Beitostølen 2024

The summer holidays continue as per tradition with a week in Beitostølen. It is unusually wet and cold so my chances of seeing butterflies are going to be limited but I have made the most of any periods of sun. There seem to be very few butterflies here though this year which I hope is just a timing issue with more to come after some warm weather but that will unfortunately be after we have left.

On the bird front we managed a dry if cold walk on Valdresflye where I was very happy to see a couple of Long-tailed Skuas which had eluded us a month ago.

On the drive up we picked up my parents from Gardemoen airport. A delayed plane and hour long queues at passport control meant we suddenly had time to kill so a dog walk at Nordbytjernet beckoned. I hoped to see the Great Reed Warbler again although no luck on that score perhaps indicates it has moved on. It did however result in a news species of odonata with a very unexpected Blue-tailed Damselfly (kystvannymfe). As it Norwegian names suggests this is a coastal species in Norway and my records appear to be the furthest inland in the country.

Long-tailed Skua (fjelljo)

Although the presence of the skuas suggests tbere are some lemmings this Rough-legged Buzzard is the only raptor seen so far

Dotterel (boltit) is always a joy to find

Here, a Temminck’s Stint and two Ringed Plover (sandlo)

The Temminck’s

The same Dotterel as above - a female (the males will be sitting on eggs)

A female Bluethroat (blåstrupe) which clearly had young nearby

A Yellow Wagtail (gulerle) just out of the nest

A male Common Blue (tiriltunge blåvinge)

And a male Alpine Blue (fjellblåvinge) - I’m not sure if the two species can easily be separated from above

From below though the Alpine Blues are distinctive

They have been the commonest butterfly up here (with over 100 at one locality)

Silver spotted Skipper (kommasmyger)

More mating Alpine Blues

Blue -tailed Damselfly (kystvannymfe)

A different individual

This was an interesting one. I assumed it was also a Blue-tailed with a strange pattern on the 8th tail segment

But here you see it must be a Variable Damselfy (fagerblåvannymfe) although quite an unusually marked one

Tawny Owl Breeding

The Tawny Owls nested in an old box that has lost its wooden base and there is just a wedge of organic matter (I think Red Squirrels have also used it) that is blocking the bottom but also hanging out and not looking very solid. A crowd of angry Fieldfares first alerted me that there were probably owls in the wood and as I approached the nest box from behind it was clear that the thrushes attention was focused at the box. I was expecting to see a youngster sticking its head out so was very surprised to see an adult. The owl was clearly as surprised as and flew into a tree about 50m away where it continued to be mobbed by about every passerine in the wood even including Wrens. The front of the nestbox was covered in bird poo and the Fieldfares had clearly been dropping bombs.

I could hear at least one young squeaking in the box but it would a whole week before I saw a young. That day I found a large young outside of the nest and a much smaller young sticking its head out of the hole. I had previously thought I had a young calling from the woodland near the nestbox and suspect now that one young had left the nest at least a week before the other. Subsequent nocturnal visits revealed the sound of two begging young.

22 May - the nestbox covered in Fieldfare (gråtrost) droppings which they launch as bombs against their enemies the owls

the adult who had been sitting in the nest hole when I discovered her

23 May - when I entered the wood and walked past the nest box I would often hear (the female?) giving its guarding call which would sometimes allow me to locate her although the source of the source was very difficult to pinpoint

29 May - a relatively large young found out of the nest box and had probably been out for quite a while

a slightly macabre sight at the nest box. A bird had clearly been brought back for the young but its leg had got stuck in a crack in the wood and it must have been dragged down (and then eaten?) with its foot remaining stuck

adult (mum?) keeping watch

I went to get Jr to show her the baby owl and when we returned less than hour later we took a long time to find it. It had moved about 10 metres and was very low down in a bush playing dead. As you will see in the video it fell over and just remained hanging off the branch

I then returned in the evening with Mrs OB and we took ages to locate the young which I am sure was the same. It had moved at least 50 metres

the same day and the smallest young finally peeked out of the nest hole

 

30 May and still in the nest. After this date I only heard the young begging for food on nocturnal trips