Jr and I have fled the heatwave Oslo is experiencing and have left temperatures in the mid thirties and replaced them with the low tens. This has resulted in two days and 1300km of driving to our cabin near Bodø. The weather should improve whilst we are here but I am writing this sitting next to a radiator on full…
As usual I kept a count of raptors on the drive up and it was a meagre total with just 3 Kestrels, 2 Peregrines, 1 Merlin, 1 Rough-legged Buzzard and 2 White-tailed Eagles meaning about 1 raptor per 150km….
Three well planned Beast walking stops did result in some action for me. A stop in 30C heat gave me an Apollo butterfly which even briefly landed on my head although the battery on my camera proved to be flat so I had to resort to photos with my phone. In this photo you can see me taking a photo of the Apollo.
Jr is the shade whilst I am enjoying this Apollo:
Just before we got to the Arctic Circle a stop in Mo i Rana gave me to two additions to my Nordland county list - Jackdaw (kaie) and Nutcracker (nøttekråke). I have tried for them here before with no joy but finally succeeded. Both seem to have an isolated northerly breeding outpost here and the Nutcrackers are of the siberian subspecies so are different to the birds around Oslo.
Adult and juvenile Nutcracker (nøttekråke) of the race macrorhynchos
Here the parent has extracted a seed from a cone to give to junior
A stop at Saltfjellet on the Arctic Circle was very successful with Long-tailed Skua and Red-necked Phalarope. The skua was actively hunting at very close range but I am unsure as to what it was searching for as a lack of any raptors suggests no rodents.
Long-tailed Skua (fjelljo)
Red-necked Phalarope (svømmesnipe) male who by his behaviour must have had young nearby
The second half of the week in Beitostølen added a few new
birds with a 2cy male Hen Harrier and Siberian Jays the highlights. I had
another sighting of a Long-tailed Skua and 9 Rough-legged Buzzards one day with
7 in one sweep of the horizon. They were all hunting and I saw 2 take small
rodents so it looks like rodent numbers may be on the way up.
Back
in Oslo dog walks resulted in nice views of Purple and White-letter Hairstreaks
with the later nectaring on a thistle which is the first time I have seen this.
this male Lapland Bunting (lappspurv) was singing in exactly the same place as the beginning of June and was probably unpaired
a Long-tailed Skua (fjelljo) showing off its amazing tail
a Meadow Pipit (heipiplerke) which clearly had young nearby
a Scarce Copper (oransjegullvinge) - note the tiny rip in the wing.
Slavonian Grebe (horndykker) pair with 3 young. This is the first registered breeding in the Beitostølen area although I have long expected to find them on this lake
a female Teal (krikkand) with 4 young
The Beast is now a learner driver
fresh snow fell over about 1700m one morning
a Purple Hairstreak (eikestjertvinge) on an elm
as it was on an elm I first thought it would be a White-letter but I don't think they ever rest with their wings open which Purple's do frequently
and a White-lettered Hairstreak (almestjertvinge) on a thistle
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
