Back in Oslo and one more butterfly...

This will, I think, be my last butterfly post of the year so please bear with me 😊

 

Sunday and Monday saw us driving back from Bodø to Oslo with us again taking the scenic but by no means slow route via Røros and Trysil. This allowed me to see Silvery Argus (kileblåvinge) for the second time and once again they were easy to find along a road. We also drove past great looking forest bog habitat that I will have to visit in the middle of June in one of the coming years.

First full day back in Oslo and I had to take a trip to Fornebu to see my first Brown Hairstreaks of the year with two males noted. I thought this would be my last butterfly species of the year but there was a surprise in store for me. In my post from January where I listed the species I had still to see in Norway there was one species that looked like it would be easy for me to see – Essex Skipper (timoteismyger). I had been contemplating the 40 minute drive to the Drammen area to “twitch” one but had seen some new records this year showing that the species was clearly expanding to the east and I thought why should I travel to see what is quite a small, boring species when it looked like it would come to me - although not necessarily this year, or even next, but soon.

And there it was! I was watching some Small Heaths (engringvinge) when I saw a small orange butterfly perched on a grass straw. I immediately knew what it was and just managed to take two pictures before it flew off strongly in the direction of Oslo (where it has yet to be recorded) and was gone. For such a small species it had a very strong and direct flight and it is no wonder that it is such a successful colonist.

Essex Skipper becomes my 85^th Norwegian species and my third new one this year following a successful trip to the forest bogs of Hedmark in June.

Essex Skipper (timoteismyger) - my 3rd new species this year and 85th ever in Norway

a male Brown Hairstreak (slåpetornstjertvinge)

the glacier Blåmannsisen lies above Sulitjelma and is visible from close to our cabin.

male Silvery Argus (kileblåvinge)

And here is some evidence to show that I do still look at birds. This juvenile Greenshank (gluttsnipe) was just one of a surprisingly good selection of waders at Fornebu.

Just a little detour

So we are back in Oslo and the travelling part of the summer holiday is over. The drive back from Bodø was broken up this time with a stop at a hotel in Hell, which is by Trondheim Værnes Airport and the name has of course appeared lots in marketing. The hotel was thankfully far from being a hotel from hell although the experience of calling to book a room (online booking when you have a dog inevitably ends up with a message telling you to call them) was indeed an experience from hell.

The the call when eventually answered was answered by someone in an overseas call centre who was clearly reading off a script and initially I thought had to be scam but turned out to just be terrible customer service. I was actually positively surprised when we checked in and they were indeed expecting us and with a smile😅.

At breakfast and after a check of the weather forecast I hatched a plan to add another species of butterfly, and what would be my 80th in Norway, by detouring via Trysil to see Silvery Argus (kileblåvinge). I had assumed this would be a long detour but the Map app suggested it would only be 8 minutes longer so it was a no brainer although still required a good sell in to get Jr on board.

The route took us on wide, straight and empty roads through amazing wilderness in Femund and was a much faster and more enjoyable drive than following the main E6 road. The butterfly was only discovered in Norway in 2006 (although could of course have been present much, much longer) and has only ever been found around Trysil close to the Swedish border. For such a scarce species it was very easy to find and numerous on flower rich road verges. I clearly hadn’t done my homework though as especially the males were much smaller than I had expected. It was a very beautiful butterfly with on the males a broad black border to the turquoise on the upper wing.

Underside of a male Silvery Argus. The Norwegian name - kileblåvinge - comes from the white stripe

A very smart butterfly

The females were noticeably larger and probably also identifiable just from this angle although as with most butterflies everything become easier when you see them from below..

The route from the cabin to Oslo with the suggested route to leave Hell where we spent the night

And via Trysil it was only 8 minutes longer. None of the roads are classified as main routes but were a joy to drive

The apparently quickest (although much longer route) was via Sweden although the time is the same as the initial Norwegian only route so I don't really understand why this was suggested. If one is driving further north to for example Finnmark then a route via Sweden and Finland is definitely quicker but I have not seen it suggested for Bodø before. The E6 route to Bodø has become a lot quicker (and safer) due to improvements between Trondheim and Fauske and there are still long sections that that haven't been finished yet but maybe the Swedes have also been improving their roads?

Skiing with Hawkie

We have spent the first part of the Easter holiday downhill skiing at Trysil. It was positively divine conditions with deep blue skies, no wind, overnight temperatures falling below -10C but with the sun making it feel warm. There was also loads of good snow, so skiing was a delight especially after having got the ski prepped and the edges sharpened.

There were not many birds to be encountered but the most numerous were 4 Siberian Jays and 3 Hawk Owls so I was a very happy skier. We got very close to the birds but with only a lousy iphone camera the shots do not do justice to the experience. I had taken my superzoom away with me but chose not to have it with me whilst skiing in case I fell. I was less worried for the camera than my ribs which came off the worse from a previous fall on the ice. Given that I didn’t fall (bar one embarrassing dismount from a chair lift) and the fact the owls were very stationary I do regret not having gone back to the hotel and collected the camera because the light was great, the trees not too tall and one owl in particular was very confiding.

me filming Hawkie

a Siberian Jay (lavskrike) honestly!

there were tracks from Hares all over the place but here we also saw where one had been gnawing on a tree either to eat the bark or maybe just to wear its teeth down