The week that was

The blame for lack of activity on the blog can be laid firmly at the feet of Jr and JrJr. It is the last week of summer holidays and very hot weather so we are making the most of it. Of course some of the destinations we visit may quite incidentally have a bird or two on offer for Sr but it has actually been butterflies that we have spent most time watching. The hot, sunny weather obviously encourages butterflies to show themselves but it does seem like it has been a good year for butterflies. I am slowly improving my ID skills but still find that with fritillaries and blues that I need to take god pictures and then consult the books when I get home.

Here are some of the species I’ve seen the last week plus a bird or two.

 

a High Brown Fritillary (adippeperlemorvinge) in Maridalen. This species is very similar to Dark Green Fritillary (aglajaperlemorvinge) but the dots towards the back of the underside of the lower wing separate the two species

High Brown Fritillary from above. A different individual from above but both were very worn and missing large parts of their wings

this is the same individual as that in the underwing picture. On the upperinwing the the indented (and in the case small) third dot on the upperwing is a feature to separate from Dark Green

so what is this butterfly that I photographed on 30 July in the same area? Is the third dot indented or not? I never got a photo of the underwing...

this fritillary in Maridalen was a surprise. It was on its own feeding along a path whereas 100m away were loads of other (larger) butterflies feeding on thistles. This was a small fritillary and I made sure I took photos of the underside

which showed it was a Queen of Spain Fritillary (sølvkåpe). I was really surprised by its small size but apparently this is a very variable species with a size of 35-50mm given. This is the first record of this species in Oslo in the ArtsObservasjoner database but I assume this is due to lack of observers (and observers who can be bothered to report their records) rather than it being particularly rare

a far easier Fritillary is Silver-washed (keiserkåpe) here with a Peacock (dagpåfugløye) and a fly

and here with a wasp

and with a Small Tortioseshell (neslesommerfugl) in the background

Comma (hvit C)

Green-veined White (rapssommerfugl)

female Large White (stor kålsommerfugl)

this blue butterfly flew up from my feet on Gressholmen and due to its tiny size I initially though it was a moth. But through the bins I could see it was a blue butterfly. The small size leave only really one option: Small Blue (dvergblåvinge) and an individual this late in the year is according to the literature very unusual

Red Admiral

Peacocks, Comma and Silver-washed Fritillary

and some birds:

a juvenile Common Buzzard (musvåk) in Maridalen

juvenile Knot (polarsnipe) at Fornebu

Knot, Lapwing (vipe) and Ruff (brushane) in flight

the rarest sighting - a juv Moorhen (sivhøne) in Storøykilen, Fornebu. My first sighting here where Water Rails are normally to be found

House Sparrow steals the day

Per Christian Moan and I had a pleasant if rather disappointing pre-breakfast trip to Fornebu today. The Willow Warbler drought continued although we did just about break into double figures. In fact Yellow Wagtails were nearly as numerous and this is just wrong wrong wrong!

Whinchats has increased to 6 but that is still low and there are still no Bluethroats although 2 Redstarts were good. A couple of Lesser Whitethroats and 5 Whitethroats were probably locally bred birds but at least added some variety. Two Red-backed Shrikes and a very skulky Wryneck added some class but rarest bird of the days was not one but two House Sparrows and juveniles to boot suggesting local breeding. I cannot remember having seen this species before at Fornebu although my records suggest I have Never-the-less when a House Sparrow makes your day then you know it’s been a dull one!

They don't come much rarer than this - House Sparrows (gråspurv)

there may not have been many of them but one at least did pose for a pic - Willow Warbler (løvsanger)

A Lesser Whitethroat (møller) in a berry bush where I had dreamt I would find a Barred Warbler (hauksager)

This Red Admiral was nice to see and there were also a couple of small blue butterflies that I don't have the competence to ID to species but butterflies have generally been very scarce this year.