It really did rain a lot yesterday but just before 11pm the
cloud cover broke and seeing that there was a very strong forecast for Northern
Lights we headed into Maridalen. We arrived just in the nick of time and got to
see the most amazing display of colours (although no real “dancing” lights)
that I have ever seen. Unfortunately this really intense display was over just
a few minutes after we arrived and after that we had to be content with a lot
of green in the sky. Earlier in the day my social media feeds had a number of
posts about how to best photograph the northern lights so I knew what I needed
to do. I had changed the bazooka lens for an 18-55mm and had the tripod with me
for long exposures. My initial attempts to capture the display just resulted in
black shots and it took an embarrassingly long time for me to realise I had not
taken the lens cap off and this cost me capturing the best shots with my camera
although I did get some with the phone and on review the iphone 11 shots are
far better than from my Canon.
I am generally not happy with the pictures I am taking at
the moment and it all follows a very wet outing a couple of weeks ago. In
addition to my lens fogging up internally the touch screen stopped working on
the camera. I was unable to fix it and after a few days decided to try a
factory reset of the camera. Amazingly enough this worked but it also meant
that all the other changes I have made to the camera were lost and I don’t
think I have quite manged to set them all again yet.
That said though I think I did get some good shots of the night
sky and the wonders of a solar storm.
Today in Maridalen yesterday’s rain had resulted in an
increase in the water level and all the mid that the various snipe had been
using is now under water so that may be the end of that fun. There was also ice
on some puddles so we may soon be getting movements of birds pushed off now frozen
lakes further north. With blues skies it was very quiet in Maridalen and I gave
up quickly and headed for Fornebu. This is not in Oslo so any bird that I see
here doesn’t count for #Oslo2024 but good birds are good birds no matter where
you see them. Yellow-browed Warbler is still foremost in my thoughts but three
Chiffchaffs were the only phylloscs I found and none of them were from
east of the Urals (tristis). Three squealing Water Rails and a couple of
Little Grebes were the highlights and I didn’t think there would be much more
to find but decided to put the scope back in the car and have a walk around the
area. I saw a Red Admiral which may well end up being my last butterfly of the
year and there were still a few dragonflies on the wing. There are a number of
apple and berry trees and remembering that a Barred Warbler was ringed in the
area on Saturday I paused to see if there were any birds eating the berries.
Initially there was nothing to see but then I saw a movement in a rowan tree,
raised my bins and saw a grey bird with a ring on its leg – six days after
being ringed and with no sightings since the Barred Warbler was still present!
It was very difficult to see and even more difficult to photograph but
eventually I did get a couple of photos. I also heard it calling and some very
subdued subsong was also I think from it although there were also four Blackcap
in the area.
Barred Warbler is a real rarity in these parts with no Oslo records but this is my second at Fornebu after I found one in 2012.
| Barred Warbler (hauksanger) with ring |
| for a long time this was the only photo I had |
| but then got this which at least counts as a record shot and also shows the baring on the undertail coverts well |
| it would have been nice if it had showed as this male Blackcap (munk) which was one of four feeding in the same tree |
| and a female |
And Northern Light photos, first with the phone
| this shot was taken at home and is the first time we have seen it at home where there is a lot of light pollution |
And photos with the camera
and videos from earlier in the week
Jack and Common Snipe Director's Cut