FINLAND:- with Ornitholidays. Personnel on tour, weather and general impressions
25th May to 2nd June 2002
1. Weather etc..
2. Saturday, 25th May:- Fine morning in the U.K, gradually clouding over
3. 50%. Temp. 20C(68 deg.F). Helsinki:- Fine and sunny, 16C(61deg.F).
4. Oulu:- etc. Fine and sunny with a chilly breeze, 16C(61 deg.F)
5. Sunday, 26th May:- Fine and sunny with a chilly breeze, 18C(65 Deg.F).
6. Monday, 27th May:-Fine and sunny with a chilly breeze, 20C(68 Deg.F).
7. Teusday, 28th May:-Fine and sunny with little wind, 20C(68 Deg.F)
8. Wednesday, 29th May:- Fine and sunny, little wind, 21C(70 Deg.F)
9. Thursday, 30th May:-Fine and sunny, little wind, 21C(70 Deg.F)
10. Friday, 31st May:- Fine and sunny, little wind, 22C(71.5 Deg.F)
11. Saturday, 1st June:-Fine and sunny, little wind, 24C(75 Deg.F)
12. Sunday, 2nd June:-Helsinki:- Hot, sunny, and close, 26C(79 Deg.F)
U.K:-Hot, sunny and very close, 30C(86 Deg.F)
Personnel on Tour
1) Leader:- Paul Rogers of Anglesy, North wales, Originally from Walsall, 50ish
thick set and bearded. Six feet tall. Deep booming
voice and very self confident.
2) Colin Barker:- Myself
3) Julian Roberts of Fulham. 50 to 60. 6 feet eight tall and muscular with it. Deep
rumbling voice. Was “something in the city”. Now retired.
4) Val Roberts. Wife of Julian, fiftyish, five feet six, average build with pale ginger
hair. A voice like H.M the Queen, Good company. Had broken her
ankle six weeks earlier, and walked with a stick, which rather
limited her mobility.
5) Su Cooper of St Martins; Guernsey, thirtyish, five feet tall, widowed five years
ago, but now has a new fellow, who did not accompany her.
Her birding is much improved since we last met five years ago.
Tends to come to life in the evenings, although has reduced her
booze intake, but only slightly. Long dark hair, the best of the
punter-birders.
6)Ari Latja:- Local leader in Oulu and Kuusamo. Hails from Karelia. Thirty fiveish
Six feet tall. Fair hair ,skin and beard. Thoroughly nice person
and an excellent birder.
7) Antero Topp:- Local leader in the Helsinki area. Five feet six, dark, balding and
bearded, fortyish. Deep nasal voice with strong accent. Said to
Finland’s top birder, and looked it. a little more distant than Ari.
Note
I had, had Paul as Leader in Lesvos and Morocco, I had also met the
Roberts Family in Morocco, whilst Su was on my1998 Hungary trip.
Finland north west,north east and south, with Ornitholidays
25th May to 2nd June 2002
A very personal diary
Arose with the lark at 0400 in order to catch the 0505 train to London. Pat woke up and came downstairs to see me off, as did Sammy. The taxi turned up in good time and delivered me to the station at 0445. The H.S.T. was already in the platform and almost totally empty. Alongside was a Class 47 loco in police livery with the word “Police “ emblazoned on the side in large letters as well as a four foot high Police badge! We had a reasonable run arriving in London on time. I had the usual hernia inducing struggle with my luggage down the steps to the underground, only having to wait ten minutes for a half empty Heath Row train, arriving at the airport at 0830.
I waited as instructed for the rest of the party in the ticket hall until 0910, phoned Pat and decided that I had better book in my luggage, as time was getting short. To my disgust, I found the party in the departure lounge with no word of apology from Paul the leader. Obviously a break down in communication somewhere.
Val Roberts was hobbling on a stick having suffered a broken ankle a short time ago. Su, who I hadn’t seen for five years, but didn’t look very different. She did seem much more self confident however, it must be anno domini.
We boarded our Finnair A 320 airbus, and took off spot on time. We were served a fairly passable meal and drinks, sampling my first Finnish beer; a can of “Lapin Kulta-The golden ale of Lapland”. It was similar to a thin light ale, and fairly nondescript. I had sitting next to me a real smoothie in a velvet jacket and shoulder length hair, about forty years old. He spent the first half of the journey chatting up the Estonian lady on his other side, but started talking to me when I had to get past them to visit the facilities. it appears he was a musician going to Helsinki to play in a concert. Then he asked me if I followed the “footie”. When I confessed that my team had been relegated, he told me so had his. Yes, you’ ve guessed it he was a Rams supporter. He’d been brought up in Willington and Littleover, but although now resident in Bournmouth, was still an ardent supporter, attending many of their games.
Since the view was largely cloud until the last ten minutes, it gave us something to talk about.
The ground, mainly sea, lakes, and some agriculture finally appeared, and we landed in the spacious Helsinki airport spot on time in bright sunshine at 1500, having put our clocks back two hours.
We had a rather time consuming queue to get through passport control, and we hadn’t seen Su since Heath Row. Then we had a half mile sprint along interminable corridors, since we only had forty five minutes transfer time.
We just made it, with the Robert’s coming in last occupying the last two seats on our DC9. Much to our relief, Su was already on board. The hour long internal flight to Oulu was in totally clear visibility, giving a vista of solid forests interspersed by hugh lakes.
The first Finnish bird was a NORTHERN WHEATEAR feeding by the airport perimeter track.
Our first impression was of dazzling sunshine, a chilly wind, and absolutely crystal clear air.
We met our” Finnature” guide; Ari; as in Aristotle so he said, a very pleasant Finn, thirtyish, and six feet tall with ginger hair ,glasses, and a small beard.
The first problem to delay us was that only my own and Paul’s luggage had arrived, the problem being the tight transfer time. However true to their word they arrived on the next plane and were delivered to the hotel by bedtime.
Ari guided us to a nine seater four wheel drive VW deisel minibus, which was extremely comfortable, fast, and gave us sterling service. A ten minute trip bought us to the Hotel Vihiluoo located on a minor side road close to the sea about five miles south of Oulu. The hotel garden was alive with birds in the trees. WILLOW WARBLERS were singing everywhere, whilst the resident PIED FLYCATCHER flitted back and forth.
The hotel was small and comfortable, catering mostly for birding groups at this time of year. After we unpacked we went for a short walk to the sea, along an unpaved road lined with trees, and wooden house in their large gardens. This was our introduction to Finlands minor roads, which were little more than tracks, albeit with quite reasonable surfaces.
As we strolled down the road, a Swiss birder; Armand, joined us as his companions had not yet arrived.
Paul and I thought he had designs on Su, and friendly soul that she was, he thought that he was getting encouragement.
Our bird list was growing rapidly with HOODED CROW, GREENFINCH, BLACK HEADED, and HERRING GULL overhead, and BLUE TIT, GREAT TIT, SPOTTED and PIED FLYCATCHER, WHITE WAGTAIL, in the trees, as well as small flock of LESSER REDPOLLS , and very smart FIELDFARE, and CHAFFINCH positively everywhere.
We arrived at the shore and walked out along a rocky spit. ‘Scopes were set up with identification a doddle in the crystral clear light.
Out on the sea and along the shore we identified some fifty or so WHOOPER SWAN, and lesser numbers of the usual GULLS, TUFTED DUCK, GOLDENEYE, MALLARD, SHOVELLER, REDSHANK, TEAL,TEMMINCKS STINT, CURLEW, RINGED PLOVER, RED BREASTED MERGANSER, ARCTIC TERN and RUFF. These being the first I had ever seen with a decorative ruff. There were black, white, red and gold ruffs on display, all performing courtship dances to the duller Reeves. As well, there were single LITTLE TERN, MARSH HARRIER, and two BROAD BILLED SANDPIPER, a new bird for most of our party, but not myself.
In addition we had our first whooping Whooper Swans, a sound we were soon to get used to.
We returned to the hotel, to find that the missing luggage had arrived, and celebrated with a beer: bottles of Pilsener Urquell, and a dark Czech beer. They were quite pleasant and not as expensive as I expected, although I don’t call two pounds for a half, cheap. We then boarded our bus to go to dinner, at an ancient farmhouse a few miles to the south east called Ala Temmes. Our route took us through birch and spruce forest and some cleared agricultural areas, with few birds evident except for the usual GULLS, MAGPIE, CURLEW, HOODED CROW, and JACKDAW, species which from now on we tended to ignore, although I dont think you can ever really ignore CURLEW.
We arrrived at the restored five hundred year old restored farmhouse, to be greeted by a PIED FLYCATCHER and an extremely attractive middle aged Finnish lady, with red hair and a charming innocent manner . She was one of the few attractive Finnish females that we saw. She told us the history of the farm, and sang us a folk song welcoming us to Finland. In the U.K. it would have been embarrassing, but here it seemed appropriate, besides which she had a remarkably good voice, as well as being a remarkably good cook. We were introduced to salmon soup and a home brewed non-alcoholic dark cloudy beer, which was a feature of all Finnish meals. I liked it. but the others were not so impressed, plus Karelian Stew, and a wonderful fruit dish for dessert.
It was definitely the best meal we had in Finland, and we finally left bidding a fond farewell to our farm lady. Paul said that if she catered like that all the time he would like to carry her off home.
On our way back we registered more of the usual COMMON, HERRING and BLACK HEADED GULLS plus CURLEW, LAPWING, SWALLOWS, and a number of displaying RUFF with full decoration, in a field being ploughed with a tractor. We also watched a magnificent SHORT EARED OWL quartering the fields.
Arriving back at the hotel, we found two more birding groups had arrived. Much to my surprise, I noticed that it was 2345, and it was still broad daylight and still sunny. Ari informed us that at this time of year the sun never sank below the horizon, hence the sobriquet “Land of the midnight sun”. I wondered if it would make sleep difficult, but I really had no trouble although it was strange to wake up in the night to find it was still sunny. I was always wide awake and up by 0500, as were some of the others. Birding and travelling tended to occupy about eighteen hours every day and when I finally arrived home it took me a about week to recover.
