Finland Long Weekend

14th-17th March 2015 - Helsinki

 

Thanks to the good people of Bongariliitto (the Finnish twitching/birding society) I just made a brief visit to Helsinki. I was invited to their 30th anniversary meeting to give a presentation on the identification and taxonomy of Isabelline and Brown Shrikes; of course I also managed to fit in a few days birding. Thanks to Kari Haataja, who very generously gave up his time to show me around, I had a splendid three days. No owls sadly, and no Three-toed Woodpecker (though I did hear it) but five White-tailed Eagles, a couple of Black Woodpeckers and some fascinating gulls were real highlights.

 

Great Grey Shrike - seen every day, always good value.

Snow Bunting

Hooded Crow - ubiquitous

Searching for Three-toed Woodpecker - at least I heard it.

White-headed nominate caudatus Long-tailed Tit

Jackdaw - race soemmerringii sporting a white necklace.

The fine art of shed watching

Waiting for the White-tailed Eagles

Still waiting, Janne Aalto demonstrates the famous 'Finnstick'.

My first White-tailed Eagle - seriously un-tickable views.

That's more like it.

White-tailed Eagle - a young bird.

That's as close at it came.

The Bird Tower at Kirkkonummi Saltfjärden - how about one of these on the Exminster Marshes?

Whooper Swans heading north.

And I thought I had issues with dodgy Herring(?) Gulls - more on these later.

Thanks again to Kari and everyone at Bongariliitto; and as for the species I didn't see, that's just an excuse to go back some day.

A week in Sardinia - the birds

Just got back from a week in Sardinia. A really nice holiday with Carolyn, Jack and Sally (both rather too old to be still going away with their parents but unable to resist a free trip). As a birding trip - which it was never really meant to be - it was disappointing. Maybe it was the time of year but birding was a real struggle, very few birds in evidence and most even more unapproachable than in Britain.

Here's some rather poor photos.

Eleonora's Falcon - Sardina.

My one piece of real luck, not expecting to see this given our location at the 'wrong' end of the island, I jammed onto this on my first morning out. Just a shame about the quality of the photo.

Bee-eater - Sardinia.

Plenty of these and some big flocks, but always in poor light.

Griffon Vulture - Sardinia

Driving through the mountains I noticed a couple of these soaring close to the road, by the time I'd pulled over they were heading away from me.

Scopoli's Shearwater - Sardinia

Another departing shot from a short boat trip, identified solely on basis of location.

Hooded Crow - Sardinia

Zitting Cisticola/Fan-tailed Warbler - Sardinia

I'm actually quite pleased with this shot, given the light and distance.

Little Stint - Sardina

Flamingo - Sardinia

At least these were easy enough to photograph.

Stone Curlew - Sardinia

Which is more than can be said for these - a real record shot.

Spanish Sparrow - Sardinia

Common but surprisingly hard to photograph.

Sardinian Warbler - Sardinia

A Sardinian Warbler in Sardinia of course. Pretty much ubiquitous - every bush seemed to have them but again frustratingly hard to photograph.

Gulls and then other wildlife to follow.