Female Pied Flycatcher

Sat in the garden this evening and I noticed both male and female pied flycatchers (svarthvit fluesnapper) having a bath in a bucket planted up with the water plant chinese arrowhead (see http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=19451). The female sat conveniently above the bucket for me to film! You get a quick glimpse of the male sitting by the water at the start of the first film!

KVANN’s Annual Meeting Weekend: Day 3 visit to Væres Venner

Here are a few pictures from our Sunday afternoon visit to the Community Garden at Væres Venner where KVANN are establishing both a so-called Vegetable Sanctuary for old and new vegetables, nut trees, fruit and various other useful plants. We are also developing a so-called World Garden (Verdenshagen). It was a work day in the garden for the members and our group where given the background to the garden by Sølvi Kvam and  Marina Görtz who is developing a biodiversity garden for the bees and much more and featuring a garden of old Norwegian garden perennials.
KVANN’s Fruktlaug (Fruit group) brought  a selection of old apple trees to be planted in the garden and Eirik Lillebøe Wiken is seen in some of the pictures informing about the different trees and grafting techniques!
Thanks to Sølvi for some of the pictures.

Eurasian siskins on pine

There’s one Norwegian pine tree in the garden (Pinus sylvestris) which has grown slowly over the years since we moved here and is now approaching the height of the birch trees. It now regularly produces cones, but this is the first time that I’ve seen siskins feeding on the nuts. Coniferous tree seeds are the main food of the siskin in spring.