[aythya_hybrid]

Greetings all. Myself and a friend are going to be spending the last week of march doing some serious birding in Estonia. It's going to be a two centre holiday in Haapsalu and then Tartu. We've got a pretty good idea of where we're going (and we've arranged a guide for forest birding in Tartu), but I'd be interested to hear if anyone has any up todate info about this winter's birding in Estonia. I will of course let people know how we get on.

[Andrew Whitehouse]

I guess you know about this site, but here are some recent rare bird sightings from Estonia:
http://www.estbirding.ee/home

[RobinD]

I'm going with a group of friends in late May so would be very interested in any updates too!

[birdboybowley]

We're going over Easter....so ditto on the news!! Especially if it's positive on Hawk Owl!

[birdboybowley]

Are ya back yet AH?? If so, how'd it go? Any joy with owls/woodies? See on estbirding that a Hawk Owl was present on 30th March...but it doesn't translate so not sure where!!

[aythya_hybrid]

Hello, greetings, am back. No news to report re hawk owl unfortunately. Didn't end up trying for hawk owl and not sure if this report from the other day relates to a new bird or one already present (I think the former). I guess it's in the Viljandi region which is in the middle of the south between Parnu and Tartu.

Anyway, a great trip! Report to follow in the next few days. Brief highlights: Black and White-backed Woodpecker both seen at several locations, Hazel Grouse near Tartu, no less than 5 Ural Owls near Tartu (but no other owls), Steller's Eider, Three-toed Woodpecker in forest near Tartu, Black Grouse, lots of geese, wt eagles and stuff. We found a red kite on Saaremaa which apparently is a national rarity.

Anyway, more details soon! Only just got back today...

[aythya_hybrid]

Trip report now here.

[RobinD]

We head off on friday - any recent news?

[RobinD]

A brief recount of Estonia.

We drove about 1500 miles to cover all four corners of the mainland - not bad in a country the size of Holland.
I forgot the mosquito repellent on the first morning and returned with a misshapen head. Never forgotten again!
On my return I had to visit A&E to have a Tick removed. No Lyme's Disease yet...

I'm not really a botanist but the forests show you how poorly we manage ours! They were a carpet of wild flowers, notably Lily of the Valley and Wild Strawberry. We have WAY to many Deer here
The notable other flowers were Military Orchid all over the place and a gorgeous Lady's Slipper Orchid.

Not many Butterfly days, but a couple of Camberwell Beauties, my first ever Chequered Skippers and a stunning Scarce Fritillary.

Dargonflies had to be seen to be believed. I only noted a couple of species (White-faced Darter was new for me) but after a rainstorm at a large wetland area the numbers of Four-spotted Chaser were staggering. There must have been hundreds of thousands of the things grounded. Every bush was shaking as they tried to warm their muscles up to enable them to fly again. I have never seen anything like it.

Frogs were astonishingly numerous. Mostly Common and Marsh but also notched my first Pool Frogs.

Mammals were not too bad, apart from dipping Bears (they showed up two nights after our visit to the Bear hide). We saw Mink, Roe Deer, Elk, Wild Boar, Fox and Raccoon Dog plus Brown and Arctic Hares.

Now for the birds...
172 species recorded in nine days, although 8 were heard only for me. One of the 8 that is the "Invisible Bird" - the Corncrake, of which I've heard dozens, but none of us have ever seen!
Highlights -
Raptors: We did very well, especially lucking in on a Spotted Eagle. We had crippling views of one as we travelled between Parnu and Tartu but as we were moving base, all our cameras were packed so we got no pics We also saw White-tailed and Lesser Spotted Eagles, Osprey, Marsh and Monty's Harriers, Honey Buzzards, Hobbys and more.
Wildfowl: We knew we were too late for the wildfowl spectacular at the end of April/early May when hundreds of thousands of Geese and Swans stop in Estonia on their migration. We found a few Greylag and a couple of Barnacle Geese and nesting Whooper Swans, plus the usual ducks. The highlight was one (only!) summer plumaged drake Long-tailed Duck on the sea. Breeding plumaged Red-necked and Slavonian Grebes were pretty good too!
Waders: We had a lot of luck - the usual wader sites in the guide book don't have suitable water levels this year but the day we had a guide was very wet - rubbish for forest birds which we tried first, but great for putting down migrant waders! He took us to an incredible flooded polder and the wader fest began! Hundreds of summer plumaged Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit and Grey Plover. A few Wood Sandpipers and Dunlin, then we found a brief Marsh Sandpiper (lifer) followed by summer plumaged Red-necked Phalarope. To cap it all, we found a Broad-billed Sandpiper - only the second record for the area. We went back the next day to find 3 Broad-billed Sands!!! The Great Snipe lek was very enjoyable too.
LBJs: Lots! Blyth's Reed and Greenish Warblers were ticks and great views of Red-breasted Flycatchers.
Seabirds: Black Guillimot is always ace and the biggie for me was Caspian Tern.
Keeping the best to the end...
Woodpeckers: Great views of Great Spotted, Lesser Spotted, Black, Wryneck, Three-toed, and two lifers, Grey-headed and White-backed to complete my set of all ten European 'peckers
Owls: The targets were Ural, Pygmy and Tengmalms but a couple of bad winters has apparently decimated the populations of the latter two (not helped by the Urals eating them!). We had incredible views of a Ural Owl resting in a forest clearing in the middle of the day .
Our night in the bear hide did not, as mentioned, produce a Bear. It did however produce something rarer in Estonian terms! We were treated to a Great Grey Owl outside the hide, at times only ten feet away, for just under an hour. As I understand it, this is a rare winter visitor to Estonia, and to have one on the 1st June is incredible. Estonian Nature want my photos - when I've worked out how to get them off the new camera!

Full trip report when PMC has written it!

[U Q]

Great Grey Owl is a Rarities Committee species so we eagerly await your photos. You were very lucky! I have both 3 sightings of GG Owl and Brown Bear in Estonia, so they're pretty much the same level :)

[RobinD]

Originally Posted by U Q

Great Grey Owl is a Rarities Committee species so we eagerly await your photos. You were very lucky! I have both 3 sightings of GG Owl and Brown Bear in Estonia, so they're pretty much the same level :)

Hi U Q,

Some of my photos are at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80188201@N03/

and I've got some video too. What do I need to do with the record for the committee? I'm not used to finding many rarities in Berkshire let alone abroad!

I'm pretty gutted to miss the Bears, to be honest. We were told that they had been disturbed by an army exercise in the area and hadn't been seen for over a week. Three turned up two nights after our visit

However, the Owl is a great compensation