One of the best places to shoot autumn colours is the Össjödalen valley, so I went there today to see if I could find some birches which are not savaged by the moth larvae. I was very pleased to see that it was looking good and the colours are peaking, and I also found some nice birches for my compositions. Light was very fleeting though, there was only time when the entire valley was bathing in sunlight and I managed to waste that by having taken myself on top of a mountain where I had nothing to work with. By the time I was down far enough to get any good foreground, the clouds took over again. In my defense, it was raining when I decided to go up the mountain, just to spend some time while waiting for the light. But I should’ve know that the conditions change faster than that!
I’ve mentioned the moths on and off in recent posts, time to elaborate. The moths are swarming now (the other night when I drove the Mittådalen road, there were clouds of them in the headlights), so the birches will continue to suffer next year as well. Having said that, the damage to the foliage overall isn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and autumn looks a lot better than I expected in the summer when I saw how the moth larvae had nibbled on every birch. Let’s just hope it doesn’t get worse next year!
