Estonia Part II - Haapsula, Matsula & the NW Coast 24th - 30th May

I drove more or less to Haapsula and slept overnight by the side of the road on the outskirts of town. That's the beauty of carrying your home with you, you can stop anywhere.
Johnnie (Mcloughlan) had given me some sites on the coast north of Haapsula so I decided to start with these the place is called Haversi but there are only one or two houses there and finding a road/track to the coast was not easy. Eventually I found the spot a spit sticking out a short way in to the sea. To get to it I travelled a long bumpy track which amazingly had a house which looked like it had come straight from Grand Designs at the end of it. 

House with a view and an amazing garden bird list I think

I came across a couple of male Red-backed Shrikes which was a good sign as I haven't seen many. Common Rosefinch and Thrush Nightingales were there as ever and I had several Marsh Warbler, one of which had a metal ring on and it would have been very interesting to know where that was from.

Red-backed Shrike - male

There were waders on the beach; 60+ Dunlin, all of the larger brightly coloured subspecies alpina. Apparently only schinzii breeds in Estonia so not surprisingly these are all migrants.

Dunlin of the alpina subspecies

There were also 8 Little Stint, which are scarce here, 2 summer plumaged Curlew Sandpiper, Temminck's Stint but best of all at least 4 Broad-billed Sandpiper.

Mixed flock of wader; Dunlin, Curlew Sandpiper, Ruff and Little Stint

Moving on I drove down the coast, past Pogeri-Sassi which added 4 Avocet to the list plus White-tailed Eagle and about 30 distant Dunlin. Carrying on down the coast to the migrant hot spot of Puise I could only find Wheatear and a few tardy Barnacle Geese. It was windy and still very sunny with temperatures around 26 centigrade.
I stayed at the camp site in Haapsula which was nice and had nest boxes occupied by Pied Flycatchers and several Northern Bullfinch in the area. I have noticed lots of nest boxes, not just in towns but in the isolated woodlands which is very encouraging.
The next day I drove down to Haeska on the north shore of Matsula bay. In the winter this area is thronging with geese and sea duck but it is quiet at the end of May. Another visit to Puise produced a couple of singing and flight displaying Barred Warbler.

Barred Warbler in display flight

I decided to try the Sutlepa Meri area just north of Haapsula, all these sites have bird watching towers but whilst they give a good panorama of the area the birds are much to far away to photograph. There were Little Gulls, White-tailed Eagle and Bitterns booming. Closer in Penduline Tits were calling and feeding. 
Leaving Haapsula I moved up the coast to a lovely woodland camp site almost on the beach. It's just north of Haversi so I had another look at the ponds and was delighted to see at least 23 Broad-billed Sandpiper and this time managed some decent photos. As I walked down the track I could hear a Black Grouse giving its display calls and eventually found the male but too hidden to photograph.

Broad-billed Sandpiper

Just north of Roosta I met another birder watcher, Jan Nordblad a Finn but a great enthusiast for birding in Estonia and currently heading the list of birds seen in Estonia on the Birding Estonia web site. We spent the next couple of days birding together which allowed me to get a better idea of the status of birds in Estonia and the Estonia birding scene in general so thank you Jan!

Jan and I at Spithami

I tried several times for Hazel Hen at a site which Jan kept reminding me was virtually guaranteed for them, but as many of you will know there are few absolute certainties in the birding world.
The following morning we met, after I checked for Hazel Hen, at Spithami at 05:00 (it gets light about 04:00 and dark at 22:00 so they are already long days. Spithami is famous for the migration of Black-throated Divers heading back to their breeding grounds and counts of over a thousand birds in a day are quite common in the Spring. We managed about 70 which is still the most I have seen in a day. Both Red-breasted Merganser and Gooseander were moving up and down the coast with groups of Goldeneye and Common Scoter and parties of Long-taile duck on the sea. We had Crossbills and Hobby and 2 Osprey but it was a quiet day for migration. There is a fantastic cafe at nearby Dirhami which is also good for migrants so we had a break there before resuming our search. The woods there had Red-breasted Flycatchers but couldn't find anything scarce although Jan regaled me with tales of Booted Warblers and other rarities form the coastal islands which he had seen so my enthusiasm never waned.