Arose, raring to go at 0500. After getting my notes in order, I headed for the great outdoors. The sun was shining and the birds were singing, but the door into reception was locked. I escaped via the fire door to find Su already in full birding mode on some scrub land at the back of the hotel overlooking an arm of the sea. She informed me that she’d already seen a SHORT EARED OWL. Birds were everywhere with GREAT TIT, WILLOW WARBLER, and FIELDFARE the most plentiful, and SISKIN, REDPOLL, and GREENFINCH forming the supporting cast, whilst the resident PIED FLYCATCHERS flitted about busily. Overhead CURLEW were flying back and forth to and from the coastal inlet, whilst a single GOLDEN PLOVER provided our only example of this species for the week. A strange bleating sound intrigued us. I knew that I had heard it before but it wasn’t until I spotted a SNIPE diving towards the ground with spread tail feathers until I remembered what it was; a snipe drumming
We headed for the restaurant at 0700 for an excellent buffet breakfast, all the while listening to the snipe drumming outside. We boarded the bus at 0745 and Paul explained that we were staying in the Oulu area fairly close to the coast for the day.
We headed south east and then west along empty minor unsurfaced roads, bordered by mixed birch and conifer forest about thirty feet high, and mixed agricultural areas. Along the verges, the only birds of note wereYELLOW WAGTAILS of both the flava and thunbergi varieties, that is ignoring the plentiful usual gulls of which COMMON GULL was the most frequent, plus MAGPIES,LAPWING, and HOODED CROW.
Whilst crossing one of the agricultural areas, Paul spotted a flock of thirty COMMON CRANE flying close to the ground. We then almost immediately found another flock of about forty following a plough.
Whilst watching these we also saw three WHINCHAT perched on the wires, three ruffed RUFFS and a reeve in the field, and about half a dozen singing SKYLARK .Oddly enough we didn’t see many more Skylark in Finland. A hunting Kestrel provided a few minutes excitement until it was identified. We passed through the villages of Lumijoki and Liminka, the latter sporting a very large impressive church.
A stop in a farming area on a minor road ostensibly for Ortolan produced only CURLEW, WOODPIDGEON, MEADOW PIPIT, SKYLARK and WHINCHAT. Entering a forested area we saw our one and only COMMON JAY. whilst a short unsuccesful walk along a forest track to search for Hazel Grouse produced only SWALLOW, CHIFF CHAFF, PIED FLYCATCHER, REDWING, FIELDFARE, and then an improvement in the form of a male and female COMMON CROSSBILL, of which we had good views through the ‘scopes. A COMMON HARE galloping along the road then caused some amusement as it kept stopping and sitting up on it’s hind legs to watch us. We were also quite intrigued by the vivid red female cones on the Norwegian Spruces bordering the road.
After travelling a short distance, I was quite surprised when we suddenly arrived at the coast at a place called Varjakka a rather rocky shore with short stretches of sand and mud. Offshore were the inevitable islands and occasional wind turbines. Across two large bays we could see Oulu in the distance about twelve miles away. The shore produced numerous BLACK HEADED,HERRING and COMMON GULLS plus around fifty WHOOPER SWAN, six GOLDENEYE, two RED BREASTED MERGANSER, and a CORMORANT with ARCTIC TERN and three BLACK THROATED DIVER passing overhead.
Another section of coast a short distance farther south produced REDSHANK, LAPWING, some SHELDUCK, and surprisingly a YELLOWHAMMER on the beach, plus large numbers of WHOOPER SWAN offshore.
Back inland we travelled a few miles further south to another coastal area which was much more productive. The main cast consisted of several hundred WHOOPER SWAN on the sea and small numbers of TEAL, SHELDUCK, OYSTERCATCHER, WIDGEON,GARGANEY,TUFTED DUCK and WHITE WAGTAIL on the shore accompanied by large numbers of CURLEW and REDSHANK.
Ten or fifteen RUFF decorated with plumes of every colour; displayed to a few Reeve, naturally occupied our attention for some time.A passing OSPREY then engendered a few minutes excitement.
A visit to a national coastal nature reserve near Liminka was the next visit on the agenda. Following a substantial lunch at the visitors centre we emerged into the sunlight to find that the schools had broken up for a twelve week summer break, and most of them were visiting the Liminka Nature reserve.
Despite the noise and the little darlings under our feet everywhere ,I spotted our first Finnish butterfly in the form of several ORANGE TIPS. A Finnish birder then called our attention to an ORTOLAN BUNTING perched on a wire, of which we had good ‘scope views.
A series of boardwalks ran out towards the sea and a viewing tower, of which the Finns seem to be very fond, obviously wood is one thing that they’re not short of.
Across the marsh on the coast and flying over, the following were identified ; the usual GULLS, small to fair numbers of BLACK TAILED GODWIT, PINTAIL, SEDGE WARBLER, SHOVELLER, TEAL, GARGANEY, OSPREY, MARSH HARRIER, COMMON CRANE, WIDGEON, ARCTIC TERN, a SPARROW HAWK and a very poorly seen for one second WHITE TAILED EAGLE in the far distance. Several ruffed RUFF caused some hilarity with their display antics, and two RED NECKED PHALAROPE; my first in very pretty summer plumage, whilst larger numbers of REDSHANK, LAPWING, CURLEW, GREYLAG GOOSE, and lapwing were also prominent.
Back inland along a rough track, we disembarked in a mosquito infested forest, and slogged through the undergrowth to a THREE TOED WOODPECKER nest hole. I was the first to spot the bird emerging after everyone else had just about given up. We eventually had good views, but the bird was very restless. This was my first Finnish “lifer”, and was quickly followed by another; a CAMBERWELL BEAUTY butterfly. A rather ratty specimen, but we saw better ones later. Other butterflies present were large numbers of GREEN HAISTREAK, which Ari told us was their commonest butterfly. Since from then on, we saw them everywhere in large numbers, this proved the point.
Birds noted were RAVEN, REDSTART, CHAFFINCH, GREAT TIT etc. Ari also showed us a URAL OWL sitting on it’s nest. The bird didn’t hang around however and flew away, although we could see a white fluffy chick on the nest. Ari suggested that we make ourselves scarce, since this species were apt to attack anyone near the nest.
We were relieved to get back on the road since we had been well fed on by the mossies.. Passing over a river bridge we identified a pair of GOOSANDER, and then we alighted for another forest trek, this time thankfully without the mossies. Ari came up with the goods yet again as he pointed out another “lifer” for me, a GREAT GREY OWL sitting on a nest,. a wonderful view through the ‘scopes. This owl however was quite was quite happy with our presence, and contented itself by winking at us as we stood close by watching it. In this stretch of forest, we also saw WILLOW TIT; several REDPOLL, and heard a CUCKOO.
Another stop was made when Ari heard a WOOD WARBLER. With a little electronic persuasion from his C.D player the bird approached to within ten feet of us. At this location we also saw SISKIN, SPOTTED FLYCATCHER, and BULLFINCH. As we took to the road again we disturbed and were followed for some distance by a flock of approx. twenty five COMMON CROSSBILL. Following a break for a coffee and a doughnut at a very superior filling station we headed back westwards. Filling stations are the nearest approach to country pubs and resturants in Finland. They are far superior to our filling stations providing excellent food and drink. Ari told us that “Shell” stations were reckoned to be the best, and so they proved.
Back at Kempele we had dinner at the Hotel, and then set off for the woods yet again. This time it was a couple of PYGMY OWLS at their nest hole; my third “lifer”, which gave us remarkable close views. On the way back to our hotel a CUCKOO flew across the road, and a WOODCOCK shot up from the grass verge. We arrived back at the hotel at 0015 hours in broad daylight although the shadows were rather long. I went straight to my bed utterly shattered, but happy with three new lifers.
FINL27.DOC PAGE 5
I awoke with the lark at 0530, and lay reviewing yesterday. Although the birds had been good, I felt the scenery had been a little monotonous. Still, it is the birds we have come to see and hopefully today would be more varied scenically.
I exited the fire door into the usual brilliant sunshine out the back to be greeted by a SHORT EARED OWL circling low over the scrubland. It gave me one dirty look for disturbing it’s mornings hunting, and flew away. Apart from numbers of CURLEW flying over, a number of SWALLOWS and SWIFTS had arrived, and were circling. The usual passerines were in full voice, but there was nothing more of note, and so wishing a good morning to both Su and the resident PIED FLYCATCHERS, I went in for our 0700 buffet breakfast. I always have a large breakfast on these occasions, in view of the early hour and the amount of activity to come.
We boarded the bus and headed north, our target being the extremely rare Terek Sandpiper which unfortunately breeds in a totally closed no go area of the so called oil harbour in Oulu, but often feeds on the shore or in a nearby creek.
Proceeding through the very green city outskirts, we turned west alongside the railway line leading to the oil harbour. Crossing the line, we disembarked in a forest reserve called Hietasaari , to walk along a track towards the sea. There was little of interest in the forest until we arrived at a twenty five foot high viewing tower, overlooking the shore. Upon mounting the tower it occurred to us that it was extremely dangerous, since the top of the steps were unguarded and open, and a rash backward pace could end tragically in a twenty five foot fall. Whenever we were at the tower, I appointed myself guardian of the steps with cries of”Mind the gap”.
‘Scopes erected we got to work scanning the shore and the scrub in front of the tower.
In the scrub we noted ROBIN, WILLOW WARBLER, REDWING, FIELDFARE, YELLOW WAGTAIL, WHITE WAGTAIL, HOODED CROW, LAPWING, REED BUNTING and GREAT TIT.
Meanwhile Su pulled one out of the hat when she espied a male RED BACKED SHRIKE perched on the top of a bush. Overhead we identified LITTLE GULL, SNIPE, LITTLE TERN, the usual GULLS, and a small party of SAND MARTIN.
There was much coming and going to and from the shore, but we identified and generally got good views of small to fair numbers of SHELDUCK, MALLARD, TUFTED DUCK, TEAL, GOOSANDER, RED BREASTED MERGANSER, WIDGEON, ARCTIC TERN, RINGED PLOVER, TEMMINCKS STINT, REDSHANK, CURLEW, DUNLIN, RUFF, plus solitary TURNSTONE OYSTERCATCHER, GREENSHANK and LITTLE RINGED PLOVER. A touch of class was added by six very superior CASPIAN TERNS lording it on a sand bank.
Despite cricked necks and aching eyes, we could not find our target: Terek Sandpiper, and we got rather cold.
We then headed further north to a series of creeks surrounding the Oulu refuse dump and sewage ponds, which were not too revolting and were only separated from the sea by a high bank. It did not look too environmentally kosher to me.
