What is probably the most snow I have seen in Øygarden starting falling on the afternoon of 03.01 and continued through much of 04.01. The 5th January seemed very promising with nice calm and clear conditions until early afternoon when the snow started again.
There are still plenty of birds around but with all the parking areas snowed in and walking in the terrain simply exhausting it would be better to stick with drive-bys at places viewable from the road. However, this is not my chosen style unless I'm strapped for time.
Obviously a lot of species now having a hard time of it with larger numbers of Blackbirds svarttrost and Robins rødstrupe coming into gardens. Larger numbers of Chaffinch bokfink than usual have been noticable since late December.
Woodcock rugde and Snipe enkeltbekkasin must now be struggling - I've not been going into likely areas in order to avoid disturbance.
On 4th January a Sparrowhawk spurvehauk hunting over the garden was the first of the year. Walking from the house produced my first Tree Sparrows pilfink of the year at Nordvik where there were good numbers of Chaffinch bokfink and the usual garden visitors. Other than that just a couple of White-tailed Eagle havørn from the terrace and a small flock of Common Crossbill grankorsnebb near Hatten.
On 5th January I managed to get parked at Herdlevær and attempted my usual round, however, thigh deep snow in places along with rocks/ice etc under the snow meant that I cut this short. I did manage my first Siskins grønnsisik of the year and a flock of 35 Purple Sandpipers fjæreplytt. Plenty of Chaffinch bokfink here too along with a lone Brambling bjørkefink.
After this we headed out with the intentions of a walk along a road or footpath somewhere but snow started and reduced visibility to nothing again. All was not lost though as the Little Grebe dvergdykker at Dåvøy showed up again after some days absence.