About a month ago, on the 18th of April I took a walk at Rostad with a friend. On the 24th of May, we took the same walk, but there were a lot of differences in nature. In April there were no leaves on the trees, but by the end of May, their leaves were out. This year we have had over a week of warm, sunny weather, so nature is green again. In this blog, I would like to share how beautiful this part of Inderøy is at the end of May.
The manor house at Rostad farm is now hidden behind these beautiful trees. The grass is growing nicely and I saw a robot lawn mower out working. The dark trees in the back are beech trees, and the tree in the center is birch.I forgot to look closely at this tree when I took the photo, but it is probably an oak tree. These lovely old trees will all have been planted, and they have been given lots of room to grow and create lovely shapes.Just to show the contrast from the 18th of April, 2024, a little over a month ago.
My friend and I have again chosen to go for our walk in the evening. We started at about 6:30 pm, when the warm day has started to cool. As I started the drive from home, there were a few raindrops on my windshield, and the road was wet, but there was never a deluge. Looking at the lightning map when I got home again, there had been lightning east of us, near the Swedish border. My friend had gotten a message from a friend that where he was there had been a deluge of rain. At this time of year, rain showers are often very local and difficult for the weather forecasters to predict exactly where the rain will come.
This is still used as a tractor road for access to the field, which on the right, has become quite green since I was last here. This road goes down to the fjord and would originally have given access to the farm from the fjord.Looking back where we had come from, up the road which is lined with pine trees at this point. Notice that there is a grass field on the left and on the right there will be potatoes in a while.Looking down towards the fjord, across the potato field. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get my picture very horizontal, but the fjord does not actually slope. It is the field that is on a slope. Note the clouds in the sky are of various types, some of which may give moisture to what is underneath it.
Many trees are blooming right now, including birch and spruce. Birch pollen causes a lot of misery for those who have allergies, including my son. Spruce pollen is much larger and very visible, on all surfaces, including the fjord. Spruce trees do not bloom every year, but this year there is a lot of flowers and pollen.
This picture was taken from home, rather than on the walk, but shows spruce pollen on the fjord. The picture was taken on 2024.05.17.Prunus padus, or bird cherry is blooming with its white clusters of flowers. This shrub,often grows in clumps and when blooming they are very visible from a distance. There will eventually be small dark berries.Even down near the fjord, small shrubs have taken root and are blooming. This is the red elderberry, or Sambucus racemosa. The flowers eventually become clumps of red berries.
In addition to the trees blooming, there are now many wild flowers in bloom. The warm weather, with temperatures up to 26 degrees centigrade, has encourage many plants to bloom, perhaps earlier than in other years.
The small purple flowers are on a climbing plant called vetch (vicia) and is found often on roadsides. I have a lot in my garden as well.Dandelions are very common here in May. On some farms there are whole fields of them. In addition they grow along the roadsides. I find them a very beautiful, colorful flower, though I must admit that I don’t like them growing in my lawn and spend quite a bit of time removing them from the lawn.Forget-me-nots (myosotis) are a very light blue, but in the bright sunshine they come out almost white. Notice that there are many types of leaves indicating a wide variety of wild plants. This picture was taken along the tractor road down to the fjord. Bright sunshine most of the day, along with warm temperatures, has brought the flowers in bloom.These purple flowers, crane’s bill, (a type of geranium) are very early this year. It is a very common wild plant along roadsides and other open places.This plant is called “dog cookies” in Norwegian and is very common along the roadsides, once the dandelions are finished. In Latin it is called Anthriscus sylvestris, and in English it has various names including cow parsley and Queen Anne’s lace.In not so sunny areas, the white anemone (Anemone nemorosa) is still blooming. It usually blooms before the leaves come out on the trees, so they are mostly finished now.The first buttercups (ranunculus) are just starting to bloom.Wild violas (Viola odorata) grow in a lot of places in Inderøy. Notice all the yellow spruce pollen on the leaves.
This year, there are three posts to find on this walk, with 10 points for each post. Two of the posts are down by the water and the third one is at the end of a tractor road so that it is accessible for wheelchair or baby buggy users.
Post 21, Rostadsjøen. Here the dandelions have turned grey and their seeds will soon be spread by the wind.It was low tide while we were at Rostadsjøen.Post 22, Rostadnaustet, the boat house at Rostad. On the far side of the building are a couple of chairs and a picnic table to sit at. We took a rest here, as we were about halfway. It was a pleasant temperature in the shade.Post 23, Husmannsplassen i Rostadbakken. In the 19th century, large farms would have many crofters who had small places to live, grow a few crops for their own consumption and perhaps have a few animals. The crofters would have to give services to the landowner, perhaps helping with planting or harvesting, or the women might help in the house. There are six of these locations at Rostad and most of them were abandoned before 1900.
In spite of being worried about walking when it was over 20 degrees, as I don’t tolerate the warmth very well, we had started our walk late enough that the worst of the heat was over for the day. There was a little breeze when we were out in the open, though in the forest it seemed much warmer as there was no wind. We used a little over an hour for our walk, neither of us in a hurry to get back to our cars. By taking the walk counterclockwise, we went down the long hill in the sunshine and came back up the hill on gentler slopes that were mostly in the shade of the trees. It was interesting to see the changes in nature, in the month since we had taken this walk last.
One Reply to “Evening Walk at Rostad – Part 2”
Loved the contrasting photos. Love wild flowers but the pollen will play havoc with my allergies.
Loved the contrasting photos. Love wild flowers but the pollen will play havoc with my allergies.