Good end to the month

The last day of October was surprisingly good in Maridalen and I added 3 species to my Oslo 2025 year list. With 178 species so far 2025 is a completely average year (at least according to my eBird stats) but is way behind last years record haul.

First up was a flyover Parrot Crossbill. There are as good as no Common Crossbills left in Oslo’s forests so any crossbill is a good bird at the moment and get perhaps more attention than it would have last year.

Second up was a real Oslo rarity and one I didn’t see last year – Marsh Tit. A pair had been seen on Sunday so I have had them on my radar but it was first today that I heard their characteristic pitchuu call and then got to see them (they look very similar to the far commoner Willow Tits and call is by far the easiest way to tell the two species apart). They didn’t hang around for long as they continued on their travels looking for food but will hopefully be here all winter and maybe breed next year. Marsh Tit is a proper and surprising rarity in Oslo despite there being established populations only a few kilometres beyond the county line in for example Lørenskog. These are only my third record in Oslo after a bird at Østensjøvannet in October 2017 and then a bird that spent the winter of 2018/19 in Maridalen at the exact same spot where I saw today’s birds. It does look like the species was commoner in Oslo in the past although I can find only a single breeding record from 2000 but there is also a big problem interpreting the many undocumented reports many of which I would suggest should be accompanied by a helping of salt. On that note though I do have to admit that my attempt to document today’s sighting was extremely poor and is barely a record shot. My excuses are that I was walking the Beast and only had the superzoom but most embarrassingly I have now found out that the (good) video I thought I had taken which included the call does not exist because in time honoured fashion I clearly only pressed the record button when I was finished so have some useless video as the camera swung from shoulder….

The current birds could of course just have wandered from one of the close populations but given that all other species of tit are irrupting this year then it would be no surprise if Marsh Tits are also on the move so these could well have come from far away.

Last up and also an addition to my Norwegian 2025 lists was a female Grey-headed Woodpecker. I initially saw her quite close but had my usual series of camera problems so didn’t manage to do her justice but with luck she has already chosen to spend the winter in Maridalen and will turn up on some feeders.

the pictures I got of the Marsh Tits (løvmeis) probably do count as a record shot as the one that is in focus where the bird is looking at me does show the pale spot at the base of the upper mandible and that the back of the cheek is not white but rather creamy

my best pic of the Grey-headed 'pecker is a little bit better but hardly good

my flight shots are of their usual dismal quality but it is IDable

perched a long way away where it did also call

picture of a Jay (nøtteskrike) are much better and it is also a much smarter bird

Long-tailed Tits (stjertmeis)

autumnal reflections

the Pink-footed Goose (kortnebbgås) is still with the Whoopers (sangsvane) but is a master at disappearing in the stubble

and here some footage of a pod of at least 5 Harbour Porpoises that I saw in the fjord whilst auk watching on Wednesday

a Harbour Porpoise (nise)

and 5 of them that just floated on the surface for a few seconds

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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

Longing for the unexpected

This winter is shaping up to be one of the least exciting I can remember for birding around Oslo. Currently there are no signs of any invasive species turning up, so no Pine Grosbeaks, Great Grey or Hawk Owls. Neither are there any of the scarce winterers that have livened up things previously such as Jack Snipe or Long-eared Owl and there are no overwintering rarities of the likes of Hume’s Warbler or Firecrest.

The Grey-headed Woodpecker(s) in Maridalen is a far from annual treat and there are Bearded Tits at Fornebu but I would like something unexpected to turn up. On Thursday one such bird did indeed turn up on Thursday with a very photogenic White-billed Diver being found at Drøbak, a half hour drive south of Oslo, but the news of this bird was only shared on a need-to-know basis whilst it was daylight and it would seem that nobody needed to know. Unfortunately I could not find it when I went down there yesterday but did have fun with a pod of Harbour Porpoises which I was convinced were much larger and therefore dolphins of some kind but the pictures and film l took leave little doubt as to what they were.

Harbour Porpoises (nise)

this individual had cuts in the back of its dorsal fin

I believe it had a young animal with it which can be seen surfacing behind it

this Grey-headed Woodpecker (gråspett) continues to travel widely in Maridalen but on Wednesday I was lucky to watch it visiting the same feeder regularly

"red top" is easily recognisable

with a Great Spotted Woodpecker (flaggspett)

Long-tailed Tits (stjertmeis)

this one has some dark feathering in the head suggesting some genetic influence from more southerly birds

I feared the Maridalen Great Grey Shrike (varsler) had moved on after we got a lot of snow and I din't see it for a week but it is back now

Waiting for the birds to come

Whilst at the cabin I received reports of both Pomarine and Long-tailed Skuas that should have been heading my way but without me managing to see them although I did find another Arctic Skua and a Black Guillemot (both rare in these parts).

On Sunday morning a male Surf Scoter was reported from further south and was heading north towards me. I had a hope of seeing it but no real expectation of actually succeeding. When a few hours later I found a flock of scoter resting on the sea I of course had to grill them. It was long range and terrible light and the birds were sleeping but then a porpoise surfaced right by them and they all stuck their heads up nervously and voila - one had big white areas on its head😊. This is a real blocker on the Akershus county list with just one prior single observor (but photographed) record which has now been supplemented by my single observor and NOT photographed record.

Butterflies are always a focus when we are staying here and I thought I had added Wood White to the area list but have retracted that observation as I didn’t get a photo and subsequently had some confusing small Green-veined Whites. Dingy and Grizzled Skipper and Green-underside Blue were the undoubted highlights with only 2 other species noted - Brimstone and Orange Tip.

I added Icterine Warbler to my year list and a Red-backed Shrike singing in a neighbouring garden was a true surprise as I failed to see any on the usual clearings (probably still too early).

A Spotted Flycatcher (gråfluesnapper) in the garden

An Arctic Skua (tyvjo) harrying a Common Gull (fiskemåke)

Red-backed Shrike (tornskate) singing in a neighbouring garden

We had many sightings of Porpoises (nise)

A Grizzled Skipper ( bakkesmyger)

A Dingy Skipper (tiriltungesmyger)

A couple of Slow Worms (stålorm) mating under a bush in the garden

This picture was supposed to document the Surf Scoter (brilleand)..

Green-underside Blue (kløverblåvinge)