During periods of intensive fieldwork, when you are in the field (almost) every day without the routine of a normal working hours, it is easy to lose track of which day of the week it actually is. However, keeping track of the date is crucial to make sure the traps are out for as many days as they are supposed to be.

One of the days when we put out our traps happened to be my birthday, and thus I got to celebrate it in a tent in the sub-arctic mountains of northern Sweden. After having birthday cake for breakfast while seeing reindeer passing by, it was time to go to work.

Birthday on the mountain. Lukas Scholtz celebrating his birthday with a carrot cake close to Suorojavri in Swedish Lapland. Photo: Fredrik Dalerum

The weather forecast predicted that we would have a nice day, but of course it came out different. While setting up our sampling stations we got surrounded by fog, which have already become a regular thing. However, the weather was not done with us yet, it also started to rain. After a few hours of identifying plant species at 5 °C and being absolutely soaked, we were forced to stop working and return to our tents. There we changed into dry clothes and had a warm dinner. Later that night, the weather showed some mercy. The rain stopped and the mountains on the other side of the valley were bathed in golden light.

Despite the bad weather, I had a really nice birthday, and definitely a one I will never forget.

Field crew drying out clothes and equipment after the previous days heavy rain. Photo: Fredrik Dalerum