Stonechat in the Dale

Stonechat was for a long, long time my Norwegian bogey bird. I even saw three Siberian Stonechats before seeing my first normal one in 2018. Since then though they have been like buses and I have even seen two in Maridalen (both found by Halvard). On Thursday I made that three and pleasingly found it myself. This was also my third! in Oslo this year so was not an addition to #oslo2024. I would willingly swap two of the chats for a single YbW which is a species I have probably seen close close to 100 times more of in Norway (although only the once in Oslo).

Yesterday saw Jack and I giving the islands some real effort but had nothing eastern for our troubles. Late Swallows and Greenshank, an early Purple Sand and a flyby Kingfisher were the highlights alongside the now expected Shag.

A visit out east on Wednesday gave me my first Rough-legged Buzzard of the autumn and four different Great Grey Shrikes but once again I drew a blank on harriers.

Stonechat (svartstrupe) in Oslo

Rough-legged Buzzard (fjellvåk)

juvenile and adult White-tailed Eagle (havørn). The juvenile was stil begging for food

with an even larger bird

Two Common Buzzards (musvåk). The paler bird of the type that are often mistaken for Rough-legs

Kestrel (tårnfalk)

Purple Sandpiper (fjæreplytt). This is actually the earliest ever autumn/winter record in Oslo

the head of a Red-throated Diver (smålom)

Shag (toppskarv) with Cormorants (storskarv)

Beitotsølen wrap up

The second half of the week in Beitostølen added a few new birds with a 2cy male Hen Harrier and Siberian Jays the highlights. I had another sighting of a Long-tailed Skua and 9 Rough-legged Buzzards one day with 7 in one sweep of the horizon. They were all hunting and I saw 2 take small rodents so it looks like rodent numbers may be on the way up.

 

Back in Oslo dog walks resulted in nice views of Purple and White-letter Hairstreaks with the later nectaring on a thistle which is the first time I have seen this.

this male Lapland Bunting (lappspurv) was singing in exactly the same place as the beginning of June and was probably unpaired

a Long-tailed Skua (fjelljo) showing off its amazing tail

a Meadow Pipit (heipiplerke) which clearly had young nearby

a Scarce Copper (oransjegullvinge) - note the tiny rip in the wing.

Roughlegged Buzzard (fjellvåk)

and another one

a 2cy male Hen Harrier (myrhauk) in exactly the same place I saw a male Pallid Harrier in  July 2017

Shore Lark (fjellerke)

Slavonian Grebe (horndykker) pair with 3 young. This is the first registered breeding in the Beitostølen area although I have long expected to find them on this lake

a female Teal (krikkand) with 4 young

The Beast is now a learner driver

fresh snow fell over about 1700m one morning

a Purple Hairstreak (eikestjertvinge) on an elm

as it was on an elm I first thought it would be a White-letter but I don't think they ever rest with their wings open which Purple's do frequently

and a White-lettered Hairstreak (almestjertvinge) on a thistle

Beitostølen 2024

The summer holidays continue as per tradition with a week in Beitostølen. It is unusually wet and cold so my chances of seeing butterflies are going to be limited but I have made the most of any periods of sun. There seem to be very few butterflies here though this year which I hope is just a timing issue with more to come after some warm weather but that will unfortunately be after we have left.

On the bird front we managed a dry if cold walk on Valdresflye where I was very happy to see a couple of Long-tailed Skuas which had eluded us a month ago.

On the drive up we picked up my parents from Gardemoen airport. A delayed plane and hour long queues at passport control meant we suddenly had time to kill so a dog walk at Nordbytjernet beckoned. I hoped to see the Great Reed Warbler again although no luck on that score perhaps indicates it has moved on. It did however result in a news species of odonata with a very unexpected Blue-tailed Damselfly (kystvannymfe). As it Norwegian names suggests this is a coastal species in Norway and my records appear to be the furthest inland in the country.

Long-tailed Skua (fjelljo)

Although the presence of the skuas suggests tbere are some lemmings this Rough-legged Buzzard is the only raptor seen so far

Dotterel (boltit) is always a joy to find

Here, a Temminck’s Stint and two Ringed Plover (sandlo)

The Temminck’s

The same Dotterel as above - a female (the males will be sitting on eggs)

A female Bluethroat (blåstrupe) which clearly had young nearby

A Yellow Wagtail (gulerle) just out of the nest

A male Common Blue (tiriltunge blåvinge)

And a male Alpine Blue (fjellblåvinge) - I’m not sure if the two species can easily be separated from above

From below though the Alpine Blues are distinctive

They have been the commonest butterfly up here (with over 100 at one locality)

Silver spotted Skipper (kommasmyger)

More mating Alpine Blues

Blue -tailed Damselfly (kystvannymfe)

A different individual

This was an interesting one. I assumed it was also a Blue-tailed with a strange pattern on the 8th tail segment

But here you see it must be a Variable Damselfy (fagerblåvannymfe) although quite an unusually marked one