Blessed by the Butterfly Gods

Before I post on the, so far, rather limited birding that Bodø and Nordland has had to offer I will first try to enthral you with a butterfly post. 

I don’t think I will be able to convey quite how exciting the last three days have been but I finally hit jackpot with the northern butterflies that I have always wanted to see. I had some success in 2022 when we were last here but there has always been one species I have dreamt of seeing and which has eluded me. Lapland Fritillary (iduns rutevinge) has a southern outpost at Graddis which is south of Bodø but still north of the Arctic Circle. It is a species that has a two year cycle and sightings at Graddis seem to only be in odd numbered years. I did try in 2019 but failed in my quest even though others had seen the species that year. As I set off early on Sunday I could see that the weather would at least not be a reason for failure as it was very hot and sunny. It was an hour and 40 minute drive and I was full of anticipation. I am not the only person to previously visit Graddis and come away disappointed but I knew that in 2023 people had been successful and I just felt that now it was my turn.

There were far fewer butterflies flying than on 2019 visit but this time it was the definition of quality over quantity. Lapland Fritillary was pretty much the first butterfly I saw although it took a while to get photos. Once I did find a settled individual I was able to fill my boots and then start noticing other species, and boy were them some good ones. Arctic/Glandon Blue (polar blåvinge) was a species I didn’t realistically expect to find but I did🥳 and I knew Freija Fritillary (frøyas perlemorvinge) was more realistic and with only a handfull of fritillaries flying I was soon able to find a couple of Freija alongside Small Pearl-bordered (brunflekket) and Cranberry (myr). So that was three new species in about 10 minutes and all within a radius of around 20 metres!!!! There were also Norse Graylings (nornens ringvinge) which I have seen once previously. There is still one species I need that has historically been recorded in the area - Arctic Ringlet (disas ringvinge) - but there are no recent records I know of so it may have vanished from the area. It is good to have a reason to visit the area again though.

Yesterday, I persuaded Jr to come for a walk with me and The Beast to Sulis which is where I had 2 successful 2022 outings. My sell in to Jr was that we would escape the 29C heat forecast at the cabin but it was hardly any cooler there despite being being at around 900m altitude except for when we found snow which was still plentiful. The alpine meadows here are fantastic but butterflies were very scarce. I did find 2 Alpine Grizzled Skippers (polar smyger) and one Northern Clouded Yellow (mjeltgulvinge) and some fast flying white butterflies were probably Pale Arctic Clouded Yellows (polar gulvinge) but there were also surprisingly Green-veined White (rappringvinge) up there so I could not be sure.

I decided for a return trip this morning on my own and early enough that hopefully any clouded yellows of any species were not just flying past as great speed. Even though I was there by 0845 there was not much landing going on! It was not easy working out what I was seeing except for the orange coloured Northern Clouded Yellows. The first couple of white butterflies were probably Green-veined Whites and then there was a clouded yellow but it tuned out to be a female Moorland but finally I managed a blurry photo of a Pale Arctic. It felt quite made to have all three of the Norwegian clouded yellows species in exactly the same area.

Celebrating afterwards with an ice cream down in the valley I saw that the waste ground next to the shop car park was alive with butterflies and had 6 species of blues and my first Purple-edged Copper (purpurgullvinge) of the year - I seem to have really fallen in favour with the Butterfly Gods right now😊 (although I suspect that this will be noted by the Birds Gods who will frown on me for the rest of the summer…).

Graddis (Junkerdalen) first:

Arctic Blue and Freija Fritillary habitat

And Lapland Fritillary and Norse Grayling habitat

Vanilla-scented Bog Orchid (fjellhvitkurle)

Lapland Fritillary (iduns rutevinge)

Arctic/Glandon Blue (polarblåvinge)

Freija Fritillary (frøyas perlemorvinge)

Well camouflaged

Norse Grayling (nornens ringvinge)

Moorland Clouded Yellows (myrgulvinge)

And Sulis (Sulitjelma)

View looking west with Sulitjelma in the valley

We had to traverse quite steep and hard snow

alpine meadow

Northern Clouded Yellow (mjeltgulvinge)

Pale Arctic Clouded Yellow (polargulvinge)

Taking pictures as they flew past was a real struggle but some were
Good enough for ID

D

and a different more poorly marked individual (a female) but still identifiable

And a Moorland Clouded Yellow (myrgulvinge) fly past in exactly the same spot as I saw and photographed the two rarer species

And another white butterfly fly past which looks to be a Green-veined White (rapssommerfugl) despite its way of flying making me think it was a Pale Arctic Clouded Yellow

And here some slightly better and more identifiable pictures of a Green-veined White. They are of a northern from which is darker than those in the south

Alpine Grizzled Skipper (polarsmyger), an egg laying female

And butterflies from the shop car park

A better shot of a Green-veined White

And the underside of a Purple-edged Copper (purpurgullvinge)

Summer holidays 2025 - the start of the end

The final part of the summer holiday is beginning and for the first time since 2022 I will be back spending time at the cabin outside of Bodø, north of the Arctic Circle. Jr and I drove up starting from Oslo at 08:55 yesterday and we covered 1281km in 23 hours and 50 minutes with less than an hour of that used for sleep but including 5 stops for birding/butterflying and dog airing. When you drive north through the night in the middle of the summer it never gets dark and that helps keep tiredness as bay although once we got to the cabin we felt it.

