Late dragons

Despite the cold weather it is still warm and we have not had any overnight frosts. This means that when the sun does shine that there are still a few dragons and butters to take advantage of it. Over the last few days I have seen Brimstone (sitronsommerfugl) and an unidentified white butterfly plus Migrants Hawker (septemberlibelle) and Common Darter (senhøstlibelle). I also had a very large moth fly over me which from what I could make out of colouration may have been a Clifton nonpareil (what a fantastic name and far beats its alternative name of Blue Underwing. The Norwegian name is blatt ordensbånd).

I may well not see any more butterflies this year but there will probably still be dragonflies for a couple of weeks if it remains warm and we have some sun.

 Birding wise, I took a trip into the forest on Friday. This resulted in a close encounter with a Hazel Grouse (jerpe) but the Beast put pad to any photos and a slightly more longer range encounter with a Hawk Owl which was not at all bothered by my canine companion.

After Thursday’s large passage of Common Buzzards I was not expecting to see anymore in Maridalen but I did have a single bird on Friday but a pair of Hooded Crows were trying their best to get it to leave.

Common Darters (senhøstlibelle), although mating they did not have much energy

a Migrant Hawker (septemberlibelle)

Hawkie

this is the shape I scan the tree tops looking for

a new addition to the occasional series "Simon takes pictures of birds with famous Oslo landmarks in the background"

Common Buzzard (musvåk) and Hooded Crow (kråke)