Invertebrate holiday update

I have had quite a few posts about the butterflies around the cabin at Hulvik including this one from last year which summarises the species I have seen. Prior to this year I had recorded 34 species and our visit at the end of May had already added a new one with Green-underside Blue (kløverblåvinge). I had more observations of that species this last week including an egg laying female but no other new species. My total of 16 species was not very impressive and the complete absence of any of the larger fritillaries was worrying.

1. Large Skipper /engsmyger
2. Brimstone / sitronsommerfugl
3. Silver-studded Blue/argusblåvinge - assumed this species but probaly both this and Idas seen
4. Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary /brunflekket perlemorvinge plus a number of fast moving similarly sized fritillaries that could have been 0-4 other species
5. Red Admiral / admiral
6. Small Tortoiseshell / neslesommerfugl
7. Pearly Heath /perleringvinge
8. Ringlet /gullrinvinge
9. Small White / liten kålsommerfugl
10. Common Blue / tiriltungeblåvinge
11. Small Copper / ildgullvinge
12. Grizzled Skipper / bakkesmyger
13. Dingy Skipper / tiriltungesmyger
14. Moorland Clouded Yellow / myrgulvinge
15. Wall Brown (sørringvinge)
16. Green-underside Blue / kløverblåvinge

In addition to these butterflies I also noted the odd moth (god forgive), grasshopper, wasp and odonata. It was in fact a moth which was the real invertebrate highlight - a broad-bordered bee hawk-moth (bredkantet humlesvermer) allowed itself to be admired and photographed at close range. I saw what was most likely this species last year but it didn’t hang around long enough for me to confirm so I was very happy that this one allowed me to go and get my camera (I was swimming at the time).

Another very interesting moment was provided by a red-banded sand wasp carrying a caterpillar over the patio of the cabin. I wish I had followed it as it was only afterwards that I read up and realised that the caterpillar was going to be taken to a hole where the wasp would lay an egg inside it and the caterpillar would provide food for its offspring.

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Broad bordered bee hawk-moth (bredkantet humlesvermer)

a Common Blue (tiriltungeblåvinge) lacking the (distinctive) spot at the base of the front wing

and one with the spot

Large Skipper (engsmyger)

the red-banded sand wasp (nattflylarvegraver) with caterpillar

Dingy Skipper (tiriltungesmyger)

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (brunflekket perlemorvinge)

Moorland Clouded Yellow (myrgulvinge) as you normally see them showing just the underwing

and here with a bit of the upperwing showing

and here a lucky shot showing the whole upperwing almost in focus as it flies up

the upperside of what I believe is a Silver-studded blue (argusblåvinge) and not the near identical Idas blue (idasblåvinge)

underside of the above blue

this one which has a much narrower blue border is I believe an Idas but in Norway the only accepted way to tell them apart is by observing the spine on the fore tibia which only Silver-studded is (supposed) to have

a Four Spotted Chaser (firflekkbredlibelle)

Grizzled Skipper (bakkesmyger)

egg laying Green-underside Blue (kløverblåvinge)

Great Green Bush Cricket (grønn løvgresshoppe)

Still in holiday mood

I must admit to still being in summer holiday mood and with additional IKEA unflattening and Jr and Jr Jr to entertain both birding and definitely sitting in front of the PC have taken a (welcome?) back seat. That of course doesn’t mean I haven’t been birding – far from it ;-) Trips to pick mushrooms in Maridalen, the beach at Fornebu and Årnestangen on Saturday morning with Per Christian and today in the early morning have of course given some birds plus butterflies and dragonflies which I am getting increasingly interested in.

The water levels at Årnestangen are quite high and there were no large numbers of waders to see either on Saturday or today. Dunlin are especially scarce with none seen on Sunday and today there were none to start with before 10 eventually appeared (only one adult). There were a few interesting species to find (although I am still to see Curlew Sandpiper or Little Stint this year). On Saturday, we had three adult Grey Plover and today the highlight was a juvenile Black-tailed Godwit which I had hoped to find as there seems to have been a mini influx to Norway the last few days. 2 adult Bar-tailed Godwits, 4 juv Turnstone and an adult Knot (also a late year tick) were also good birds today. Ringed Plovers were the commonest wader with 56 and in total I had 14 species of wader today.

Raptor numbers are starting to build up although no Pallid Harriers have made there way down from the mountains yet. Marsh Harriers have arrived though with at least four different birds: 1(-2) juveniles, a 2cy male, a 3cy+ male and a 2cy+ female. Common Buzzards, Sparrowhawks (3 seen together hunting White Wagtails), Osprey, Peregrine, Hobby and Kestrel completed the list but still no Honey Buzzards.

