Fornebu

Kestrel

I was able to fit in a trip to Fornebu after lunch today in lovely autumn weather with clear blue skies and a light SW wind. The first birds on getting out of the car were a Kestrel being mobbed by a crow and I later had good views of the Kestrel hunting over waster ground.
After all the bad weather we have had I had hoped that there would be a lot of activity from whatever birds were present and also some raptor migration. Most of all though I hoped for a Yellow-browed Warbler as very large numbers are currently being seen in northern norway (for example 14 on one island with hardly any supporting cast of commoner species) and they will presumeably filter south. Well no YB Warbler and very few passerines but I did have a Hobby and an Osprey which went over very high in a northerly direction (not quite sure what it was up to). 3 species of warbler was a fair show for mid september around Oslo with a single Willow Warbler, 6 Chiffchaffs and 2 Blackcaps. 5 Wheatears, 3 Skylarks and a handful of White Wagtails and Meadow Pipits were hanging around the grassy areas and a sign of the times was my first Great Grey Shrike of the autumn which flew over with either a worm or large caterpillar in its beak.
3 Nutcrackers were unusual out here and one had me searching for a woodpecker for a couple of minutes as it hacked away at a hazel nut and sounded very much like a woodpecker pecking at a tree.
A check of the fjord revealed a few Guillemots but nothing else of interest.