Øygarden 21-24.04.2026 - Counting down!!

The week was spent counting down the days until the start of what will be the longest period of time off since I stopped working offshore full time. May should be a month to remember for a long time to come!

Although I was glued to my computer all week I did manage short trips out before and after work most days and there was plenty to see including a good dose of new arrivals.

An early morning round on 21st produced the first Willow Warbler løvsanger, Sand Martin sandsvale and Golden Plover heilo of the year along with the first local Swallows låvesvale, Brambling bjørkefink and Wheatear steinskvett.

Picking up a package at the local shop after work (repaired binoculars returning home) produced four Canada Geese kanadagås on Husvatnet - a species that is considerably rarer here in northern Øygarden than Grey-headed Woodpecker gråspett.

Crazy but in an Øygarden context these invasive Canada Geese kanadagås were a much rarer sighting than the woodpecker below:)

Female Grey-headed Woodpecker gråspett in the early morning sun

In this very short video I managed to capture the call of GHW

A bonus sighting was a pod of around 20 Porpoise nise, a common species in Øygarden but normally seen in much smaller groups.

On 22nd April I checked Tjeldstø before work. Some Curlews storspove holding territory but only a couple of pairs at most, luckily they are still widespread in Øygarden and will hopefully remain so. I'm hoping it is still a little early and that more will arrive at what was once a stronghold for this struggling species. Lapwings vipe are liking the area where the sikta spruce have been removed. Fingers crossed that they increase in numbers following this improvement. Snipe enkeltbekassin are back too and displaying "everywhere". Redshank rødstlk numbers seem low, again I hope more will arrive and take up territories.

Norway in a nutshell - an FPSO out in the fjord and Hurtigruten heading south...

The next day I spent slightly longer out of the house as I had to get my wheels changed over to summer tyres. A short walk at Tjeldstø whilst I was waiting for this to be finished resulted in a nice Peregrine vandrefalk flying over. A Green Sandpiper skogsnipe was a bonus on the way to the garage - a regular enough species here during the autumn migration but much fewer turn up in the spring.

Male Grey-headed Woodpecker gråspett sticking its tongue out at me:)

Green Sandpiper skogsnipe

"My" Herring Gulls gråmåke spend a large part of their day waiting for me to give them some food.

Wheatear steinskvett at Tjeldstø

White-tailed Eagle havørn over my terrace. Pity the photo is not in focus:(

Otters are still pretty much a daily sight. Soon they'll become more nocturnal and harder to see. Filmed from my terrace in between meetings.

On 24th I did a quick trip out after work to buy some beers to celebrate the start of my holiday. This resulted in a male Wigeon brunnakke at Tjeldstø and a Carrion Crow svartkråke at Breivik where there was also a nice flock of 30 Linnet tornirisk - biggest flock so far this spring:)

Carrion Crow svartkråke

Fieldfare gråtrost - some are holding territories while there are still some flocks moving through to other places.

Redwing rødvingetrost

Much the same status as Fieldfare - many are singing but there also flocks obviously just passing through

Bring on the next several weeks😊 Work won't be the problem from here on in!!