Passerine migration is only just getting going but today I had a calling flyover Red-throated Pipit which is an early date.

a 2cy+ female Marsh Harrier (sivhauk). The pattern of moult may allow the bird to be more accurately aged as either a 2cy or a 3cy+ but I haven't manged to work it out 

a nice fresh juvenile 

the 2cy male with a Sparrowhawk

same birds. The Marsh Harrier can be aged as a 2cy due to it still have mostly juvenile (brown) secondaries and outer primaries

the juvenile and 2cy+ female interacted

Grey Plovers (tundralo)

Turnstones (steinvender) and Knot (polarsnipe)

the all black legs make this (in my book) a Ruddy Darter (blodrød høstlibelle)

this similar dragonfly with pale hind legs is either a Common Darter (rødbrun høstlibelle) or Vagrant Darter (sørlig høstlibelle) but I don't think the picture allows a certain ID

the yellow inner wings of this small red dragonfly make it easy to ID as a Yellow-winged Darter (gulvinget høstlibelle)

a  mating pair of Black Darters (svart høstlibelle). There are more and more black males to see now

larger dragonflies seem to pose far less readily but I did managed to photo and subsequently ID this Southern Hawker (bågrønn øyenstikker)

mating pair of Common Blues (tiriltungeblåvinge)

High Brown Fritillary (adippeperlemoringe) 

Lesser Marbled Fritillary (engperlemorvinge)

Queen of Spain Fritillary (sølvkåpe)

Silver-washed Fritillary (keiserkåpe)

Large Marsh Grasshopper (sumpgresshopper)

Incidental sky gazing and creep crawlies

Last week whilst decorating I had a couple of short visits to Maridalen with the hope of seeing raptors and didn’t see very much apart from Sparrowhawk, Goshawk, a couple of Common Buzzard and a very distant family group that were possibly Honeys. My incidental raptors whilst painting were a far better result per minute spent gazing and today I had an even better raptor per minute gazing ratio. My youngest daughter was playing in a football tournament by Sognsvann and in the nice sunny weather I found my eyes occasionally gazing skywards. I did not have bins but the superzoom works well as a substitute and came in very handy. At 1319 I had 4 Cranes, a minute later 2 more Cranes, 2 minutes after that a couple of high flying Common Buzzards, at 1335 a probable Honey Buzzard migrating south and at 1419 a juvenile Honey Buzzard.

The last bird flew low over the lake and I spotted it after a group of Black-headed Gulls flew up and were obviously spooked. Looking through the digital view finder I concluded with Common Buzzard but took enough pictures to see that I was wrong. It was a juvenile Honey Buzzard in that plumage that can be very tricky. A nice sighting and one where the superzoom saved the day.

juv Hone Buzzard (vepsevåk). It is not often one sees them in this plumage as they migrate south quite quickly and everytime I have seen them in this plumage I've had problems separating them from Common Buzzard

look how the tail can appear so different based on angle. The right hand picture almost looks like a Kite tail

this bird heading purposefull south will remain unidentified but with that long tail is probably a Honey

but these two were Common Buzzards. a juv on the left and adult on the right

and some Cranes (trane)

 

Yesterday I spent the morning at Årnestangen. Apart from waders my hope was to find a Pallid Harrier. In the end I didn’t have any harriers but there were quite a few raptors with Common Buzzard, Osprey and Peregrine being nearly continuously visible. There was little diversity amongst the waders although Turnstone, Curlew Sand, Knot and Little Stint added some spice. Biggest surprise of the day was a Grasshopper Warbler that flew up from under my feet as I walked the boardwalk to the viewing platform. It flew far enough that I was able to get the bins on it before dropping down into the long grass. A male had sung close by most of the late summer but I had never heard that bird so it was nice to get this brief view.

this young Peregrine (vandrefalk) made repeated attempts to take a Teal (krikkand) which it had first pursued in the air before the duck crash landed and dived

everytime the falcon got close the duck would dive and the Peregrine tried hovering over it before eventually giving up

there were good numbers of Shoveler (skjeand) yesterday

There were a lot of grasshoppers sunbathing on the board walk and they did not fly off until they were nearly trod on. I am not sure if they were newly hatched but they allowed themselves to be closely studied and I have concluded with Large Marsh Grasshopper (sumpgresshoppe) Mecostethus grossus. I also realised that they were the source of the clicking noise (a bit like you can hear from an electric fence) that I’ve been hearing recently.

Dragonflies were also numerous (but didn’t attract any Hobbies). I decided to take some pictures to work out what they were. There was a number of small dragonflies with red males and green/black females (and also young males?) and I assumed that these were all the same species. Looking at my pictures and checking reference material I see that I photographed three species of darter (høstlibelle) sympetrum: Common (rødbrun) striolatum, Ruddy (blodrød) sanguineum and Yellow-winged (gulvinget) flaveolum and that I could also have had a chance of seeing Moustached Dater (sørlig) vulgatum. There were also some much larger dragonflies but these never allowed themselves to be photographed.

this one is I believe a Common Darter (rødbrun høstblibelle). It has pale stripes on the legs and yellow patches on the side of the thorax

I reckon this pair are also Common Darters

a female Ruby Darter (blodrød høstbillie) due to all blacklegs and a club shaped tail  It was I guess too good to be true that I would manage to ID all the dragonflies I saw. This is actually a Black Darter (svart høstlibelle) Sympetrum danae

same individual as above. This was resting very close to the uppermost male Common Darter so I assumed they were same species

male Yellow-winged Darter (gulvinget høstbillie). The yellow/orange patches on the wings and red as opposed to black patch on the forewing are the main ID features

Large Marsh Grasshopper (sumpgresshoppe). Having a poo?

the very red individual really stood out but is within normal variation

having a scratch