Our target here was a reported Marsh Sandpiper, a good bird for Finland. A longish walk around the edge of the site to the sea produced butterflies in the form of many GREEN HAIRSTREAK,and ORANGE TIP, plus a couple of SMALL TORTOISHELL. Birds seen on our walk to the coast were large numbers of flying COMMON TERN, ARCTIC TERN,and SAND MARTIN plus a few FIELDFARE, REDWING, SKYLARK and HOUSE MARTIN. We arrived at a rocky shore at the estuary of a small creek. Birds on and around the shore were large numbers of the usual GULLS, thirty to forty WHOOPER SWANS on the sea, plus small numbers of WIDGEON, TUFTED DUCK, REDSHANK, CURLEW, RUFF, WOOD SANDPIPER, and TEMMINCKS STINT. Some SWALLOWs and a YELLOWHAMMER , were something of a surprise. Paul, who had been mooching about up the classic creek with no paddle, shouted that he had found the Marsh Sandpiper. After a terrible struggle down through the rocks and bushes; which Val declined, we were disappointed to find that Paul had made one of his rare errors; the Marsh Sandpiper turned out to be a GREENSHANK, an easy mistake since a Marsh Sandpiper is very like a small delicate Greenshank.
Our walk back to the bus reminded us that it was beginning to get very hot, after our early morning vigil at the tower had given us very cold hands. From now on it continued to get hotter and hotter.
A quick halt at a filling station in Oulu for a comfort stop produced only ROCK(FERAL)DOVE, and the inevitable PIED FLYCATCHER.
It was then back east and into a a rather patchy tract of forest in the vicinity of a small lake to, an area known as Sangingoki. This area was notable for it’s hugh WOOD ANT mounds.
The lake contained a pair of WHOOPER SWAN, one on a nest, two TUFTED DUCK, two GOLDENEYE, and a GREEN SANDPIPER, pecking in the mud. A GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER then flew from a hole in a dead tree, and commenced to hang around the immediate area feeding, probably on ants. Our reason for visiting this spot; a Tengmalms Owl nest hole appeared to be empty however.
A strange call was identified by Ari as a WRYNECK. This perked Julian up, since he’d never seen one.
The faithful C.D player then came into play again. The bird certainly gave us the runaround, circling us at a distance behind the trees for some ten minutes before it finally gave up and came into the open, where it gave us two or three minutes of good views. During the runaround, we also noted good sightings of a nice red COMMON CROSSBILL, and two SISKIN.
There was a sudden rash of butterflies, with a very nice CAMBERWELL BEAUTY, some LITTLE BLUE, a COMMON BLUE, which settled and allowed me to study it’s under wing, some GREEN HAIRSTREAK, and vast numbers of what I thought at first were Duke of Burgundy Fritillary, but the book thought otherwise. They behaved like butterflies and looked like butterflies, and although similar, both Dingy Skipper, and Dusky Winged Fritillary were rejected on the grounds of disribution. We had to admit defeat and assume that it was some species of moth which later research at home failed to identify.
With Julian now in a sunny mood with an unexpected “lifer”, we walked several hundred yards along the track, where we were closely examined by a RED SQUIRREL. These Finnish squirrels were smaller and less bulky than both the Scottish and German animals, also appearing to be a lighter brown.
Ari led us into the bush to a dead tree with a large hole about eight feet from the ground which could only belong to a BLACK WOODPECKER, which promptly appeared , and continued to entertain us for some time. During the Black Woodpecker episode we saw another RED SQUIRREL,and a very co-operative HOLLY BLUE butterfly. These Finnish Blues, unlike the British version are quite willing to settle and let you identify them.
Half an hour and about fifteen miles away, adjacent to Oulu airport, we alighted at a forest enclosed large lake called Papinjarvi or Priest Lake. This came up with some good birds in the shape of some twenty or so COMMON SCOTER; very nice to see them close to, instead of miles away on the horizon.
Also of note were two BLACK THROATED DIVERS, the first I had seen properly in summer plumage.
In addition were one or two RED BREASTED MERGANSER, TUFTED DUCK, TEAL, a COMMON SANDPIPER, a couple of SNIPE, and a hunting MARSH HARRIER. Two or three miles away, we alighted again in a dark conifer forest bordering the sea, an area called nenannokka. A mile or so walk to the shore produced GREAT TIT, SISKIN, TREE CREEPER, SONG THRUSH , CHAFFINCH and finally our target bird CRESTED TIT, of which we had rather unsatisfactory views. Arrival at the shore produced CURLEW, WHOOPER SWAN in large numbers, GREY LAG GEESE, WIDGEON, PINTAIL, GARGANEY, BLACK TAILED GODWIT, MALLARD, RUFF, and GOLDENEYE, whilst a passing COMMON CRANE added a bit more class.
After picking up Val who had lay down for a sleep ,we headed back through the forest towards the bus. A SONG THRUSH startled us; exploding in our faces from a bush, indirectly directing our attention to some metallic gold and green CHRISONOMID BEETLES. A poorly seen CRESTED TIT in a large bush prompted Ari to try his C.D player. This nearly had the bird sitting on our shoulders, too close for binoculars . This made up for the previous poor sighting.
It was now nearing 2200, so we headed for the hotel, with another abortive try for Tengmalms Owl en route. Another party from our hotel actually saw the bird ten minutes after we left. An emergency stop for a very large ELK which wandered into the road, provided another form of wildlife.
Straight to bed to prepare for the morrows two hundred kilometre mile drive to Kuuosamo. Unfortunately a crowd of female bird watchers conducted a long conversation outside my window for half an hour, keeping me awake. If I could have opened the window, I would have had harsh words with them.Only the English could be so inconsiderate.
Finally dropped off to sleep at 0100.
FINL28.DOC PAGE 7
Arose at 0500, ready for a 0545 early breakfast. This early hour meant that I missed my pre breakfast walk. Reviewing the previous day, it had been somewhat more interesting than Sunday, and today should certainly be more interesting still with a 250 km journey to undertake. A large breakfast was consumed , the luggage was thrown into the bus ,and we were on the road by 0600, for one last try for the Terek Sandpiper.
This time we tried the favoured creek, a delightful spot, backed by a few wooden houses and bordered by muddy banks, which was found to contain three GOOSANDER and two RED BREASTED MERGANSER. The surrounding forest turned up little of note except for both singing Common Rosefinch; and GardenWarbler, neither of which offered a glimpse. Two sandpiper like waders disturbed from a patch of mud, headed off quickly inland. Despite a great deal of expended time and persistance, we failed to relocate them, so it had to go down as a near miss.
We then travelled the short distance to the Hietasaari tower to see if they had turned up on the shore.
The whole area was scanned to no avail whilst I did my “Mind the gap” bit. The area produced fewer species and birds than the previous day, although we found that it was much warmer, with the sun beginning to burn and the mossies out in force, and all this at 0700. The few birds noted were similar to the previous day but with reduced numbers, a passing MARSH HARRIER providing the only notable addition.
It was now flat out on the bus, for the north east. I was soon fast asleep, but a sudden halt bought me to conciousness. They’d stopped to look at our first REINDEER by the side of the road. We then took a side turning for about three miles to a lake called Juurikka Jarvi, about 140km from Oulu, which proved most productive, and occupied us for an hour. LITTLE GULLS were present, breeding in some numbers; the first occasion I’ve seen more than two at one time, as were a few BLACK HEADED and COMMON GULLS, but initially it was the wildfowl and waders that took our attention.
TUFTED DUCK, MALLARD, TEAL, WIDGEON and GOLDENEYE were fairly numerous, but careful scanning from the rather rickety fifteen foot tower produced five very smart RED NECKED PHALAROPE, one very close, .plus half a dozen rather distant SMEW, as usual acting awkward, and keeping well away, these were however on most peoples wanted list. Waders were represented by a COMMON SANDPIPER, some RUFF, a very close WOOD SANDPIPER and a LITTLE RINGED PLOVER. Su then spotted a BLUETHROAT on the edge of the water, about twenty feet away creeping about in some low scrub. As is usual with this species , it was extremely flighty and difficult to pin down, although we eventually saw it fairly well after much persistance . YELLOW WAGTAILS and a few PIED FLYCATCHERS added a decorative supporting cast.
As we prepared to leave, Ari heard some WAXWINGS in the roadside trees, which were well ‘scoped,together with our first beautiful black headed BRAMBLINGS in summer plumage, which made a fitting finale.
We returned to the main road and the nearest, in fact only village; Toivalkoski to find some lunch. the local bus station and filling station providing the venue. The locals appeared dismayed to see strangers, and furthermore did not take credit cards. Paul said; “Christ, it must be the first time they’ve ever seen a white man”. In addition , unusually for Finland, nobody could speak English. We completed the usual satisfactory meal, and I tried a new type of bottled beer called”Koff”. In view of it’s strength; 2.5%
I think they had missed a word off the front of the brand name.
It was a very tidy picturesque village, plenty of trees and open spaces, with the usual mainly wooden buildings; and for a change, some hills.
As we set off once more for the north east, it was noticeable that the trees were getting smaller, and rolling hills were starting to appear. Turning off the main road, we passed Juurikka Jarvi (Lake) once again, then turnedoff north eastwards along a forest track which we followed for some 30 or 40km. A halt for possible Hazel Grouse was once more unsuccessful, the only birds being REDWING and BRAMBLING. A feature of this spot was the absolute deathly silence. It was a little eerie, and I for one was glad to leave.
A short diversion off the main track led to a possible Rustic Bunting site, at a small lake. Birds hereabouts were WILLOW WARBLER, BRAMBLING, SWALLOW, WAXWING, plus two TUFTED DUCK,and four GOLDENEYE on the water. A Bunting with a black head caused a flurry of excitement, but it would neither sing or settle in view. It eventually disappeared , but our leaders thought that it possibly was a Rustic Bunting. This species got to be quite a problem; not only to us, but to the other birding groups as well.
In fact , together with Hazel Grouse, some people started to think that they only existed in the bird books. As Ari said later, “Anyone would think that they were rare birds in Finland”.
As we stopped to look at a small lake containing a nesting WHOOPER SWAN, we were confronted by a female REINDEER with a very tiny calf, which slowly wandered away, to be suddenly replaced by an extremely large female ELK, which promptly kicked up it’s heels and galloped off into the forest.
Many miles further on another stop was made. We got out and had to leap a rather wide stream, which Su totally misjudged and landed flat on her face, more embarrassed than hurt. I laughed of course, which did not go down well, whilst Ari comforted her.
After a short steep climb up through the forest, Ari stopped and signalled that he’d spotted his quarry; RED BREASTED FLYCATCHER, in summer plumage of course, with a red breast. Only one ‘scope was available, and since I’d seen one with a red breast in Germany, I went last, only getting a brief out of focus glimpse before it flew away never to return.
Back in the bus, after some two hours on the rough track, my posterior was beginning to protest, and I was relieved when we arrived at a tarmac road. Only minutes later, Val screamed “Stop!.”
She said that she’d seen a bird resembling a hen run across the road behind us, through the rear window.
