School, and university, summer holidays have begun and we are once again privileged to be allowed to use the wonderful cabin at Hulvik. A week of sun, the odd butterfly and maybe some Nightjars awaits plus late nights watching football - Norway vs Senegal at 2am tonight anyone?
Yesterday, I guided Ian from Perth (the one in Australia) in the morning and Maridalen provided a number of lifers during a very fun morning. We discovered a new (and second) Wryneck nest as well as watching feeding time at the very late Black Woodpecker nest, Red-backed Shrikes, Hawfinch, Marsh Warbler and lots more.
Here is a video from the Wrynecks which I took early this morning. Make sure to listen until the end to hear the strange noises the young make.
More successful breeding stories are the Ringed Plovers at Fornebu where both young are now so good as fully grown and still being well cared for by both parents who run distraction displays. This video from Saturday was taken with my phone from the car and may, or may not, show the youngsters.
And in Maridalen today I saw 7 basically fledged young Lapwings - they look fully grown and can fly - but still had adults watching over them. They seemed to be broods of 4,2 and 1 which tallies well with earlier observations. The fate of the two late nests and any young that hatched remains unknown with the crop so high that I cannot see any birds that may be there and I am not sure the adults would bother to fly up to chase off a passing crow either. A minimum of 7 fledged young from 5 nests is probably enough to maintain the population as long as they don’t fly to France for the winter and get shot…
Some pleasant surprises in Oslo and Maridalen regarding
breeding birds means I am not completely over into the butterfly world just yet.
On the lake there was suddenly a single adult Mute Swan with
5 small young! This is just like last year in that they suddenly appeared but
this year I was better prepared and had discovered the nest on 26 May. After
that discovery of the nest though I had been unable on subsequent attempts to
see any birds on it (although it was very difficult to see) and had only a
record of single adult on 1 June and then a pair flying over the lake (not near
the nest) on 9 June. I therefore assumed that the nesting attempt had failed
and the birds had moved off. To suddenly see an adult with young was therefore
a shock and it was equally surprising that I could not find the other adult
anywhere on the lake. Has the male died or moved off? And if so how did the
female managed to incubate and feed without me ever seeing her? And the pair I
saw on x June – were they visitors? Perhaps the other pair that started nesting
and then gave up? An answer to the first question is that P578 who I saw on
Maridalsvannet on 29 April, and his ring was again read on 24 May, who is the
male of the pair that bred last year and I assume the father of this years young
was seen on 16 June at Fornebu where he and his mate had spent the winter – so
it looks like he has left his mate to fend for herself! Did this happen before
the eggs hatched?
Mute Swan (knoppsvane) - presumably female PC79 who bred here last year - with 5 small young but not with her mate (P578) who has flown down to Fornebu!
The Black-throated Diver pair (one of perhaps two on the
lake) still have a single youngster and have moved quite a way from the nest
with it.
Black-throated Diver (storlom) family
The ever growing cereal crop on the Lapwing field makes seeing
the birds very difficult but yesterday I could see 3 (2 + 1) almost fully grown
young which is a great relief but the fate of the two last nests remains unknown.
a nearly fully grown Lapwing (vipe) young
And finally, I had Red-backed Shrike in the Dale this year
and it seems to be a nesting pair so fingers crossed for their success.
pair of Red-backed Shrikes (tornskate) in Maridalen
and the male on his own
A visit to Østensjøvannet today also revealed lots of young
birds. Best of all were the Black-headed Gulls which have had their first successful
breeding season (at least as a colony) for a few years with many large young on
two islands. Great Crested Grebes, Coot and Mute Swans also had young (the
later no larger than the ones I saw on Maridalsvannet) and surprisingly a
female Goldeneye had 11 quite large young with her. This raises two questions –
are they all hers? Perhaps unlikely. And how have so many survived so long? Normally
the vast majority get eaten either by gulls or pike.
Black-headed Gulls (hettemåke) have had a successful breeding season at Østensjøvannet
and a male Gadwall (snadderand) which once again seems to have chosen Østensjøvannet to moult although this year there were no records earlier in the spring
Not so much to report from the last few days with perhaps my
first male Red-backed Shrike of the year the highlight. This late migrant seems
to be later than normal this year or perhaps we are just going to get fewer
than normal for some reason. Time will tell but Marsh Warblers that have also
been scarce up until now seem to now be arriving in force.
