Friday Photo #643 – Changing Seasons

Photo: Willow Ptarmigan in flight over grassland, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. May 1, 2025. 15:30

April and May are always a strange time of year for me in the mix of summer daylight but winter-ish temperatures and landscape. I’ve already made a few trips down south this year and have seen green trees and meadows and fields of flowers and flying puffins. Yet returning north to Lofoten is like taking a time machine back to the brown cold of winter while the islands wait several more weeks to catch up to southern Norway.

I know it will be summer soon, so I find it difficult to photograph the drab, brown landscape which exists at the moment. Though the forecast for the weekend is calling for up to 20cm of snow in some places, so maybe a bit of white winter will make a short return; though soon to be melted away by the high May sun.

The local wildlife don’t really care about the looks of the landscape, but they too are under transformation from winter to summer. From late March and into early April a large majority of the migratory birds arrive and fight for nesting grounds and mates. The moorlands around my village have been a bustle of activity for weeks now.

The year round residents like the mountain hares and, in this photo, the willow ptarmigans are in various phases of change from winter white to summer brown. The remaining white hares looks like ghosts as they hop around the fields in the twilight nights – probably easy pickings for any eagles flying around.

But just a couple more weeks and all signs of winter will be gone. Hopefully we have a repeat of last years fantastic summer, but that is yet to be seen…

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3
600mm
ISO 280
f 6.3
1/2500 Second
WB Daylight