Day 7 (25 May): We drove on to Ivalo where we were to stay at the next hotel, birding as we went. We crossed the Arctic Circle at Tonkopuro and, a while later, we stopped for a walk up to a mountain plateau near Saariselkä. Day 8 (26 May): We spent the day exploring the area. Before lunch, we stopped off at some Reindeer pens and then drove up a mountain. Lunch was taken at what we nick-named the Grosbeak…
Day 4 (22 May): We drove on to Kuusamo and had great views of another Hawk Owl. Hawk Owls pretty much ignore people and this pair had set up home on the edge of a farm house garden and right next to a country road. We made a stop at a nature reserve at Liminka on the Baltic Coast and we sat and enjoyed our coffee while watching a Black Woodpecker that was nesting in a big tree on a…
Day 3 (21 May): We drove on to Oulu, stopping at a roadside café decorated with a large number of bells and doing some birding on the way. After dinner, we set off for an evening with owls. A local expert took us to the nest of a Great Grey Owl that he was monitoring while the female bird stared at us with her yellow eyes from a nearby birch tree. Our ringer friend was ringing a brood of Tengmalm’s…
Day 1 (19th May): Paul, Shirley and I arrived at Helsinki airport and met rest of group and our local guide, Tuomas Seimola. We drove to Lahti area where we spent two nights at the Manor Hotel in Messilä and on the first evening we had a lovely meal opposite the old Hollolan church followed by a walk to the edge a lake. Day 2 (20 May): Birding around the Hauho-Lahti area started with a Wryneck in the garden of…
This fantastic birding bonanza took us from the lakes and forests of Finland to the fjords and mountains of northern Norway.