A whole seven days after the last day of sun we saw it again yesterday although I had to drive over an hour to experience it and its arrival was a whole three hours later than forecast - but it was all worth it in the end!
I, of course, went to Sulitjelma and hunted butterflies. I was not alone on that errand with another birder/butterer visiting all the way from Lista. Øyvind however was only having a short stop on his way even further north and only got to enjoy 5 minutes of sun before having to leave. I was able to wait it out though and when the sun did finally show for longer periods I finally, and after lots of efforts, got to see the Pale Arctic Clouded Yellow as well as is possible with nectaring individuals too close to focus on and one in the hand such that I could see the upperwing. I also got to see Northern Clouded Yellow’s upperwing so I can now «forget» about these species and concentrate my efforts on the really rare species that I am certain occur up here😊
Pale Arctic Clouded Yellow (polargulving) showing the underside of both wings
I had to take matters into my owns hands though to finally see the upperwing
This small flower rich hillside was where the previously pictured individual was flying from flower to flower. Previously when I have seen them they have barely had time to stop
Spot it?
And here another individual. It was only 50m away and was also nectaring but was not quite as easy to follow. It was a much more heavily marked individual making me wonder if one was a male and the other a female.
A second, and more heavily marked, Pale Arctic Clouded Yellow (polargulvinge)
My usual out of focus flight shot but this is actually better than normal
Again showing both wings whereas previously the forewing has been hidden
When the light shines through the wings and the forewing is raised then you can see the upper side pattern
An almost acceptable flight (take off) shot
The upper side of a Northern Clouded Yellow (mjeltgulving)
I had to pick it up and blow on it when the sun had gone behind a cloud to get it to open its wings but it flew off strongly when the sun came out again
Clouded yellow habitat and with a much larger flying object in the background
One flying by
And here the upperwing caught as it nectared
Birding has occurred too with the Surf Scoter sighted a few times and even digitally documented. Wader passage is picking up with both adult and juvenile Spotted Redshanks now moving. A male Garganey felt like a strange species to see north if the Arctic Circle but they are observed regularly enough over the years that I am sure they breed locally from time to time. Very good numbers of Common and Arctic Terns (a couple of hundred), Lapwings and breeding Lesser Black-backed Gulls were also satisfying sightings.
Arctic Skua (tyvjo) which breed on a bog nearby
Collared Doves (tyrkerdue) also surprisingly occur this far north although are rare
Garganey (knekkand) - in flight its blue forewing showed it was a male in eclipse
Adult Spotted Redshank (sotsnipe) with Greenshank (gluttsnipe)
Bar-tailed Godwits (lappspove)
And the male Surf Scoter (brilleand) showing his white nape patch..
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)
Cold nights, a cold northerly wind and blue skies continue
to sing a lullaby to both birders and birds and dire is a word that frequently goes
through my mind but we are now getting to the time of the spring when no matter
what the weather there will be new birds coming although southerly winds and
rain would still be much preferred.
Svellet is now getting ready to be very mighty. Water levels
are perfect (3.77m today) and are rising very slowly, the light in the early
morning is good (meaning there is a chance of identifying what is out there)
and new waders are coming. Whilst the number of Curlew is now falling with
under 50 today the number of Greenshank is rising with the first 2 on the 24th,
7 on the 26th, 14 on the 27th and 25 today, the 28th
– the increase is nearly exponential! No Wood Sands yet but a single Whimbrel
and two Bar-tailed Godwits including a brick red male were a sign of things to come. If things stay like this
then I think the next two weeks could be cosmic!
A pleasant surprise was finding Kingfisher at a breeding
site. This winter has been so long and cold that I think that many birds will
have perished and even though we may have far fewer pairs this year than last I
think the species is now established and won’t come and go as it used to do.
Svellet 28th April. Water levels are currently perfect but it won't need to rise very much before those mudflat between me and the water disappear.
Bar-tailed Godwits (lappspove) are, despite what the local rarities committee thinks, a proper scarce bird around Oslo and especially in spring. Brick red males are even rarer
3 Greenshank (gluttsnipe) at Maridalsvannet today. An early record here and with water levels currently, and surprisingly given the weather, very high there is no mud so I am not expecting many more waders this spring
male Kingfisher (isfugl) with fish. I saw him twice with a fish which he did not eat himself but flew with it towards the bank that is here hidden by bushes and where I assume there is a nest hole
this female Sparrowhawk (spurvehauk) was in a display flight and calling today in Maridalen. She was displaying above a Goshawk teritory but it did not result in any Goshawks flying up. Note the white undertail feathers which both Sparrowhawks and Goshawks fan out when displaying
my first Whimbrel (småspove) of the year. I had previously reported a bird on 14 April which is an extreme early date. Whilst I was happy with the ID it was distant and I didn't manage to get a photo. I therefore deleted this record after a couple of days as I am a firm believer in that very early (and late) records of migrants should be documented with photos or sound recordings. This applies particularly to species which can easily be confused with a commoner species and include in addition to Whimbrel species such as Tree Pipit, Wood and Common Sandpiper, Honey Buzzard, Hobby, Garden Warbler, Yellow Wagtail and Wryneck (sound records)
We are still in the north enjoying temperatures that are if anything too hot with 30C reached once so far and forecast again later this week. We have also driven to Tromsø which is a full days drive and spent a couple of days sorting out Jr’s apartment which will be her new home as she will be starting university there soon - exciting and scary times!
Birding wise, and including the trip to Tromsø, it appears to be raptor free here with the odd sighting of White-tailed Eagle being it. This points to a bottom year for rodents but one slightly strange thing is that I have come across a fair few broods of Willow Grouse and then often with 8 young. Usually when there are no rodents then ground nesting birds suffer as predators go after them. Trips to Fauske/Klungsett have revealed that the lack of birds is real. Velvet Scoters are almost absent presumably due to a lack of food having caused the moulting flocks to move elsewhere. A pair of Garganey and a few waders have been the only goodies.
The drive up to Tromsø gave me another new butterfly in the form of Chequered Skipper (gulflekksmyger). The species is not that scarce in southern Norway although is absent from the Oslo area but where I saw it is part of an isolated population in the north. Future trips to Tromsø will give me the chance to look for more northern specialities including Dingy Skipper (dvergperlemorvinge).
Bar-tailed Godwits (lappspove) at Klungsett, Fauske
Male Garganey (knekkand) in eclipse
A pair of Arctic Skuas (tyvjo)
A male Willow Grouse (lirype) giving a broke wing distraction display to try to draw me away from its young that I had stumbled upon
And a female
Prestvannet in Tromsø is an incredible urban birding spot with a number of pairs of Red-throated Divers (smålom).
My first ever Chequered Skipper (gulflekksmyger)
Just south of Narvik is Norway’s «national mountain» Stetind