An Arctic Tern at Maridalsvannet was a close second and a
scarcer bird in a local context. Terns have become a regular feature of
Maridalsvannet in recent years with both Arctic and Common exploiting good
hatches of insects. I have been waiting for them to appear this year after the
insects have started hatching and Black-headed Gulls, and a single brief Little
Gull, have been exploiting them for a week. It was therefore satisfying to see
an Arctic on Friday once a rain storm had eased enough for me to look over the lake.
The invasion of Painted Lady butterflies that has made the
national press in the UK is hitting Norway as well and even though numbers are
currently below those in the UK it is now turning up in all habitats, including
my garden, and has already breached the Arctic Circle.
Otherwise breeding birds are hanging on. In Maridalen there
are at least 3 Lapwing youngsters from 2 broods that are now large enough to
resemble their paretns and the two replacement nests are still being incubated
and should hatch any day soon. At Fornebu the Ringed Plovers seem faithful to
their corner of a building site hemmed in by a road but they have attentive
parents that still brood them when it rains or they perceive danger.
male Red-backed Shrike (tornskate) - here you see how it gets its name
and his mate
female Ringed Plover (sandlo) protecting 2 young during a rain shower. I am viewing from a car and despite being close to them they act naturally and react more to people walking along the road than any cars or lorries that pass close by. The young can also be seen in the video:
2 young Lapwing (vipe) in Maridalen. There was hopefully one or maybe two others from this brood in the long grass
this single surviving youngster from its brood is now looking quite adult like and will hopefully fledge making its parents hard work a success
1st June marks the start of summer in Oslo but on a rainy
day with southerly winds I still had my thoughts on late spring migrants. This
is the time of the year when really unexpected rarities can turn up but there
are also more predictable ones such as rare terns or waders that you can hope
to find at Svellet or Årnestangen. That was where I was headed today and
Svellet still has some exposed mud. A good number of gulls and a few Common
Terns were resting here but nothing rare or scarce and single of Red- and
Greenshank were the only waders.
The walk out to Årnestangen was mostly dry (I chose the
umbrella rather than rain coat option which worked out well) and mercifully
free of mosquitoes although I am sure they will come soon. There were attractive
looking mudflats and pools at the tip but they were all rather birdless
although a heavy rain shower but an end to my scanning and I had to seek cover
sitting down pushed against the wall of the hopefully inadequate but typically
Norwegian viewing platform. Most counties equip nature reserves with «hides»
where you can sit down and escape the rain whilst also being hidden from the
birds such that you enjoy closer views and the birds are less disturbed. Norway
of course has to do things differently and at Årnestangen the choice is a
slightly raised open platform that offers no real shelter from the elements and
definitely doesn’t hide you from the birds. Rather curiously, viewing slats
have been put in the low walls which I was able to use today when on my knees
and flattened against the wall with umbrella over me although I doubt that was
there intended use.
Whilst sheltering I did hear a few waders and when the rain
stopped enough for me to look properly I found three Turnstones with a small
flock of Ringed Plovers. It is very rare for me to see Turnstone in summer
plumage so this was a nice if distant encounter. Not a single calidris
wader was a disappointment although a Red-Backed Shrike was the last of the non-nocturnal
breeding migrants that I had yet to see.
Maridalsvannet has had a hatch of insects which in recent
years attracts terns. None have turned up so far this year but a Little Gulls
hawking insects with the Black-headeds today was nice. Yesterday evening a
large flock of Canada Geese flew over the house and today what must be the same
birds were in Maridalen. Amongst them was a hybrid Canada x Barnacle but
surprisingly not the same one as in Sørkedalen last week. What is causing this
sudden influx of presumed dutch birds?
On Friday butterfly watching in Maridalen was interrupted by
news of a Little Egret at Fornebu and I quickly drove down to enjoy it. This
species is still very rare around Oslo with this being only the 5th record
whilst Great White has become annual and sometimes in small flocks.
the knee high viewing slats at Årnestangen allowed me some slight protection from the rain
during a pause in the rain. It was the exact weather conditions you hope for out there and in mid to late July could have resulted in hundreds of waders of many species.
