norway

..... or not! This appears to be another Hawker (or Darner in the States, I've discovered). Not identified to species, as I couldn't get the right angle on his head apparently, but likely to be either subarctica or juncea. For more information about this species, see my thread in the forums...

This time my very first picture of a Chiffchaff believe it or not!!! I've heard them for years, of course, but never managed to find one in the open in order to get a picture. Even this one wasn't too easy and I had to get confirmation in the ID forum. What made it harder, was that there was...

I'd a hope of seeing Elk when I was in Norway..... Ann did try, but none appeared for me. So I got a little excited when I came across this pile of poo in the forest. But no, identified in the forum as Roe Deer droppings. So it remains that I've still only seen tracks in the snow, all those...

...... safely into the unknown"* This wee flower shone out from the darkness of the forest like a light. It's also known as Bog Star. Ann and I were scrabbling about through the scrubby undergrowth of the forest, trying to make our way down to the shore, then up on to the road, when I saw...

I posted this yellow water lily to the forum requesting an ID for it.... it was identified as..... Yellow Water Lily. Ever felt silly! If only all ID's were as easy lOL Ann and I had come off the path (well it seemed to disappear) and we forced our way through the undergrowth out onto the...

On the morning of the last full day, when Ann was doing her thing at the university, and I was sitting all alone in her office waiting to see if any birds would appear in the trees outside, I suddenly realised that I was being watched. So we had a wee chat and, of course, I had to take her...

Up that top end of the lake was this beautiful patch of water lilies, which I'm presuming are the native European White Water Lily. Such a pretty sight.

... on more than one level too!! A dragonfly I've never knowingly seen, so a Lifer, a first picture of a hawker, and a first picture of a dragon in flight. OK It's not really identifiable to actual species, but close. Just a shame that the sun was in the wrong direction LOL. But hey, you can't...

..... I seemed to come across groups of other wildlife (with not a bird in between!) Now for a few 'dragons'. I hardly have any dragonfly species in my Gallery and as I wasn't really aware of Bluets before, wanted to record this one even though it's such a poor image (taken against the sun)...

The last of the Russula fungi I found on that walk... that colour you'd think it must be poisonous, mustn't it. But rather pretty all the same.

This one I did get the stalk and open gills, as there was a broken one beside it, but still no use for ID apparently. However, I learnt a new term "mycorrhizae partner"! However, Nick (Trichia) came up with the explanation in my ID thread, which you can read here, as it's much too...

This time the forum could at least give me their thoughts on the family, one of the Russulas.

After the diver excitement, we then got into a rather damp, dark area of the forest path and I came across a load of different fungi. Unfortunately, the forum have been unable to ID them as I didn't get the 'right' images. It didn't really occur to me to 'destroy' them to get pictures of the...

... for this rather distant view of the pesky Red-throated Diver that we'd been chasing for so long!!! I nearly kept it for SF, but decided you'd been kept waiting long enough LOL. Ann managed to get two divers in her picture, but I've studied all mine and there's only the one (when they were...

Still no sighting of the pesky diver (he was still around as we occasionally heard the call!). We were now into a very dark section of the forest when I spotted this white guy fluttering around. Managed to get a (slightly oof) picture of him with his wings open. The forum has identified it as a...

.... this time for another Lifer in Antler Moth! What a popular flower this one is with the insects. By this time we were nearly half-way round the lake with still no sign of the diver. And a very muddy path it was in places! Ann's husband had been up the day before and had actually got a...

I'd no idea what this was, but took its picture and the forum identified it as a butterwort species..... and they eat flies!!! Think I'll see if I can grow one in my kitchen through the summer LOL Obviously I didn't get the right bits of the butterwort for a full identification, but it's...

This was almost kept for SF... spot the birdie LOL! Took me ages to work out what it was. Still not sure if it's a female or juvenile though. Anyway, this was the start of our walk around the lake. While taking pictures of the feeder birds, we suddenly heard a diver calling (quite unmistakable...

Before I take you on the walk round the lake, here's a quite different pose of this gorgeous wee tit, showing his diagnostic pale wing panel and the pale spot on the bill. Actually there were so many flitting about there, I don't know if this was the same one, or a different guy. What I've...

I'll jump ahead a bit to a walk round the lake opposite Ann's cabin, which I'll talk more about later. Thought I'd finish the year with a Lifer. On the way round I took some pictures of 'other wildlife' including this butterfly - an Arran Brown, which I'd never heard of before. It was kindly ID...

This Greenfinch looks very yellow LOL, showing up beautifully in the trees.

..... here's a Coal Tit! He pinched some seed from a feeder and shot up under the shed roof to sit on an antler to eat it.

... it's the first Willow Tit for my Gallery here. I've seen them before but not for some time sadly. We don't get them up here. We'd arrived in Hell, where Ann's husband used to live. They have a cabin up in the mountains, with regularly filled feeders and this was the first bird to show...

... for I've another fluffy Great Tit! On our way into the university buildings we'd gone into a little copse beside the car park to see if anyone had been filling the feeders (they had). So after Ann's meeting we returned there to see what showed up. It was rather dark (particularly as it was...

I've got to the very last full day of my wonderful holiday with Ann. That morning she had some work to do at the University, so we got there in time for her to show me around and where to get coffee and then left me in her office. The trees outside her window sometimes play host to...