Daily Slow Chat

3 comments

1. This morning I am heading to Western Sicily (Marsala) to do some work with a group that provides free legal services to migrants, particularly those who are undocumented… there’s a big legal case coming up soon.

2. It’s windy -1 outside, day after tomorrow is apparently 20 degrees. I’m done with winter, can’t do shit outside and it’s pissing me off.

3. I want to recommend the free birdsong app Merlin Bird ID to anyone with an interest in birds or in nature in general. It’s impressively accurate most of the time, and can be adjusted to your specific locatio. So for example, I’m using the version with Nordic birds. It’s so fascinating getting to know more exactly what birds you are actually hearing, and fun to try to learn and recognize the different song.

   So for example, during just a couple of hours’ walk last weekend in the nature reserve next to my city, which features a mix of beech forest, grazed meadows, a castle park land and seashore, I heard all of these birds, according to the app: oystercatcher, common gull, mallard, wood pigeon, greater spotted woodpecker, rook, hooded crow, jackdaw, magpie, blackbird, chiffchaff, wren, skylark, robin, chaffinch, blue tit, great tit and nuthatch, as well as the small-clawed treecreper, which in Sweden is quite exclusive to the area around my city. So quite an extensive list, even if mostly quite common ones, and this is of course before most of the more long-distance migrating birds have arrived as well.

   This weekend I will go for some hikes in the countryside instead. Will be going to a forested lakeside castle park, as well as to a wetland meadow. So will be interesting to see what more bird species I’ll hear there.

   The Merlin app definitely got a huge boost in popularity recently, when it was featured in the highly popular television show Mandelmanns gård (Mandelmanns’ Farm”). It’s actually quite funny and cute how a lot of people who were perhaps not so interested in birds before are now coming into the Facebook groups for birdwatchers, asking “What was that app called that Mandelmann was using? Where can I find it? How does it work?”. It’s really nice I think, when celebrities can use their pull and influence for something as wholesome as a free app for learning birdsong, and hopefully rise a greater interest in birds – though to be fair, Swedes do actually have a large interest in nature and birds in general compared to most other countries. It’s definitely one of the more endearing things about this country.

   As for [Mandelmanns’ Farm](https://mandelmann.se/om-oss/), it’s kind of a reality television documentary series, or what I’d call “wholesome coziness television”, and especially aimed at a female audience of middle age and older I feel. It’s about a middle aged couple and their everyday life on an organic farm situated in a beautiful rural rolling hills landscape in the Österlen region here in Scania. You get to follow their everyday life (though slightly dramatized of course) and their various chores on the farm, while they also give different practical advice on anything from mending to decorating to gardening to cooking to animal care. And to be fair, they are quite a charismatic couple and easy to like. Somewhat eccentric and nerdy but kind, intelligent and down-to-earth artistic types. During summer you can also go visit their farm as a tourist, and there they also have their own shop and cafe. This is highly popular – so popular that you have to book your visit well in advance, despite a relatively expensive entrance fee. I haven’t been to their farm yet myself, but I have been to the little nature reserve [Sträntemölla-Forsemölla](https://www.lansstyrelsen.se/skane/besoksmal/naturreservat/simrishamn/strantemolla-forsemolla.html?sv.target=12.382c024b1800285d5863a89a&sv.12.382c024b1800285d5863a89a.route=/&searchString=&counties=&municipalities=&reserveTypes=&natureTypes=&accessibility=&facilities=&sort=none) which is right next to it, and it really is a very pretty area.