have very fine gravel or sand. Or you'll end up with a nice plug of gravel or sand in you pipes. Belive me, it's not fun!

Oh! And remember to use the finest help you can find to keep an
eye on the fish in the buckets/plastic bags/whatever you use.

Now that you have filtrated your gravel or sand, it's time to fill the tank up. If you don't have a hose you can use 'cause it's cold outside or you just don't have one, a good tip is to use 10 gallon buckets or any other size of bucket. Just remember: the smaller the bucket is the longer time it takes. When you've filled the tank with water you can start the inflater to get the water going and the particles to stay in the filter.

Wait to about the next day to stop the inflater again. Now you take out the filter inside the inflater and clean it under running water in the sink until the water is clean. I mean, when you twist the filter. The water that's coming out of the filter is in the beginning brownish looking. So when the water's clean again, you put the filter back into the inflater, and back down in the tank again with the inflater going.

This picture is taken the same night I filled the tank up. This picture is taken about an hour later after the tank was filled up. Since I had a tank going before this one I took some water from the other tank and put into this one. Thus why I already have the plants in it. 

This is the day after. It takes a few days
before the "fog" dissappears,
so it's alright for it to look like this. 

Yep! You're right! You need a guard for the fish.
And not just any guard will do. A cat is the finest guard
you can find!

The fish was alright in the bucket during the night.

But you can't say the same thing for my poor shrimps....

The tank became a little foggy again. I wasn't happy with the way the plants were planted.

A gigantic Vallisneria gigantea is planted infront of the inflater.

Since I hate to see the equipment its place was kind of sealed.

Still a bit foggy, but it's okey.

You know, the most funny thing about aquarium is the planning and design stage. With design I mean the layout in the tank. How much gravel do I need, where to I want this plant and so forth.

One of the gourami. Unfortunatly this male was a bit terrytorial when I got the golden ones. He kind of killed his mate and the golden male, so now it's just him and the golden female left. But they're a lovely couple!

I don't recommend you to mix these Convict cichlid with shrimps. The shrimps were gone the minute these fish saw them. And I'd say I wouldn't have any plants with the at all since they dig. At least the grown ones did. This little fry ain't doing that for a while but he or she will be doing that soon.

Here are both of the gouramis. They're beautiful, aren't they?

These Pomacea bridgesii are quite fascinating. They seem to disappear constantly. When I count them I only find two out of three each time. So when I look for the third I either find it behind the inflater, in some plant or behind something else that seems impossible to hid behind. These three are at least 3cm over the shell and, if I read right, becomes 15cm when they're grown! Now, that's a snail!

Sorry!

I feel pretty useless for not posting how to start your aquarium / tank post. I promise it will be up soon!


In the meanwhile: Take care everyone!

Job interview done!

The job interview is done! I think it went great, but then again maybe they didn't think so. I hope they did. I really need this! If it's just experience building, I don't care! I just can't stand the though of going here at home doing nothing. It drives me crazy literally! I've been home to long. I hope they decide to let me get a few month with them!

And now we take a look at the aquarium. Yeah, I know. I said last night I'd post the pictures when I was done with it. And I will. I just needed to "write me off" here before I get started :)

See ya soon!




 
(Oh, and by the way! I've decided to only write in English. It takes to much time to re-write the same sentences in Swedish. Hope dont mind! Oh! And also, I might write some important stuff in Swedish if there's any.)

Starting up a new aquarium / Startar upp ett nytt akvarium

Well, I'm currently starting up a new aquarium. An 180 liters tank. All the water and some of the plants are in it now, so now I'm waiting for the tank to become non-murky. It's going quiet fast accually, but since it's after 9 in the evening I'm to tired to continue with the rest of the plants and the fish. They have to wait until tomorrow until I'm back from my first job interview.

Yes, you heard right. I'm going to my first job interview! Woho! I just hope they want me there. I've written my resume and my personal letter, now I just have to print it out. Gotta do that before I get to bed though.

I'll post the pictures of the 180liters tank tomorrow when everythings done.

I'm nervous 'cause of the job interview. Wish me luck!