We reversed for about fifty yards, thinking about Hazel Grouse. A female Grouse was standing by the side of the road on the forest verge. To mine and Julians disgust, Ari Declared it a WILLOW GROUSE.
An exited squeak from Su directed our attention to the front windows, through which a few yards away a grotesque bronze and white apparition with vivid red wattles was wandering slowly across the road. It stopped in the middle to look at us. I just could not figure out what it was, until Ari said “It,s the male Willow Grouse”. I must have been mesmerised not to realize what it was.
The first car for almost three hours then approached forcing the bird to run for the trees. the last we saw of it was both male and female trotting away through the trees.
Little of note was seen, except for Paul spotting an OSPREY, which no one else saw, before we arrived at Kuusamo. The main road junction bore a twenty foot high spiral metal sculpture. The town was like “Small town U.S.A”. It was quite small with extremely wide streets, but had some quite classy shops etc. most of the buildings being two storey, and wood, and flanked by two enormous lakes, alongside one of which was our two hundred room hotel. The whole place including the Hotel was geared to the winter sports market, and was therefore somewhat empty .
Our rooms were quite comfortable, and after unpacking we had a quite good buffet at 2000 in an enormous domed restaurant. Paul, however thought it was crap ,and just like being in America.
We climbed on the bus again at 2045, and headed north into the higher hills. It was noticeable that hereabouts there were more lakes and open areas among the forests,studded with rocks, as well as frequent REINDEER.
Upon leaving the town, Paul was the only one to spot a NORTHERN WHEATEAR on a grass verge.
He was sitting in the front however. Several more lakes were passed each with breeding WHOOPER SWAN and some duck, mainly GOLDENEYE, before we struck off west, uphill around a couple of hairpin bends, and came to a stop.
We walked down through some scrub, and Ari told us to be careful and keep our eyes open. A loud bubbling popping sound startled us; as did it’s source, an enormous male CAPERCAILLIE which charged towards us making the most incredible noises .Su panicked and ran for it, but we eventually persuaded her to come back. The monster; sorry bird, was still trying to get at us, whilst Ari tried to hold it off with a branch. He told us that if it got away it would probably fly at us. That was enough for Su and she headed back to the bus, whilst we attempted to take photographs. When we retreated back to the bus and left his territory, we could still hear him bubbling and popping as though he had a severe attack of wind. The light was a bit awkward being rather late, with very long shadows, so Ari said that we would pay him another visit in broad daylight.
The trip back was uneventful, except for an inquisitive ARCTIC(BLUE) HARE in it’s summer coat, looking very smart in striated blue grey with hugh white feet, and white fringed ears. Back at the hotel we all retired to the bar for drinks, with beer at four pounds for half a litre. it was the usual Lapin Kulta, whilst Su stuck to white wine. She ,Ari and some of the others were getting into their stride, but I was shattered,and left for my bed, dropping off almost before I touched the pillow.
Had an excellent nights sleep waking at 0645. The previous day had been quite varied and interesting ; but with only four new birds so far I wasn’t doing too well, hopefully today should improve matters.
Once again the sun was shining and it was already extremely warm when I took a walk across the lawn to the lake which was even bigger than I thought. There wasn’t much within range barring one or two COMMON TERNS flying about. Su was on her way along the shore and confirmed my impression. For saying that she stays up half the night boozing etc., she seems to have masses of energy, and is invariably out birding before breakfast.
A fairly heavy buffet breakfast was consumed, rather spoilt by talking to one of the other birding groups, who had seen both Tengmalms Owl, and Terek Sandpiper near Oulu, however none of the groups had yet seen Hazel Grouse or Rustic Warbler.
Boarded the bus at 0800, with FIELDFARE zooming around everywhere. The first stop was at a filling station to take on fuel and clean the windows, then it was back northwards to photograph the CAPERCAILLIE. He performed his usual aggressive imitation of a steam locomotive with a severe attack of wind. Five minutes of photos and we left him in peace, registering four WAXWINGS and a WHITE WAGTAIL in the trees near the bus.
Back to the main road we continued north through the winter sports village of Rukka, where a really serious looking ski jump was cantilevered off a nearby hilltop. Many medium sized lakes with their resident WHOOPER SWANS were passed without stopping, as was a rather interesting looking bog with a colony of breeding LITTLE GULLS. The countryside was quiite hilly, the trees smaller, and the REINDEER were so frequent by now grazing at the roadside that little notice was taken of them. Ari told us that they had extremely good road sense, and were rarely involved in accidents. On the other hand Elk were totally stupid and were responsible for many fatal accidents each year.
We turned east towards the Russian border, and disembarked in a wide layby on a hill, part way up Finlands Highest “mountain” at 492m. A shelter and bird feeder was set up here, since it was a hot spot for the areas specialities, and was known as Vatavaara.
The trees straggling up the hill produced a number of birds all coming down to the feeder. WILLOW WARBLER formed the majority, with GOLDCREST, CHAFFINCH and BRAMBLING forming the majority. A large “bird”, crashing down to the feeder proved to be a RED SQUIRREL, but by this time the feeder was empty, so some of our party started grubbing through the waste bin to find something edible to reload it with.
Paul who was looking downhill on the other side of the road said calmly;”I’ve got a SIBERIAN JAY”.
Panic among the party until we all saw it. Two others then joined it, and they settled low in the trees around us looking for food. They really were extremely tame, and in looks rather reminded me of an Azure Winged Magpie, which certainly are not tame. Eventually deciding that food was not forthcoming they all flew away, and as Julian said; “Well, that’s another crippler in the bag”. During the excitement with the Jays, we’d seen a RAVEN, and a BLACK WOODPECKER fly across the road.
The other speciality here; Red Flanked Bluetail, had not appeared, so Ari said “Ah well, we’ll just have to go up the hill and look for it”.
In view of her ankle, Val said that she would wait by the bus, so we walked a little way down the road to a path up the hill where one or two parties of walkers were slogging up and down Finlands highest mountain. We set off up the very steep track through the densely packed trees, picking our way through the treeroots and boulders. It really was very hard going, and Val had certainly made the correct decision. A small bird in the tops of the twenty foot high trees caused some excitement, but turned out to be a SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. A long rest to recover our breath, and we carrried on upwards.
Suddenly Ari said ; “There it is”, as we heard an unfamiliar song. Ari applied a little electronic encouragement, and the bird approached to within a few yards of us, still sticking to the trees.
I was a little disappointed with the RED FLANKED BLUETAIL, since the colours did not show up too well in the shade of the trees. however as Julian said again, “Another good crippler bites the dust”.
I was all in favour of carrying on and bagging the “top”, but no one else was keen, so we returned to the road to find that Val had made two friends; a female reindeer and it’s very tiny calf, with a lot of stroking and licking going on between them. They didn’t like the looks of us however, and walked away. Julian said to Val: “Don’t touch me ‘til you’ve washed your hands”.
We climbed back into the bus, and proceeded eastwards, down the hill to a large area of cleared agricultural land within the forest, to another Rustic Bunting site.
It produced MISTLE THRUSH, MAGPIE, MEADOW PIPIT, YELLOW(BLUE HEADED) WAGTAIL, and a very sweetly singing GREEN SANDPIPER, but no Rustic Bunting.
Turning south, we passed a number of medium sized lakes ,and stopped at a wooden bridge over a short connecting river between two of them. We alighted to see a DIPPER of the European black bellied variety, this specimen being the only one I’ve seen that looked any different to our own. In addition, at this spot we ticked off GOLDENEYE, TUFTED DUCK, MALLARD, GOOSANDER, REDSHANK,
GREEN SANDPIPER, COMMON SANDPIPER, GREAT TIT, BLUE TIT and SWALLOW, quite a list at this very attractive spot. We proceeded to one of the lakes called Vuotinki Jarvi and set up for a scan. Paul motioned to the ‘scope and said to me , “Here’s a lifer for you”. On the far side of the lake were four VELVET SCOTERS accompanied by a number of GOLDENEYE, SHOVELLER, MALLARD, WIDGEON, and at least eight SMEW, four of them males and considerably closer than our last sighting.
In addition were a number of COMMON TERN, and rather curiously, a number of SAND MARTIN,an incidence soon to be explained.
Past the lake we turned on to a forest track, although the forest was both thin and rocky, with many open areas where logging had taken place. About a mile from the lake we came across a hugh SAND MARTIN colony. There were hundreds of them perched everywhere and flyng around giving the impression of a swarm of hugh bees. The colony was in a ‘‘cliff’ face about thirty foot high on the side of a hillock. I thought that the nest holes looked rather large, when Ari explained that the “hillock” was in fact an enormous pile of sawdust left after a logging operation. It wasn’t a new bird by any stretch of the imagination, but it was the best “bird moment” of the holiday.
Tearing ourselves away from the colony, we bumped along eastwards on a rough neglected track through thin boulder strewn forest and open heath,where patches of snow started to appear. We soon saw why it was neglected when we arrived at a barrier plastered with warning notices in various languages. A fifty foot high observation tower a couple of miles away gave us the clue; it was the Russian border. Ours was one of the very few “roads” to cross the border in north Finland, but the scenery on the Russian side did not look any different. The” border” consisted of tree trunks laid end to end as far as the eye could see. After a photo stop, with us illegal immigrants on the Russian side of the barrier, we recommenced birding, noting Siberian WILLOW WARBLER, and a sight of our first CUCKOO. The run back to civilization was pretty well birdless in spite of one or two stops to have a look around. The snow patches were quite frequent hereabouts.
Things were very quiet birdwise for some miles until we arrived at a hugh lake, which Ari told us was Kuusamo Jarvi, in fact the lake outside our hotel, but several miles east of the town.
Birds on the lake, and the scrubby islands were good numbers of TEAL, WIDGEON and MALLARD, two PINTAIL, one sitting on a nest, many COMMON and ARCTIC TERNS flying around, many CURLEW, several RUFF, well decorated displaying to their Reeves, a very close WOOD SANDPIPER, a RINGED PLOVER, two COMMON SCOTER, twenty or so LITTLE GULL sitting on nests, and best of all eight RED NECKED GREBES, in their summer finery, on the water and on nests. We also saw our first MUSKRAT, very like a large WaterVole, and a new bird for the week in the shape of a GREAT BLACK BACKED GULL.
We then went to a hilly area of forest which had been the site of Kuusamo’s first church, to search for the elusive Hazel Grouse. Ari said that they were a certainty here, but they were being elusive again.
Paul though he’d found a Siberian Tit, but Ari overuled him, and declared it a WILLOW TIT, because of it’s jet black cap, Ari said that Siberians had a very light brown cap, and when we saw one we’d know one.
