A little bit of this and a little bit of that

 The last two days have involved a bit of birding, a bit of butterflying and a bit of dragon/damselflying and even looking at some plants in warm but rather too windy conditions. The wind has been from the south and encouraged me to sea gaze this morning but with no seabirds to be seen other than a Black Guillemot which is my first from Fornebu and probably a bird that has been seen (very) on and off in the inner Oslo Fjord for a couple of years.

In Maridalen I had a great time with a dragonfly hunting Hobby yesterday although am not happy with my photos with no money shot of the dragon being caught. There are male Red-backed Shrikes at two sites in Maridalen. One is at a site where I had been expecting (hoping) them to breed but had given up hope. By the behaviour of the male and his complete uninterest in playback I assume he has a female on eggs nearby. The other male though responded vigorously to playback and is therefore unpaired and is also I believe the same bird I had on Friday although at a new location.

Hobby (lerkefalk) 

here it was using the wind to almost hover and look for dragonflies

and here eating something

the very long wings give a distinctive silhouette

here it is holding a dragonfly (see nest picture) although looks much bigger here

if this had been in focus and taken 1 second earlier then it would have been the money shot I was hoping for!

with dragon

male Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)

the Marsh Warbler (myrsanger) that was singing high up in a tree and gave me a bit of a headache. It was also ringed

and a Marsh Warbler singing in a more expected place

Three Ringed Plovers (sandlo) and a Little Ringed Plover (dverglo) at Fornebu

this is I believe a straigtforward SmallPearl-bordered Fritillary (brunflekket perlemorvinge) boloria selene 

while this one is I believe a Pearl-bordered Fritillary (rødflekket perlemorvinge) boloria euphrosyne

same as above

and same again- there is a real carpet of flowers in Maridalen now

my first Small Copper (ildgullvinge) of the year

HOT guiding

Yesterday I was guiding Mike and Dee with one specific species in mind: Great Grey Owl. This was a species a long time in the coming for Mike and one I knew how to find for him. The destination was of course Hedmark but the drive went quickly and first decent bird of the day was a Great Grey Owl on the nest! She did not look to be happy in the crazy heat we are experiencing at the moment and I fear for the young when they hatch if the heat continues. Temperatures reached 28C today but with no wind it felt much hotter when in the sun.

After this we had a Hawk Owl perched by what was presumably a nest in an old Black Woodpecker hole and then a Black Woodpecker came and started drumming nearby and then we finished the day with another Great Grey Owl on the nest!

Combine this with a singing Ortolan (heard only), singing Cuckoos, Slavonian Grebe, Red-backed Shrike and the commoner woodland birds including Parrot Crossbill then it was a great day, but boy was it hot!

Despite conditions being clearly suitable for owls there was once again a scarcity of raptors with just a single Kestrel, a brief view of a probably Honey Buzzard and a distant dot that was most likely Goshawk. Given that both GG Owls were breeding on old Buzzard nests it is strange that we didn’t see one!

Great Grey Owl (lappugle) - she seemed to still be incubating so it is a realtively late season

Hawk Owl (haukugle). The same bird in both pics and the presumed nest site in the middle

Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)

my first Fritillary butterfly of the year - a Pearl Bordered (rødflekket perlemorvinge)

And this video is of the other Great Grey Owl nest where the sitting bird was panting in the heat