Maridalen Kingfisher

The rain stopped today and I had a guiding outing to Årnestangen to look at waders. The rain has caused water levels to rise around 30cm and there was a lot less mud. There was also mist when we arrived and when this lifted it was glaring sunshine and heat haze! There was still a good variety of birds to see though although as expected not as much as earlier in the week when it was raining. Barwit, Knot and Grey Plover were today's highlights. I hoped that the sunshine would cause some raptor activity but apart from a lot of Ospreys and a couple of distant Buzzards it was all rather disappointing.

A quick trip into Maridalen provided the undoubted highlight of the day with a flyby Kingfisher which stopped on a branch long enough for a few pictures before disappearing down the river. It was a juvenile and probably comes from Sandvika although there are most likely other undetected pairs breeding within 50km of Oslo.

Kingfisher in Maridalen - only my third record

The pale tip to the bill shows this to be a juvenile but the pluamge offers few clues other than it being fresh whereas an adult would be worn now

spot the bird

not often you see these two together: Sotted Flycatcher (gråfluesnapper) and Greenfinch (grønnfink)

There really aren't many butterflies around but this Lesser Marbled Fritillary (engperlemorvinge) made for a nice picture