May first

May is now here and there can be no doubt that spring has arrived. When I woke up there was a Blackcap singing in the garden and a morning drive around Maridalen gave me my first singing Wood Warbler and Common Sandpiper of the year. On the water the Goldeneye of yesterday were still present plus another flock that kept for itself (over 50 birds in total). 13 of the Tufted Ducks were also still present and four Black-throated Divers.

In the afternoon we went for a family walk to Dausjø which is a small lake in Maridalen. The Whooper Swan pair were on the nest here – this is the third year this pair has bred here and are the first pair to have bred in (greater) Oslo. Also here a pair of Grey Wagtails (scarce this year), a Buzzard, an agitated Raven (they breed here), 3 singing Tree Pipits and loads of evidence of beavers. In the fields small flocks of Chaffinches and Bramblings and a singing male Pied Flycatcher by the beaver dam. House Martins were also in evidence with birds flying around nesting places on farm buildings.

Dausjøelva - the short river that flows from Dausjø to Maridalsvannet. The cliffs here hold breeding Raven

The Great Tits are now brooding and we witnessed our the male feeding the female for the first time.