Paul Chapman
Well-known member
Belated – but perhaps of interest for any twitchable owls this winter. This remains my most recent tick!
Having dipped Hawk Owl on a spring Owl trip to Finland in 2012 - http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=231178 - by the autumn of 2013 when the Hawk Owl invasion was developing in southern Finland, I had set my mind on a weekend winter trip to catch up with the species. My resolve was briefly shaken by the twitchable bird in Holland but I did want to see one on a snow-covered branch if possible rather than a suburban lamppost.
My wife was interested in the trip and so were two friends. For one, it coincided with his wedding anniversary so his wife also joined us. As a result, there were five of us and the arrangements and expenditure more matched a non-birding trip than a usual birding foray with in particular better restaurants being targeted for the evening meals. Essentially, it was a one species trip – a twitch.
I have flown budget airlines reasonably frequently and we flew with Norwegian.com. It was a first to actually print your own baggage label, check it in and put it on the conveyer belt. The flights cost £126.50 each return. We travelled up to Gatwick the night before and the combined accommodation and parking worked out at £40.00 each.
We flew at 09.40am on Friday 6 December arriving at Helsinki at 14:30 local time. Our arrival time meant that there was no real light to get out and about and our sole tasks were to acquire the hire car and get to our accommodation. There was nine hour daylight on the Saturday and we had to be back at the airport on the second afternoon so probably a maximum of fifteen daylight hours of birding were available to us.
We hired a large Volvo car through Hertz. It was winter-readied and had a Satnav. Despite driving at night along snow-covered roads, we always felt secure and in control. The Satnav at one point (when we went into the depths of the countryside on a bit of a foray) took us down some surprisingly small forest tracks. As we could not see the ditches either side of the road and we came to a dead end with apparent roadworks covered in deep snow ahead, we backtracked our way out rather than necessarily trust that the Satnav would not have taken us into some unforeseen difficulties. However, the Satnav worked well in getting us around during the trip. The car hire worked out at £60.00 each including the Satnav, winter-readiness, etc.
Our accommodation was three twin rooms in essentially (at this time of year) a self-catering complex at Seikkailulaakso near Porvoo. The cost was £100.00 each for the accommodation. We wanted somewhere close enough to Helsinki to prioritise the staked out bird whilst giving us an opportunity to get in some birding away from Helsinki on the Sunday before departure.
We ate well and our dinner bills matched the quality but a combined individual cost of journey and accommodation costs of c£350 was reasonably pricey but unremarkable. I have spent more in the past day-tripping single species and this species had been a target for some time.
A local Helsinki birder had agreed to meet us at the park and had confirmed that the bird was still present the day before we had set off. He didn’t know us before we contacted him and this was a very kind piece of altruistic assistance. Tom’s blog can be found here - http://lintuja-sunmuita.blogspot.co.uk/
We were up and out in the darkness and headed into Helsinki. We arrived in the half light at Sibelius Park (Tooloo). I set off manfully on a mission to find the bird – pumped up. I had done a tour of the nearest parts of the park before coming back over the hill to see my wife frantically waving at me. Almost as soon as I was out of earshot, the Hawk Owl had been picked up by a friend who had got out of the car and sat on the nearest bench. Presumably it had just emerged from roost. Tom had arrived shortly after the bird emerged. Thankfully as soon as my wife waved, I picked the bird up in the trees to which a friend was gesturing.
Including sampling a local coffee shop, we spent the next five or so hours knocking around the park. The owl moved around reasonably frequently often taking up a perch a little below the tops of the trees. At one stage, it crept cat-like along a branch as if to pounce on some prey but then abandoned the exercise. It eventually crossed the road onto the other side of the park and was lost. Other birds seen and heard included Hooded Crow, Crossbill, Redpoll, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Northern Treecreeper.
We then headed off to search for a Tengmalm's Owl that had been roosting at Mustikkamaan. En route, a young White-tailed Eagle was a nice distraction as we were leaving Helsinki. The Tengmalm’s Owl search proved fruitless (and as a result it became a friend’s priority for the spring Owl trip taken this year). A similar range of species were seen but they included Northern Bullfinch.
We then headed out north of Livoso for the last hour or so of daylight to have a crack at finding our own Hawk Owl. Our search pattern was essentially to pick likely looking roads heading out into the countryside and check for any Hawk Owls holding territory in clearings. We did find a well stocked feeder and it was obvious that such locations act as a real magnet with lots of local Tits including Willow Tit visiting. We eventually ran out of light in the depths of the countryside and set the Satnav to return to our accommodation.
On Sunday, we spent the first few hours of daylight around Emsalo where we were staying. The headland produced Goldeneye, Goosander, Whooper Swan (heard), Goldcrest and Coal Tit and a similar range of species to the day before.
We then headed towards Askola to resume the Hawk Owl search. Again, the strategy was pretty much the same. Roadside feeders produced Tree Sparrows and Yellowhammer and five Whooper Swans (a family party) flew over. A roadside stop produced Willow Tit and Black Woodpecker.
With maybe an hour and a half left before we needed to head back to Helsinki airport we found a Hawk Owl holding territory near Kirjamusantie. The bird was sat atop a bush in the midst of the fields. It was clearly undertaking a regular pattern of flying from perch to perch some 200-300 yards apart to survey for potential prey. Before long, it was time to head back. On the way back a Great Grey Shrike by the roadside was a very welcome leaving present. It spent a reasonable amount of time hovering to look for prey.
We got back to the airport in good time for our 5.10pm flight. In total, we had driven 467km. We arrived back at Gatwick at 6.10pm and got home uneventfully.
