Great couple of days in Norway 🇳🇴 and the main target performed well. Guided by Simon Rix . Photos by Richard Best also in the company of Mike Ilett

Thrush Nightingales are barely annual in Oslo although small numbers are regular nearby. A pair did breed last year and a male is back singing in the exact same spot. Hopefully a mate will turn up again this year.

We all know how small Temminck’s (and Little) Stints are but seeing one next to a Greenfinch really hammers it home. The third week of May is prime time for migrating Temminck’s around Oslo and there were 5 of my patch this morning.

Great Grey Owl feeding time. Whereas an adult swallows a vole whole in the blink of an eye the young need to be fed by mum. She spent nearly 20 minutes ripping tiny strips of flesh to feed to each of her ca. 1 week old young. Close to Oslo this weekend.

One of those evenings 😊🦉

A century ago Ortolans were commoner than Yellowhammers in some areas around Oslo. Declines started in the 50s and a nest I found 2 years ago may well be the last ever of this species in Norway. This year there is only 1 known singing and seemingly unpaired male, and here he is.

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.

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

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 🦋🥳

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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