Easing into (the) autumn (of my life)

Since posting last time I have been keeping tabs on my late breeders and the young have now left the nest but have not wandered far and will still be reliant on their parents for another 3 weeks or so.

I have been spending quite a time gazing skywards in Maridalen and have noted a number of Sparrowhawks and regular Ospreys with a couple of sightings each of Kestrel and Hobby but I have only seen 1 Common Buzzard and no Honey Buzzards confirming my suspicion that these species have had a bad year locally.

The odd migrant wader has dropped in with Greenshank, Redshank and Wood Sandpiper noted and of the breeding species the odd Common and Green Sandpiper is still around and a group of 3 young Little Ringed Plovers looked a bit lost after their parent have left them (I wonder how many broods these 3 are from).

A singing Quail was a real surprise but as usual I did not get to see although it was very close as can be heard on this mobile phone video.

A twitching trip to Svellet yesterday when I turned 50 (entering the autumn of my life?) gave me Caspian Tern (which I saw in flight and fishing) and Black-tailed Godwit.

There are extremely few butterflies around but I have managed to see Silver-washed Fritillary and got good views of one of my local Purple Hairstreaks.

Caspian Tern (rovterne) - my third bird in Norway and all of them have been at Svellet. This is the first one though that I have seen in flight

it caught a fish which it seemed to swallow in flight

a montage of 4 shots of it landing

female Purple Hairstreak (eikestjertvinge)

my first Silver-washed Fritillary (keiserkåpe) of the year. I would normally have seen many by now

female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett) in Maridalen

female Scarce Copper (oransjegullvinge)

and a male

Brimstone (sitronsommerfugl)

3 young Little Ringed Plovers (dverglo)

young Sparrowhawk (spurvehauk)

Whinchats (buskskvett)

Wood Sandpiper (grønnstilk)