Today it was warm enough to sit outside and work for the first time this year (with a thick jumper)….and today it was the resident blue tit (blåmeis) who sang for me :)
(Warm enough=no wind, sunny and max. +10C)
Monthly Archives: April 2019
My friend Robin redbreast!
I was in the garden most of the day, sawing up firewood and storing it for the winter. I was followed around by my friend the robin (rødstrupe) and he even sang to me at 1m distance! When I first moved here robins were shy forest birds, but they have become less and less shy over the years as is the case further south in Europe! In this short film, he catches a worm as he’s following me! I guess this weak song is a love song rather than a “you’re a rival, keep out of my territory” song ;)
Early Rise in Early April
This is the best time of year for getting up at the crack of dawn, lots of birdsong too! The sunrise at the moment is about 6 am…..but, in a few weeks, it will be 3 am which is a bit early! The long-term forecast is for clear-blue skies for the whole of Easter week here….with over 10C during the days…cold at nights to start with (it was -5C when the picture was taken) but frosts disappearing in a few days! Should be a great Easter week working in my gardens!
9th April veggies
Tonight’s garden foraged perennial veggies for an oriental stir-fry!
Lots of Hablitzia (stjernemelde), ground elder (skvallerkål), Svenskelauk (a form of Allium fistulosum), sweet cicely (spansk kjørvel), dandelion (løvetann), day lily shoots (daglilje), blanched horseradish shoots (pepperrot) and a variety of Allium victorialis (victory onion, seiersløk) which is the earliest form I grow along with one from the Kola peninsular in northern Russia; other varieties have hardly grown yet!
Protected: Laptop noise
Chaffinch
A chaffinch (bokfink) in full song this beautiful morning. This is the normal time for chaffinches to return here, although a small number do overwinter. I also heard a short snatch of chiffchaff (gransanger) song on Saturday, earlier than normal.
Hablitzia anti-grazing strategy
I transplanted a 3 year old pot grown Hablitzia plant yesterday and this video shows the many replacement shoots ready to grow quickly if the main shoots are harvested or grazed, presumably an anti-grazing strategy which we can use to our advantage!
Salad leaves
Every year I bring in twigs of lime / lind (Tilia), birch / bjørk (Betula), rowan / rogn (Sorbus), hawthorn (Crataegus), currants (Ribes) etc. and put them in a jar filled with water for early salad leaves! All have edible leaves and many say that lime is the best of them all! They were part of today’s salad.
Here’s a series of pictures of them emerging in my living room!
Robin is back
Not my son Robin, but Erithacus rubecula returned this week. European robins (rødstrupe) are now classified with the flycatchers. A joy to hear their bittersweet song!
Drum solo
Great spotted woodpecker (flaggspett) playing a little drum solo in the garden this morning!