Oslo 18-19 April 2026 - An urban weekend

 After another period of work I finally had the weekend off, this time in Oslo.

An early morning trip to Gressholm proved very successful - and I even met some other birders which made the morning even better:)

A whole bunch of new species for the year were amassed with Common Crane trane probably the best from my western Norwegian perspective. A couple of Wheater steinskvett, a Twite bergirisk, a fly over Black-throated Diver storlom, a Green Sandpiper skogsnipe and a Brambling bjørkefink were all the first I've seen this year.

Seven Ringed Plover sandlo were present including one female sitting on four eggs. A few Linnet tornirisk, several Reed Buntings sivspurv, a singing Chiff-chaff gransanger, Stock Doves skogdue and more were seen here too.

The next morning a rainy walk in the Botanic Gardens gave a singing Blackcap munk, Hawfinches kjernebiter gathering nest material and a generally high level of bird activity which led me to try Østensjøvannet.

This proved a good choice with the first Swallows låvesvale and House Martins taksvale of the year as well as an early Common Sandpiper strandsnipe. For a western Norwegian birder the numbers of Great Crested Grebes toppdykker, Moorehen sivhøne and other species were a welcome sight. There had been an obvious arrival of birds with five singing Chiff-chaff gransanger, over 30 White Wagtails linerle (including a single flock of 20+), a flock of Meadow Pipits heipiplerke, Siskins grønnsisik and more. Two Hawfinch kjernebiter here too:) Goosander laksand numbers had increased a lot since my previous visit a few weeks ago with around 30 present.

Great Crested Grebe toppdykker

Teal krikkand

Engerdal 08-15 June 2021 - Catching up in the east

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

Engerdal 20-26 May 2021 - Almost ice free

A week spent in Engerdal was quite productive - despite the fact that many of the lakes were still almost completely frozen when I arrived, some of which thawed during my time there.

Access to many of my usual sites was limited as roads were still closed as winter maintained its grasp. 

At lower altitudes spring was well on the way with flooding in some areas providing feeding areas for waders and wildfowl that were obviously doing regular checks at higher altitudes.

Higher up there was more bare ground than snow covered ground but the lakes were still mostly ice covered even when I left. However, many species were back on their breeding grounds despite the conditions whilst others seemed to be checking these areas out before heading back down to lower altitudes.

I managed to clock up a few new species for my Engerdal list in the form of Mandarin mandarinand, Merlin dvergfalk and Pintail stjertand.

Of rather more interest were two different Tengmalm's Owl perleugle nests (one in a nestbox and one in an old Black Woodpecker hole), breeding Hawk Owl haukugle, Ruff brushane, Cranes trane, Capercaille tiur and most of the usual Engerdal suspects including Black-throated Divers storlom, Red-throated Diver smålom, Osprey fiskeørn and Whoopers sangsvane.

Hawk Owl haukugle keeping an eye on its nest

This male Pintail stjertand was a new Engerdal species for me

Male Ruff brushane at Heggeriset

Small numbers of Ruff were seen on lower ground - presumably still waiting for their breeding grounds to thaw

Roadside Capercaille storfugl

Crane trane

Small numbers of Slavonian Grebes horndykker were seen - no doubt waiting for breeding localities to thaw.

Male and female Black Grouse orrfugl

Kestrel tårnfalk were more numerous and widespread than normal - looks like it might be a good rodent year.

Greenshank gluttsipe

Mergansers siland at Galtsjøen

Siskin grønnsisik

Tengmalm's Owl perleugle chicks posing after being ringed.

Unfortunately the father of this brood died but the mother was still around and with some supplementary feeding most of these chicks were still doing well a week after this picture was taken

Wood Sandpipers grønnstilk

Redshank rødstilk were displaying in most of the usual places

Willow Tit granmeis

Tufted Duck toppand pair

Goosander laksand pair on a small ice-free patch of water

Lots of Yellow Wagtails gulerle about - both in the valleys and higher up.

Mammals were particularly obvious with a lot of Hare, Roe Deer and a few Elk.

Hares were moulting out of their winter colours.....

Roe Deer rådyr

Engerdal 16-21 September 2016 - Migration update from the hills of eastern Norway

Fantastic weather almost constantly! Rather warm for the time of year too.

Whilst many birders head west to the coast and offshore islands I headed in the opposite direction and spent a week in Engerdal in eastern Norway.

Part of a flock of migrating Crane trane over Heggeriset 21.09

Hawk Owl haukugle

Long-tailed Tit stjertmeis

Red Squirrel ekorn

Reed Bunting sivspurv were very common and widespread

Three-toed Woodpecker tretåspett - I finally connected with this species in Engerdal!

Waxwings sidensvans

Wheatear steinskvett - one of a number of migrants still on the high ground

White wagtail linerle

Highlights included Three-toed Woodpecker tretåspett, Hawk Owl haukugle, Great Grey Shrike varsler and a flock of almost 80 migrating Common Crane trane.

There were still a lot of birds about - sometimes in large numbers. Flocks of Fieldfare gråtrost, Redwing rødvingetrost and Mistle Thrush duetrost were "all over" and feeding on the plentiful berries in the area. Waxwings sidensvans were also very obvious but were still feeding largely on the many flying insects. I saw my first flock of Long-tailed Tits stjertmeis in the area - this is at the exact time I used to see this species migrating in Gullfjell.

Finches were also very plentiful with Brambling bjørkefink perhaps the commonest followed by Siskin grønnsisik and Common Redpoll gråsisik.

Some tropical migrants were also still hanging around including Wheateat steinskvett, Swallow låvesvale and Willow Warbler løvsanger.

Other stuff worth mentioning were lots of Reed Bunting sivspurv (though mostly lower down now), Grey Wagtails vintererle and a decent variety of wildfowl including both Velvet Scoter sjøorre and Common Scoter svartand (the latter still on their breeding lake high in the mountains), good numbers of Black-throated Diver storlom still on the breeding grounds too.

Predictably almost all the waders had left with just one small flock of Golden Plover heilo seen on the tops.

Other sightings worth mentioning were Capercaille storfugl (common in Engerdal) and Grey-headed Woodpecker gråspett (rather hard to find in the area).

Also worth noting and very commendable was that I heard grouse hunting has been stopped this season over much of the district and where hunting is still allowed it has been very much reduced - the quota in the limited area where hunting is allowed at all is one bird per hunter per day,