All the best
Having dipped Hawk Owl on a spring Owl trip to Finland in 2012 - http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=231178 - by the autumn of 2013 when the Hawk Owl invasion was developing in southern Finland, I had set my mind on a weekend winter trip to catch up with the species. My resolve was briefly shaken by the twitchable bird in Holland but I did want to see one on a snow-covered branch if possible rather than a suburban lamppost.
My wife was interested in the trip and so were two friends. For one, it coincided with his wedding anniversary so his wife also joined us. As a result, there were five of us and the arrangements and expenditure more matched a non-birding trip than a usual birding foray with in particular better restaurants being targeted for the evening meals. Essentially, it was a one species trip – a twitch.
I have flown budget airlines reasonably frequently and we flew with Norwegian.com. It was a first to actually print your own baggage label, check it in and put it on the conveyer belt. The flights cost £126.50 each return. We travelled up to Gatwick the night before and the combined accommodation and parking worked out at £40.00 each.
We flew at 09.40am on Friday 6 December arriving at Helsinki at 14:30 local time. Our arrival time meant that there was no real light to get out and about and our sole tasks were to acquire the hire car and get to our accommodation. There was nine hour daylight on the Saturday and we had to be back at the airport on the second afternoon so probably a maximum of fifteen daylight hours of birding were available to us.
We hired a large Volvo car through Hertz. It was winter-readied and had a Satnav. Despite driving at night along snow-covered roads, we always felt secure and in control. The Satnav at one point (when we went into the depths of the countryside on a bit of a foray) took us down some surprisingly small forest tracks. As we could not see the ditches either side of the road and we came to a dead end with apparent roadworks covered in deep snow ahead, we backtracked our way out rather than necessarily trust that the Satnav would not have taken us into some unforeseen difficulties. However, the Satnav worked well in getting us around during the trip. The car hire worked out at £60.00 each including the Satnav, winter-readiness, etc.
Our accommodation was three twin rooms in essentially (at this time of year) a self-catering complex at Seikkailulaakso near Porvoo. The cost was £100.00 each for the accommodation. We wanted somewhere close enough to Helsinki to prioritise the staked out bird whilst giving us an opportunity to get in some birding away from Helsinki on the Sunday before departure.
We ate well and our dinner bills matched the quality but a combined individual cost of journey and accommodation costs of c£350 was reasonably pricey but unremarkable. I have spent more in the past day-tripping single species and this species had been a target for some time.
A local Helsinki birder had agreed to meet us at the park and had confirmed that the bird was still present the day before we had set off. He didn’t know us before we contacted him and this was a very kind piece of altruistic assistance. Tom’s blog can be found here - http://lintuja-sunmuita.blogspot.co.uk/
We were up and out in the darkness and headed into Helsinki. We arrived in the half light at Sibelius Park (Tooloo). I set off manfully on a mission to find the bird – pumped up. I had done a tour of the nearest parts of the park before coming back over the hill to see my wife frantically waving at me. Almost as soon as I was out of earshot, the Hawk Owl had been picked up by a friend who had got out of the car and sat on the nearest bench. Presumably it had just emerged from roost. Tom had arrived shortly after the bird emerged. Thankfully as soon as my wife waved, I picked the bird up in the trees to which a friend was gesturing.
Including sampling a local coffee shop, we spent the next five or so hours knocking around the park. The owl moved around reasonably frequently often taking up a perch a little below the tops of the trees. At one stage, it crept cat-like along a branch as if to pounce on some prey but then abandoned the exercise. It eventually crossed the road onto the other side of the park and was lost. Other birds seen and heard included Hooded Crow, Crossbill, Redpoll, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Northern Treecreeper.
We then headed off to search for a Tengmalm's Owl that had been roosting at Mustikkamaan. En route, a young White-tailed Eagle was a nice distraction as we were leaving Helsinki. The Tengmalm’s Owl search proved fruitless (and as a result it became a friend’s priority for the spring Owl trip taken this year). A similar range of species were seen but they included Northern Bullfinch.
We then headed out north of Livoso for the last hour or so of daylight to have a crack at finding our own Hawk Owl. Our search pattern was essentially to pick likely looking roads heading out into the countryside and check for any Hawk Owls holding territory in clearings. We did find a well stocked feeder and it was obvious that such locations act as a real magnet with lots of local Tits including Willow Tit visiting. We eventually ran out of light in the depths of the countryside and set the Satnav to return to our accommodation.
On Sunday, we spent the first few hours of daylight around Emsalo where we were staying. The headland produced Goldeneye, Goosander, Whooper Swan (heard), Goldcrest and Coal Tit and a similar range of species to the day before.
We then headed towards Askola to resume the Hawk Owl search. Again, the strategy was pretty much the same. Roadside feeders produced Tree Sparrows and Yellowhammer and five Whooper Swans (a family party) flew over. A roadside stop produced Willow Tit and Black Woodpecker.
With maybe an hour and a half left before we needed to head back to Helsinki airport we found a Hawk Owl holding territory near Kirjamusantie. The bird was sat atop a bush in the midst of the fields. It was clearly undertaking a regular pattern of flying from perch to perch some 200-300 yards apart to survey for potential prey. Before long, it was time to head back. On the way back a Great Grey Shrike by the roadside was a very welcome leaving present. It spent a reasonable amount of time hovering to look for prey.
We got back to the airport in good time for our 5.10pm flight. In total, we had driven 467km. We arrived back at Gatwick at 6.10pm and got home uneventfully.
All the best
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