Sunlight

Over the weekend rain managed to wash away nearly all the snow in Oslo revealing all the rubbish and dog sh*t that had been hidden by the virgin white snow – appearances can be deceiving!

A walk from the house on Sunday revealed my first Oslo Wood Pigeon of the year plus a group of 13 Hawfinches that included singing birds.

Overnight we had a heavy overnight frost which left a layer of ice on recently melted ponds and today was a beautiful day with blue skies and no wind. It is the first day of half term and the girls were given their first chance to use their bikes this year and what better place to do so than Fornebu.

Yet again the Great Grey Shrike showed well and the beardies pinged but the undoubted birding highlight was an overflying Skylark (sanglerke) which was calling so much it could almost have been a subsong. This is one of the earliest records of the species for Oslo and Akerhus and the first for 2014.

sunlight doesn't necessarily mean improved pictures