Autumn in Maridalen

Still cold today and the sun defied the forecast and didn’t show. I gave Maridalen an honest effort but surprisingly the expected Siberian Dunnock didn’t show despite the fact there must be flocks of them out there. Having listened to the call I think that one would be very foolish to report a normal Dunnock at the moment just based on call ;-)

The Great Grey Shrike was briefly perched on a telegraph wire before evaporating but the biggest surprise was a flock of 5 Two-barred Crossbills that flew right over my head at below tree top height and looked like they were going to land in a small wood but frustratingly couldn’t be relocated. Finches were otherwise in small numbers but insect eaters were surprisingly represented by 3 Chiffchaffs (got my hopes up for a Yellow-browed) and a flock of 13 Long-tailed Tits that stopped briefly before flying off to the west and seemed to be actively migrating.

The Whooper Swan family was flying around and the young all seemed to be accomplished fliers and they will perhaps soon head off for their winters quarters.

Chiffchaff (gransanger)

Maridalen's large Whooper Swan (sangsvane) family