The Rudan Nature Reserve

I visited the Rudan Nature Reserve yesterday. It is a five-minute walk to the ski track from the commuter station in Handen. And a 20-minute train ride from Stockholm. It was 4C during my visit. Ice on both lakes, but not thick enough for ice skating or ice fishing at the moment. The local ski club is Jordbänningarna. With the help of the snow we got a few weeks ago and the club's snow cannons, you can still go for a short ski run around Rudan.

Winter fog

A group of teenagers from a nearby school, walking and ice skating on the foggy and still frozen Upper Lake at the Rudan nature reserve. I can't remember ever having to do that while a student in Handen a few eons ago, but it is probably memorable on a day like this. I have shown you this spot before, in the Summer time this is a popular beach, often filled with sunbathers.

Polar bear

What we call an isbjörn. A direct translation to English would be Ice bear. But Polar bear probably sounds better. Spotted at the Rudan nature reserve yesterday on a very foggy day.

Winter Picnic

I have visited the lakes at Rudan three days in a row now. Normally that only happens during the Summer. When I photographed the skiers on Saturday, it was 7C and quite nice. On Sunday it was a little colder, maybe 3C. And yesterday when I snapped this photo of the Viking couple out on a picnic near the Lower Lake it was -3C, but they claimed it was warm enough. Looks like the woman was clever enough to bring some warm coffee with her. Hubby had to do with a Fanta.

Cross-country skiers

7C and a blue sky when I jumped on the bike on Saturday. I headed for the Rudan nature reserve in Handen. The plan was to first ride around the Lower Lake, but the path was way too icy for that, so I continued down to the Upper Lake, where the local ski club had worked hard to keep the cross-country ski track open for the skiers. Ice everywhere there as well, so I walked very carefully as I for once were not wearing my icebug boots. The second photo is two shots combined as I wanted to have the same skier skiing past the pine near the still frozen lake. This is a popular beach in the Summer, btw.

New Bridge

The new pedestrian bridge crossing the Nynäsbanan railway track at the Rudan nature reserve is now open. The old one was deemed unsafe after someone drove over it with a car, or at least that was the rumor I heard. The houses in the background are all new, this is the same area I showed you a few days ago with the scaffolding. What you see to the left in the top photo is a new school.

Winter at Rudan

The big barn up ahead in the middle of the photo is the theater barn. Operated by a group called Ormteatern. Started back in the late 1970s by my then school teachers husband. I remember that we saw one of their first plays, but can't for the life of me remember what it was about. I have seen a few musicians perform on stage in there, but that was a few years ago now. The building to the right belongs to the cross-country skiing club. Most of the old buildings here at the Rudan nature reserve used to be part of an old farm. Everything here is today owned by the municipality.

Tressfit

You will find this outdoor gym between the two lakes at the Rudan nature reserve. I guess it is a little too cold for the gym people this time of the year. I moved around a bit before shooting this as I tried to both show the Winter sun, and block it out a bit.

A lone ice fisherman

Nedre Rudasjön. One of the two lakes at the nature reserve in Handen. Just a few minutes walk from the commuter station. Normally you would see a few more guys out on the ice, but yesterday it was just this guy. I arrived on my ebike. Ice and snow on most of the bike paths. I got a flat tire after 15 km. Had to walk with the bike for 5 km.

Autumn at the lakes

The Rudan nature reserve in Handen is a favorite of mine. If you don't believe me, press here. This is a view over the Lower Lake, Nedre Rudasjön. It is very popular with anglers in the Spring, Summer and Autumn. And with ice fishers during the Winter. There are six jetties around the lake from where they can fish, (although one was missing, probably to be replaced because of its recent wobbliness). On this visit I spotted only three people fishing and I said hello to one of them as he passed me by as I took this photo.

Winter Returns

The temperature dropped a few days ago and we got a thin layer of snow. That change in the weather was enough for the ice to form on the lakes again. This was Nedre Rudasjön, the lower lake, at Rudan in Handen yesterday. A few people sitting, or standing out on the frozen lake ice-fishing. Oh, and please check out this video. I follow three walking channels from around Stockholm and a woman shot this from a lake in Nacka called Källtorpssjön.

The Loch Rudan Monster?

Out walking along the sandy beach at Övre Rudasjön on a glorious Autumn day.

Fishing Event

There was a fishing event at Nedre Rudasjön in Handen, over the weekend. I don't fish myself, but I have met and photographed the guy that usually organizes these events, so whenever he posts anything on Facebook I will see it. So I decided to check it out. I did a quick count and I spotted maybe sixty people around the lake.

Nedre Rudasjön

A few more photos from one of my visits to the Rudan nature reserve last week. You can get some pretty good reflection photos on a calm day. There are two lakes here, this is the lower lake, Nedre Rudasjön. This is where I often photograph the ice fishers.

Autumn Moments

Nedre Rudasjön. Stopped by the Rudan nature reserve twice this week. Met a few people. One man was enjoying his lunch on a pier as I walked out to take a photo. He complained to me about the lack of mushrooms in the forest. At the next pier, I beat a woman to it with a few seconds, and she sat down on a rock nearby while I took another photo. All yours now, I told here as I left. She then spent quite a long time sitting on the pier, enjoying the solitude. When I snapped the top photo at the third pier, it was just me. But on the second shot you can see the two people that I just mentioned.

Still Winter

Out on the frozen lower lake at Rudan, 100 meters away from the coffee drinking vikings in yesterday's post, a few tough ice fishers were having no luck at all. But they are probably back there today.

Winter Picnic

Back at the lakes at the Rudan nature reserve in Handen. The cold weather was also back, around -5C, but that didn't stop this group of weathered vikings from having a picnic at the lower lake. You can never go wrong with a fika if you are Swedish.

A chilly day at the lakes

I counted fifteen ice fishers at the lower lake at the Rudan nature reserve yesterday. Cold, -7C. The sun was out for an hour or so, but with the wind chill factor, it was just a tad too cold for my liking. No real fish luck either, according to one of the guys out on the frozen lake.

The picnic table

Here is a fun trick I use now and then when I'm out with my full frame Canon, and a good enough lens, in this case the Sigma 50 mm f/1.4. This is the same place as in yesterday's post, the lower lake at Rudan. This spot is popular with anglers, and they often use the picnic table when they take a break from the fishing. Back to the trick. I shot this at f/1.4 to get the shallow depth of field. After taking a first photo aiming at the table, I turned off the AF and took three more photos to get a wider view. I then stitched the photos together, and the result is a bokeh panorama.

The Lower Lake

Snow and ice covering the Lower Lake, Nedre Rudasjön, at the Rudan nature reserve in Handen. From my visit yesterday. A few people out walking around the lake, but not over it as the ice might not be thick enough for that.