I thought I’d take you for a tour of the lower parts of the garden including the forest garden. No commentary, let’s just listen to the birds and observe. In the first video, I unexpectedly stumble on a willow warbler (løvsanger), my first in the garden this year, foraging on the ground in the cold weather….you can otherwise hear singing redwing (rødvingetrost), great tit (kjøttmeis), fieldfare (gråtrost), meadow pipit (heipiplerke), house sparrow (gråspurv) and blue tit (blåmeis) in one of the two videos.
Tag Archives: gråspurv
Best to keep your distance
It’s best to keep your distance when there’s a red squirrel nearby. Given the chance, a squirrel will take birds.
With bramblings (bjørkefink), tree and house sparrows (pilfink og gråspurv).
With bramblings (bjørkefink), tree and house sparrows (pilfink og gråspurv).
Snow birds
Two days of snow has attracted a large flock of birds to my bird feeder with some 30 bramblings (bjørkefink) and, nice to see, around 25 house sparrows (gråspurv), largely missing in recent years.
Even waxwings (sidensvans) are attracted although they don’t stay for long.
Even waxwings (sidensvans) are attracted although they don’t stay for long.
Biological control
This chiffchaff (gransanger) is doing its best to control the invasion of diamond back moths (kålmøll) larvae! On cress (karse) and radish (reddik) being grown for seed! I also observed house sparrows (gråspurv) feeding on them earlier today! I was cheering them on!
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=23073
http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=23073
Goldfinch flock returns
They’ve been absent for some time apart from a single bird occasionally. A flock of 6 birds were in the garden most of yesterday:
1) …with Yellowhammers (gulspurv), tree sparrows (pilfink) and house sparrow (gråspurv)
2) ……with greenfinch and yellowhammers (grønnfink og gulspurv)
3) …with a nuthatch doing neck exercises (taken from a film)
House sparrows
House sparrows (gråspurv) are often ignored but apparently numbers have declined in Europe in recent years, estimated at 70% in the UK. A few years ago it was chosen as bird of the year here in Norway to draw attention to its plight. It is believed that modern day agriculture and perhaps lack of breeding spaces in modern houses…nice then to see a flock of 25 at the feeder the other day!
More December birds
House sparrows (a flock of 25 taking turns on the bird feeder), with brambling and hawfinch (gråspurv, bjørkefink og kjernebiter):
Great spotted woodpecker (flaggspett):
House sparrow house insect catching
Sat at my desk and a house sparrow / gråspurv is catching insects on the warmed up house wall….
Sparrows working hard removing diamond backs
Here’s more evidence for the importance of having sparrows in our gardens! In the video can be seen both house and tree sparrows (gråspurv og pilfink) feeding on diamond back moth (kålmøll) larvae from kale leaves!
House sparrow: better late than never
While eating breakfast this morning I spotted these house sparrows (gråspurv) eating diamond back moth (kålmøll) larvae from the undersides of these ragged jack kale plants, sown as a salad crop, but long since given up to the moths… Better late than never I suppose!!
