Pallid time

I have had a couple of very enjoyable and of course successful guiding trips recently. Both were morning outings with the delights of Maridalen featuring in the first trip and the second which entailed a pick up in Lillestrøm worked well to put the spotlight on Årnestangen and Nordre Øyeren. For the Årnestangen trip I was booked as a birthday present from a clearly very loving and thoughtful wife in Panama for her husband who was in Norway on business!

We were at Årnestangen on Sunday morning and there were far more birders there than usual with a Pectoral Sandpiper seen the previous day probably being the draw. The Pec was not refound but it turned out to be a good raptor day. Ryan and I had Hen Harrier, Peregrine, Merlin and White-tailed Eagle among others but after we had left a juvenile Pallid Harrier was seen.

Pallid Harrier is a species I cannot get enough of. When I was a teenager it did not even feature in the bird books I had but has in the last couple of decades clearly expanded westwards. The reasons are not clear but changes in farming practices in the former Soviet republics are a possible cause with birds having to look for new breeding sites as old ones become unsuitable.

I have been lucky enough to find three birds myself but none have been exactly good views. I have twitched a couple of males that spent thesummer one year near Valdresflya and that was a great though damp and grey experience. For a long time I was missing a good, prolonged and close meeting with a juvenile bird though but that came to fruition in 2022 with another twitch but only half an hour from home.

Every autumn I visit places such as Nordre Øyeren with the plan of finding a Pallid Harrier but am always disappointed. Yesterday when I decided on another trip to Årnestangen I had the same hope but nevertheless expected to be disappointed. It was a damp start to the day and definitely not classic raptor conditions but there were raptors. First a Marsh Harrier then a Hobby, then the Marsh Harrier again and as I tried to get the scope on it another raptor appeared and it was a juv Pallid Harrier! I assumed it was the same bird as two days previously but later experiences make it clear to me that it could very well have been a new bird (and there seems to be quite a few birds moving through southern Norway in these days). With only the superzoom my digital memories of this fairly close encounter are of course not that great but hey I enjoyed it!

 

juvenile Pallid Harrier (stepphauk)

just as striking from above

The raptors were far from over in their generous giving though. As I retreated in my steps to try to refind the harrier which had disappeared behind some bushes I looked up and saw an immature White-tailed Eagle chasing a Peregrine. The falcon, an adult, had a wader, probably a Ruff, in its talons and was trying to gain height and fly away from the eagle but the eagle kept catching up and following the falcons every move. The falcon then dropped its prey and the eagle stooped down and caught it mid-air!! I was certain that the Peregrine could out manoeuvre the eagle but maybe the prey was just too large and heavy for it. Impressive flying by the eagle though and something I wish I could have recorded digitally although I was so enthralled watching it that I didn’t even consider lifting the camera. When this was over I then saw that the Pallid Harrier was flying over where I had first seen it and I then hurried back there and out to the end of the peninsula. I chose to watch from the old tower as I thought the elevated position might prove advantageous and it did. I picked up a female Hen Harrier working her way towards me and then she put up the Pallid which must have been resting unseen in the grass! The two flew together for a bit and then disappeared from view. I waited a god while hoping they would reappear but in vain. I then hurried out to the end of the peninsula and as I did so the Pallid flew quickly past and then in true Top Gun style did a fly-by of the tower where I had just been standing!!!

 

3 of 5 White-tailed Eagles (havørn)

female Hen Harrier (myrhauk)

the second juvenile Pallid Harrier when it briefly rested before flying off south west

I then spent around three hours on the platform at the tip and have to say I was pretty happy with my time there. There were quite a few waders including my first Grey Plover of the year I twice heard a call that matched the recording of Pec Sand that I had on my phone but never saw the bird that gave it although there were clearly many waders that were very hidden as a couple of Lapwing only gave themselves away after I had been there a couple of hours when a Kestrel caused them to call and then briefly fly up from behind a long line of willow bushes. Many of the waders present match what was seen on Saturday to it wouldn’t be a complete surprise if the Pec Sand was also present but well hidden.

Bird, if not sighting, of the day was a 2^nd winter Mediterranean Gull which I picked up resting with Herring and LBb Gulls before it quickly flew off. This was a species that up until a few years ago was becoming almost expected but has since become rare again.

There were also a couple of Great White Egret, a migrating juvenile Honey Buzzard (I have never seen so many as this year which must be proof of a great breeding season) and then another sighting of a juvenile Pallid Harrier. It was suddenly in the air with a Hooded Crow harassing it and then landed for a few minutes and giving good scope views before then flying off south-west over the water and then thermalling over the “mainland” before disappearing. This bird had a different jizz and did not appear to be quite so long and thin winged as the earlier bird making me sure I had seen two different birds.

