Update from our brown bear conservation expedition in Dalarna, Sweden
“You are too efficient” was the high praise we received yesterday from our expedition scientist Andrea and “I need to find more jobs for you”.
And indeed we have hit the groove. Wednesday and Thursday we went out by ourselves, all trained up and ready to find and document bear dens. I can’t think of a much better way to spend your time volunteering in Sweden.
Bear den gallery – volunteering in Sweden with a purpose
These bear dens are often much smaller than people imagine. Large caves are rare – far too cold. Instead the dens are small and cozy, sometimes dug out of the earth or an ant hill, sometimes just a basket shape to lie down in and be snowed over. Or indeed under rocks.
Documenting the dens
A large part of volunteering in Sweden is documenting the dens. Their size and type, the habitat they are in, any signs of adults or cubs around (such as scratches and scat) and more.
But first you have to get there – through pathless forests, over broken ground, the sunlight streaming through the trees, wet moss squishing underneath your boots. The GPS takes you to the den site, more or less.
Once there, we spend 30 – 60 minutes documenting a den. Crawling into it. Documenting the tree species and their height around, looking for signs of the bears. The bears themselves have long gone by that time. But sometimes we check by listening whether there are any pings from the radio collars nearby. Better safe than sorry.
Quintessential Swedish landscape
All this happens in a quintessential Swedish landscape. Red timber houses. Lakes. Endless forests. Bogs. The wind rustling in the birch trees. Cool temperatures to work in while Central Europe bakes in the next heatwave – the new normal for our abused planet.
So we have five more days in the groove to go. More data for Andrea. More research. Better bear conservation. Purposeful volunteering in Sweden. And a team that is a efficient as can be. Well done and thank you.
Read also: First I second I third diary entry of the Sweden brown bear conservation expedition . All Sweden 2026 diary entries on one page.
Author: Matthias Hammer
Biosphere Expeditions was founded in 1999 by Dr. Matthias Hammer. Born in Germany, he went to school there, before joining the Army, and serving for several years amongst other units with the German Parachute Regiment. After active service he came to the UK and was educated at St Andrews, Oxford and Cambridge. During his time at university he either organised or was involved in the running of several expeditions, some of which were conservation expeditions (for example to the Brazil Amazon and Madagascar), whilst others were mountaineering/climbing expeditions (for example to the Russian Caucasus, the Alps or the Rocky Mountains). With Biosphere Expeditions he has led teams all over the globe. He is a qualified wilderness medical officer, ski instructor, mountain leader, divemaster and survival skills instructor. Once a rower on the international circuit, an amateur marathon runner and Ironman triathlete, he now enjoys less extreme pursuits such as writing and long-distance walks in the wild.