The first 4 days of 2026 have been uneventful on the bird front. We were away in Blighty for New Year and returned to snow and temperatures approaching -10C but despite this, or perhaps because of this, there is precious little to see.
Maridalsvannet remains stubbornly ice free except for the bay at Nes with strong winds preventing the ice from spreading.
Our days in England were sans bins and camera but a
Firecrest in the garden allowed itself to recorded for prosperity on my phone
and a Red Kites were no problem to identify with the naked eye – both species I
would get very excited about in Oslo. Small groups of Redwings and Song
Thrushes were quite possibly birds that had bred in the Oslo area and were now
spending the winter in barmy Blighty. The first 4 days of 2026 have been uneventful on the bird
front. We were away in Blighty for New Year and returned to snow and
temperatures approaching -10C but despite this, or perhaps because of this,
there is precious little to see. Maridalsvannet remains stubbornly ice free
except for the bay at Nes with strong winds preventing the ice from spreading. Our days in England were sans bins and camera but a
Firecrest in the garden allowed itself to recorded for prosperity on my phone
and a Red Kites were no problem to identify with the naked eye – both species I
would get very excited about in Oslo. Small groups of Redwings and Song
Thrushes were quite possibly birds that had bred in the Oslo area and were now
spending the winter in barmy Blighty.
Firecrest (rødtoppfuglekonge) - perhaps my best ever bird photo with my phone 
Maridalsvannet on 2 January 2026 
our flight to England on 28 December was uncomfortably early in the morning but did allow us to witness sunrise somewhere over the North Sea 
best bird so far of 2026 in Oslo was this Jack Snipe (kvartbekkasin) although a later attempt to show Jack Jack was unsuccessful 