 

this is the second Pallid

and this video has the first Pallid, the female Hen Harrier, both harriers flying together and then the second Pallid together with a Hooded Crow both in flight and on the ground

Here is my eBird checklist for the day, a day I reckon will be hard to beat this autumn, or at least until I go to Værøy in three weeks 😊

this Black Woodpecker (svartspett) was in a the final bunch of trees at the end of the peninsula and on three occasion flew out heading south (and otherefore over the water) before each time returning. If 3km of water is too far then it is no surprise they have never been seen in GB

a latish Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)

and another

here we see one of them is carrying a ring

and a picture from Maridalen of a migrating juvenile Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk). I know the bird is completely unidentifiable in this picture but you can at least see it is in Maridalen

and three Common Buzzard (musvåk) in a tree

Raptor time

The Oslo Honey Buzzard nest that I have been following this summer is now empty (as far as I can see) although if you have been following the Sussex Honey Buzzard nest webcam on YouTube then you will know that the young can potentially still visit the nest four weeks after taking their first flight so my lack of sightings is definitely not absolute proof that they are gone. I will of course have a loooong but hopefully interesting post on the nest later in the autumn.

At the same time I no longer found any HB at the nest site I was following (I also know of another successful nest in Oslo this year) I noticed multiple juvenile HB over Maridalen with some birds definitely migrating in a southerly direction (both south east and south west) and other birds seemingly just enjoying thermalling, soaring and landing in the woods where I would love to to know what they were doing. It therefore seems clear that the species has had a good, and early, breeding season in southern Norway in 2026.

All the time looking at the sky has resulted in quite a few other raptors with seven species in Maridalen and a session at Årnestangen yesterday giving ten and I have seen 12 in total this last week. Nothing too exciting yet but juvenile HB in a direct flight have a very harrier like jizz and many birds also have narrow pale rumps so I have been eft scratching my head quite a few times.

Årnestangen yesterday was apart from the raptors a very strange affair with the extensive mud/sand flats almost completely empty of waders with just two Dunlin and two Greenshank. Svellet though has been far more productive with large numbers of both waders and dabbling ducks. A Broad-billed Sandpiper here was the undoubted highlight and a species I had forgotten about completely when in my last post I moaned about the wader species I had yet to see this year.

Great White Egrets have now turned en masse at Nordre Øyeren with 12 being the highest, and a record, count. I have had to content myself with just eight including a flock of six.

a migrating juvenil Honey Buzzard (vepsevåk) which is a grab from this video

the pale Common Buzzard (musvåk) in Maridalen. It has been around a few years now but for such a distinctive bird I see it quite infrequently.

my first Great Grey Shrike (varsler) of the autumn on the early date of 31 August. a lack of a wing bar shows it to be an adult and the all black bill probably a male

six Great White Egrets (egretthegre) and some Cranes (trane) at Svellet

and two at long range at Årnestangen

a video of a male Hen Harrier (myrhauk) at Årnestangen:

and a Marsh Harrier (sivhauk) eating a young gull at Svellet:

Birds in the Dale

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 1^st 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

and a Grass Snake that I nearly stood on

Back again

I felt a need to post, no matter how briefly, a few days ago as a very close friend of min recently took his own life and it has been a very strange and emotional time and a reminder to me of the need to communicate. Birding has been, as it always is, a good way for me to keep myself in balance and I have not been spending time in front of the computer or editing photos.

I have this evening found a few more photos and videos from the last week in Maridalen which show a bit how things are there. Autumn migration is starting and the hope is always for something very exciting to turn up although currently I am more aware of the breeding birds disappearing.

adult Black-throated Divers (storlom) on Maridalsvannet. The single small juvenile that was on the lake earlier in the summer has disappeared but up to 11 adults have been on the lake

In this video of Red-throated Divers (smålom) which have not bred on Maridalsvannet but have now moved here from their nearby breeding ponds you can see a juvenile that is begging for food by stroking its parents throat with its bill

a visit to Svellet with Jr Jr to give her some driving practice (her driving test is coming up) looked like it would be very promising but there was no birding gold at the end of the rainbow

a caterpillar of a Pine Hawk-moth (furusvermer) Sphinx pinastri

and the caterpillar of Elephant Hawk-moth (stor snabelsvermer) Deilephila elpenor shown in the video in my last post. I found both of these wandering on roads and they are searching for places to turn into a pupa

Sign of life

Just in case anyone was worried and wondering if I am still here then yes I am 😊

This very short post doesn’t feature a single butterfly, although there is a caterpillar of an Elephant Hawk Moth (stor snabelsvermer) which is a quite fascinating creature.