Little Egret (silkehegre) at Fornebu on Friday
hybrid Canada x Barnacle Goose in Maridalen. It lacks the white forehead that last weeks bird in Sørkedalen had (see previous post) and also had a much darker breast
three young Lapwing (vipe) being looked over by mum
and here are 4 young. There was another adult closeby and the 4th young may have been from another brood. None of them was the single large young that I saw flapping its wings last week so things are still looking good. Two nests are still being incubated and have at least another week to go before we see any young.
Skjerven - the geese and Lapwing field in Maridalen
In Oslo it seems as though migration has come to end with rain
and southerly winds causing absolutely nothing exciting to turn up. Svellet also
still has mud but without there being a single wader reported this morning.
Even though the period of quantity of passage birds has passed we are definitely
entering the highest quality time and yesterday a stonking male Black-headed
Bunting was pulled out of a mist nest in the garden of a twitcher who I had no
idea had a ringers licence.
Almost all breeding migrants have now turned up with the
first Rosefinches, Red-backed Shrikes, Marsh Warblers and Nightjars being
reported now even if I have yet to see any of them yet.
My focus has now turned to locating breeding birds both for
my own benefit and also a busy period of guiding that I have coming up. Hazel
Grouse has been a real nightmare this spring. A long walk on 17 May with Mrs OB
and The Beast took me past 8 or 9 territories where I have previously had the
species but with not a single bird being found. Today I checked 3 territories
in another area including “my pair” and did finally pull a bird out of the hat
which I feel confident of being able to find again. Three-toed Woodpecker has
also been a headache this year so a female that gave herself away tapping on a
tree was a relief but she flew off without me being able to track her to a
nest.
The two pairs of Black Woodpeckers continue to entertain
with the one pair still applying the finishing interior design touches to their
property and the other pair working hard to fill three noisy mouths with food.
In this video you can see the male using over a minute and a half to feed them individually
with food he is clearly regurgitating into his bill.
the male Black Woodpecker (svartspett) that is still putting the finishing touches to his property
and two of the three young in the other nest which is at a far more expected stage
Hobby (lerkefalk) today. I have only seen a single bird and heard no calling so do not believe a pair has returned yet
Black-throated Divers (storlom)
I watched a Wood Warbler (bøksanger) with nesting material in its beak fly onto the ground here. Can you spot the nest?
here it is and is of a similar construction to Willow Warbler (løvsanger) and Chiffchaff (gransanger) nests I have previously found
On the Lapwing front there are still two birds incubating and seemingly three broods of 4,1 and 1. With the two broods of single young the siblings were lost very early on but the remaining young are now half grown and will hopefully make it. The brood of 4 is a few days younger but the parents have done very well to still have all four alive.
The Beast turns 8 in September which coincidentally means
that according to all that dog/human year malarkey he and I are the same age
(at least for now). I guess there have been a few thousand morning walks he has
taken me on over the years and we have seen a few interesting birds in the area
where we live with Pine Grosbeak probably being the best. Yesterday morning
though we added a new species with a Wood Warbler singing in the local wood.
Although the oak dominated wood may be suitable as a breeding locality I am
sure the bird was a migrant. As such I think it is only the second time I have
come across a singing spring migrant (not that I have come across any non
singing ones either). And that got me thinking - why do I hear many singing
migrant Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers but not Wood Warblers? Is it because
Wood Warblers don’t often sing on migration or is it just because there are so
many, many more Chiffs and Willies that you are so much more likely to
encounter one of them?
Svellet was the subject of my attention yesterday and whilst
water levels have only risen by 2cm since yesterday and 4cm since Monday there
was a considerable reduction in the number of birds. And I was able to watch
that number more than half when a young Peregrine had a go at some Wood
Sandpipers which of course all flew off but also never returned.
Over the past couple of weeks I have seen the waders
frequently flying around due to a raptor (most often unseen) but always landing
again but what I observed today clearly shows that migration awaits and the
birds clearly have an unavoidable urge to keep heading north.
We have a couple of days of rain ahead of us and also
southerly winds after aperiod of cold northerly winds so we may still have some
mighty experiences at Svellet but it will definitely be a question of quality
rather than quantity now.