Red-breasted Flycatcher - singing male, less than 20% have red-breasts

The following morning was similar and the hoped for big diver migration never occurred whist I was there. In the afternoon I drove to the open agricultural fields at Variku which often hold raptors and I did mange a distant harrier but little else.
My final morning in the area we decided to check to Haversi pools for a last time and I was amazed to see that most of the Dunlin had departed but the number of Broad-billed Sandpiper had increased to at least 60 (more likely 70 but I need to check my photos), this is an incredible flock and I can't think of any where else in Europe that gets such a number.

Broad-billed Sandpipers in flight

On that high note I bid Jan farewell and headed for Tallinn for the ferry to Helsinki the following morning. I stopped on the harbour campsite and noted that even here almost in the heart of Tallinn both Common Rosefinch and Thrush Nightingale were singing. So tomorrow I will be entering the Finland stage of my journey.

Birding the Lithuanian Coast 13th - 15th May

We drove north out of Poland, stopping overnight on 13th May at a great camp site by a lake on the outskirts of Kaunas. Local birds included Icterine Warbler, Wryneck and Fieldfare all fairly standard now for parkland habitat. Not many birds on the lake but 2 pairs of Goldeneye were an indication that we were getting further north.
The following morning we drove to Vente which is a short spit of land projecting south in to the Curonian Lagoon towards the isolated Russian state of Kaliningrad and sheltered from the Baltic  by the Curonian Spit, a narrow strip of land which extends about 50km in Lithuania before entering Kaliningrad.
Vente has a bird observatory and the largest Heligoland trap I have ever seen. Approximately 100,000 birds are trapped here annually for migration studies and there are some historical records of ringing recoveries in a very smart museum which I have reproduced below.

Heligoland Trap - the supports look like stands for football stadium lights!

Letter from British Birds regarding a Starling shot in Cornwall in 1932 which had been rung at Vente!

The most striking feature of the area when we arrived was not the birds but the huge numbers of midge type flies which filled the air, fortunately they did not bite but at times it was impossible to breathe without inhaling several. Pam was not impressed, but we stuck with it and saw some interesting birds. 
Around the campsite we had Thrush Nightingales, Icterine and Barred Warbler and several Red-backed Shrike and at least half a dozen Cuckoo.

Barred Warbler - with bars, unlike the Autumn juvs I am familiar with in the UK

Cuckoo's could be heard calling all around Vente

We arrived in poor weather and there were hundreds of Ruff with smaller numbers of Wood Sandpiper and Greenshank moving north on the shoreline.
After birding locally first thing the following morning we drove a few kilometres up the coast to Kintai, where miraculously the flies disappeared, and explored a series of large lakes where we saw at least 13 White-tailed Eagles, 4 Wheatear were the first of the trip and a pair of Montagu's Harrier crossed the road over the car.

White-tailed Eagle immature taking flight

Montagu's Harrier - male

Fortunately the male circled giving me time to grab the camera and jump from the car.
A little further north at Dreverna we found habitat that looked ideal for Aquatic Warbler but all I could see were Sedge. A Honey Buzzard circled over a wood which is my first definite sighting of the Spring although a distance bird in Poland was probably a Honey.
It was raining and very windy the following morning and a short walk added Shelduck to our list and several Black Terns   crossing the spit. The area is a lot like Spurn and I'm sure in the right weather there could be hundreds of grounded migrants.
Before leaving Lithuania we called in at Palanga to have a look at the pier which is witness to a massive movement of ducks, geese and divers in March/April but apart from a handful of Common Scoter the sea was quiet. 
Common and Herring Gulls (argentatus here) were feeding along the pier which had fishermen every few feet catching what looked like some sort of Stone Fish.

Palanga Pier, with viewing seats and fishermen concentrated at the end

The object of the fishermen's attention - there must have been 50+ caught whilst I was there.

Leaving Palanga we continued north in to Latvia.