This video of things that I came across the last couple of days also shows you what I have basically been spending all my available time watching and documenting since coming back to Oslo at the end of July.

A universally accepted ID feature that is perhaps worthless?

I do still look at birds honestly but have not really had much to write about recently. And even though I have not been looking at butterflies this post will once again be about one - the same one - that has featured in my last two posts.

I did write that I hoped that I would be writing a further post on the skipper I photographed at Fornebu and here is that post although it is not how I hoped it would be.

As I said I would I have gone through pictures of Essex Skippers in the Norwegian and Swedish national reporting systems. I found none with orange antenna tips in the Norwegian database (which didn’t have very many pictures) but in the Swedish one it was quite easy. Unless they are misidentified Small Skippers which seems very unlikely then it is clear that THE feature which is stated in the literature as the way to separate the two species is far from as absolute as it is stated to be.

This was further confirmed today when I spoke with PK Slagsvold from the Oslo Natural History Museum who along with Reidar Voith had gone through the museums collection of Essex and Small Skippers. Their conclusion is that orange and black antenna tips can be found on both species and that only males can be safely identified using the shape of the black sex brand on the upper forewing. For females their conclusion is that there are no reliable consistent differences other than genitalia although this of course is not a field character. 

This doesn’t mean I didn’t unwittingly take a photo of Norway’s first Small Skipper but it seems extremely unlikely and as it is now clearly within the normal variation of Essex Skipper then that it was it is unless

proven otherwise which means a specimen and either Dna or genitalia check.

So we now have a few questions:

• how has the antenna tips colour become used as such an absolute character to separate the two species?
• where both species occur does this mean that there are lots of misidentifications especially of females.
• do we need publish an article to correct what appears to be a glaring mistake in the established literature?

Here are three Essex Skippers from Sweden this year showing orange antenna tips. After finding these so quickly I stopped searching for more:

This female is very similar to my one https://artportalen.se/image/6783618

A male I believe https://artportalen.se/image/6836646

And another female https://artportalen.se/image/6782465

One more butterfly..... but what was it?

I started my last post by saying I thought it would be my last butterfly post of the year and I did expect that to be the case but that post in itself has spawned definitely this post and probably another in the hopefully not too distant future.

So, my last post detailed me having seen an Essex Skipper (timoteismyger) Thymelicus lineola which was new for me in Norway and also a small range expansion with it being the first record in Bærum which is the municipality immediately west of Oslo. As I hope I made clear I was very happy with this record and in addition to writing about it on the blog I had written a post on the Norwegian Facebook Group "Sommerfugler i Norge" detailing the range expansion and had reported it on the Norwegian biodiversity website Artsobservasjoner where I had even gone to the rare step of highlighting it by using the red "interesting comment" function.

This is the butterfly in question:

a Skipper (smyger) but is it Small or is it from Essex?

It was my post on this blog though that would prove to be the most important. On Friday I was rung by an unknown number from Denmark but was unable to take the call. However, the caller, John Faldborg, left a message saying that he was calling about something on my blog and that it was in my interest to hear what he had to say. Interesting stuff indeed and early the next morning John called me again and this time I (eagerly) answered. The excitement in John's voice was clear as was the fact that he had gone to the bother of finding my number and calling me rather than sending a message. The reason for his excitement? Well John was quite certain that my photo of an Essex Skipper was in fact of it's twin species Small Skipper (okersmyger) Thymelicus sylvestris.

Small Skipper has never been recorded in Norway, nor Sweden as far as I can ascertain, but does occur in Denmark where it flies alongside Essex Skipper (as is also the case in England and most of Europe). Now Essex and Small Skipper are VERY alike and the safest way to separate them is the colour of the underside of the bulbous tip to the antenna - one species is orangey and the other blackish. Given these are tiny species with a wing span of only around 25mm then it is clear that seeing the colour of the antenna tips requires a magnifying glass or good picture - which I had luckily (and unusually for me 😉 ) taken. I was aware of this difference from my forays into butterflies over 30 years ago when still living in Southern England and had noted on my photo that the butterfly had orangey tips. I couldn't remember which one of the twin species had the orange tips but that was of no consequence as we only have one of the species in Norway and that is Essex Skipper so obviously it was Essex..... For me the only ID question had been ensuring it wasn't a Large Skipper (engsmyger) Ochlodes sylvanus and that had been straighforward.

