As I write this it is just +1C and snowing outside the window. This is in stark contrast to England where Jr and I spent a loooong weekend looking at flowering daffodils, bluebells, wood anemones, Firecrests and Red Kites. Firecrests have now become ten a penny in my childhood birding haunts where I definitely did not see a single one (40 years ago….) when I was a young birder and Red Kites now cruise over urban areas looking for a snack. In contrast to these species that have become much commoner I also heard a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker which would appear to be the first eBird record for West Sussex this year. It was a rare species when I was a lad but has clearly become even rarer in the (may) intervening years.
Before we went to England Maridalsvannet was still frozen and Østensjøvannet still half so. Now Maridalsvannet and, I presume, ØV are ice free but surprisingly Sognsvann proved to still be covered in ice on a walk with The Beast today. We are still waiting for the big arrival of thrushes but lots of Chaffinches have arrived although we are still waiting for the big arrival of Bramblings. Yesterday was a good day for Pink-footed Geese with 3000 or so passing over Maridalen in just an hour of observation but there did not seem to be anything else moving. Maybe I will still get big raptor da
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| Mute Swan (knoppsvane) pair on Maridalsvannet. I have not seen them getting any grief from the Whooper Swans so may be there will be far less swan drama this year although I still think the lake is a very suboptimal locality for them. Both birds had colour rings although I was unable to read them |
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| Pink-footed Geese (kortnebbgås) heading north over Jr in Maridalen yesterday |
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| a lone Pink-foot with Greylags by a frozen Sognsvann today |
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| a large flock of Pink-feet over Nes in Maridalen |
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| a pair of Smew (lappfiskand) at Østensjøvannet before we went to England. It has now become an expected event that the species will turn up as soon as the ice starts melting there |
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| another species that has appeared in Sussex since I left is Egyptian Goose (niland) which still breeds during the southern summer, i.e our winter |
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| Goshawk (hønsehauk) nest at Sognsvann today. This pair must surely be the most accepting of humans in the whole of Norway |
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| me scoping an ice free Maridalsvannet yesterday |