Biebrza Marshes, Poland 10th to 12th May

On our final morning I did another early check for Bison but again without success, I drove up to the rather remote forest glades of Kosy Most and saw two female Elk cross the road but they were gone in a few strides of their long legs. At Kosy Most I had at least three singing male Barred Warblers which are new for the trip and the first I have seen in their barred breeding plumage.

Barred Warbler

I also got some nice views of Wryneck which, although present around the campsite, I hadn't managed to photograph. Their insistent pee-pee-pee call is a feature of the parks and gardens in this area.

Singing Wryneck

Driving north from Bialowieza we headed for Siemienowka Reservoir. 

Siemienowka Reservoir - in the distance! With a foreboding sky

It looks to be a similar size to my local Carsington Water and like there many of the birds, which included White-winged Black and Whiskered Terns were very distant. As we started to explore the pools at the NE corner three White-tailed Eagles circled, sparring with each other. What an amazing site to see these huge eagles reasonably close.

White-tailed Eagles - immature with colour rings

There were Great Reed Warblers singing in the reeds and giving excellent views and we also recorded our first Red-backed Shrike of the trip, a lovely female.

Great Reed Warbler

Red-backed Shrike -female

No sight our sound of Citrine Wagtails which breed in this area but we left happy with the eagles.

We continued north to the campsite close to the Biebrza National Park offices at Osowiec. We were the only campers at the site which is right by the river and within easy walking distance of pools at Osowiec-Twierdza. I should comment at this point that Pam and I speak no Polish and can just about manage please and thank you but the pronunciation of most of the place names was well beyond us.

On the camp site we had Thrush Nightingales and a calling Lesser Spotted Woodpecker which was nice to see. I also found a Hawfinch next to where we were camped but the female was sitting and the male only seemed to make occasional visits so I missed this photo opportunity. Over the pools we had two Hobby hawking for dragonflies in the evening and there were dozens of Wood Sandpiper feeding on floating vegetation alongside the more familiar Common Sandpiper.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

The following morning I walked round the Osowiec pools and added the first Bluethroat of the trip, a strikingly coloured male.

Osowiec marshes

The reeds also held singing Savi's Warbler and Penduline Tit whilst high overhead groups of White-winged Black and Whiskered Terns flew up river calling with several parties of Ruff.

Bluethroat - male

Later that morning we headed off for the Czar's Road which tracks the eastern edge of southern basin of Biebrza Marshes. We had only travelled a short distance when a bird of prey flew up from the roadside and landed in the trees close by us. Lesser Spotted Eagle, my closest views of this superb bird which stayed in the trees for 5 minutes thankfully allowing me time to get my camera and capture some images.

Lesser Spotted Eagle - adult I think

I got a little confused with the tracks and we ended up walking the 4km Honczarowska Dyke, which wasn't wasted as we saw what is perhaps the most famous bird of the marshes the sadly declining Aquatic Warbler. The views were distant but I was pleased to see it in one of its last areas with a decent population. There are signs all round the park detailing the work that is being done to conserve this species.

A little later we visited the Dluga Luka boardwalk which gives better access to the reedy grassland which the favour but all we could see were their close relative the Sedge Warbler. 

Dluga Luka boardwalk - it was all hands on deck looking for Aquatic Warbler

We returned early the following morning and saw another bird but in the rather windy conditions it was impossible to see singing birds. Whilst we waited a male Montagu's Harrier crossed the marsh.

Further south on the Czar's Road we stopped at the pools bordering the minor road to Zajki which had hundreds of White-winged Black Terns feeding over them. Periodically the whole flock would rise in the area calling loudly before returning to feed again.

White-winged Black Terns - arguing

We set off north again after a brief visit to the Wizna marshes, hoping for lekking Ruff but all the Ruff, which numbered many hundreds were feeding out on the flooded river. I did get nice photos of a male Yellow Wagtail which looked like Ashy-headed with a pale supercilium so not entirely sure what race it was but quite a striking bird. Driving up the western edge of the southern basin we stopped at Mscichy and saw more Sedge Warblers and several Black-tailed Godwits.

Yellow Wagtail 

We left Mscichy on Friday afternoon and continued north in to Lithuania which is a new country for both of us.