This winter has seen no discernible movement of Great Grey or Hawk Owls out of their breeding areas (meaning there are lots of rodents) and into more coastal areas in southern Norway . This GGO that has turned near Fredrikstad was therefore unexpected and has become very popular.

More Pygmy Owl action. This time with a field vole from today. It is repositioning the vole before flying off with it. Half speed.

I keep hearing that this is a rodent winter in southern Norway. I however have not noted any abundance until yesterday. Then I saw this Pygmy Owl catch a Wood Mouse and 2 Field Voles with just 40 minutes between each! Two were stored in a nestbox for leaner times and one eaten.

It was very dark and wet in Oslo today and this Pygmy Owl got quite wet and had to frequently attend to its featherd

We have entered Pygmy Owl time in Oslo. Birds have left their breeding sites a long way into the forests and are now establishing winter territories i woodland and farmland on the edge of the city. This bird was hunting mice today.

Norway’s first Tennesse Warbler was trapped at Mølen today, in the south east of the country. It was a first reported as an Iberian Chiffchaff which would also have been a first for the country…

The first Jack Snipe of the autumn are passing through the Oslo area. Can you see it?

I came across this brute of a juvenile Goshawk yesterday tucking into what looks to be a Jackdaw. What a powerful bird!

More Oslo Honey Buzzard action this time from 2 days ago when the male arrived with some wasp comb just minutes after I arrived but then no more visits over the next 3 hours. Finding a wasps nest is obviously a very time consuming affair but the rewards are high.

And here is the Honey Buzzard dad bringing food to the young. There is a noticeable difference in the development of the two young (far more than I noticed in previous years) and the larger young has monopolised the food when I have observed deliveries.

Make sure your sound is on😊 These are the sounds of the forest in Oslo today: an male Honey Buzzard calling as he flies away from his nest after delivering food to two hungry young and two Three-toed Woodpeckers in a drumming battle. Also a Wren and a panting dog

Friday’s 2 hour wait for the Honey Buzzard mum to come with food turned into a 5hr 45min unsuccessful wait before I packed it in. She did turn empty clawed after 5hrs 20min and perched near nest for 3 min before flying off. Both young looked healthy though so there has been food

It’s Honey Buzzard time again. The Oslo pair are nesting again and are ca.10 days earlier than last year which was very late. 2 young are being brooded by dad as we speak and we have all have been waiting 2 hours now for mum to come with food.

around the ski resort of Trysil on the border with Sweden and was only recorded for the first time in 2006. It was numerous & easy to find on flower rich road verges though and I guess is far commoner than the few records suggest (everyone including me visits the same few sites).

I’m nearly finished with butterflies for the year and will soon return to birds 😉 but had to take a small detour on the long drive home to Oslo to add one more little species to my list - Silvery Argus (kileblåvinge🇳🇴). This species has a very restricted range in Norway 1/2

Just north of the Arctic Circle in Norway near Bodø one can, if lucky, find some pretty cool northern butterflies. I have not been lucky before but on Sunday the butterfly gods blessed me and gave me my first ever Lapland Fritillary, Arctic/Glandon Blue and Freija Fritillary 🦋🥳

A Rough-legged Buzzard in Valdres, southern Norway today. This year isn’t a lemming year and there are very few raptors to see. Lemming years used to occur every 3-4 years but are now very irregular and I only remember experiencing one good year in over 20 years visiting Valdres

This is about 10 days earlier than last year which was very late when the young didn’t fledge until mid September. https://t.co/NjllYnigUU 2/2

The Oslo Honey Buzzard’s are incubating but boy are they sneaky birds! We have not had a single sighting of HB in the area previously this year but a mid week check of the nest used for the last 2 years revealed fresh nest material and this weekend the female was on the nest! 1/2

I’ve seen a few Violet Coppers but never before one that so lives up to its name. This is a very scarce species in Norway but where it is found can be quite common on road verges.