Guess who’s back? - and not a butterfly in sight! 😊
Autumn is really upon us and the cereal fields in Maridalen
are being harvested as we speak. This always causes the first flocks of Meadow
Pipits to appear and there is also a big flock of Greylag Geese so it is nice
and birdy. A fine 1st year male Bluethroat was today’s bird of the
day but not quite as good as a Kingfisher on Wednesday and there are also good
numbers of Whinchats, Nutcrackers flying back and forth from the city where
they are collecting Hazel nuts and raptors to see including Honey Buzzards and
Hobbies.
Yesterday I needed to go to the airport to pick someone up
so made a day of it with a stop at Svellet and then a look for the Taiga Bean
Geese which have already been seen. I failed to find the geese and with no GPS
tags still functioning it has become a bit more hit and miss especially in the autumn
when they do not use the river. I did find feathers and droppings at a favoured
loafing site so can personally confirm their return
Svellet gave me my first Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper
of the year but I am till missing three common waders for my year list – Grey Plover,
Sanderling and Great Snipe – and fear there is a real risk they remain as
absentees.
Maridalen has had a good autumn for waders and that is despite there being nearly no mud showing due to high water levels. Today 2 Ruff were on an island and over the last couple of weeks I have had flyover Curlew, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Redshank and Greenshank aswell as Common Sandpipers along the rocky shore. The Lapwings look to have moved on sometime in July though and I saw no evidence that the two late broods produced any fledged young.
If my photos are looking even worse than usual then it is because
the bazooka has now gone into complete lock down and I cannot get any life out
of it so all pictures are with the superzoom which itself is suffering with
age.
Bluethroat (blåstrupe) in Maridalen. The colourful throat shows it to be a male
and the wing bar shows it to be a bird of the year
Whinchat (buskskvett) and Meadow Pipit (heipiplerke) very typical birds for the end of August
although this Whitethroat (tornsanger) is getting a bit late
spot the Kingfisher (isfugl)?
a bit easier here
some of the Greylag Geese (grågås) and a Whooper Swan (sangsvane)
12 Curlew (storspove) migrating over Maridalsvannet earlier in the month
and two Greenshank (gluttsnipe) that flew around looking for somewhere to land
A video of a Mink eating a Crayfish and you can see the remains of many others. Otters have recently been seen in Maridalen and if they establish themselves then they will hopefully result in a reduction in Mink numbers
The Bird Gods deemed I was indeed not wicked and a day of rest was
unexpectedly given to me today after an unavoidable guiding cancellation. This
came after guiding yesterday and further guiding the next two days.
Yesterday’s guiding was a successful morning session in
Maridalen for Gerald and Mary from Minnesota. We enjoyed birds both common and
scarce and I hope some good photos were taken.
A Wryneck (vendehals) from yesterday:
Graham and Marcus have started going through their photos
and videos and posting on SoMe. Their results are, as I predicted, much better
than mine and Graham made me blush with some very kind words.
Find Graham on Facebook (see account above) and Marcus on Twitter/:.
My most memorable and favourite video from my time in Norway 🇳🇴 insanely close views of this female Great Grey Owl, whilst getting some amazing footage of her I noticed she was starting to cough up a pellet! What a moment!!!!!!! I still have so much to share 🦉 pic.twitter.com/qkNbDcoLQo
The day of rest was spent in Maridalen and looking more
down than up. It was a very warm day and during the morning a few butterflies
were clearly emerging and I found the first reported Germanium Argus (brun
blåvinge) and Green-underside Blue (kløverblåvinge) in Norway this year. The
argus was also my first record of the species in Maridalen and as I saw two of
them (both females I think) I wonder if I have just overlooked them before or
perhaps not been looking early enough in the year.
A nice selection of finches at a feeder in Maridalen today:
Grizzled Skipper (bakkesmyger)
Geranium Argus (brun blåvinge)
Green-underside Blue (kløverblåvinge)
A Willow Warbler (løvsanger) with an abnormal song had me checking out the song of all manner of rare phylloscs until I eventually saw the bird:
On
a hot and sunny 2nd May I heard a rustling in the grass and saw a
boiling mass of snakes. On closer inspection it turned out to be three Grass
Snakes. One was an obvious female (large), one an obvious male (small) but the
third was an inbetweener although I assume must also be a (large) male.
At times they made was I thought were hissing noises (audible
in the videos) but I have been told this sound comes from their scales rubbing
rather than their mouths.
Here are far too many photos and a couple of videos.
three Grass Snakes (buorm). A large female closest, s small more brightly coloured male behind and a third one which I assume is also a male
getting all tied up
the female in focus
the males in focus. The one on the left being smaller and more brightly coloured
notice the tail sticking up with another animals tail wrapped around it
the female with the larger male
the smaller male left the melee and posed nicely for a photo before disappearing into a hole
Migration seems to have been put on pause again and with
sun, blue skies and temperatures quickly reaching 20C it can feel quiet
birdless at times which is strange for the first week of May. Butterflies like it
though and I am now up to 7 species this year.
New species trickle in though. Yesterday Oslo #150 was added
from my bed when a Lesser Whitethroat sang in the garden and then in Maridalen #151
was added with Wood Warbler. No new Oslo species today but a Red-backed Shrike
at Nordre Øyeren was my earliest ever and a Thrush Nightingale was singing from
leave less bushes and was unusually easy to see (hearing it is never a
problem).
The male Three-toed Woodpecker was singing in the middle of
the hot afternoon yesterday which is rather strange and I did not see the
female. Today I saw neither bird and wonder whether something has gone wrong
with (female predated?). The male and a male Great Spotted Woodpecker had a territorial
fight though which was interesting to see. Previously these two species seem to,
surprisingly, have coexisted in the same wood without any agro.
An update on the swan drama is that the Whoopers are still
on the (Mute) nest and the new pair of Mute Swans were displaying today and
chasing off Greylags so maybe they will make a nesting attempt.
Sunday’s weather forecast suggests southerly winds and rain
in what is otherwise a period of dry sunny weather. If we are going to have a god
day this May then I think it will be then.
Thrush Nightingale (nattergal). I don't think I've seen one this well before
my earliest ever Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)
territorial Great Spotted (flaggspett) and Three-toed Woodpeckers (tretåspett)
it was the Three-toed who went after the GS but the GS had the upper hand
Buzzard (musvåk) in Maridalen
a White Wagtail (linerle) was not happy with it flying so low over the fields
I checked Maridalen's Goshawk (hønsehauk) nests and both had sitting birds
the remains of a male Mallard (stokkand) were on a plucking post close to one of the nests
three male Whinchats (buskskvett) in a row
in Maridalen a pair of Wrynecks (vendehals) and a lone male are singing close to each other. This was the female from the pair
my first Peacock (dagpåfugløye)
and a Camberwell Beauty (sørgekåpe)
a toad (padde)
and Grass Snakes (buorm). I have loads of footage which will have to be shown in a separate post
