Finland & Norway May, 2015 (1 Viewer)

Squirrels are cute!!

Hi Ads,

Enjoying the write up. Glad you got the Ural Owl amongst others, esp. that bonus one by the road. Makes up for the dipping of said species in Estonia, still havent got that one myself.


Cheers

Ha, yeah it sure did mate! Damn sight easier than driving through that muddy, snowy forest too.....!

birdboybowley said:

Ha, yeah it sure did mate! Damn sight easier than driving through that muddy, snowy forest too.....!

Click to expand...

Still having trouble with finding decent drivers I see Ads?- round in circles in Kuusamo, mud and snow probs in Estonia, that's all got to be easier than desert driving surely

I'm extremely jealous of course......

Cheers

Rich

I'm not even going to mention desert driving......especially yours!!

I don't quite understand the tour arrangements. You rent the car and the tour provides the drivers?

Hey Tero - no we did the trip independently but we did the Finnature trips within it - on the two mornings where we had the guide they use their own vehicle and we just cram into it

OK. I have avoided renting cars in Finland as it makes little sense with just two people. Most often just friends give us short rides. I never did the North with birds, though I have seen (barely) Lapland in winter. Just a day or two.

It's always worth hiring a car wherever you go!!

Nice report

Nice report we are going to try to get to Finland next May so this is really helpful. We are also thinking of a couple of half days with finnature so good to understand how much is down to attitude of individual guides

22nd & 23rd – I was up and out by 0530 into the glorious sunshine and viewing the feeders: Red Squirrels everywhere, scampering along the wooden walls of the buildings, into the roof spaces, jumping from tree to feeder and back again, chasing each other on the ground...absolutely captivating to watch and there must've been over 20 in the immediate area. 2 Grey-sided Voles and a Red Vole were feeding on the fallen seeds and a chunky Wood Lemming put in a brief appearance before darting back into a hole in a tree stump – cool!

After about 20mins I looked back up at the feeders and there were 2 female Pine Grosbeaks!! Brilliant birds and the last lifer available to me on the trip. The Brambling numbers increased, mostly splendid males, with smaller numbers of Siskin and Mealy Redpolls around with a couple of Greenfinches and a male Northern Bullfinch popping in too. I went back to let the others know that the target bird had turned up and as we walked back 3 Sibe Tits flew in and showed really well. At least a pair continued to feed on and off throughout our stay along with a Great Tit and a couple of Willows.

But the best was yet to come as at around 0645 two stunning male Pine Grozzers flew in with an immature male and a couple more females....awesome!! In total we reckon we had 3 males, 1 immature male and c4 females but it was tricky when they kept coming and going. 3 Waxwings also put in a brief appearance, their evocative calls echoing through the pines.

Down on the lake a gorgeous pair of Spotshanks showed well as they fed along the grassy edges whilst a Pied Fly sang its heart out. I wandered over to the other lake where a scan over the far pines revealed a huge Golden Eagle circling before being mobbed by a displaying Short-eared Owl!! The eagle disappeared quickly enough and the owl continued its flight, gaining height – I called for the others but they had gone inside for breakfast! Breakfast was indeed tasty and we thoroghly enjoyed it and the environs we were in!

But time had come to pack up and move on – today was the day we cross into Norway! As we drove north toward Utsjoki we scared 8 lekking Ruff literally off the edge of the road – I'm glad I didn't see them beforehand as I quite possibly would've pulled straight over...and driven right over the camo-clad photographers laying prone next to the road!! We decided to leave them alone thinking we'd see plenty more.....wrong!! Oh well.

Further along we screeched to a halt for 2 Moose that were warily making their way across a boggy area and took off as we decamped for photos! A Merlin was also seen here as it flew in and landed behind a tussock. On a tip from some other guests at NTT, as we passed the signs for Säytsjärvi we kept our eyes peeled in the roadside trees and sure enough there was a stonking adult Hawk-Owl!! We pulled over and watched this awesome bird for a good 20mins as it sat there watching the world go by – in fact a woman in a car travelling the other way stopped to ask if we were ok, thinking we'd broken down – nice

We stopped at a couple of sites on the way up but saw nothing of note except a Peregrine and then we were at Utsjoki – grabbed some food from the shop – and Matt bought a 'lovely' hat! – fuelled up and then we were across the bridge and into Norway! We had a couple of Waxwings fly across the road and a Rough-leg hovering. It didn't take too long to get onto the Varanger peninsula and our first quick stop gave us c200 Long-tailed Ducks loafing offshore amongst a huge flock of gulls and terns which held at least one Glaucous Gull and several Arctic Skuas.