I am flattered that John finds this blog interesting enough to read and for him who lives where both species are found and need to be differentiated then the orange shouted Small Skipper. He could also see small differences in the patterning of orange and black on the wings that were better for Small than Essex. A Danish butterflying friend had also agreed with his ID (based on the one photo). The individual I found can be seen to be a female as it lacks the black sex brand on the wing that males have - had it been a male then the shape of this stripe would also have been an ID feature as it differs between the two species. You can read about the separation of the two species on the Butterfly Conservation website where it also says "Because of the similarities, the Essex Skipper has been overlooked both in terms of recording and ecological study, and it was the last British resident species to be described (in 1889)." If they took so long in Blighty to recognise it when there was so much specimen collecting going on then it is clear how difficult an ID challenge it is.

John's excited phone call definitely helped wake me up on Saturday morning far more than the coffee I was drinking and set me in motion reaching out for second, third and fourth opinions.

I was of course a bit embarrassed with myself for not having realised the significance of the orange antenna tips but can at least console myself with the fact that no other Norwegian who saw the picture on Facebook or Artsobservasjoner reacted either. And why would we? When Small Skipper does not occur here and has never appeared on any list of expected new species.

First was an email to the person responsible for the butterfly collection at the Norwegian Natural History Museum who would ultimately be responsible for accepting a new butterfly species on to the official Norwegian list. Second was this post on Twitter (X if you must) to see if there are still any decent folks (rather that right wing trolls) using it who would give an opinion.

Essex or Small Skipper?
I took this picture of what I assumed was an Essex Skipper near Oslo on Tuesday. We have a small population of Essex Skipper nearby and also it is common in southern Sweden. Small Skipper doesn’t occur in either country but both are in Denmark.
1/3 pic.twitter.com/rwPapXMsfL

— Simon Rix (@si_rix) August 1, 2026

The responses came in surprisingly quickly and my email to the Museum was forwarded to the greatest butterfly minds in the country (two other people 😀) where the response was extremely positive. Twitter also gave positive responses in terms of "well it has to be a Small Skipper doesn't it because it has orange antenna tips". One of the (three) positive Twitter responses was also as you can see from Richard Lewington who illustrated the Collins Butterfly Guide to Britain and Europe. 

So, the ID should be straightforward but there is one small fly in the ointment.

Both Per Kristian Slagsvold at the museum and @cryptidbirder on Twitter pointed me in the direction of this picture on lepiforum. It is a picture that shows an Essex Skipper with orange tips. This picture would seem to throw the whole ID feature into disarray. One might ask how can we be certain that it is an Essex? As it is a picture I assume there is no specimen or Dna but the picture is taken in Canada and Essex Skipper is an introduced species to North America (in 1910) but Small Skipper does not occur - which should make the ID certain. But this does raise more questions. 

Why is there just this one picture (that I am aware of) showing Essex with orange tips and why is it from an introduced population? In the areas of Europe where both occur (which is basically the whole range except Norway, Sweden and Finland) one can assume that any skipper photographed with orange tips will be instantly identified as Small and no further thought paid to the matter. So maybe there are more Essex Skippers with orange antenna tips but they are filed away under Small? A thorough search of Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish pictures would help here to determine whether this "abberation" does occur in Europe and I will try to do that search.

Another explanation is that the introduced North American population comes from such a small gene pool that abberations will be more likely?

I don't know the answer and neither will it be me that makes the final decision as to what I photographed. Per Kristian from the museum drove an hour today to join me to try to find it again or hopefully more (the one I photographed was so fresh that it was likely locally bred and therefore part of a population). We did not find any but as PK said - I wouldn't have driven here to search if I didn't think it probably was one. The museum collection does included Small Skippers collected elsewhere in Europe and these will be studied but I expect that without further observations, better photos from all angles and most likely a specimen or two (from which Dna can be taken) that an official decision will not be taken. However that remains to be seen which is why I wrote I hope that I will be writing a further post on this one single flutterby....

So if it is a Small Skipper (which it would without hesitation be identified as such in all countries where it is expected to occur) then how did it get here? Well butterflies do fly, warm winds have been from the south and the northern tip of Denmark isn't that far away. The day after my Skipper sighting a vagrant Clouded Yellow was seen nearby and there have been records of vagrant southern moths so it ain't an impossible record.

Two footnotes:

1. Should this be accepted as a new species for Norway then it is John Faldborg who should get all the honour.

2. The location where I saw it is only 300 metres from where I found Norway's only "wild" Long-tailed Blue although the general view seems to be that this has to be a butterfly that originated as a caterpillar in imported peas from Kenya. But we can never be sure - maybe Fornebu has some magical attraction to rare butterflies?

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.

One week passed and one more day of sun experienced

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..