Oslo 27-28 January - Gressholm delivers

Rather wintery compared to the west of Norway with ice on the sea and a thick layer of ice and snow pretty much everywhere.

I had expectations at a pretty low level as I set off for Gressholmen but was very pleasantly surprised as the island delivered big time for late January:) Two male Goosander laksand and four Great-crested Grebes toppdykker on the sea would normally have been enough to make the trip worthwhile in itself but things picked up from there with a male Smew lappfiskand flying in and landing for a while. Whilst looking at the Smew a Purple Sandpiper fjæreplytt turned up.

The woods were very quiet indeed but the sea produced most of the expected species with a small flock of Velvet Scoter sjøorre and decent numbers of Razorbill alke and Guillemot lomvi around. Other stuff included a Buzzard musvåk and a Greylag grågås.

Two of the Great-crested Grebes toppdykker - this would have been an excellent sighting back in Øygarden

Goosander laksand

Purple Sandpiper fjæreplytt are a bit harder to find in Oslo than Øygarden and this was the first time I have seen this species on Gressholmen despite it probably being the site I visit most in the Oslo area

Male Smew lappfiskand - always a great bird regardless of where one is:)

The boat trip home gave an adult Goshawk hønsehauk on Lindøya. 

All in all a very nice morning out - three new species for me on Gressholmen on my first visit to the island this year can't be bad:)

The next day I didn't make it out anywhere really but spent an hour in the nearby Botanical Gardens - hunting Peregrine vandrefalk, nice views of a second year Goshawk hønsehauk, Treecreeper trekryper and large numbers of Blue Tit blåmeis and Great Tit kjøttmeis. For a locality in the middle of urban Oslo there were a fantastic number of birds about.

Second year Goshawk hønsehauk. The Botanical Gardens is a very good place to see this species

Nuthatch spettmeis

Treecreeper trekryper

To put things into perspective I see Treecreeper a LOT less often than White-tailed Eagle havørn and Great Northern Diver islom so for me this is quite a good bird to see.