Wren surviving

Despite the cold weather we have now had for way over a month the local Wren is still surviving. On a walk to the shops this morning he gave away his presence with his characteristic buzzing call before flying over the road. Otherwise no surprises on the birding front. In the last week I have noted a couple of Waxwings, 2 Redpoll and a Siskin alongside the regular birds in the garden and surrounding area.

London calling

A weekend trip to England around Henley and West London produced Red Kite, Buzzard, Redwing, Stock Dove, Ring Necked Parakeet - all birds you would be very hard pressed to find in Norway at the moment.

Here in Oslo it is now 3 weeks since the mercury was north of zero and at last we have enough snow to enable some skiing which will hopefully be on the cards this weekend.

Peregrine

A biting cold walk around the city centre in Oslo was rewarded (as hoped) with a Peregrine. I didn't find it on the church spire where it usually hangs out but as I approached the government offices where is also is seen I looked up to see feathers floating down. A sure sign that it was up there somewhere plucking at a kill and sure enough I soon located it on a window sill on the relatively low 9th floor with a pigeon for its lunch. This quality picture taken with the mobile shows all the salient features!
Some exotic berry bearing bushes had 15 Fieldfares and 5 Blackbirds feeding on them but no Waxwings.
It is now -16C with possibly down to -20C at the weekend. At these temperatures it does start getting unpleasant if you forget to wrap up!