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.

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.