I also walked out to the end of Årnestangen which was a
rather quiet affair on the bird front with not a single waders at the tip but
there were two butterfly surprises with my first Swallowtail and Painted Lady
of the year which were not what I expected on a quite cloudy and not that warm
day.
Svellet from the east
and from west looking north 13 May 2026
and looking south
and Årnestangen
In Maridalen the Lapwings continue to surprise positively with 3 broods seen - 4 and 1 were on open ground and fully accounted for but another single youngster popped out of long grass and there could definitely, and hopefully, have been more there. Two females are also on new nests and a pair were displaying so there may be yet another nest to come. They all still have to survive more farmer activity and foxes and crows but I think we are in a surprisingly good place.
my first Painted Lady (tistelsommerfugl) of the year. A faded but otherwise undamaged individual
whereas the colours of my first Swallowtail were perfect it had clearly already been attacked by birds and had chunks missing from the back of its wings
Today I decided to leave Svellet alone and instead visit the
Oslo islands. I cannot see that anyone else has visited Svellet today so don’t
know if my decision was the right one but I can see that water levels have only
risen by 2cm so conditions will still be
very, very mighty.
The islands gave a perfectly acceptable account of
themselves even if the fjord contained not a single duck, diver, grebe or tern
of any interest what so ever. Before I had even got to Gressholmen I saw a
massive 4 species of waders (but only one of each) in the tiny muddy bay by the ferry stop at
Lindøya Øst (Redshank, Greenshank, Ringed Plover and Oystercatcher) and this
did increase expectations rather considerably. Gressholmen’s muddy bay disappoints
(me) more often that otherwise but mid to late May is probably when it is at
its best. There had been no rain or southerly winds (they are from the north at
the moment) so I did not expect too much but a Bar-tailed Godwit that has been
present a few days was still there alongside the same species, but in greater
numbers, as I had seen at Lindøya.
A singing Thrush Nightingale in exactly the same scrub as
the last two years was my first of the year and a joy to listen to.
A worrying aspect of the trip was quite how few Black-headed
Gulls there were. I only found two colonies and the largest was considerably smaller
than it has been in previous years. I have also seen that Oslo’s normally
largest colony on an islet off Bygdøy is empty this year so unless there is a
large colony somewhere else then it looks like a crisis for the species (the inland
colonies at Sognsvann and Østensjøvannet are small in relation to the number
that normally breed on the fjord).
The absolute highlight and a slight headache came when I was
getting on the ferry at Lindøya. I heard angry Hooded Crows and Swallows behind
me and turned expecting to see a Goshawk. What I did see was something smaller
but after a second I realised it was an owl and must be one of the earded ones.
I raised my bins whilst walking and saw the face and was sure it was a
Short-eared. I then got on board and reached for the superzoom and filmed
whilst the ferry left the dock but only managed 20 seconds before the deckhand
said I had to move inside. I was quite happy that I had managed to document
only my second ever Oslo Short-eared and decided to look at the video to see if
it was any good and of course to see if I had actually pressed record… Well
this time I had but the owl proved to be of the longer eared variety. Still a
very good bird in an Oslo context. My still only ever record of Short-eared Owl
was an equally difficult experience although then I assumed it had to be a Leo
and it was only the pictures that allowed me to see it was a Seo…
a clip from the video showing the grey face and under wing tips that have fine baring and not a particularly black tip all of which say Leo (hornugle)
and here it disappears to the north over Hovedøya and towards the city
The sound of the Thrush Nightingale (nattergal) and a Willow Warbler (løvsanger)
the Bar-tailed Godwit (lappspove) on Gressholmen
The Black-headed Gull (hettemåke) colony on Nakkeskjær where I counted 65 nests although there were undoubtedly more out of sight on the far side
a close up of some of the nests
and here 9 nests on the main part of the island where they do not look to be so safe
a female Wheateat (steinskvett)
In Maridalen it was again difficult to be certain what was happening with the Lapwings but I did see more today. There were 10 adults and five young in broods of 4 and 1. There was also another female acting as though she had young in the long grass and probably two females that were on new nests but that will have to firmed up as a bit more time passes.
the single young Lapwing (vipe) with mum and a "singing" Snipe (enkeltbekkasin)
