First Lapwing brood in Maridalen

We are now heading to the time of the year when I spend as much time looking down as I do looking up. The days are getting hotter and sunnier, migration is winding down and butter and dragonflies are emerging.

After a surprise Cuckoo in Maridalen – a silent bird that just appeared in a bush in front of me for 10 seconds – I am only missing Common Rosefinch from the common migrants. It does feel strange to have not heard a Cuckoo yet but next weekend I am travelling with Conor to Valdres again and there we should hear many although there is still so much snow in the mountains it will be interesting to see how far spring has come.

A pair of Common Scoter resting on Maridalsvannet on Thursday were a typical late migrant but otherwise there has hardly been a bird to see on the water. The Lapwing situation is confusing. On Thursday there were just two females sitting but on Friday morning I got a message from Halvard that there was female with three young. When I got there later in the morning I could just see 2 females sitting on nests but then in the afternoon I had the female with 3 young and a bird on a nest so I am unsure if there is a brood plus 2 nests or 1 brood and 1 nest – time will tell. Whilst I was watching in the afternoon I saw the sitting female fly off the nest to go and feed. She had to fly to another field as the nesting field is extremely dry with presumably little food. When she flew off, her mate who had been standing about 50m away then flew up and flew over and around the nest as though he was protecting it.

3 Lapwing (vipe) young with mum

the still sitting bird

Common Scoter (svartand) pair

my first Cuckoo(gjøk) of the year

a healthy looking but thin Fox. With it not being a rodent year then foxes will struggle to find food for their young and birds will make up a higher proportion of their catch

there seems to be breeding in both Goshawk (hønsehauk) territories in Maridalen. In one I could not see a bird on the nest but the nest rim had a lot of white feathers on it and at the second (pictured) they are using a new nest which also had a lot of white feathers and I eventually managed to see a head sticking up

a return visit to Østensjøvannet allowed a distant picture of the Pochard (taffeland)

The Wryneck (vendehals) pair is still active in Maridalen and I do not know if they have started nesting

the other bird (probably female) in the pair

this male Yellow Wagtail (gulerle) in Maridalen was either a late migrant or a bird thinking of breeding (the marsh it was on seemed a suitable nesting site). It has an interesting plumage with a weak supercilium and a bold subocular patch so is not a typical thunbergi but what it is I cannot say

a shameful and unsuccessful trip to Østensjøvannet to year tick a piece of plastic did see a Coot (sothøne) danceoff

Red-backed Shrike (tornskate) in Maridalen eating a beetle

this singing Whitethroat (tornsanger) popped up right in front of me. This was at Østensjøvannet but the first bird has also appeared in Maridalen. They always appear later in Maridalen as the slightly higher altitude means that vegetation takes a week or so longer to develop

And some butterflies

a female Orange-tip (aurorasommerfugl)

my first fritillary of the year, a Pearl Bordered (rødflekketperlemorvinge)

and a Dingy Skipper (tiriltunge smyger) in Maridalen. Now that I have got used to how small these skippers are and how early they fly I am finding more and more of them

I also took pictures of day flying moths but will resist showing them