Apart from the stops the drive up was extremely bird and animal free with the total of big/interesting species observed (excluding Cranes which are getting almost too common) being 2 Common Buzzard, 3 Kestrel, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Raven, 1 Fox, 1 Hare and 4 Moose. This is an appalling total!!

The stops were for Apollo butterfly which was a quick success, Pallid Harrier which was a dip although a male Hen Harrier did show, Ørin in Trøndelag for waders which was also a dip, Saltfjellet on the Arctic Circle where Red-necked Phalaropes and Ruff were good but no raptors or Long-tailed Skuas and finally 35 minutes from the cabin Klungsettvika where they were alarmingly few sea ducks but hopefully my stop was too fleeting and further visits will deliver more.

At the cabin a pair of Common Gulls has nested on the roof and two large young are still there with the parents guarding them - it will be a noisy stay!

Apollo butterfly - a beautiful beast of an insect

A bit more distant

There were also a couple of Hummingbird Hawk Moths (dvergsvermer)

Saltfjellet looking south

My first ever Lesser Teatblade orchid (småtveblad) which were tiny

Red-necked Phalaropes (svømmesnipe)

The view from the cabin and I have already seen Common Porpoise (nise) and Arctic Skua (tyvjo)

I heard the Porpoises (nise) before I saw them

Little Ringed Plover nest

I have shown some pictures and a video of a Little Ringed Plover nest. This nest was at Fornebu where a lot of praiseworthy wetland restoration work has been carried out (the term rewilding has been used to describe it including I think by me but I think that devalues that term and restoration is far more accurate). Ponds and scrapes have been dug but it is not here that the plovers have nested but rather than on one of the piles of mud that have been dumped on the edge of the reserve following the excavation of the scrapes. Following the young hatching though they have moved to one of the scrapes.

Both parents shared in the incubation of the eggs and would alarm call when anyone walked too close to the nest. As the nest was less than 10 metres from an occasionally used path then this happened fairly often and the adults would also leave the nest. Too close approach would result in lots more calling, the arrival of the other adult and distraction displays. Once the four young hatched they stayed close to the nest for the first couple of days and would be frequently brooded by the female especially if there was a perceived danger (me). Distraction displays especially by the male increased in intensity and were interesting to observe. There were also clearly different calls from the adults (mostly from the female?) to the young which would tell them to freeze and lie on the ground, to come to her or to give the all clear that they could feed freely again.

The parents seemed to be good at their job (better than the Lapwings in Maridalen) and there were still all four young a week after hatching by which time they had moved to one of the scrapes. They were only being guarded by one adult by then with the other adult not even arriving when the guarded adult called due to my presence. The adult would get agitated and call to the young and sometimes sit on them but no longer engaged in distraction displays. On 10^th June they were being guarded by mum but on 12^th by dad.

A visit on the 16th revealed only a single feeding adult. Hopefully the young and the other adult have moved to a safe area that I couldn't find rather than a predator having taken the young.

Footnote: 2 nearly fully grown young were seen and photograped on 2 July so the parents did a good job.

4 June - day eggs hatched

a less than day old youngster and mum

the nest with two young and an egg and the third young away from the nest. I saw no egg shells by the nest and do not know if the parents removed them a safe distance from the nest or perhaps ate them

all three young back at the nest with the still unhatched egg

5 June - 1 day old

a one day old Little Ringed Plover (dverglo)

June 6 - 2 days old

June 10 - 6 days old

here the female was guarding the young and still brooded them when there was danger

June 12 - 8 days old

almost recognisable. The legs look fully grown already

the male was guarding them

all five birds

Summer holidays 2025 installment 2

Our summer holidays have moved on to Beitostølen and the mountains of Valdres. I have not birded that much with butterflies getting slightly more of my attention. Despite some periods with hot, sunny weather and an abundance of flowers there has not been an abundance of butterflies although there is the usual nice selection of species.

I made a second trip to Vågåmo to look for Large Grizzled Skipper (alvesmyger) after drawing a blank on 7 June probably because they were not yet on the wing then. When I arrived it was windy and cloudy but the weather forecast promised me that the sun would shine and sure enough it eventually did and I found my target relatively easily in exactly the same area where I had seen normal Grizzled Skippers on 7 June. The Larger cousins were noticeably larger and one individual that I spent most time watching was the same size as Mazarine Blues (engblåvinge) and also flew in a manner more reminiscent of a Blue than a Skipper.

I had 4 individuals a couple of which were laying eggs in a small roadside area which doesn’t look that remarkable and hopefully the species is more numerous and widespread than the only handfull of records every year suggest.

Large Grizzled Skipper (alvesmyger)

The view looking south whilst waiting for the clouds to move and reveal the sun

The sun about to break through

A Mountain Burnet (fjellbloddråpesvermer) on an Alpine Catchfly (fjelltjæreblom)

Mountain Fritillary (fjellperlemorvinge)

Silver-spotted Skipper (kommasmyger)

Alpine Blue (fjellblåvinge)

Mountain Ringlet (fjellringvinge)

Spot the Fieldfare (gråtrost) nest? At 1389moh this must be one of the highest ever found

Snow Buntings (snøspurv) seem to becoming commoner on Valdresflye

The view from 1527moh towards the south

And to the west