Category Archives: Garden

Birds, Garden

Chittering garden birds

Auðnutittlingur – Redpoll – Carduelis flammea

It has been exceptionally lively in the garden for the last few days. It has been raining with some heavy winds which makes the garden a good place to find food and shelter in.

Músarrindill – Wren – Troglodytes troglodytes

There have been the usual Redpolls, up to 25 of them, seven Blackbirds, lots of Redwings and Starlings, two Goldcrests and a Wren. Then there are the Crossbills that have taken a liking to our garden and there were at least nine of them here this morning. But the most unusual ones here are the Siskins. Their numbers have grown from last week and now there are at least 12 of them.

Glókollur – Goldcrest – Regulus regulus

We wake up in the morning with the Siskins chittering outside our bedroom window. It is such a lovely start  to the day.

Barrfinka – Siskin – Carduelis spinus
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Garden, Vegetation

Happiness reports

Last Friday, Marsh 30

Spring comes and goes. This is not uncommon for the month of April in Iceland. We have had some beautiful sunny days and then we wake up to snow and hail. We should be used to this but we are always amazed when we experience what looks like a battle between winter and spring.

The days are brighter and much longer. The dark winter days have retreated, the sun rises earlier and sets later. We feel optimistic and think everything is possible. No wonder we score high in happiness surveys.

Iceland is now number three on the World Happiness Report, with the Nordic countries Norway and Denmark coming first and second.

In OECD better life index Icelanders score on average higher than people in other OECD countries. Icelanders seem to be more satisfied with their lives. We rate our general satisfaction with life 7.5 on the scale from 0 to 10. This is higher than the OECD average of 6.5. – I wonder whether these surveys are taken during summer or winter.

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Garden, Weather

The shortest day of the year

Today was the shortest day of the year, winter solstice. The sun rose at about 11.15  and will set at around 15.30. It was a beautiful day, with intermittent snowfall and some blue skies could even be seen during the brightest time of the day. The weather forecast predicts a White Christmas and today was one of these perfect days to get into a Christmas mood.

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Birds, Garden

Busy gathering nesting material

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Svartþröstur – Blackbird – Turdus merula

In the last few days a Blackbird couple have been very busy in the garden. The male stands watch, intermittently  singing his soul out, as the female searches for nesting material. She is busy gathering  last years grass, rotting leaves from the gutter and moss.

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Blackbird – female

Placing  the material diligently in her bill she flies up into a spruce where the nest is carefully hidden from bad weather and possible enemies. Soon she will lay her eggs.

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Several Blackbird pairs are in Selfoss now and usually each pair breeds up to four times during the summer time. We can expect the Blackbird stock in Selfoss to have grown considerably this autumn if things go as planned.

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Garden, Landscape, Weather

Happy New Year

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Happy New Year dear readers and thanks for following our blog. Our resolution is to continue posting photos of the birdlife around us and bringing you photos and info from interesting places we visit.
Today there is a little more snow than yesterday and the storm Frank has left the country.  It is a beautiful first day of the year 🙂

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Birds, Garden

The first Blackcap

Hettusöngvari – Blackcap – Sylvia atricapilla
Hettusöngvari – Blackcap – Sylvia atricapilla

We spotted this season’s first Blackcap, a male, in the garden today. Blackcaps are annual vagrants and the first ones are usually seen in the end of October but most of them come in the first week of November. Blackcaps have sometimes stayed in the garden the whole winter. How well they cope depends on how mild the winter is. They mostly eat berries from shrubs and the apples that we put out. They also like fat and compete with the other birds for food.

Eating an apple
Eating an apple

This Blackcap was in our garden in Selfoss today.

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Garden, Vegetation

Wild mushrooms

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Lerkisveppur – Larch Bolete – Suillus grevillei

These wild mushrooms, know as Greville’s Bolete or Larch Bolete, are found in forests, near larch trees. We pick them at this time of year, wipe the top and fry them in butter before they go to the freezer.

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During winter we use them for soups and sauces. They are mild in flavour but it is worth the while because mushroom hunting is such a nice hobby.

Mushroom hunting in the forest
Mushroom hunting in the forest
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