Finland February 2nd - 6th 2007

The arrival of an Azure Tit at Oulu in addition to regular sightings of Great Grey, Ural and Hawk Owls in southern Finland tempted Kev DuRose, David Jenkins and myself into a long weekend break in Finland. With flights booked it was though a little disappointing when the Tampere Hawk Owl disappeared and Great Grey and Ural Owl sightings seemed to die off the week before our departure but at least the sometimes elusive tit had been showing in the same garden for four consecutive days.

February 2nd

Depart Barton at 00:00hrs and arrive at Stansted at 04:00 for our 06:10 flight to Tampere. The flight arrived early at 10:40 local time and with few birds available in the south we decided to make the long drive north to our accommodation 90km east of Oulu at Valla. It was relatively mild at -5C but with extensive snow cover and ice covered roads. Leaving Tampere in overcast weather our very first bird was a Golden Eagle flying over the road; thereafter the bird list from the car struggled on to eight species by the end of the day; birds were clearly not abundant. Light snow fell as we headed north on the 300 mile drive eventually arriving at Valla at 19:15hrs well and truly tired after a night without sleep and the long drive.

Birds seen:

Golden Eagle, Sparrowhawk 1, Northern Bullfinch, Jay, Hooded Crow, Jackdaw and Magpie the three commonest species, and Kev picked up a flock of Black Grouse flying over the car.

February 3rd

Having arranged a guided trip for the Azure Tit and Pine Grosbeaks we left Valla at 07:00 and arrived at Oulu at 08:30. The news was not so good! After its four days at the feeder the Azure Tit had not been seen for two days but Harri was confident that with all the birders around we would pick it up somewhere.

Staking out the favoured garden produced a superb male asiatica Nuthatch and several Northern Bullfinches making a wide variety of calls in addition to the expected tit species but the Azure Tit remained an absentee. A visit from a flock of Waxwings, two fly over Crossbills and some nice winter plumaged Red Squirrels were a nice distraction but by 11:30 the mood was sombre and all agreed that we needed to see some target birds so we moved off to look for the Pine Grosbeaks. They were staked out in a suburban area feeding on spruce and Rowan berries. Typically approachable the 3m views were accompanied by a barrage of camera shutters. The light was poor but the birds made up for any loss of aesthetics. Eventually the total flock held 45 birds with three red males. As the day moved rapidly to a close we then headed off to look for Siberian Tit at a feeder in the edge of the woods nearby. A mixed flock of Mealy and Arctic Redpolls in the birches received a fairly short grilling as the light was fast disappearing. Two Siberian Tits were visiting the feeder along with Northern (borealis) Willow Tits, Crested Tit and Northern Bullfinches. A last ditch attempt for the Azure Tit failed again but a female asiatica Nuthatch showed well.

February 4th

Having booked a day’s guiding with Eero we set off for Valla at 08:00 and found a decapitated Hazelhen on the road; our only bird of this species during the trip in spite of a lot of searching. Having met up with Eero we headed off to see Emily and were treated to the amazing spectacle of this star bird diving down at a fantastic speed to pick up the provided mouse from the surface of the snow just 2m from stationary observers. The weather was rather cold with a bone chilling wind but by late morning the cloud broke and bright sunshine developed for a couple of hours. The third attempt at feeding, in nice bright light, failed to tempt Emily down from the top of a tall aspen and the owl eventually flew off purposefully over the forest as if it had seen something in need of investigation further away. We then moved on to a nearby feeding station for Siberian Jays which appeared a couple of times but then also moved off leaving just a northern Treecreeper and a couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers. We opted to return for a further attempt at photographing the Hawk Owl but it was nowhere to be seen and so we had another fruitless search for Hazelhen before retiring to Eero’s house for some much appreciated food and tea.

Around 17:00hrs we started the long drive south towards Uuranien where we hoped to connect with the Azure Tit which had been present for a few days. It was snowing as we departed and with whipping winds blowing the powdery snow across and off the roads driving became more and more interesting! At one stage we met a lorry and completely lost sight of the road for about 20 seconds and at another a snow plough, which must have been travelling itself at about 50mph, enveloped us in a wall of snow and it was just a case of keep the car straight and hope as we could see nothing but snow for all of a 40 seconds; fortunately the road was straight and we eventually made if back to the main Oulu – Tampere road only to find it well iced and with a good covering of snow. Our tactic then was just to keep in sight of the tail lights of a vehicle in front as the roadsides became less and less visible but still everyone was travelling at 50-60mph although visibility was to say the least poor. About 50 miles from Uuranien we came across a hotel and bottled out staying there for the night.

February 5th

The main road was much better and there were only light snow flurries as we drove south and then west to Uuranien. A Goshawk flew across the road and DJ saw a second bird do a similar movement but otherwise Hooded Crow was the only standard species seen. On arrival at the specified garden on the edge of Uuranien it was a surprise to find three Finns already present and during the day there must have been about 30 birders at the site. DJ saw the Azure Tit almost on leaving the car but KD and I had to wait for another 40 minutes before it suddenly appeared on the ground picking up a peanut before disappearing into the bushes to consume it. We then spent most of the day here with the tit coming to the feeder on average about every 45 minutes for a couple of minutes at a time. Photography was very difficult due to distance from the bird, the fact that the feeding station was in the shade, it was also cloudy at times and the ground was covered in food which did not make for very aesthetic photos of the bird in the snow. It was however, a stunning bird and a species which I had never expected to see. Also coming to the feeders were some borealis Willow Tits, Crested Tit, three Red Squirrels and a mixed flock of Redpolls including some nice Arctics. A couple of Ravens and a Jay flew over as did a couple of small flocks of Waxwings. By late afternoon wee were cold so we had a ride in the car further up the road looking for any roadside birds. A mixed flock of 60+ Mealy and Arctic Redpolls were on wires over a meadow with some grass stems protruding from the snow and a flock of about 50 Waxwings was in Uuranien itself but in spite of driving a lot of good looking grouse habitat we found nothing at all. Setting off south we bypassed Tampere seemed to run out of available accommodation eventually having to pay about £55 each for a room at a hotel in Hylinka. By nightfall temperatures had dropped to -25C.

February 6th

The day dawned bright and sunny but particularly cold with temperatures never rising above -21C all day and often being lower especially with wind chill added on. We had an initial look for Great Grey and Ural Owls that had been reported previously in the area but found nothing other than a Goldcrest, 8 Yellowhammers and a few Common Crossbills in the spruce trees. With the superb light we then went in search of Waxwings to photograph and eventually found a nice group in Hylinka which produced some good photos before they flew off over the houses. A few Fieldfares were on the same berry bushes and Arctic and Mealy Redpolls were feeding in the birches. Following an early afternoon hot drink and doughnut we returned to the owl site with no great hope of seeing anything and immediately bumped into a small group of Waxwings feeding low down on the roadside. Some Common Crossbills and more Waxwings were nearby as we made a last ditch search for an owl which would surely be sitting out in the sun on such a cold day; amazingly it was and we then enjoyed amazing views of a roosting Great Grey Owl and were able to take some standard photos. We hoped to see it start hunting but it did not move until 17:10 by which time we were well and truly frozen and unable to follow it. Returned via a meal at the ABC to the luxury (under refurbishment) of Tampere airport for our 23:00 flight to Stansted. Back at Stansted at 23:40 local time we made it to the car park at 01:00 and I was back in Barton at 04:00hrs.