Varanger 21st - 24th June

We left Ivalo at around 10:00 in hard driving rain with a cold N wind and a temperature of 3℃, it was still raining when we stopped at Neljan Tuulan for a coffee. At least 4 male and 4 female or immature Pine Grosbeak were at the feeder and a Siberian Tit, which was ringed, also paid a visit. Pam was impressed with the Grosbeak but even more so with the Red Squirrel on the feeders. Plenty of Redpoll but all Mealy. As we crossed the higher ground towards Utsjoki the rain turned to sleet. We passed a Red-throated Diver on a roadside pool and a distant Rough-legged Buzzard hovering over the wooded hillside and a Merlin dashed across the road. 

Rough-legged Buzzard

Utsjoki was a row of wooden properties with a small well stocked supermarket just before the river crossing into Norway.
We followed the River Tana with clusters of fishermen on the shore where the river narrowed forming rapids and stopped at Tana Bru. Norway is even more expensive than Finland so we made do with a Pizza to share at the equivalent of 14€ which, when delivered was plenty for two anyway. Fuel was about 150€/litre but fortunately we had filled up in Inari at 129€/litre.
We quickly arrived at Varangerbotn and our first sighting of the Arctic Ocean. The rain had just about stopped but it was still cold. Pam spotted the first White-tailed Eagle on the shore and we saw four more as we drove towards Nesseby.

White-tailed Eagle

Flocks of birds on the water were mainly Goosander but we had one group of 50 Velvet Scoter which was impressive and there were groups of Eider strung along the shoreline.
At Nesseby there were 3 summer plumaged Little Stint feeding on the shoreline and several Arctic Skua and a single adult Long-tailed past along the coast. 

Little Stint - summer plumage

I met a dutch birder travelling back down the coast towards Pasvik and we exchanged sightings. He had seen King and single Steller's Eider at Vardo and more King Eider near Hemningsberg which was promising.
We stopped overnight at JV Camping at Vestre Jakobselv. There were bird feeders by the reception with more Redpoll but again all Mealy. The occasional Willow Tit made a visit but otherwise it was House Sparrows and Greenfinch. Around the harbour we had Temminck's and Little Stint, more Goosander and small parties of Long-tailed Duck.
We stopped at Vadso and had a good look around Vadsoya Island. The Mountain Hares were the highlight, the birding was difficult in the cold N wind but again there were Wheatear and Meadow Pipits and 8 Red-necked Phalarope on the pool.

Mountain Hare

Moving up the coast we visited Ekkeroy which was worth the stop just to witness the clouds of Kittiwake nesting on the cliffs. 

Kittiwake on Ekkeroy

I walked all over the island looking at the Pipits and managed several Meadow and a couple of Rock there were also Wheatear here and nice views of Arctic Skua stood.

Arctic Skua

We drove on to Vardo with a few stops on the way. The tunnel lights were out so we had to wait for a convey shuttle that was leading cars through the 3km tunnel and we parked up for the night at the Tourist Information in the North Bay. There were Black Guillemot, Eider and plenty of Kittiwake which were nesting on the buildings close to the Tourist Information. I checked South Bay for the King and Steller's Eider but if they were there they were to far away to distinguish without a telescope. I hadn't brought mine and this was one of several times when I regretted that decision. We ate in the Pokora Restaurant which was surprisingly good, a meal for two for about 40€.
It was another cold night, I got up around 06:00 and did another check of the harbour but the tide was out now and the birds were even further away.
The cold, rain and dark sky was getting a bit oppressive but we pressed on. My spirits were lifted when at Pam's suggestion we stopped on the first decent bog area north of Vardo and had several Lapland Bunting. 

Lapland Bunting

The males looked fantastic in their breeding plumage, quite different to the dull winter attire in which we usually see them in the UK. 
The drive around the coast towards Hamnigsberg is spectacular. We saw several groups of Reindeer feeding by the roadside and large groups of Goosander offshore at Persfjord there were some closer eider. The first ones I looked at, a group of half a dozen, looked like King I scanned for more Eider for comparison and came across a group of about 100 but scanning through these they looked the same as the first group then I saw a fine male King Eider. 

King Eider - male

They were all King Eider, a group of about 150 moulting males and females. I scrambled around on the seaweed covered rocks and eventually got some photos although there were never going to be close. There were a couple of males in the group that were still in more or less adult summer plumage but the rest were dark with various pale areas. 

King Eider - part of flock

The females looked to be in typical plumage.
There were gulls on the rocks at Sandfjord and included ad adult Iceland, first for the trip.

Iceland Gull -adult

As we neared Hamningberg a Red Fox crossed the road, still in its thick winter coat, it stopped and turned to look at us just as the sun was starting to brighten the sky and it looked amazing before slowly walking away along the edge of a pool.