___________________________________________

Tja, jag håller på att starta upp ett nytt akvarium. Ett 180liters kar. Allt vatten och en del växter är i det nu, så nu väntar jag på att tanken ska sluta vara grumlig. Det går rätt fort faktiskt, men eftersom klockan är 9 på kvällen så är jag för trött för att fortsätta med resten av växterna och fisken. Dom får lov att vänta till imorgon när jag kommit hem från min första jobbintervju.


Ja, du hörde rätt. Jag ska på min första jobbintervju! Woho! Jag hoppas bara att dom vill ha mej där. Jag har skrivit mitt CV och personliga brev, nu ska jag bara skriva ut dom. Måste göra det innan jag går och lägger mej dock.


Kommer posta bilderna på 180liters karet imorgon när allt är klart.


Jag är nervös på grund av jobbintervjun. Önska mej lycka till!

Charles Darwin Master of Evolution with Sir David Attenborough / Charles Darwin Evolutionens Mästare med Sir David Attenborough

Sir David Attenborough has done it again!

Sir David Attenborough has always been a great man when it comes to nature and animal films
and the documentary about Charles Darwin and his theory of life is one of the most well done movies done by David!

David has a vioce made for telling stories of any kind and he is doing that well in this documentary. No movie or film with sir David Attenborough is boring. It is fascinating! as he would have said it.

Anyhow, sir David does a splendid job in this documentary. It's well worth seeing it!

________________________________________

Sir David Attenborough har gjort det igen!


Sir David Attenborough har alltid varit en stor man när det kommer till natur och djurfilmer och i dokumentären om Charles Darwin och hans teori om livet är en av de mest välgjorda filmer gjorde av David!


David har en röst gjord för att berätta historier oavsett sort och han gör det otroligt bra i denna dokumentären. Ingen film med sir David Attenborough är tråkig. Det är fascinerande! som han skulle ha sagt.


Sir David gör ett jättebra jobb i den här dokumentären. Den är väl värd att se!

Welcome! Välkommen!

Welcome to my blogg!

I'm an amateur photographer and film maker of nature and animals. I have allways been fascinated by animals and nature, and this is the reason why I'm photographing and filming everything I see in nature. The grace of an animal when walking, the fantastic scenery Mother Nature displayes in each season... I just can't stop it!

Everything starts in my own backyard basicly. Dad watching birds, I mimic him. Mum telling me to look over there, it's a moose behind the apple tree in our frontyard. I look, being fascinated only by this common animal. On trips on a 10 mile road, a fox is running over the road. I'm screaming to dad to stopp the car at the same time as he is actually putting the brakes down. Even if a hare or a mouse is running over the road, I scream. Either towards the driver or towards the animal to "get the hell of the road". Yeah, I'm well aware about animals well being. In fact, I don't care if I'm getting sick or injured as long as the animals are safe and well. You might think I'm wierd but this is just the person I am.

Well, I think this is a fair presentation of me. Don't you agree? :)

As you see, I write in both English and Swedish. All for my readers! :)

That's all from me this time!
Hoo!

________________________________________

Välkommen till min blogg!

Jag är en amatör fotograf och naturfilmare. Jag har alltid varit fascinerad av djur och natur, och det är därför jag fotograferar och filmar allt jag ser i naturen. Ett djurs elegans när det går, det fantastiska sceneriet Moder Natur visar upp i varje årstid.... Jag kan inte bara sluta!

Alltihop startar i min egen trädgård helt enkelt. Farsan som kollar fåglar, jag som härmar honom. Mamma som säjer till mej att kolla där, det är en älg bakom äppelträdet i våran trädgård. Jag tittar, är helt fascinerad av bara det här vanliga djuret. På åkturer på en 10 milsväg, en räv springer över vägen. Jag skriker åt pappa att stanna bilen samtidigt som han faktiskt bromsar. Även om en hare eller en mus springer över vägen, skriker jag. Antingen åt den som kör eller åt djuret att "gå av vägjäveln". Jepp, jag är mån om djurs välmående. Jag bryr mej inte om ifall jag blir sjuk eller skadad bara djuret är tryggt och mår bra. Du kanske tycker att jag är konstig men det är så här jag är. 

Tja, jag tror att det här är en schyst presentation av mej. Tycker inte du det? :)

Som ni ser, jag skriver på både engelska och svenska. Allt för mina läsare! :)

Det var allt från mej för denna gång!

Tjo!