Postcard from Finland and Norway...The Beginning.

It’s better to travel than to stay put.

Sámi proverb.

Months of anticipation began to reach a head on 20^th May as Sam and I looked down upon the islands of the south west coast of Finland as we approached Helsinki airport to connect with a further flight northwards to Oulu.  We were on our way to join a two week birding tour of Finland and Norway which was to be led by Killian Mullarney and Dick Forsman (I doubt that either gentleman will require an introduction to serious birders, whilst others can always use Google for further information).  A birding trip to Finland and Norway would be on my bucket list if I had one and neither Sam nor I could resist the pulling power of this trip with possible sightings of Great Grey Owl and Red-flanked Bluetail among many others, so even laid back and strictly non twitching types such as ourselves were excited by the thought of these species.

Three-Toed Woodpecker

Three-Toed Woodpecker

Three-Toed Woodpecker

 

This is very much a personal account of the trip, so as Eric Morecambe might have said ‘I hope to have all the species correct but not necessarily in the correct order’.  As we pulled away from Oulu airport I began to almost immediately forget the names of fellow UK and North American participants (I had remembered them all before the two weeks were up), as I watched Little Ringed Plovers in the car-park.  The tour was beginning and as fellow participant Lesley may well have said, ‘let’s bring it on’.  Lesley is from Texas and believe me, banter between two Geordies and a Texan can be interesting to the listener.

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatchers greeted us at the hotel and an evening walk included a surprise sighting of a very confiding Three Toed Woodpecker.  Whilst based at Oulu we covered much ground and our first morning brought good sightings of Nutcracker, Wryneck and Common Rosefinch, the latter a stunning bird which I couldn’t understand didn’t seem to bring much comment from others.  Finland is an area rich in taiga forest and I’m told 18,000 lakes (when does a pond become a lake?) and it wasn’t long before we were exploring such areas.  The northern owls were target species and we soon had Ural Owl, Great Grey Owl, Pygmy Owl and three Short eared Owls on our list.  The Pygmy Owl was watched on the nest with the eggs clearly seen, but the species I have for years wished for is Great Grey Owl.  The finding of this species was an adventure in its self and one of which the detail will remain for me forever.  We walked/scrambled through taiga forest where it would have been very easy for individuals to have got themselves lost and where the Wellington boots carried from home were put to good use when we encountered running water.  We passed underneath a massive disused Goshawk’s nest before finding another such nest, but this time with a Great Grey Owl nesting in it!  We watched at length and this was to be one of the sightings of the trip.  A stunning bird.  Interesting too was Sam’s finding of a Goshawk’s tail feather and Dick’s explanation of the different shade of marking from what we would expect of a UK Goshawk.  Oh how I wish I’d had my macro lens with me so as to photograph the beautiful back lit moss species as we walked back to our transport.  We saw three White –tailed Sea Eagles today too and on a smaller scale Crested Tit, Redstart, Whinchat, Northern Wheatear et al.  No, Sam won’t give me the Goshawk feather!

Great Grey Owl

 

During the first three days we counted approaching 200 Ruff, the males looking splendid in breeding plumage.  Raptors seen were Marsh Harrier, Hen Harrier, Common Buzzard, Rough Legged Buzzard, Kestrel and Hobby as well as the eagles.  Our first Cranes were seen too.

Our hotel at Oulu was nicely situated in terms of casual birding as we easily walk down to the bay on the Gulf of Bothnia.  Sam and I enjoyed a couple of evenings down there as we took time out from group birding.  During this time we heard the calls of Spotted Crake and had a distant sighting of Marsh Sandpiper, I believe the latter being heard by Killian the following morning.  We heard Bittern booming here on our final morning as well as having sight of a pair of stunning Slavonian Grebe in the morning sunlight.  Killian pointed out Broad Billed Sandpiper, but they were so distant they didn’t go on my list as yet, Common Tern, Arctic Tern and Little Tern were seen as were Little Gulls.  Waders were numerous including displaying Black Tailed Godwits.  Caspian Tern was later seen at Liminka Bay a great wetland site.

Whooper Swan

 

Our last evening at this hotel had us watching a magnificent sunset after 11:00pm.  As Sam said, ‘there’s no problem going to sleep in daylight as you just close your eyes and it turns dark’.  After our second night we left early, I know it was early as every morning was, some so early it was barely worth going to bed!

Whooper Swan on nest.

 

A species we had hoped to see, but to be honest our expectations had not been high, was the rare European breeding Terek Sandpiper.  I remember going for that at Holywell, Northumberland which turned out to have been a Greenshank!  Well we met with success on this occasion in the port area of Oulu where it was seen along with Little Ringed Plover.  It was in an area of wasteland near a road and Sam and I still maintain that we saw two Terek Sandpipers despite the doubt cast upon that.  So a great tick made, if not in the most exotic of surroundings. 

We now began our long drive to Kuusamo.  Much more to come.

Before the risin' sun, we fly
So many roads to choose
We'll start out walkin' and learn to run
(And yes, we've just begun)

Carpenters Lyrics