It’s better to travel
than to stay put.
Sámi proverb.
Months of anticipation began to reach a head on 20th
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
So many roads to choose
We'll start out walkin' and learn to run
(And yes, we've just begun)
Go for it you guys and enjoy it to the full.
ReplyDeleteWe did Joe and I'm enjoying writing about it too. Part 2 coming soon. :-)
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