When we returned to the track; an idiot in a car playing at rally drivers, deliberately accelerated past us in order to cover us with grit and dust , in which he succeeded.
A stop by another lake ostensibly for Little Bunting was unsuccessful, Ari saying that they probably hadn’t arrived yet. There was little else there except for the usual suspects, and two more MUSKRAT.
A few kilometres south west was the town tip which was a favoured site for Heuglins Gull, a possibly soon to be split version of Lesser Black Backed Gull. The tip was on a minor road, on a hillside, which you had to look upwards at, which meant that you could not see a great deal of the actual tip. Between the road and the tip was a rather nice little pool which held GOLDENEYE, TEAL, MALLARD, a GREEN and a COMMON SANDPIPER.
On the other side of the road the ground sloped away downwards to a much larger pool, which also held the usual duck species.
More interesting was a BLUTHROAT flitting about in the bushes between the pool and the road.
Despite a lot of persistance on our part, we could not identify our target, among the mass of HERRING, COMMON and LESSER BLACK BACKED GULLS, although most of the latter were of the much blacker subspecies ; fuscus, known as the Baltic Gull. At least we had one new species at this site: a GREEN VEINED WHITE butterfly. With this failure, we headed back to the hotel for dinner. Following our meal, I talked to the other birding groups once again. They had all been expending much of their time, trying to track down Rustic Bunting and Hazel Grouse, and had got nowhere.
An evening trip was now on the cards, and we headed about ten kilometres to the south,along the main road.
The sight of a car full of birders in a layby, with telescopes trained on a small lake brought us to a screeching halt. Ther on the far side of the water, about 100m away were three male BLACK GROUSE (BLACKCOCK) engaged in a territorial dispute. Stylised aggression and a lot of noise and jumping about kept us amused for some time. Whilsy this was going on Ari found a GREAT GREY SHRIKE perched on the top of a tree on the other side of the road. Only a short distance further on Ari spotted another male BLACK GROUSE perched on a tree top about 100m away. This was joined by another which settled in an adjoining tree. Eventually both flew off into the forest.
Ari told us that this was prime Black Grouse territory, with lots of small lakes and large open areas surrounded by forest.
A diversion onto a track along a ridge to look at a long narrow lake, produced yet anothe male BLACK GROUSE perched in a tree. With ‘scopes on the lake we identified SNIPE, BROAD BILLED SANDPIPER, and an OSPREY sitting on a nest. Paul who walked into the bushes for a natural break also put up a female BLACK GROUSE(GREYHEN). Ther were quite a number of SNIPE, and WOOD SANDPIPER flying about, the latter uttering a sweet musical call. In addition the lake contained an enormous colony of breeding LITTLE GULLS. Strangely there were very few wildfowl present.
Following what came to be referred to as our “Black Grouse Evening”, we headed back the few miles to the hotel, where much drink was taken, with everyone in an expansive mood. Oddly enough we only saw one another Black Grouse throughout the holiday
We expressed our worries to Ari about the area specialities that we had missed. “Dont worry, we’re not finished yet”,he said. I should know by now that these foreign guides always like to wind you up into a state of nervous tension.
Having said that, Ari was the perfect guide and companion. His English was excellent, and he had; ,if it can be believed, an English sense of humour. He was a great fan of those British institutions ;the Goons, Monty Python, Dads Army, ‘Allo ‘allo, The Pink Panther etc. He invariably greeted us with a”Good Moaning”, and frequently referred to “merths” and “minkies”.”In” jokes to Pink Panther fans. And to top it all, he was an superb driver and dedicated birder.
With everyone getting a little high, Su stated that she was going to stay up and drink until it got dark.
By my reckoning, that would be about September 5th.
She allegedly tried, but long after I’d gone to bed, about 2am, she and Ari decided to go to a disco.
What time they actually got to bed I don’t know, but they were both at breakfast at 0700.
Thinking about the day as I lay in bed, it had certainly been the most varied, and interesting so far,and remained the high point of the holiday.
The next day was to take us north of the arctic circle, so I went to sleep hoping for the good weather to continue.
PAGE 12
Thursday 30th May 2002
Awoke at 0600, dressed and went for a walk into the pretty much deserted town, to take some photographs of “small town U.S.A”. Once again the sun was shining and it was already quite warm and would get warmer. After looking in the shops, and admiring the church I returned to the hotel for a 0730 breakfast. Su was a little late appearing and Paul said” Ha, has somebody been lying on her nighty”. The main candidate; Ari was already at breakfast however. I heard all about Su and Ari’s nocturnal adventures at one of the town disco’s. Ari looked normal but Su looked distinctly bog eyed, not surprising since they couldn’t have been in their beds before 0400.
On the road by 0830, and heading north on the by now familiar road towards the arctic circle, 60km away. We waved to the usual WHOOPER SWANS on the various lakes, and then into more unfamiliar country, as we crossed the provincial border into Lapland, eventually coming to a halt at the Oulanka National Park visitors centre, which stands astride the Arctic Circle. As we lay in the sun, Ari produced a bottle of delicious Cloudberry wine to toast our crossing the circle for the first time. After a look around the centre, I went outside for my first arctic bird watch. In the trees around the centre were at least two CUCKOOS, MAGPIE, WHITE WAGTAIL, COMMON REDSTART, and PIED FLYCATCHER, whilst a couple of SWALLOWS zoomed about overhead.
Following a photo stop, we climbed aboard and headed eastwards along a forest track. This far north, the trees were somewhat smaller and less densely packed and there was more boulder strewn heathland and large areas of bog. In fact; to sum up the topography, the taiga was fast giving way to the tundra.
We were once more indulging in the great Rustic Bunting hunt again.
Stopping at one regular spot we recorded only six WAXWING, six BRAMBLING and three marauding CUCKOO. Two butterflies run to earth here were GREEN HAIRSTREAK, and LITTLE BLUE.
Another stop in a hollow on a wooden bridge over a stream, was said by Ari to be a dead cert. Even his faithful C.D player failed to have any effect, although it was a very pretty spot which contained a number of REDWING, three REDPOLL, and many WILLOW WARBLER and BRAMBLING. We could also hear and see at least two CUCKOOS. Paul said “What the hell are they parasitising around here, there doesn’t seem to be enough birds available; and they sure as hell are not parasitising Rustic Bunting”.
This brought a laugh from everyone, including Ari.
Another bird that could sometimes be found in this area was Hawk Owl, although it was a bad year for this species, and so it proved.
Yet another likely spot produced several TREE PIPIT,a WRYNECK, which did not want to be seen, a GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, BLACK WOODPECKER, and many BRAMBLING. In addition, there were at least five CUCKOO dashing about and being mobbed by everything in sight. Even Paul was impressed by the incredible range of sounds they were producing, he claimed that he was hearing many of them for the first time. I then had a flash of inspiration, “What does an Oriental Cuckoo sound like Ari”. He froze ,and went through his C.D collection putting on the call of Oriental Cuckoo. It didn’t bear any resemblance, and the Cuckoos didn’t take any notice so it had to go down as a good try.
Oriental Cuckoos do occasionally occur in eastern Finland, but are virtually indistinguishable from Common Cuckoo except for their call.
A reed bed beside a pond produced nesting WHOOPER SWAN, and for a change SEDGE WARBLER.
A short time later we came to a screaming stop as Paul spotted three CAPERCAILLIE, a short distance from the track in a tree, they didn’t hang about though. Only a few hundred yards further on we spotted three SIBERIAN JAY, in a tree; they didn’t hang about neither, any more than did the two GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER at this spot.
We stopped for a picnic lunch in a grove of unusually high conifers, close to a four foot high WOOD ANT mound. After some really excellent sandwiches, and the remainder of the wine, one or two of our company nodded off whilst I went off looking for Siberian Tit, and Rustic Bunting of course, both unsuccesfully. All we had as company for lunch was a PIED FLYCATCHER, and circulating CUCKOOS. We afterwards referred to this area as Cuckoo Corner.
A very rough track towards the east brought us into a hugh upland bog . We came to a standstill when a flock of about thirty TUNDRA BEAN GEESE, flew across the bog. As we climbed down another single BEAN GOOSE flew close by. A more than co-operative red spotted BLUETHROAT occupied everyone on the ‘scopes for some time. Two “feldegg” i.e Black Headed YELLOW WAGTAILS, obviously with a near by nest also attracted much admiration.
Another GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, plus two WHINCHAT, and a very close NORTHERN WHEATEAR, made this a very productive halt.
To put the icing on the cake, someone spotted a female BLACK GROUSE, and a SPOTTED REDSHANK, not to mention a passing KESTREL. It was in fact incredible how few raptors we saw during the holiday. Before we left the bog Su found a COMMON LIZARD, which withstood a close examination by every one. “That looks an interesting lake” said Paul pointing ahead down the hill. “We’d better give that one a miss, that’s in Russia”, Ari replied. In view of the imminent border, and a suspicious looking camouflaged vehicle in the trees in the distance, we turned around to retrace our journey.
It was a good 10km back to the main road, and Ari had another C.D session at the wooden bridge to no avail. “I can’t understand it” he mumbled, “they’re not uncommon “
A short distance to the south we turned off east once again, down a long undulating steep hill through the forest . In view of the fact it was dead straight with a smooth tarmac surface, Ari really put his foot down. I couldn’t see the speedo, but I was getting nervous when we came to a halt at the Klutakongas visitors centre. This was quite an impressive operation guarding a series of waterfalls and rapids that were a great tourist attraction. Boardwalks and paths led down through the forest following the edge of the river. Ari told us that this area was a good possibility for both Hazel Grouse and Siberian Tit. Naturally we didn’t see them, and in fact there were precious few birds of any description. All that we did see were a RAVEN, some SISKIN and a WILLOW WARBLER. Paul was delighted however when Val dicovered some CALYPSO ORCHIDS growing beneath a tree. An unusual sighting was a tail less WHITE WAGTAIL on the roof of the visitors centre.
A high speed trip back to the hotel followed by the usual ample buffet ensued, My usual enquiry to the other groups ref Rustic Bunting ,Siberian Tit, and Hazel Grouse was met by shaking heads and worried looks, not that we had anything to brag about.
Ari told us that he had a surprise for us after dinner, so we boarded the bus, and headed for Rukka and the “mountains”. We turned off at the lake; Rukka Jarvi, and ground up a steep stoney track for some distance, before coming to a halt. Although warned that it was a steep rough climb, Val elected to go, since her ankle was feeling much better. After about half a mile and three or four hundred feet of elevation, Ari set up the ‘scope, and invited us to look. On the other side of the narrow valley we saw a female EAGLE OWL sitting on her rather exposed nest. To add insult to injury, a dead Hazel Grouse was laid out beside her for supper, or as Ari put it, an ex Hazel Grouse.
