I have yet to see either the Purple or White-letter Hairstreaks nectaring but a trip to Fornebu yesterday to allow the Beast to run
around socialise within the fenced in dog park gave me at least 5 Brown
Hairstreaks (slåpetornstjertvinge) which were all nectaring and showing
ridiculously well. I saw the upperwing of 4 and all these were males suggesting
that they had only just emerged (males usually emerge before females). This is
a very good count for this species in Norway and the planting of lots of
ornamental plant including Blackthorn seems to have been good for them and
Fornebu may well be one of the very best locations for the species.
I also saw 3 musk beetles which is an enormous species
of longhorn beetle. There were not many birds to see although I did flush a migrant
Great Snipe from long grass whilst searching for butterflies.
Today I was in Maridalen and came across quite a few
Red-backed Shrikes. First I had a male with three young begging for food. It is
normal that it is the male that looks after the young once they leave the nest
and the female normally disappears very quickly. It was therefore surprising
when I later found an adult female feeding a single youngster. Had the male
been predated and she was left to bring up the young on her own?
male Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)
juvenile and male
a headless youngster
and an adult female with a youngster
Brown Hairstreak (slåpetornstjertvinge)
all brown upperwing shows it to be a male
a Common Blue (tiriltungeblåvinge) and a slightly obscured Brown Hairstreak
Musk Beetle (muskosbukk)
Peacock butterfly (dagpåfugløye)
Green-veined Whites (rapssommerfugl) attempting to mate
After missing two species in Tuesday’s guiding I of
course then heard the Corncrake in its usual place the same evening and then on
Wednesday morning had great views of a Grasshopper Warbler (which had been
discovered the day before) at Østensjøvannet. A Sedge Warbler (less than annual
in Oslo) was also reported from ØV but I only managed to locate a strange
singing Marsh Warbler in the same place.
On Wednesday evening I took David and Jaye out again
with the main target being the pure nocturnal singer Nightjar. We succeeded
royally with a male and female showing well, if briefly, at the relatively
early time of 23:15. I also made up on Tuesday’s misses with the Grasshopper
Warbler also being bagged and the Corncrake fell eventually although we did
only hear rather than see it but all is well that ends well 😊.
In Maridalen the sun shone and I spent some time
trying to find interesting dragons and damsels on Wednesday. I just found it
really frustrating with the dragons mostly flying too fast and not perching
visibly and the ones that looked interesting mostly defied my attempts at
taking pictures. A strange, and large insect proved to be a Water Scorpion
(probably common but very rarely reported) and it was quite amazing watching it
our of the water and pulling itself along sedge leaves.
an unusually good view of the Grasshopper Warbler
Nightjat (nattravn) - it was close but all happened too quickly such that I did not get the photos that I could have hoped for
lack of white in tail and wings shows it to be a female
the non-breeding Whooper Swan (sangsvane) pair in Maridalen
this Willow Warbler (løvsanger) was annoyed with the Grasshopper Warbler. It is a very grey and long looking bird unlike most of the local breeders
Osprey (fiskeørn) in Maridalen
Water Scorpion (vannskorpion) - a big beast and quite scary looking!
On my birthday I persuaded the girls to join me on a trip into Maridalen and their present to me was that they didn't moan!!!
We had hoped to see the Adders but these were not to be found but we did see a variety of cool looking insects and picked 5 litres of blueberries from a very small area.
Birds were not a real focus although I did see the 3 young Red-backed Shrikes which were now very actively feeding on their own and dad has presumably gone now. Also a group of 2 young and an adult Buzzard were I'm quite sure locally bred birds.
we saw two groups of this insect on blueberry bushes but I've no idea what it is
male Common Blue Damselfly (Stor blåvannymfe)
daddlylonglegs (no idea what their proper name is) mating which looks to be a difficult and painful act
