Birds - finally - and the start of autumn migration

Finally a post on birds although that had not been my intention!

Yesterday, I checked out my local hairstreaks and found single egg laying Purple and White-letter and then in the afternoon I thought I would cycle up into Maridalen to look for butterflies (I was specifically hoping to see the large fritillaries – silver washed, high brown and dark green). Well, maybe I was a bit late in the day, in the wrong place or there aren’t any but I did not see a single fritillary and a ringlet (gullringvinge) was the only butterfly I saw apart from the ubiquitous whites. I did end up walking down to the lake though and here I was delighted to find there are still muddy bays and there were birds! A juvenile male Ruff was a very big surprise (only my fourth record in the Dale) and an adult Arctic Tern was only slightly less surprising (they have form for turning up around this time). Single adult Little Ringed Plovers with single large but not yet independent young at two locations suggests three pairs have nested successfully (another pair had large young a few weeks ago) of the upto five that were seen in the late spring. I saw no Lapwings suggesting they have all cleared off as soon as the young could fly and there were also only a couple of Common and Green Sandpipers suggesting they too leave as soon as they can. A Snipe on the mudlfats looked to be a juvenile but two Greenshanks were adults. This gives me a lot of hope for what the autumn can bring and already tomorrow evening there is forecast rain which could force down something interesting.

In addition to obvious autumn migrant waders and terns there were also a couple of Yellow Wagtail – an adult male and a juvenile that were definitely together. This is an early record and although they do not breed in Maridalen they have presumably not come too far.

Ruff (brushane) - fresh scalloped plumage shows it to a bird of the year and its large size made it a male

here with a Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)

young White Wagtail (linerle), adult male Yellow (grey-headed) Wagtail (gulerle) and juvenile Yellow Wagtail

adult (female?) Little Ringed Plover (dverglo) and a juvenile that looked like it could not fly

another adult (also female?) and juvenile about 1.2km away. This juvenile could fly as you see in the next picture but its wings are not yet fully grown

adult Arctic Tern (rødnebbterne)

Black-throated Diver (storlom). The fluctuating water levers have ruined the breeding attempts this year and there were 7 adults on the lake including 2 very close to the shore that I think were hunting for crayfish

adult Greenshank (gluttsnipe)

White-letter Hairstreak (almestjertvinge). This was on the same tree as the day before but is clearly a different and more worn individual to the two I saw then

here it is egg laying underneath a leaf and by a bud

zoomed out

and a Purple Harstreak (eikestjertvinge) that is also egg laying

A couple of days in Oslo

Summer holidays are not yet over but we are back in Oslo for a couple of days before heading off again. I used the good weather to continue my hairstreak quest so if you were hoping for birds I am sorry to disappoint.

My search for hairstreaks in my local neighbourhood began last summer and was prompted by a lack of previous records but a good number of suitable trees (oak and elm) and I discovered good numbers of purple hairstreaks (eikestjertvinge) and had a couple of white-letter (almestjertvinge). I also experienced how difficult it is to find these species with no sightings of nectaring individuals and just sightings high up in trees with numbers differing significantly between visits.

I have already had one sighting of white-letter this year on 17 July but subsequent visits to the same tree and others in the area have drawn a blank. Yesterday I visited the same area in perfect conditions and sat staring at oaks and elms for a long time without joy but suddenly a brown butterfly darted over the grass and eventually landed – a male brown hairstreak (slåpetornstjertvinge). I have previously had a female in the garden and this sighting strongly suggests there is a population in the area that are presumably laying on plum trees. This sighting is also the first to be reported in Norway this year.

Today I had no hairstreak in that area but not too far away I found 2 white-letter and a purple so can consider my searches to be a success! The first white-letter came when I had stopped to scan an elm and noticed a small brown butterfly flying over the grass by my feet. It stopped on a white clover and revealed itself to be a slightly worn white-letter. I got to see it well and the result was my best pictures so far of the species (which seems to happen with every encounter I have). It disappeared as quickly as it appeared and I returned to scanning the elm and was quickly rewarded with another, and much fresher, individual. It showed quite well for a few minutes before disappearing into the tree and I never saw it or another one again despite many, many minutes of scanning. I also spent a loooong time scanning the oaks in the area and was eventually rewarded with a single purple hairstreak. It may still be a few days too early for this species but after last years experiences I had expected to find many of them and easily so I am a bit worried that it is a bad year for them.

 

Apart from the hairstreaks there are VERY few butterflies at the moment (which is being commented on a lot on social media) and other than the hairstreaks I only had a few whites (of all three species) plus a single small copper.

male brown hairstreak (slåpetornstjertvinge) - males have brown upperwings whereas females have an orange patch

males have also less colourful underwings and perhaps slightly shorter "hairs"

although they do show their upperwings occasioanaly whilst nectaring it is ofte only in flight that you get to see the upperwing

white-letter hairstreak (almestjertvinge) never seems to rest with its wings open

 and they are also significantly smaller than their brown cousins

this individual has slightly worn wings and short "hairs" and I would bet is a male

a flight shot showing the upperwing is just brown as can also be seen in the video of it taking off (in slow motion)

the second white-letter. This is a much fresher individual with longer "tails" and was hanging out low down in the tree and I would bet is a female

the wings were held slightly open showing far more orange at the wing tip than in the other individual

various shots of the first one

the purple hairstreak (eikestjertvinge) I saw was not exactly photogenic

small copper (ildgullvinge)

Back to Beitostølen

Summer holiday 2022 continues with our usual July visit to Beitostølen. After the birding success of my two trips here in the spring I have  been taking a holiday from the feathered flying things and rather focusing on the buttery flying things.

As I detailed in posts from last year the area is very good for butterflies. This is in no small part due to the flower covered roadsides and it really is a joy to walk here with your eyes pointing down rather than up. I have only found one new species for the area - Small Blue (dvergblåvinge), but have seen most of the (for me) interesting species I saw last time such as Silver-spotted Skipper (kommasmyger), Moorland Clouded Yellow (myrgulvinge), Purple-edged Copper (purpurgullvinge), Mountain Fritillary (fjellperlemorvinge), Germainium Argus (brun blåvinge), Northern Brown Argus (sankthansblåvinge) and best of all Alpine Argus (fjellblåvinge).

The Alpine Argus require a 40 minute drive to the north of Valdresflye and I got there early on a warm morning. When I arrived it was cloudy and no butterflies were flying. As I walked around though I discovered a number of Alpine Argus perched on flowers which was presumably where they had spent the night. I had to wait quite a while for the sun to come through but when it did it was quite amazing to watch the effect on the butterflies. It took only 5 minutes for them to change from being in a state of torpor to them flying energetically around and becoming increasingly difficult to get close to. A number of other species also appeared from unknown hiding places and life was good 😊 

I’ll start with a bird - Shore Lark (fjelllerke)

Alpine Argus (fjellblåvinge) before the sun warmed it up

Male with wings after the sun had warmed it up

Female Alpine Argus (fjellblåvinge)

For comparison a male Common Blue (tiriltungeblåvinge)

And a Mazarine Blue (engblåvinge)

Not many dragons up here but I was very happy to get this picture of a Brilliant Emerald (glansmetallibelle)