OSLO BIRDER: Difficult to change

They say that madness is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result so if I want a change then I clearly need to do something a bit different. I therefore thought a trip to Bygdøy on Thursday would do the trick but I was mistaken. A count of 92 Guillemots on a calm sea would appear to be the second highest winter count for Oslo ever but I was hoping for something a little more exciting. So, it was back to following paths well worn and I have filled my boots (not literally) at the smelly stream with Jacky boy revealing himself on a daily basis now although it is still not easy to find him. I keep returning more for the thrill of the chase rather than the bird itself which does little other than stand frozen to the spot. On Thursday he did move about half a metre in between visits and when I was then able to observe him from a distance such that I could only see his back then I also observed a couple of bobs so this does seem to confirm that he is active and searching for food in the daytime.

I have had a few unsuccessful visits to look for the Kingfisher recently but on Friday he showed really. He has also attracted the attention of the more serious photographer brigade with an occupied pop up hide erected a few metres away from its favourite perch. The hide was doing its job though and the bird perched unaffected so I expect to see some very good shots on social media in the coming days although I was also quite happy with the snaps I got.