Summer holiday stage 2

Female Dotterel (boltit)

We are in Beitostølen now which is my second visit of 2021. It has clearly been very hot since I was here only a month ago as almost all the snow on Valdresflye has gone and everywhere is very green. There is also a lot less bird song as the birds that were singing furiously a month ago now have young to feed. I have had one visit to Valdresflye where 3 female Dotterel entertained me at close range. They were singing and displaying and were probably making a final effort to find a male with whom to lay a clutch of eggs (possibly their second or even third of the season). Otherwise there were surprisingly few birds to see.

An evening trip to the Great Snipe lek with Jr revealed three birds but very little activity before we left at 23:30 when it was still very light.

Butterflies though have proven to be cooperative although in the hot, sunny weather they are flying too much and many go unidentified. I have added two species to my Norwegian list: Large Heath (myrringvinge) and Silver-spotted Skipper (kommasmyger) bringing my Norwegian list up 

to 57 species which I think is quite respectable. 

Can you spot the Great Snipe (dobbeltbekkasin)

This picture was taken at 23:14 and the bird was showing really well but unfortunately was not in the displaying mood

2 birds

Me courtesy of Jr

My first ever Large Heath (myrringvinge)

And my first Silver-spotted Skipper (kommasmyger). I saw the underside well in the bins although by the time the camera was raised it can only just be glimpsed