More August Guiding

In a sign that Europe is getting on top of Corona I was guiding French couple Patrick and Francoise yesterday. Vaccinations and the accompanying certificates are now allowing people to travel once again which means foreign birders can again visit Norway. It is too late to save this year for me but hopefully next year will be better – I had initially thought that people would travel less once the crisis had passed but I now actually believe that in the first year, at least, people will be very hungry to travel again as staycations do lose their appeal after a couple of years...

Yesterday’s guiding was focused on photography and although there was surprisingly little avian activity we did see (and photograph) a good numbers of species including Red- and Black-throated Divers, Goshawk, Whooper Swan, Red-backed Shrike and many other commoner birds plus nice encounters with Roe Deer, Adders and butterflies. We also got to enjoy the lovely scenery that Oslo has to offer and an enjoyable (if slightly wet at times) day was had 😀

Whilst guiding I do not prioritise my own photos but did mange some shots I was happy with.

this family of Red-throated Divers (smålom) has given me lots of enjoyment over the summer and will be the subjet of their own post later in the year. If you would like to see/photograph them then let me know

a young Goshawk (hønsehauk) screaming for food although I think the adults have left her to her own devices now

another young Goshawk with a full crop which is hopefully a sign that it has mastered the art of hunting

young Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)

Spotted Flycatchers (gråfluesnapper) seemed to be everywhere and many young were seen

White Wagtails (linerle) were also very numerous

Whooper Swans (sangsvane)

Adders (hoggorm)

Black-throated Diver (storlom)

Goosander (laksand) on Maridalsvannet

Silver-washed Fritillary (keiserkåpe) on devil's-bit (blåknapp)

a pair of Roe Deer in a field of oats. It is mating season for Roe Deer and they are very easy to see (and hear)

Maridalen - I like :-)

After yesterday’s bemoaning if the lack of Honey Buzzards it will come as no surprise that the first species of note I saw was indeed a Honey. It flew very low over the road in front of me and although I had my bins on my lap they were hardly necessary. My camera though was in my bag on the back seat and by the time I had got it out the Honey had flown (behind some trees). I tried in vain but didn't manage to refind it.

But my honey was just the start of things: Red-backed Shrike, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Cuckoo and best of all Kingfisher! I discovered the Kingfisher when I heard its call whilst eating my lunch. It was a devil to see let alone photograph but called every now and again. This could well be one of the youngsters from Sandvika where at least two broods have fledged but could also have come from as far as Sweden.

There was a fine supporting cast of Whooper Swan, Nutcracker, Long-tailed Tit and Crossbill - shame I wasn't guiding....

I spent a lot of time sky gazing and had at least 4 Common Buzzards, 2 Sparrowhawks and also a Goshawk which becomes my tenth and a half raptor this week :-)

juv a 2cy Common Buzzard (musvåk)

the same juv Cuckoo (gjøk) that I saw yesterday

the Kingfisher (isfugl) - my first in Maridalen

male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (dvergspett)

juvenile Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)

Wheatear (steinskvett)

same Wheatear - a very sandy coloured bird

The Whooper Swans (sangsvane) - the other five youngsters were hidden in the vegetation

Two juv Buzzards

Grey Wagtail (vintererle)

Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies

Silver Washed Fritillary

Small Tortoiseshell

Still in holiday mood

I must admit to still being in summer holiday mood and with additional IKEA unflattening and Jr and Jr Jr to entertain both birding and definitely sitting in front of the PC have taken a (welcome?) back seat. That of course doesn’t mean I haven’t been birding – far from it ;-) Trips to pick mushrooms in Maridalen, the beach at Fornebu and Årnestangen on Saturday morning with Per Christian and today in the early morning have of course given some birds plus butterflies and dragonflies which I am getting increasingly interested in.

The water levels at Årnestangen are quite high and there were no large numbers of waders to see either on Saturday or today. Dunlin are especially scarce with none seen on Sunday and today there were none to start with before 10 eventually appeared (only one adult). There were a few interesting species to find (although I am still to see Curlew Sandpiper or Little Stint this year). On Saturday, we had three adult Grey Plover and today the highlight was a juvenile Black-tailed Godwit which I had hoped to find as there seems to have been a mini influx to Norway the last few days. 2 adult Bar-tailed Godwits, 4 juv Turnstone and an adult Knot (also a late year tick) were also good birds today. Ringed Plovers were the commonest wader with 56 and in total I had 14 species of wader today.

Raptor numbers are starting to build up although no Pallid Harriers have made there way down from the mountains yet. Marsh Harriers have arrived though with at least four different birds: 1(-2) juveniles, a 2cy male, a 3cy+ male and a 2cy+ female. Common Buzzards, Sparrowhawks (3 seen together hunting White Wagtails), Osprey, Peregrine, Hobby and Kestrel completed the list but still no Honey Buzzards.

