Örarevet... never a dull moment !

If you have read this blog before you know that I love Örarevet, a small nature reserve not far away from Svångemåla. When we visited it today we saw a lot of different birds and since the weather was just perfect, it was a perfect day !

 

Busy times!

 A Great tit couple has built their nest in a birdhouse next to our small gardenhouse. It is amazing to sit close to the hard working couple and see how they fly in and out of the birdhouse with their beaks full of insects for their young ones. 

Earth-boring dung beetle

 My knowledge about beetles is very limited but I am almost sure that this is an earth-boring dung beetle. Right now I have seen a couple almost every day but I am not sure why or if it is a sign of something I should be worried about.

Smooth snake (Coronella austriaca)

 It is always exciting to meet animals that are new to you.  Yesterday a smooth snake crossed my path for the first time and although I tried hard to get a sharp close up photo of it, I did not manage very well since it was really fast. It is a totally harmless snake and looked beautiful when it found its way into the high grass.

Common blue-sow-thistle

The common blue-sow-thistle is a terrible weed!  We were first happy to see its beautiful blue flowers but it did not take long before we realized that it was very difficut to keep it in the corner of the garden where it started to grow. After a bit of googling, we learnt that the only way was to cover the ground with dark plastic and let it be there for a couple (!) of years. Unfortunately our cover was not big enough so we could see how it came back with force.

Our new attempt to cover the area where it has started to grow is an ark !  We have put up a raised bed, covered the ground with a fiber filt, put soil on top of that and intend to grow vegetables and flowers in "the ark".

Hopefully we can remove the ark after two years and the common blue-sow-thistle is gone but who knows?

Crane family

As you probably remember, a crane couple has for a long time found their home on the big field next to our plot. They walk around early in the spring looking for something to eat and it is always exciting to see if they later come forward to show their off-springs. Today it happened!  Early in the morning both "parents" walked around slowly in the high grass with two chickens not far away. So cute and a moment to remember!

Flycatcher and apple flowers

 I have already shown you some pictures of apple flowers and of the black and white flytcatcher. This is what they look like together :)  I am still not a big fan of the flycatcher since the males are very aggressive against other birds but it looks good when sitting among the flowers!

Wild apple flowers

 The land around our plot has been cultivated for hundred of years and one can see the remains in the form of stone walls, house foundations, apple trees etc. Right now the wild apple trees are in full bloom. 

Mourning cloak

The Mourning cloak (Nymphalis antiopa ) is one of the largest and most beautiful butterflies in Svångemåla. This one was sitting very still and when I came closer I saw that it was injured. Probably the result of a bird's hunt for food. It is a dangerous world out there.

 

Appel flower buds

This is flower buds on a tree my father grafted. He used a branch from a tree from my childhood and grafted it onto an apple tree in Svångemåla.  

 

Late evening

💤💤💤

More birds enjoying our flowers

 Willow tit

Great tit

European pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)

 I have 12 small birdhouses in our garden and was looking forward to seeing a variety of birds in them but no, most of them are occupied by flycatchers!  They are very agressive and do not allow any other birds to move into a birdhouse they have started to look at even if the later on decide to not move in. The Great tits have been forcefully chased away and I feel sorry for them. The flycatchers are, however, very good at catching mosquitoes when that time comes so I should probably not be too upset about them. And when they rest in our Damson tree they look very pretty.

Butterflies

The butterfly season has started. Svångemåla is a small heaven for butterflies and I have today seen at least four different types. The most common is the Lemon butterfly and it is fascinating to see how they dance in the air. It is, however, difficult to get a good picture of them as they move very quickly and the camera cannot get the focus right and their wing movements are so fast that it can easily become just a blur. Here is my first attempt to catch their dance :)

Great tit in the bush

 The Great tit is very common in Sweden and Svångemåla. It is therefore often a bit neglected since what is common is mostly overlooked and not as appreciated as what is rare and unique. It was still fun to watch a Great tit jumping around in the bush and observe how skillfull it was to keep its balance. As always, click on the picture to enlarge it!