Bank Holiday

This morning in Maridalen was about as quiet as a May morning can be there and this despite southerly winds. It was cloudy at first but the sun broke through around 8am (I had been there since 0530) and I had expected a bit more action. The only obvious migrant was a Greenshank that flew in, rested for a bit and then continued north. I did hear a Wryneck but it was clearly not entirely happy about things and sang very half-heartedly and briefly and didn’t show itself.

A family trip (today is a Bank Holiday) to Gressholmen was not as warm as hoped for with the wind having picked up but Oslo’s wader hotspot gave me four (yes you read correctly, four!) species with 3 Ringed Plover, 3 Oystercatcher, 2 Redshank and 8 Greenshank. There was a pair of Ringed Plover who were quite agitated and may have had young nearby. We also had four species of butterfly of which Peacock and Brimstone were easy to identify but two white butterflies of very different sizes were more difficult. The larger one was I assume a Large White but the smaller one I am not sure about – maybe a female Orange Tip.

male Common Eider (ærfugl) Gressholmen

Eider pair

male Ringed Plover (sandlo)

a rather drab female

the same male

Three species of waders in the same shot in Oslo!!! Redshank (rødstilk), Greenshank (gluttsnipe) and Ringed Plover

the dark headed Long-tailed Tit is still in Maridalen

and is paired with this normal white-headed bird

this Tree Pipit (trepiplerke) was singing in Maridalen

Two Common Terns (makrellterne) near Gressholmen