Passerine migration is only just getting going but today I had a calling flyover Red-throated Pipit which is an early date.

a 2cy+ female Marsh Harrier (sivhauk). The pattern of moult may allow the bird to be more accurately aged as either a 2cy or a 3cy+ but I haven't manged to work it out 

a nice fresh juvenile 

the 2cy male with a Sparrowhawk

same birds. The Marsh Harrier can be aged as a 2cy due to it still have mostly juvenile (brown) secondaries and outer primaries

the juvenile and 2cy+ female interacted

Grey Plovers (tundralo)

Turnstones (steinvender) and Knot (polarsnipe)

the all black legs make this (in my book) a Ruddy Darter (blodrød høstlibelle)

this similar dragonfly with pale hind legs is either a Common Darter (rødbrun høstlibelle) or Vagrant Darter (sørlig høstlibelle) but I don't think the picture allows a certain ID

the yellow inner wings of this small red dragonfly make it easy to ID as a Yellow-winged Darter (gulvinget høstlibelle)

a  mating pair of Black Darters (svart høstlibelle). There are more and more black males to see now

larger dragonflies seem to pose far less readily but I did managed to photo and subsequently ID this Southern Hawker (bågrønn øyenstikker)

mating pair of Common Blues (tiriltungeblåvinge)

High Brown Fritillary (adippeperlemoringe) 

Lesser Marbled Fritillary (engperlemorvinge)

Queen of Spain Fritillary (sølvkåpe)

Silver-washed Fritillary (keiserkåpe)

Large Marsh Grasshopper (sumpgresshopper)

Butterflies

Yesterday morning I successfully ignored the IKEA flat pack furniture that needed un-flatting and went up into Maridalen. With no wind and sun I had high hopes of seeing soaring raptors (and finally a Honey Buzzard) and butterflies. This year has been poor for both of these groups but a day like today should be as good as any for them.

Raptors were really hard work and apart from a single hunting Sparrowhawk I had to wait 5!! hours before I finally (and a long time after I had intended to return to the un-flatting) found some soaring raptors when I had a group of three Common Buzzards. These were followed by another Common Buzzard a little later but that was to be it. I have a feeling that something has happened with the larger raptors around Maridalen this year – hopefully it is just a bad breeding season rather than something more sinister.

I fared a better with butterflies. There were not large numbers except for the whites (which I still struggle with) but I ended up with quite a lot of variety although had no blues or hairstreaks. Here are the 15 species I saw:

Queen of Spain Fritillary (solvkåpe)

Silver Washed Fritillary (keiserkåpe)

Lesser Marbled Fritillary (engperlemorvinge)

Dark Green Fritillary (aglajaperlemorvinge)

Red Admiral (admiral)

Small Tortoisehell (neslesommerfugl)

Peacock (dagpåfuglsommerfugl)

Painted Lady (tistelsommerfugl)

Comma (Hvit C)

Ringlet (gullringvinge)

Scare Copper (oransjegullvinge)

Brimstone (sitronsommerfugl)

Green veined White (rapssommerfugl)

Large White (stor kålsommerfugl)

Small White (liten kålsommerfugl)

Queen of Spain Fritillaries seem to have established themselves in Maridalen after an individual I saw last year was the very first to be reported from Oslo in ArtsObservasjoner and I had up to 4 together including mating. I find that this species can vary a lot in size and also in colour on the upperwing and I spent lots of time trying to see the underwing of fritillary butterflies only to be “disappointed” to see the silver spots of this species. I do suspect though that I had at least one other species of fritillary (medium large) in addition to the ones I have recorded.

The copper butterflies were interesting. I was sure that I had seen a couple Small Coppers (ildgullvinge) but the pictures I took show (based on the underwing) that they were actually female Scarce Coppers (oransjegullvinge) of which I also saw the very distinctive males.

I tried my luck with dragonflies and damselflies and identified 3 species of dragonfly – Black Dater (svart høstlibelle), Four-spotted Chaser (firflekklibelle) and Brown Hawker (brun øyenstikker) - and one of damselfly - Common Blue Damselfly (stor blåvannymfe) although there were other species that I never managed to photograph of dragonfly that I didn’t manage to photo (ID in front of the computer is as far as I have come with these species groups). Black Darter remains by far the commonest species with thousands of them and I only saw a handful of large dragons.

What about the non-raptor birds though? On the lake there was an adult and two juvenile Arctic Terns one of which was begging for food. I had a couple of juv Red-backed Shrikes and 2 very fresh and presumably juvenile Marsh Warblers where a male had been singing in the late spring strongly suggesting successful local breeding. The Whooper Swan family is still going strong and I found the remains of the missing youngster although couldn’t make out how it had died. I also had a pair of Cranes and I reckon this species will attempt to nest in not too many years.

More signs of migration were my first returning Meadow Pipits.

I took a ridiculous numbers of photos. Here is jut a selection.

Birds:

juvenile Red-backed Shrike (tornskate)

an adult and 2 juv Arctic Terns (rødnebbterne)

Cormorants (storskarv and an Arctic Tern)

Cranes (trane) - an unusual summer sighting in Maridalen

flyover Black Woodpecker (svartspett)

all 9 Whooper Swans (sangsvane) 

Willow Warbler (løvsanger)

juvenile Wren (gjerdesmett)

 Butterflies (please inform me of any incorrect IDs:

Comma (Hvit C)

Brimstone (sitronsommerfugl)

Dark Green Fritillary (aglajaperlemorving)

Green-veined White (rapssommerfugl)

Large White (stor kålsommerfugl) I believe

and I believe a Small White (liten kålsommerfugl)

Lesser Marbled Fritillary (engperlemorvinge)

Painted Lady (tistelsommerfugl) - one of 4 I saw

Queen of Spain Fritillary (sølvkåpe)

QoSF

3 QoSF in mating mood 

note the sexual organ? or egg laying opening? of the bird on the right

and much more visible here

female Scarce Copper (oransjegullvinge) which in the field I mistook for a male Small Copper (ildgullvinge)

Male Scarce Copper

Silver-washed Fritillary (keiserkåpe)

SwF

SwF and bumblebee sp

Small Tortoiseshell (nesle sommerfugl)

Dragonflies

Brown Hawker (brun øyenstikker)

Common Blue Damselfly (stor Blåvannnymfe) 

Four-spotted Chaser (firflekklibelle)

Amphibians:

frog sp - there are two species of frog in Norway and I haven't worked out how to tell them apart..