Red Fox

We parked in the large car park and I went across to look for pipits in the heather clad area. Almost immediately a pipit flew up and called overhead, a cheeping call, I followed it until it landed. Red-throated Pipit at last and a fine male. It flew around landing about 50m away and was joined by another Red-throated Pipit, in all there were at least four Red-throated Pipits in quite a small area.

Red-throated Pipit

I watched them feeding and the Red-throated chased off another slightly larger buffy coloured pipit. It didn't fly far and when I got on it I was amazed to see that it was a Tawny Pipit. I took photos and managed some reasonable record shots. What was the chance of finding a Tawny Pipit here at 70°North! I sent the record through to Finnmark Birding and Tormod confirmed that it was only the second record for the Varanger area, with the first at Ekkeroy in 1999!

Tawny Pipit

We had a walk around the deserted village and a male Snow Bunting made a brief appearance. 

Snow Bunting

With the weather still poor we drove back to Vestre Jakobselv and stopped again at JV Camping. In the morning my walk around the village produced the first owl of the trip, Short-eared, a first summer Glaucous Gull and another Mountain Hare. Back at the feeders I bumped in to a birder from Norway Birding who was leading an American lady around the area. He had no additional news but surprisingly had already heard of my Tawny Pipit, the power of social media! 
With the weather forecast still poor we decided to head back towards Finland, as we drove between Tana Bru and Utsoki we saw a Rough-legged Buzzard hovering over the hillside then Pam called out Moose and sure enough there it was stood in a field by the roadside, starring at us. It looked like a young male with horns starting to appear on its head. It starred at us for perhaps 5 minutes before slowly walking back in to the forest. 

Moose or Elk as they are sometimes called

As we were about to make the turn to cross the river to Utsjoki another young Moose appeared by the roadside a great end to our short visit to Norway.

From here we are travelling south towards home and plan to work our way down the Swedish coast.
I'll add some scenic shots when I get chance.

Berlin to Bialowieza, Poland

It rained all day on the 4th May, which we spent in Berlin. I wanted to see the Tiergarten woodland which is home to the highest concentration of urban Goshawks in Europe. I did hear a bird call and I saw what could have been occupied nests but in the rain it wasn’t worth spending a lot of time looking in what is quite a large woodland. Several Wood Warbler were new for the trip and there were also Pied Flycatchers but I didn’t see much else.

Berlin's Tiergarten

We left Berlin around 07:00 and we quickly found ourselves in Poland, there were no stops at the border crossing just a slight slowing of the traffic at the customs buildings. After about a 6 hour drive we decided to stop near Warsaw and found a nice campsite on the edge of the Kampinoski Park. There were Lesser Whitethroats, nesting Fieldfare and several more Wood Warblers at the camp site. We spent a couple of hours near Roztoka where we had Common Crane, White Storks and calling Corncrake in the grasslands, these were briefly disturbed by a smart looking Fox.

Fox with White Storks and Common Crane in the background

 More Wood Warblers in the woodland plus Willow Tit but nothing more notable during our late afternoon visit. The temperature has been in the low teens Centigrade but it warmed up today getting to 21 degrees.
Our initial problems with the camper van have not been repeated and we have both been very impressed with the vehicle. This morning we continued on to Bialowieza close to the Belarus border in north-eastern Poland. Along the way we saw signs for the German extermination camp at Treblinka and decided to have a look. Although the camp is long gone there are large numbers of rocks placed to commemorate the countries of origin and towns in Polands of the victims. It is estimated that 800 000 people died there. A large rock with the words ‘never again’ in several languages sits in the middle of the site.

Monument at Treblinka

We stopped briefly in Hajnowka where I took a few photos of a Fieldfare feeding its young before finally arriving in Bialowieza late afternoon. 

Fieldfare with young

We are stopping at the U Michala campsite which has only just re-opened and there is only us and a Finnish couple here at present. A calling Wryneck at the campsite was a nice welcome.
We decided to walk through the village to the Palace Park which is only about a kilometre, as we left the campsite a Lesser Spotted Eagle flew over carrying prey, so is presumably nesting fairly close by.

Lesser Spotted Eagle - adult

It’s Saturday so the park was very busy but I could hear Common Rosefinch singing by the lake and we saw several Hawfinch. We didn't walk far in to the park, I’ll have a look tomorrow morning when its quieter, but a thin piping call close to the main car park caught my attention and it turned out to be a superb male Collared Flycatcher, one of the speciality birds of Eastern Poland. I watched it for a while and it soon became apparent that it had a nest in a hole in a tree. I got some photos in poor light and will have another go tomorrow if the weather is ok.

Collared Flycatcher - male and probably first summer

It’s been hot again today with the temperature reaching 26 Centigrade this afternoon which is a welcome change from the first few days of our journey. The forecast is for more rain tomorrow and its started raining now so hoping for reasonable weather tomorrow.

Route to 6th May