Wildlife

James Lowen

On the way out to Lapland, I told Dave that I intended to see no more than 25 species, preferring quality to quantity. I failed, seeing a dozen or so more than this upper limit. These included the final tick of the trip - a brilliant, if distant, Gyrfalcon. We watched this soar over Hornoya, while we were parked up at one of Tormod's new hides on Vardo. Watching the falcon crash into a Kittiwake, then devour it at length, surrounded by corvids, is an experience that will long stay with us. No photos due to the distance, I'm afraid. So what follows are the oddjob birds that don't really fit on any of the other pages. We saw a few White-tailed Eagles, but only one well. Apart from Tysties, most of the distant auks around Vardo and Hornoya went unidentified. The only one that came close was easily identifiable as a Brunnich's Guillemot, even on jizz. I can't explain how (blunt-tipped? short-tailed?) but it was really distinctive; watch out for me busking one off Cley coastguards next winter... A Great-spotted Woodpecker visited the grosbeak feeders, Hooded Crows were all over and Purple Sandpipers sped around shorelines: is there a wader that winters further north?

We expected to see several Hawk Owls between Njelan Tuupen Tupa and Vadso. On the way up, this proved a forlorn hope as the weather was so bad we could barely see the road let alone roadside owls. On the way back, we followed up some gen from Tormod Amundsen and headed towards Varangerbotn. Conveniently Simon Colenutt and Trevor Codlin had just located an owl - which showed well if a bit briefly, before heading off hunting. We headed back south into Finland. Simon and Trevor headed east... and found an adult Ivory Gull!

BLOG 26 Mar 2015

Siberian Jay, Hawk Owl and more

The third of my potential ticks at Njelan Tuulen Tupa was Siberian Jay. I knew it would be the hardest, and so it proved. In the first 24 hours there, we dipped. Dutch photographers conveyed painful recollections of a pair within touching distance the previous few days. "You should have been here earlier...". On the way back from Varanger, passing through roadside pine forest, I managed brief views and dodgy record shots of one bird. Great - but not the full ticket. Upon return to Njelan Tuulen Tupa, however, a pair visited for just over a minute - allowing me to get some cracking shots, but not staying long enough for Dave to leave the restaurant and see them. Serves him right for eating so slowly.