FREEZING!

It is properly cold in Oslo and I actually cannot ever remember it having been so cold before, global warming bah humbug 😉. This morning the thermometer at home showed -22C and in Maridalen a drive around last night at 8pm showed -27C and at midday today in bright sunshine and no wind it was -24C.

The drive last night was with Jr looking for moose of which I had seen lots of tracks earlier in the day. Driving around with the window open (so as to use the thermal imager) meant that we never managed to get any heat in the car and it was a cold way to spend a Friday evening. A Moose at point blank range did make it worthwhile though. Today’s walk with Mrs OB and The Beast resulted in just 3 birds and a Moose seen so the cold is definitely having an impact. I have yet to record Wren since New Year despite visiting sites where I had them in December and fear that this will be one of those winters when the population crashes. Pygmy Owls have also been absent so far in January although I suspect this is because they are now making use of their larders and are perhaps just hanging out in a hole to preserve energy.

view from Maridalen yesterday

an unexptected overwintering Teal (krikkand) at Fornebu on a ting patch of (mysteriously) open water

The Grey-headed 'pecker (gråspett) showed again in Maridalen. Note how from this angle no red is visible on the crown

but is clearly visible here

roadside Moose

and in thermal imager where it can be seen to emit surprisingly little heat but this is what you would expect from a species that has evolved to live this far north

the view in Maridalen today looking north over Dausjøen

a Moose running over the lake today

the fjord yesterday from Fornebu where the heat was being sucked out of the water and causing a mist

the car thermometer yesterday evening

the fjord again