The next stop was Nesseby with its iconic church. Hopes were dashed as we wandered towards the pool behind which was completely devoid of phucking falaropes!! In the harbour itself were masses of Knot, several Barwits, Redshank, Turnstone and Curlew and a number of Eider and Red-breasted Mergs. On the exposed rocks were 2ad2imm White-tailed Eagles and plenty of Arctic Terns and Kittiwakes were flying around. Passerines were represented by a displaying Wheatear, Mipits and White Wags. Still, it was a pleasure just to stand and take in the views up the fjord and soak up the sun!!

Onto our digs at Vestre Jackobselv where we basically just dumped our gear and set off again torwards Vadsø, seeing a displaying Short-eared Owl en route. We spied some seaduck on the water as we neared the harbour so we decamped the vehicle and were soon looking at 24 King Eider, comprising 18 females, 3 1styr males and only 1 full male, but unfortunately they were always a bit far away. As we walked onto a pier we soon found the target bird for most: 14 Steller's Eiders feeding close to the rocky shore, dwarfed by their displaying Common cousins. Stunning birds they were too!

This was where my piece of shit Swarovski tripod fell over – again, due to the leglocks always failing – for the last time, it receiving a swift kick and then was a leg down as it snapped off....luckily the 'scope fell on Jake's legs as he lay photographing the eiders (sorry mate!) so I picked it up, re-attached the plate to the head and carried it back to the van...whereupon the plate unlocked itself and dropped my 'scope on its eyepiece...on the bloody stones. With that the tripod was cast high in the air like an offering to the gods, and unceremoniously smashed onto the road. (Note to Swarovski: you may make fab optics but your tripod was the worst £170 I've ever spent!) After this (what was to be an expensive) tantrum I followed the others down to the dock and watched the Steller's feeding in the bay in glorious sunshine. Life is good

We watched these brilliant birds for over an hour before heading across the bridge and onto Vadsøya where we checked for any info at the expensive Birder's Basecamp Hotel...not a great deal about! We had about 2000 Knot opposite here on the shoreline and then walked out toward the pool and saw our first butterfly of the trip – unfortunately only a Small Tortoiseshell. The pool held nothing very interesting apart from a pair of Whoopers so we dejectedly headed ever onwards towards Vardø. We dropped down to the rivermouth at Skellelv but drew a blank with the Bearded Seal. We did see a smart male Willow Grouse by the road, 9 Taiga Bean Geese in a field, about 10 Arctic Skuas, another Rough-leg and 6 White-tailed Eagles aswell as quite a few Arctic Hares as we drove along.

As Vardø came into view we saw a stunning pair of Lapland Bunts by the roadside with another displaying Short-eared Owl flying about nearby. We drove through the cool tunnel and had a look round the island town: checked out the Kittiwakes adorning the harbourside buildings, looked for the pools behind the fort and saw nothing remotely phalaropish – but did have another couple of Waxwings and a few Black Guillemots offshore along with another 27 King Eiders – again mostly females (23), and again 3 1styr males and a single adult male!! We drove to the northeast tip and viewed Hornøya from the designer bird shelter: we could see the cliffs teeming with auks, and the water between us was filled with thousands of Guillemots with many 'bridleds' amongst them, hundreds of Razorbills, Puffins and Shags and several Black Guillemots whilst a dark-phase Arctic Skua powered through and a Grey Seal loafed just offshore. 3 White-tailed Eagles buzzed the islands sending thousands of gulls up in a whirl of noise whilst a nice-looking Purple Sand roosted on a rock in front of us – summer is not a plumage I've seen them in before...and gotta admit, I think they look better in winter!

Now came decision time. It was 1800, the weather report was not looking favourable for the morning, it was c80kms back to VJ.....so, do we go back or find somwthing to eat here and continue birding while the weather's good?? Of course we chose – for better or worse – the latter! We found a bizarre shop/burger joint that gave us dinner for the evening and headed back through the tunnel, turned right and began the drive up to Hamningberg.....