Reacquainting myself with Hazel Grouse

It is rather difficult to follow up blog posts on Red-footed Falcon and Pallid Harrier and this will in no way compete with them but Hazel Grouse does always help keep up ones humour 😊.

It is very autumnal now and changing weather results in very different birds. I have concentrated on the Dale the last 3 days with a hope of some raptor passage but Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and a single Kestrel were all I managed to see.

On Wednesday there was a large arrival of passerines with many finches, Mipits, Dunnocks and Chiffchaffs announcing their presence. There were also 3 Wheatears and a single Whinchat still present but hardly any thrushes. Single Ringed Plover and Common Sandpiper on the lake were also a promising sign that an interesting wader may still turn up.

By Thursday there were hardly any passerines to be found but a few more ducks on the lake included the first Tufted Duck and Common Scoter of the year.

Today saw hardly any passerines and the diving ducks had moved on but a total of 15 Common Snipe around the lake was a high local count. With there being so few birds to see on the fields or lake I decided to pay my first trip to the forest for a few months and was rewarded with a singing Hazel Grouse.

singing male Hazel Grouse (jerpe)

my first ever autumn Ringed Plover (sandlo) on Maridalsvannet

an early Common Scoter (svartand) - a juvenile with unusually white cheeks

5 Common Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)

and here are some videos of Red-footed Falcon, Great White Egret and Black-tailed Godwit that I have only jut got round to editing: