I noticed this morning sun shadows on the wall behind my back in the living room! YES, the sun is back. A whole week of cloudy weather after the sun was due to rise again above the southern horizon, so it wasn¨’t until today we could finally be sure that the sun was back, but there was only a small break in the clouds and it was soon gone again. However, spring is definitely in the air and two great tits (kjøttmeis) have been singing in the garden the last two days and a blue tit (blåmeis) joined them a couple of times! Good times!
I registered 3 great tit (kjøttmeis) territories and 1 blue tit (blåmeis) pair in the garden this year and both have raised young. One of the young great tits has been picking off diamond back moth (kålmøll) larvae on flowering radish plants on the balcony as you can see in the video:
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.
I am so fortunate every year to hear the song of the curlew (storspove) singing in the bay from early April and through most of the summer, sometimes overhead too. Sadly, there are no lapwings (vipe) any more, but at least one pair of curlew is here. But, there are no definite breeding records from the whole of Malvik kommune ever (no young birds, eggs or nests observed)..so where do they breed? This video is from 4:40 this morning! You can also here both great tit (kjøttmeis) and redwing (rødvingetrost)
Nice to wake up to a blackbird (svarttrost)in full song this morning. The first week in April is pretty much always when they start singing here!
A great tit (kjøttmeis) can also be heard. There are at least 3 territories in the garden and surrounding gardens this year. Also this week, curlews (storspove) have started singing in the bay and highlight of the week was a goldfinch (stillits) singing in the garden. It moved around and sang in the 3 different places…sadly, it didn’t return yesterday. It seems that goldfinches have started colonising this area as a breeding bird with single breeding records the last 3 years.
*Narcotit (narkomeis): Both great and blue tits (kjøtt- og blåmeis) systematically open the ripe seed pods of poppies (Papaver somniferum) in my garden for the seeds (I first observed this behaviour some 10 years ago)….they are so keen on this novel food supply that one can speculate that they become addicted (there are low levels of opiates in the seed, maybe enough for a tit!)
Spring can’t be stopped and this woodpigeon (ringdue) could be heard singing from the house today and I was woken at 6am (was 5am) by a robin (rødstrupe) singing in the garden (no complaints, always a beautiful moment to hear a returning Robin) ;) A black-headed gull (hettemåke) was also my first of the year and 4 pairs of Oystercatcher (tjeld) were feeding in the bay!!
I also heard singing siskin, great tit, blue tit, greenfinch and coal tit today!
Reports are also coming in of starlings (stær) arriving!
I noticed this great tit (kjøttmeis) vigorously hacking at a hogweed (Heracleum) stem in the garden, presumably looking for dinner…the picture shows the result
It was difficult to concentrate at the weekend as there was so much happening outside the living room window…here’s a selection of still pictures and videos of birds eating wild food and at and under the bird feeder!
Blackbird / svarttrost
Tree sparrow (pilfink) with greenfinch (grønnfink)
Redpolls (gråsisik) feeding on nettle seed
Fieldfare (gråtrost) on (rotten) apple
Rear view of Hawfinch (kjernebiter)
A robin (rødstrupe) payed a short visit, here with house sparrows (gråspurv) and goldfinch (stillits)
Still picture seemingly showing the greenfinch beak in the powerful hawfinch beak..
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
