Our summer holidays have moved on to Beitostølen and the mountains of Valdres. I have not birded that much with butterflies getting slightly more of my attention. Despite some periods with hot, sunny weather and an abundance of flowers there has not been an abundance of butterflies although there is the usual nice selection of species.
I made a second trip to Vågåmo to look for Large Grizzled Skipper (alvesmyger) after drawing a blank on 7 June probably because they were not yet on the wing then. When I arrived it was windy and cloudy but the weather forecast promised me that the sun would shine and sure enough it eventually did and I found my target relatively easily in exactly the same area where I had seen normal Grizzled Skippers on 7 June. The Larger cousins were noticeably larger and one individual that I spent most time watching was the same size as Mazarine Blues (engblåvinge) and also flew in a manner more reminiscent of a Blue than a Skipper.
I had 4 individuals a couple of which were laying eggs in a small roadside area which doesn’t look that remarkable and hopefully the species is more numerous and widespread than the only handfull of records every year suggest.
Large Grizzled Skipper (alvesmyger)
The view looking south whilst waiting for the clouds to move and reveal the sun
The sun about to break through
A Mountain Burnet (fjellbloddråpesvermer) on an Alpine Catchfly (fjelltjæreblom)
Mountain Fritillary (fjellperlemorvinge)
Silver-spotted Skipper (kommasmyger)
Alpine Blue (fjellblåvinge)
Mountain Ringlet (fjellringvinge)
Spot the Fieldfare (gråtrost) nest? At 1389moh this must be one of the highest ever found
Snow Buntings (snøspurv) seem to becoming commoner on Valdresflye
As I said in my last post I had some owl action last week 😊
A trip to Owl Rd with Jr after I had been informed of a new
site to try for GG paid off big time. It was once again a “perfect” night with
no clouds and no wind although this time there was no moon either. At a barmy
-2C it was also warm…
On the drive down Owl Rd we heard nothing of the GG. We (or
more accurately me as Jr doesn’t get out of the car to just hear
owls)did hear a single Tengmalm’s and
then of much more interest a hooting male Ural Owl. Although it was at looong
range it was a special bird for me as it represents a self found tick, an
Akershus county tick and the first time I heard song (my previous records have either
been nesting or winter birds).
The forests here are a southerly extension of the deep
forests of Hedmark where Norway's ca.25 pairs of Ural Owls breed and there are a couple of previous records of singing birds on the Akershus side of the county line. It has therefore always been a species
I have hoped to hear on my visits to the area so was very satisfying when it
finally happened.
On the way back the desired Great Grey sang and was right by
the road meaning Jr also got out of the car to enjoy him. It was in the same area as the bird I filmed last year so could well be the same
individual. There was nothing to suggest a pair but I will follow up.
As if that wasn’t enough, I then had the pleasure of
reacquainting myself with Hawkie in Maridalen who is now hunting from low
perches in open woodland which would explain why it has not been seen for a
while. I was lucky enough to see it catch a mouse/vole and then eat it.
As it that wasn’t enough a bit later an alarm calling
Crossbill alerted me to a Tawny Owl at is daytime roost high in a spruce. It
was close to a Goldeneye nestbox and I will have to follow up to see if there
are Tawnies nesting here although the hole looked a tad small.
Great Grey Owl (lappugle)
this video sht by Jr has me taking pictures of the owl. You can hear how slow the shutter speed - I was using 1/15 second and a tripod
Hawk Owl (haukugle)
he then flew down and caught a rodent as seen in this video:
before dismembering and eating it:
here he has just landed on the other side of the road with his prey
by the time I had got a bit closer the head had been removed and swallowed
then the inners get eaten
before the rest is just swallowed
ever get the feeling you are being watched? Tawny Owl (kattugle)
A trip yesterday in very similar conditions revealed just one distant hooting Tengmalm's so it clearly isn't a great owl year any more. I have read that if the snow melts too quckly then this can cause a collapse in rodent populations that had been thriving under the snow and the snow did definitely melt quickly here at the end of February. Even if owls don't always play ball though there can be plenty of other things to see on a cloudless night in the forest. I have seen meteors burning through the sky and last night Jr and I saw this very strange sight which was apparently a string of US Starshield satellites launched by Space X from Californian the day before (Friday) and which are moving themselves into orbit. They moved through the sky in a straightline and were a definite a UFO until we heard about them on the radio a bit later (clearly lots of people had contacted the press about them).
we also had a good show of Northern Lights
and a couple of still white Hares running along the road
I have seen Siberian Jays in the Beitostølen area
previously but their appearances have been of the usual random sort that one
associates with this species but this time I feel I may have discovered an
easily accessible territory which should be good for guiding. I first heard,
and then saw, a bird on the other side of a lake and 15 sweaty minutes later
was looking at two birds at close range before the heavens opened. The rain occurred
at the same time as my camera told me my memory card was full so I was happy to
head back to the cabin to dry off.
Here are also some other bits and bobs from our week
in Beitostølen: video of the Dotterels and Great Snipe and a Crane family that
showed well by the road. Jr was (learner) driving and saw the birds first and
is proving to perhaps be even better than me at finding birds (or animals)
whilst driving and I now understand why others in the car find this quite
disconcerting….
Siberian Jay (lavskrike)
the fluffy look of this bird suggests a juvenile
Great Snipe (dobbeltbekkasin) video:
And Dotterel (boltit) video:
Crane (trane) family. The brown backs is a result of the incubating adult washing mucky marks water over its back to give camouflage
there were lots of hares around the cabin
I found out what is at the end of the rainbow - Jr
there is a large flock of domesticated reindeer that wander around Valdresflye causing I assume lots of damage to the ecosystem
Jr Jr and sheep
the mountain of Bitihorn reflected in my new sunglasses
