Scandinavian Wildlife

You wouldn't believe all the strange creatures I've seen this summer, and just to put you in the right mood, I'll start with my new hate object. The kind of beast that makes ticks almost nice. Well, not really, but anyhow – have you heard of the deer ked? If not, consider yourself lucky. This little bugger isn't regarded as particularly harmful to humans, but as Wikipedia says "it can be a nuisance". In my opinion that's an understatement. You wonder why?

Lipoptena cervi is a fly, but I'd like to think of it more as a flying spider. It won't fly very far though, only 50 mtrs or so, and as soon as it lands on its "victim" (deer or elk mostly) it sheds its wings and starts burrowing through the fur in search for its first meal. And that's blood. The parasite then lives its life there while reproducing several times. Nasty. But why do I loath this insect more than other?

It doesn't buzz so you won't notice if it's heading your way. Then suddenly you feel something tickle and crawl around, and this is where you can freak out. It won't go away! It's flat and hard (some have suitably nicknamed it "Armor Fly"), and its feet have claws (!) at the end. You can wave and brush all you want; it'll still be clinging to your skin. I had one on me, it got under my skirt and I got so worked up that I undressed right there in the yard. My mother was there as well, and with combined efforts we caught the bastard in a tissue. I'm usually neither vindictive nor cruel, but after crushing the "fly" in the paper we also decided to set fire to it, just to make a statement. We put it down on the ground, lit a match and brought it to the paper – waiting for that sweet feeling of revenge as the bloodsucker would go up in smoke. It must have laughed long and hard, that six legged monster from hell, while we watched in disbelief as it crawled out of the paper and disappeared…

Apart from that fly thing, which I had only two encounters with, the rest of the observed fauna was exclusively good natured. I had a moose crossing the road, but I was driving quite slowly, and he was behaving at his best. No turning mid air as they sometimes do. We also had numerous visits of roe deer in the field; they just loved the vetch the neighbour farmer had sown. The roes ran alongside hares and rabbits. This picture I think most people agree sounds idyllic, but I'm not so sure everybody shares my excitement over that other guest I had. One night I had a bat flying around in my bedroom! Very cute, I think, but he was gently manoeuvred back out through the open window.

And all the frogs! Don't think I've ever seen as many as this summer. Literally.