Hallo all, It has been a while since I have written anything. I have just come back from a trip to Sweden. It was fantastic to say the least with Cranes, Owls and Woodpeckers. But back to Norway. Even though the cold nights are still forming a new thin layer of ice on the lakes, it soon melts and warm sunny days take over. Spring is a time of movement, most of the Whooper Swans have disappeared while a few migrating Greylag Geese have arrived. The first flocks of Eurasian Wigeon have turned up, and as usual, brought with them the unexpected. This year it was three Northern Pintail, not a species I see here locally every year. It has been good for birds of prey too. The other day I had a cracking view of a White-tailed Eagle on one of the local marshes. The mountains have produced the Years first Rough-legged Buzzards and the odd Golden Eagle while the local Peregrines have returned to last year's nest site. There has also been a pair of Gyr Falcon. I saw a female a few weeks ago while another birder saw a male yesterday, let's hope that they find each other and breed somewhere in the surrounding mountains. Unfortunately my local area is too far from the coast to get any major wader movements. Northern Lapwings turned up during the beginning of the month, but numbers are dwindling. At one time they breed at several localities, now it is just a few. Green Sandpipers have returned to their nesting areas too. In the woodlands Pygmy Owls are calling from at least 4 localities while Tengmalm's Owls have gone quiet. I can only hope that there has not been a drop in rodent numbers forcing them to move to new localities. Passerine numbers are increasing as well as the unexpected. I had the years first Sand Martin the other day, a lot earlier than usual. I can only hope it survives the cold nights. Other species like 3 Shore Lark that I found in a field didn't hang around. They no doubt headed for their mountain breeding areas despite there still being huge amounts of snow. Another mountain species that has arrived is Ring Ouzel. It is always great to see this stunning thrush but it is even better to hear them sing. Common Chiffchaffs have exploded in numbers during the past few days adding yet another spring migrant to the list. I have also spent some time looking for Eurasian Jackdaw. This winter we had record numbers and I had hoped that some would stay around to breed for the first time, but no luck yet. The woodlands are teaming with Common Chaffinch but no Brambling as yet. The last species during the week to enter my notebook was a nice flock of 50+ Snow Bunting.