Hel Hath No Birdies

Juhannus. Mid-summer. It's a big thing in Finland. Long weekend, bonfires, barbecues.  It's a  weekend we usually spend at our other mökki, north west of Tampere. And usually the weather is awful. Finnish mid-summer is notoriously wet or cold or both. This weekend the forecast was for wet.  We set off Thursday evening and arrived to the late night sounds of Corncrake, Curlew and Common Crane, this mökki being in more grassland habitat. Midnight sun - Crex crex Meadows the likes of which are a long forgotten memory in potatoland. Full of Corncrakes and Curlew. I remember old fogies telling me tales of Corncrakes in Ireland in days gone by, and not being able to sleep because of the noise of them. I got by OK, but I do love that night time atmosphere they bring.  Friday morning the weather seemed OK and I took the chance to nip down to Tampere dump, which has always been good in my experience. It wasn't open, but unlike many other dumps it s...

We had a small event over the past 10 days. Just a slight change of pace. Actually it was a bit manic the past two weeks. Last minute sorting of things. Guests arriving from all over Europe. Showing people around. But we got there. The first guests to arrive were my best man, Ciarán Smyth and his family, on Wednesday evening.  I had taken Thursday off to take him and sister, Laragh, out birding around Helsinki. Alas, after weeks of good weather, Thursday was simply horrendous.  We braved it regardless, and managed a few nice bits, like singing Red Breasted Flycatcher and River Warbler. But it really was a hideous damp day, and we all appreciated the sauna and beers in the evening. Ciarán "enjoying" a damp day on Sundsin tower Common Rosefinch - Ciarán Smyth Sub-adult male Red-Breasted Flycatcher - Ciarán Smyth Slavonian Grebe - Ciarán Smyth River warbler - Ciarán Smyth Red-backed Shrike - Ciarán Smyth Friday we h...

A quick trip down to Maarintorni this evening, prompted by the arrival of my new Swarovski scope. Affluence. Absolutely delighted with it. But as with any new scope, it's important that the first bird you see with it is of respectable quality. You have to resist that temptation to start using it straight away. I wasn't gonna waste my first views on the Common Gulls on the neighbour's roof. Nor on the tree sparrows in the garden. Not even on the Goshawk soaring overhead. No no. There's Broad-Billed Sandpipers on patch. That was the place to go. I walked with Kuura from the house. I didn't bother with the Barnacle geese or wigeon in the park. I resisted the Wood warblers, pied flys, Thrush Gales and Icterine warblers en route. I did stop to listen for a River warbler that had been singing over the weekend, thinking that could be a classy bird, but it had moved on. So I made it to the tower and there was a nice flock of 14 Broad-Billed Sandpipers in th...