Julian wanted to have it as a half tick, but Ari said that he could show him an upright one in Kuusamo museum which would be a slight improvement. Julian was beginning to get uptight about Willow Grouse since he’d missed them all over northern Europe.
A quick trip back to the hotel, and drink was taken by everyone. Needless to add Su and Ari were still at it; drinking, when everyone else headed for bed at round about midnight.
Another enjoyable and varied sunny day, albeit without a new lifer for myself, that is unless Tundra Bean Goose becomes a separate species in the future.
Tomorrow was transfer day and we still needed the non existant Rustic Bunting, and Willow Grouse, as well as Siberian Tit, none of which were likely near Heklsinki, although Ari confessed to me in confidence that one of the other leaders had told him of an occupied breeding site for the latter, which we would try to find in the morning. Tomorrows transfer to Helsinki did not leave until 1600, so we had a last desperate chance at the missing species.
Arose at 0500; packed my case for the transfer, and went for a walk in the town. The lake wasn’t too inspiring, with nothing within range, except for the occasional COMMON TERN fishing. The town gardens were alive with FIELDFARES, together with the occasional PIED FLYCATCHER and REDWING.
We were on the road for pre breakfast; desperate, birding at 0600, heading north once more, this time heading west off the main road south of Rukka and into a rather monotonous forest. After thrashing around among the trees for some time and seeing absolutely nothing, we returned to the bus. Ari after a lot of studying of the map and mumbling, got onto his mobile phone to his informant, Olly. At this, his face cleared. He,d been given the correct location, but there were two nearby areas called Oivanki, and we’d gone to the wrong one.
The correct one was only about two miles away, and was in very similar surroundings. A rather monotonous tract of forest with closely packed trees, and little or no undergrowth. We parked near a roadside “dacha” with a thriving HOUSE MARTIN colony, and headed into the trees. Ari told us to scout around and look for nest boxes. I found the first one, so the troops gathered round to see what ,if anything would emerge. A bird did emerge, but it was a SPOTTED FLYCATCHER, so we split up to try again. Val found the next one: a COMMON REDSTART. Very pretty, but not the right bird. Julian and I were beginning to get very twitchy , Su wasn’t too bothered since she’d already had thirty “lifers” by this time.
Ari was next to find a box, so we gathered about 10 metres away to await results. A bird approaching from our left turned out to be another Redstart, but no result from the box. At this Ari tried a little electronic encouragement. Almost immediately, a little brown head emerged from the hole, to look at us. At the same moment the male SIBERIAN TIT flew in from the right and perched on the box.
The birds changed shift and the female flew away. Julian and I chanted in unison;”Another crippler bites the dust”, but we were still two short. “ Thank Christ for that”;said Paul, “now we can have breakfast”.
As Ari had said, it could not be mistaken, the head really was a very medium brown; nowhere near black, and the buff flanks did not show up at all well.
Our triumphant return to the hotel was tempered by the fact that the other groups had all seen Siberian Tit on the previous day, but no one had yet seen Rustic Bunting or Hazel Grouse. “After breakfast we shall be the first “ said Ari.
Following the eponimous breakfast we loaded the cases and climbed aboard and heading for the old church site again.
Although I still had hopes of the Grouse, which after all; although awkward to see, is found over most of Northern Europe. I’d just about given up on the Bunting however, which is a far northern species, with Finland it’s only toehold in Europe.
At the church site we plunged into the trees, with Ari in the lead, who soon shouted . “I’ve got one”. By the time we caught him up, all we saw was a movement in the bushes “Now’s the time to get tough’, he said, and started his C.D recording. A superb male HAZEL GROUSE nearly took our heads off in it’s haste to get at it’s electronic rival. It circled around us about ten to fifteen feet away, perching on the bottom most branches of the trees. Binoculars were surplus and’scopes were useless. The bird was obviously getting somewhat agitated, so Ari switched off the “persuader” and we left the scene.
A grinning Julian said;” Now for the Rustic Bunting”.
It appeared that Ari had been told of a Rustic Bunting singingon the previous day by a Finnish birder on his mobile phone, so naturally he had passed it on to Olly and the other parties. On our way to the site to the north east of the town, we called in to have another look for Little Bunting at the lake.There was nothing there of note except for MUSKRATS, so we set off north beyond Rukka, and turned east towards Virkkula. We came to a halt in an area of thin forest , with a narrow stretch of scrubland on the south side. As we set up the ‘scopes to scan the scrub, three other mini buses arrived. There were plenty of birds around, of the usual common species, but a first for us was a juvenile COMMON ROSEFINCH, a miserable dark grey and nondescript bird, without a trace of pink on it. The faithful C.D player came into play, with absolutely no effect. obviously the Rustic Bunting had flown, and a depressed gloom settled over everyone. Olly and myself spotted a soaring SPARROWHAWK, and a couple of WAXWINGS, but naturally this failed to cheer anyone up.. “There’s one last remote possibility “, said Ari,” but I,m not too hopeful and it is a long way, but I think we’ve just about got time. Dont tell the others, since they might be disappointed” .
We set off at high speed along the main road south for about 40km, and Val said innocently,”I thought we were flying to Helsinki”.... We turned off the road at an area called Ilvaaria onto a forest track for a short distance, and hurried downhill through a thin forest to where a wooden footbridge crossed a river between two lakes. It was a really delightful peaceful spot, the sun was blazing down, and the fish were jumping, but there were precious few birds except for a COMMON SANDPIPER feeding by the water, and the odd BRAMBLING and WILLOW WARBLER floating about. A COMMON BLUE butterfly, and a COMMON FROG gave us a few minutes concentration. A short stroll along the forest track through the low scrub produced nothing but another frog. Ari turned on his electronic persuader, to no avail, but I’d heard the Rustic Bunting song on C.D.so often by now that I could actually recognise it.
We arrived back at the bridge and leaned on the rail, when I heard the by now familiar song. I turned to ask Ari if he’d got his C.D on again. He was standing rigid; “No, that’s the real thing”, he said. We scanned the waterside bushes in a fever of excitement, and Ari switched on his persuader. The bird obviously possessed a sense of drama, as a russet, white and black vision exploded amongst us and perched twenty feet away on a bush overhanging the water, singing his by now familiar song. We had about three minutes of superlative views, then Ari switched off his recorder, and the RUSTIC BUNTING flew back into the forest. “That’s it , now let’s go and catch that plane” said Ari., dashing off.
It was a much happier party that endured the high speed race to Kuusamo airport.
The other parties were already booked in, and in the departure lounge, and Olly asked us where we’d been. Did we enjoy ourselves? It was now our turn to brag since none of the other parties had seen either Hazel Grouse or Rustic Bunting. And people say that birding isn’t stressful!
We all bade our fond farewells to Ari, whilst Su walked him back to the bus to bid a personal farewell to her drinking companion, returning ten minutes later with a tear in her eye. Seriously though we were all sorry to see him go.
Our DC9 left on time and arrived in Helsinki on time, the luggage reappeared, and we were introduced to our new Finnature leader; Antero Topp, “call me Andy”, although Paul who had met him before insisted on using his full name. He was about forty years old, small dark bespectacled and balding, with a nasal voice and thick accent. He lived on the outskirts of Espoo with his wife and family, and was said to be Finlands top birder, producing a superb birding magazine,and running his own independant international tours. He didn’t have Ari’s sense of humour, and was not as friendly being rather earnest, but really was a top class birder as he constantly proved.
Our transport was once again a VW minibus, with dark purple velvet upholstery and roof lining. A disadvantage was that two of the seats faced rearwards. Although extremely luxurious, no one liked it very much and immediately christened it “The Hearse”. It somehow had that effect on one, also it was now so hot that most of the locals were wearing shorts.
The trip around one of the interminable six lane ring roads to Espoo was extremely fraught due to the dense and fast moving traffic. We were just not used to it. A BLACK WOODPECKER was seen flying across the road, but since I was facing rearwards did not see it.
Espoo appeared to be a dormitory city a miles or two west of Helsinki, and although very green and open, was very ultra modern and did not seem to have a heart. The Hotel Kuninkaante was enduring some refurbishment, but was quite suitable, although we seemed to be about the only people staying there, despite it’s sixty rooms. In short it was not a terribly attractive establishment. Most of our contact with the staff was via two extremely attractive and humorous girls, who did their best to make our short stay a pleasant one.
After unpacking,I had a shower, and raided the minibar for a beer, since I had been sweating the proverbial “cobs”: all day.
An extremely good dinner was served to us by the girls, and we met Andy and the bus outside for an evening trip .
The area of Helsinki seemed to be circled by a number of six lane ring roads, all infested by masses of fast moving traffic. In fact you were rarely far away from the roar of traffic anywhere, except in the middle of the so called night.
The main roads also appeared to be of recent origin and suffered from the same problems. Old buildings were not evident at all, except in the centre of Helsinki, and every part of the infrastructue seemed to all have been built about twenty years ago. In short I did not like the Helsinki area, and to be quite honest totally lost my sense of direction whenever we went out.
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We endured a short trip to a nature reserve called Laajalahti very close to the city. it consisted of a great rarity; a large old house, and a stretch of forest leading down to a large marsh and reed bed adjacent to the sea. Andy told us that the authorities wanted to destroy the forest in order to build an extension to the university. Although the marsh was a reserve, the forest area wasn’t. It seems the Finns are as bad as us, when it comes to the environment.
The forest area produced COMMON CROSSBILL, SPOTTED FLYCATCHER, and PIED FLYCATCHER, as well as the usual WILLOW WARBLER, BRAMBLING, and FIELDFARE.
We then walked around the landward side of the marsh, registering SEDGE WARBLER, REED BUNTING, SNIPE, MUTE SWAN, WIDGEON, GREAT CRESTED GREBE, and MALLARD. Although Bearded Reedling were present they refused to show themselves. In fact nothing too different from a British marsh. At the edge however a Corncrake was calling, but inevitably, it wasn’t co-operating.
We then left the marsh and entered an area of rough scrub and deciduous trees. The noise pollution from the ring road was murderous, and the mosquito’s even worse, Su suffering particularly badly, since she was wearing shorts. She blamed Andy for not warning us, but who would go into a marsh on a warm evening in shorts? I had worn my Paramo for this evening, but even I got bites on my hands and wrists. The two ladies suffered the worst inevitably and emerged with more than their share of red blotches.
Our first bird in this spot was surprisingly a PHEASANT, whilst Andy using his “persuader” gave us excellent,if fleeting views of a MARSH WARBLER.
