An all too short week in one of my favourite places, Unfortunately this was home office not holiday so pretty frustrating to say the least.
We arrived late Friday and I did my usual round on the Saturday morning. A cracking morning but nothing much to write home about. Nestng Ospreys fiskeørn, a small flock of Velvet Scoter sjøorre, a Herring Gull gråmåke, a pair of Cranes trane, a Green Sandpiper skogsnipe, Willow Grouse lirype and Woodcock rugde were among the almost 50 species noted.
Black-headed Gull hettemåke at Vurrusjøen
Common Gull fiskemåke at Galtsjøen
Cranes trane
Male Wigeon brunnakke
On Sunday 09 June I headed higher up. Breeding Great Grey Shrike varsler, Crane trane and the usual selection of tringa waders were among the species seen. Excellent views of four male and one female Black Grouse orrfugl and a pair of Willow Grouse lirype were other highlights. The drive up along the gravel track produced Mistle Thrush duetrost and Kesrel tårnfalk among other things.
Black-throated Diver storlom
Willow Grouse lirype
Wood Sandpiper grønnstilk
After this it was back to walk. An afternoon walk at Heggeriset on 10 June produced a fishing Osprey fiskeørn, an occupied nest of Great Spotted Woodpeckers flaggspett and a family party of Common Crossbill grankorsnebb with recently fledged young.
Common Crossbills grankorsnebb
Osprey fiskeørn
The following day all I managed was a very quick afternoon hike up to Kvitvola. Very few birds about at all but a pair of Ptarmigan fjellrype saved the day and a Kestrel tårnfalk put in an appearance.
Ptarmigan fjellrype (female above and male below)
On 12 June I was up bright and early for a pre-work trip to Svarthammaren. Here too it was rather too quiet with few birds to be seen, a couple of pairs of Golden Plover heilo, a couple of Whimbrel småspove, a Ring Ousel ringtrost, a lone Cuckoo gjøk and a couple of Wheatear steinskvett were almost all there was to be seen. Picked up Common Redstart rødstjert on the drive up. Really didn't want to go home, would have much preferred to keep going to Blakksjøen and beyond.....
On Friday 14 June I drove up to Sorken after work. Mostly just the usual suspects here including a Common Tern makrellterne.
On our last I did a morning tour covering a number of my usual localities. This proved quite productive with at least four Osprey fiskørn seen simultaneously at one location, two new pairs of Crane trane and a pair of breeding Slavonian Grebes horndykker were the highlights.
Slavonian Grebe horndykker
Galtssjøen held Goosander laksand, seven each of Velvet Scoter sjøorre and Common Scoter svartand, three Long-tailed Duck havelle singing Icterine Warbler gulsanger and plenty more. Although it was nice to see these seaduck inland these should really have been somewhere higher up on their breeding grounds instead of lower down. Failed breeders or frozen lakes higher up - either way not really a good sign.
Garden Warblers hagesanger, Tree Pipit trepiplerke and Common Redstart rødstjert were among the species singing at Isterfossen but not much in the way of waterfowl other than a couple of Black-throated Diver storlom.
At Drevsjø a Red-throated Diver smålom on the lake flew off after a short time - no doubt breeding close by and using the lake for feeding. Five Arctic Tern rødnebbterne also fed here.
The rest of the day was spent on the road. A stop in Hamar produced a singing Common Rosefinch rosenfink at Ridabu whilst Akersvika was rather quiet.
xx