We wasted a long time trying to get a glimpse of a deafening, high powered THRUSH NIGHTINGALE in some dense hawthorn. The sheer volume from such a small bird was absolutely unbelievable. As is usual with species, it kept well out of sight, much to everyone’s disappointment. Although this species is quite common in the area, and can be heard all over the place,seeing them is a different proposition.
With Su moaning for England ,we headed back the short distance to the hotel. She soon shut up in the bar however, when I shoved a large glass of wine in front of her. This was used to wash down her anti hystamine tablets; as were several more, which had an unfortunate effect on the following day.
We all had our share of drink reviewing the day, and left for our beds in broad daylight at midnight.
FINL1JU.DOC PAGE 17
Saturday 1st June 2002
After a good nights sleep with a certain amount of scratching at my bites, I awoke and was dressed for 0545, ready for a 0600 liftoff, to observe what was left of the Arctic migration. As I emerged from my room, Su emerged still in her nighty; looking very well scrubbed up, saying that she’d overslept, and would we please wait for her.
We were finally away by 0610, with Su feeling very rough. Not surprising on the amount of drink consumed in order to wash down the anti-hystamine tablets. We raced along the inevitable six lane highway westwards for some 20k, before turning south off the main road on to a forested minor road.
We parked after a short distance, among a whole lot of other cars, which belonged to Finnish birders.
Our destination; the Porkalla penninsular, is a famous migration point, and in addition currently contained a great rarity for Finland in the person of a Grey Phalarope, which many people had come to see. The path wound through a forest, with a floor of volcanic pavement, except where the trees were growing of course, and although the sun was shining brightly it was distinctly chilly, and I was glad of my Paramo jacket.
The forest was absolutely alive with birdsong, mainly consisting of CHIFF CHAFF, WILLOW WARBLER, and the usual woodland species, plus of course FIELDFARE, which we are more used to seeing in open fields. In addition we also clocked up WRYNECK and WOOD WARBLER.
As we walked on I was quite surprised to see the sea on both sides of us as we progressed towards the penninsular.
We moved to the edge of the sea and scanned around, registering fair numbers of BARNACLE GEESE and GOLDENEYE, plus lesser numbers of CANADA GEESE, BRENT GEESE, SHOVELLER, RED BREASTED MERGANSER, VELVET SCOTER, BLACK THROATED DIVER, very smart in their summer plumage, RED NECKED PHALAROPE, similarly smart, and a GREY PHALAROPE, in summer plumage, only the seventh record for Finland, and my first in summer plumage. In addition were COMMON SANDPIPER, GREY PLOVER, OYSTERCATCHER, ARCTIC TERN, and some very superior looking CASPIAN TERN.
We then walked the quarter mile or so to the tip of the penninsular, trying to ignore the all night fishermen, whom Andy said used the fishing as an excuse to drink all night. By the state of them they’d had my share as well. Andy told us that drunkeness was a tremendous problem in Helsinki on account of ferrying cheap vodka in from Estonia. The tip of the penninsular was crowded with about thirty birders, all of whom seemed to know Andy. Out at sea the gulf was crowded with islands, some very close, presenting a most picturesque scene. In addition to what we’d already seen, we registered hugh numbers of EIDERS with their chicks, the usual GULLS, a number of TUFTED DUCK, GOOSANDER, TURNSTONE , and CORMORANT, with still more BLACK THROATED DIVER flying over, in addition to a much closer view of the Grey Phalarope. Andy scanning the horizon, suddenly gained everyones attention when he spotted a POMARINE SKUA. It was the merest dot even through the ‘scopes, but as a Finnish birder said to me;” He’s always right”, and he was, when it eventually came close. We were absolutely amazed, and that is why he’s reckoned to be Finlands top birder. A magnificent picnic breakfast was indulged in, and we were glad to return inland out of the cold wind. En route we had views of a very reluctant ICTERINE WARBLER, and LESSER WHITETHROAT, as well as a SMALL HEATH butterfly.
It was then inland for a short distance to a small open scrubby valley, known to be a good spot for Barred Warbler. After trying with a C.D for some time he decided that they hadn’t yet arrived from the south.
There was however a good colony of COMMON SWIFT zooming about a nearby farmhouse, then Andy spotted a female RED BACKED SHRIKE, perched characteristically on top of a bush, it was then joined by the more brightly coloured male on an adjacent bush, which we enjoyed for some minutes. We then heard a LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER drumming a litttle way away, making a very hollow ringing sound. None of us could see the bird, but then we heard it again from the vicinity of the farmhouse. This was my moment of glory, since I was standing in the only spot it could be seen from. Everyone took a little time to find it, and then we saw the reason for the hollow sound. It was drumming on the metal cap on the top of a telegraph pole. It then moved closer, still victimizing telephone poles, before flying off into a nearby patch of trees.
Su was feeling very ill by now, with a combination of anti hystamine, and alcohol poisoning, so Paul asked Andy to take her back to the hotel to sleep it off.
En route we turned of the main road to look at a marshy area along a stream from a wooden bridge, this being a possible spot for both River Warbler and Blyths Reed Warbler. I was beginning to get twitchy about the latter species, and Julian was twitchy about both. Andy said that Blyths was a very strange bird since it only sang for a day or two upon arrival from the south west, and once it had attracted a mate was completely silent. Since there were no differences visible in the field from Common Reed Warbler, the song was the only indicator. In other words a silent Reed Warbler was to be viewed with suspicion. In addition he told us that River Warbler was a very difficult bird to see. I told him that this hadn’t been my experience in Hungary . He didn’t appear to believe me so I turned to Su for corroboration, but by this time she was feeling too ill to answer.
All we saw here was another miserable looking grey juvenile COMMON ROSEFINCH, COMMON WHITETHROAT, LESSER WHITETHROAT and REED BUNTING. Obviously the Blyths had found a mate and the River Warbler was skulking, that is if they were present at all. Andy did however point out the very obvious song of the Rosefinch phonetically sounding like the the phrase “Pleased to meet you”, and very similar it was too.
With Su now tucked up safely in bed, we headed for Varnas , the outfall lake from the local sewage works. This was extremely large with a hugh reedbed, with a path around, and a viewing tower, totally whitewashed with bird droppings. Our first sighting was immediately outside the bus, in a thin grove of trees, a THRUSH NIGHTINGALE, which uncharacteristically came right out into the open to sing. Once again; it was the sheer power that impressed us, especially from ten metres away. They are said to have a more powerful voice than a Common Nightingale, and I can quite believe it.
The sewage works and power station actually generates on rubbish and waste, which is ecologically sound, however there are plans to drain the marsh to extend the facility which isn’t. Andy told us that the land occupied by the plant used to belong to his wife’s parents, but it was compulsorily purchased at a very poor price. These Scandinavians are really no better than ourselves, despite the propaganda.
Back to the birds: the noise on the pool was almost deafening with the cries of hundreds of pairs of BLACK HEADED GULL breeding in the offshore reed beds. There were other birds however; notable amongst them were several pairs of SLAVONIAN GREBE, in their spectacular summer plumage, many with chicks, in fact most of the birds on the water had flotillas of youngsters.
Andy very proudly pointed out Finland’s only pair of breeding MOORHEN, which of course we’d totally ignored. Also present were several COOT, GOLDENEYE, GADWALL, WIDGEON, POCHARD, MALLARD, GARGANEY, TUFTED DUCK, and MUTE SWAN. It was quite a new experience to see all these young ducklings of differing species, many of which are rarely seen in the U.K. Following this ,we had an excellent pasta lunch in a restaurant in Espoo.
We next motored west of Porkalla inland, to a number of small lakes and sand pits, in an agricultural area. Exactly why we went to these lakes, I couldn’t comprehend initially, until Andy told us that a drake American Widgeon had been present on one of the pits for some years. Neither myself or Julian were too bothered since we had both seen one before. At last we left the six lane highway onto quieter side roads, and soon stopped when Andy noticed an ORTOLAN BUNTING, accompanied by a WHINCHAT on the roadside telegraph wires.
The first lake; in an area known as Mirans, was a long narrow affair, with reedy edges and a small reedy island. The track ran along the edge, which was very convenient. We stopped with a jerk when Andy heard a GREAT REED WARBLER, blasting out it’s chattering song in the nearby reeds. This one was an awkward individual that did not want to show itself. We eventually got decent views, but it took a lot of time and patience. Other birds on and around the lake were a number of WIDGEON, TUFTED DUCK, POCHARD, GOLDENEYE,GREAT CRESTED GREBE, and three CASPIAN TERN,looking very snooty as usual, plus BLACK HEADED GULL, GOLDFINCH, REED BUNTING, MEADOW PIPIT, WHINCHAT, and two YELLOW WAGTAILS of the thunbergi race
Two small flooded sand pits called Kokkila were next on the agenda. Although the American Widgeon could not be found we registered two magnificent RED NECKED GREBE, GOLDENEYE, WIDGEON, GARGANEY, TEAL all with their attendant flotillas, plus LINNET, GREENFINCH, SAND MARTIN, NORTHERN WHEATEAR, COMMON TERN and LITTLE RINGED PLOVER.
This was the last call except for a stop for non existant Blyths Reed Warbler at a road side reed bed.
Back at the hotel we found Su feeling much better, since she had slept all day. In view of her incapacity, the drinking was kept to a minimum. Went to bed, somewhat weary at midnight, and still no Blyths Rreed Warbler.
Awoke and was out and about by 0530, on the usual beautiful sunny day, with the temperature already up to twenty degrees. As I stood at the deserted hotel entrance a pair of RED SQUIRRELS taking absolutely no notice , approaching to within a metre of me. I walked in the direction of Espoo railway station. Birds were almost exclusively FIELDFARE and CHAFFINCH, on the lawns and in the trees.
Apart from three teenagers waiting for an early morning bus, and a drunk still unconcious on a lawn, the place was deserted. The modern railway station consisted of two through platforms and two bays; and a healthy colony of HOUSE MARTINS nesting under the roofs, with two commuter trains due within the next fifteen minutes.
The 0610 to Helsinki was in charge of a yellow and red five car EMU, power cars numbered 6283 and 6097.
The 0638 to Kirkkonummi was a similar EMU 6204 and 6054, this time in a more presentable red and white. I must say that everything about the railway appeared to be clean and efficient, although the motive power was somewhat boring.
Su appeared at breakfast back on form, and had been out at 0500 and walked a short distance to a small river. The birds weren’t notable but she did disturb a BROWN HARE, from it’s sleep together with a very tiny leveret.
After an ample breakfast we were on the road by 0800. This was our last chance for Blyths Reed Warbler, which is found nowhere else in Europe. Having had experience of these foreign bird guides, I ought to have known that Andy was winding us up.
We went into Helsinki, passing en route over a long bridge spanning a hugh expanse of railway yards and some enormous car sheds. Near the centre of the city; we parked at a hugh nature reserve called , wait for it : Valhankaupunginlahti. This consisted of a the River with an unpronouncable name, a vast area of reed beds, some woodland and a few medium sized lakes, the whole lot interlaced with wooden board walks. As I have commented before, wood is one thing the Finns are not short of. One side of the reserve was overlooked by the modern multi storey buildings of the Helsinki business district. This being both a Sunday and the start of the school holidays, there were plenty of families out enjoying the sunshine. The first small band of woodland produced singing THRUSH NIGHTINGALE, WILLOW WARBLER, CHAFFINCH, the inevitable FIELDFARE, and a pair of GOOSANDER, on a stream.
The reed beds were alive with REED BUNTINGS and vast numbers of SEDGE WARBLER, but there were no sign of the Bearded Reedling which were allegedly common in this reserve.
The small open pools contained WIDGEON, TEAL and MALLARD, and finally one or two genuinely rosy coloured COMMON ROSE FINCHES all singing “Pleased to meet you”. In addition there were a number of some abnormally small PEACOCK butterflies, measuring little more than one and a half inches wing span.
The next stretch of woodland alongside the marsh was much more productive producing excellent views of ICTERINE WARBLER and finally to our collective relief BLYTHS REED WARBLER singing it’s little heart out five metres away from us. “O.K, we can all relax now”, said Paul, as we cheered up with all tension released.
As we re entered the marsh, a scuffle in the bushes revealed a young barely fledged FIELDFARE, which Andy picked up for us to examine. We were promptly atttacked by the adult birds, which made Andy release the youngster, which promptly proved that it could fly quite well.
We then ascended the inevitable thirty foot wooden tower overlooking the marsh. We all set ourselves to look for one of Finlands rare breeding pair of Citrine Wagtail, which breed in the marsh. We saw plenty of YELLOW WAGTAILS but no Citrines.
Birds seen on the marsh and around a nearby lake were GOLDENEYE, GREAT CRESTED GREBE, GREY HERON, MUTE SWAN, GREAT BLACK BACKED GULL, OYSTERCATCHER, COMMON TERN, SWALLOW, and LESSER WHITETHROAT. In addition, an unusual sight were a number of STOCK DOVES present on the marsh and flying over.
Andy then heard a RIVER WARBLER singing, and with a little electronic persuasion, it came close to give everyone good views. Next bird on stage was a LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER, which I spotted flying towards us along the edge of the wood. Andy suggested that I was becoming a Woodpecker specialist, which was enhanced when we descended into the wood and I spotted another or the same one fly into a hole in a dead tree. A judicious tap on the tree produced the bird poking it’s head out to see who was making a call.
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Apart from an excellent view of a BLACKCAP, there was little else of note in the reserve that we hadn’t seen before.
Andy then took us on a tour of the city centre and the harbour areas, which was much more attractive than the dormitory cities, with a number of attractive old buildings. There were large numbers of tourists about, and a modern tram system threaded the streets. An odd feature was a number of BARNACLE GEESE grazing on virtually every patch of grass. Another feature of Finnish”eco-conciousness” was a large inlet over which we passed on a bridge, which is to be infilled for development purposes.
After picking up the luggage from the hotel, we headed for the airport via the sewage pond at Varnas for Su to see the SLAVONIAN GREBES. Apart from the inevitable FIELDFARE, this was probably our last Finnish bird. Another call en route was a Black Woodpecker nest hole at the edge of a supermarket car park, but the birds had flown.
The usual ample lunch at a filling station was indulged in, we bade goodbye to Andy ,and our A320
airbus took off on time. Su sat by the window and I peered over the top of her out of the window, which wasn’t difficult, and we arrived at Heath Row spot on time..
By the time I reached the carousel my luggage was the only one left, which must have been a record. I wished everyone a fond farewell, and went to the tube. Forty five minutes later I boarded a jam packed train and stood all the way to Kings Cross.
Five minutes wait at Kings Cross Thameslink, and I was en route to Luton.This was necessitated due to St Pancras being closed due to work on the Channel tunnel link .
As I waited for my train at Luton I saw my first rain for over a week as we had a brief heavy shower.
I phoned Pat from the train, and she met me at Derby station finally arriving home at 2300, after a great holiday in the “frozen” north.
General Impressions of Finland:- 25th May to 2nd June
Finland , as we saw it, can be divided into three separate areas:-
The north western area around the city of Oulu; population 117,000 is almost totally flat, with hardly a trace of a slope anywhere. The city is bounded on the west by the Gulf of Bothnia which is around one hundred and thirty miles wide at this point, with Sweden on the far side. There is one large island off the coast and many smaller ones, some of them as well as parts of the coast supporting single wind turbines.
We were accommodated on the south side of the city, on the far side of a small bay the sea being some ten minutes walk away. The city itself, of which we only saw the suburbs; appeared a modern tidy place with many trees and green spaces. The trees both here; and in the rest of the country, were almost exclusively Norwegian Spruce
and Silver Birch, which rarely exceeded thirty foot in height.
Inland, the country consisted of mixed forest, with a few open spaces, and many lakes, some of them extremely large.
Main roads throughout the country were excellent, with little traffic except in the vicinity of the cities. Houses and other buildings in the rural areas were of single storey construction, made of wood and painted in pastel shades with detail picked out in white.
The cities were mainly ultra modern with multi storey buildings, rarely more than four floors except in Helsinki.
Our second base:- Kuusamo was much smaller, lt reminded one of a small town in the U.S.A. Very wide streets and modern buildings. It is in fact a winter sports resort and nothing more than a large village with a population of about 20,000. We were accommodated in a two hundred room hotel in the centre overlooking a large lake.
The hotel nedless to add was not well filled.
The country hereabouts was much hillier and contained Finlands highest “mountain”
at around thirteen hundred feet . The trees were a little smaller and there was more open ground studded with boulders. Also there were many more lakes, some of enormous size.
Our third base; Espoo, was literally a dormitory city to Helsinki, which formed a hugh connurbation, intersected by multi lane highways. I did not like this area at all although there were plenty of trees and open space. Buildings were nearly all muti storey and modern with little evidence of old buildings. Noise pollution from heavy traffic was almost constant.
The Finnish people generally were physically not a very attractive race. They were generally fair haired and thin. I never saw a female that was worth a second look, whilst Ari; our leader for the majority of the holiday, was probably the best looking Finn we saw.
Other Types of Wildlife noted in Finland, May 25th to June 2nd 2002
a) Mammals,rodents etc. b) Reptiles
Elk (Moose) Common Lizard
Reindeer Snake Species(probably Adder)
Roedeer Common Frog
Red Squirrel
Rabbit
Brown Hare
Arctic Hare
Red Fox
Wood Mouse
Lepidoptera
Small White (Artogeia rapae) ##
Green Veined White (Artogeia napi)
Large White (Pieris brassicae)
Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni)
Peacock (Inachis io)
Small Tortoisehell (Aglais urticae)
Camberwell Beauty (Nymphalis antiopa)
Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines) ##
Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus)
Little Blue (Cupido minimus)
Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus)
Common Blue (Polyommatus menelaos)
Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi) #
Plus a number of unidentifiable moths
BIRDS
Black- throated Diver
Great-Crested Grebe
Red Necked Grebe
Slavonian Grebe
Great Cormorant
Grey Heron
Mute Swan
Whooper Swan #
Bean goose
Greylag Goose
Canada Goose
Barnacle Goose
Brent Goose
Common Shelduck
Eurasian Widgeon
Gadwall
Common Teal
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Garganey
Northern Shoveler
Common Pochard
Tufted Duck #
Common Eider
Common Scoter
Velvet Scoter *
Common Goldeneye #
Smew
Red Breasted Merganser
Goosander
White tailed Eagle
Marsh Harrier
Eurasian Sparrowhawk
Osprey
Common Kestrel
Hazel Grouse *
Willow Grouse *
Black Grouse *
Capercaillie
Common Pheasant
Corncrake
Moorhen
Common Coot
Common Crane
Little Ringed Plover
Great Ringed Plover
European Golden Plover
Northern Lapwing
Temminck’s Stint
Dunlin
Broad Billed Sandpiper
Ruff
Common Snipe
Woodcock
Black Tailed Godwit
Eurasian Curlew #
Spotted Redshank
Common Redshank #
Common Greenshank
Green Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
Ruddy Turnstone
Red -necked Phalarope
Grey Phalarope
Pomarine Skua
Little Gull
Black Headed Gull ##
Lesser Black Backed Gull
Common Gull #
Herring Gull ##
Great Black Backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Common Tern #
Arctic Tern
Little Tern
Rock (Feral) Dove #
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Stock Dove
Common Cuckoo
Eagle Owl
Pygmy Owl *
Ural Owl
Great Grey Owl *
Short-Eared Owl
Common Swift
Wryneck
Black Woodpecker
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Lesser-Spotted Woodpecker
Three Toed Woodpecker *
Sky Lark
Sand Martin
Barn Swallow ##
House martin
Tree Pipit
Meadow Pipit
Yellow Wagtail #
White Wagtail ##
Bohemian Waxwing
Dipper
Hedge Accentor
Robin
Thrush Nightingale
Bluethroat
Red Flanked Bluetail *
Common Redstart
Whinchat
Northern Wheatear
Blackbird
Fieldfare ##
Song Thrush
Redwing
Mistle Thrush
River Warbler
Sedge Warbler
Blyths Reed Warbler *
Marsh Warbler
Reed Warbler
Great Reed Warbler
Icterine Warbler
Lesser Whitethroat
Common Whitethroat
Garden Warbler
Blackcap
Wood Warbler
ChiffChaff
Willow Warbler ##
Goldcrest
Spotted Flycatcher
Red Breasted Flycatcher
Pied Flycatcher ##
Willow Tit
Crested Tit
Siberian Tit *
Coal Tit
Blue Tit
Great Tit ##
Eurasian Treecreeper
Red Backed shrike
Great Grey Shrike
Eurasian Jay
Siberian Jay *
Magpie ##
Eurasian Jackdaw
Rook
Carrion (Hooded) Crow
Common Raven
Common Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch ##
Brambling
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Siskin
Linnet
Common Redpoll
Common Crossbill
Common Rosefinch *
Bullfinch
Yellowhammer
Ortolan Bunting
Rustic Bunting *
Reed Bunting # |
