Hel Hath No Birdies

I've always enjoyed Christmas day birding. In Ireland this used to involve a few hours mooching around north Dublin, a good way to work up an appetite for the crimbo dindins, but only rarely with birds of note. In Finland, Christmas day is still a birding staple for me, but with the dinner and family stuff mostly done on Christmas Eve, we have the full day to enjoy birds that would send a dub into a rabid twitching frenzy. It was a beautiful morning and the sunrise was stunning. We took off for our regular Nutcracker spot, but a roadside Hawk Owl stopped us in our tracks.  The bird seemed settled and we had to come back by this spot later, so we carried on to the Nutcrackers.  There was no waiting as we pulled up, with plenty of birds feeding up in Sub-Zero temperatures. Nutcrackers - Stunning birds. The usual suspects were also present, Willow Tit, Crested Tit and Great Spo...

Another busy year put down in the book. It started out with a cold January and a visit from Ireland by two of Ireland's up an coming birders, nicknamed the "Sorry Brian"  tour .  It was very successful, with the lads racking up a fine selection of ticks, including Rough Legged Buzzard, White Backed Woodpecker, Eastern Black Redstart, Hawk Owl, and cream of the crop, Great Grey Owl. The undoubted highlight for the start of the year for me came in the form of a self found  Pine Bunting Pine Bunting - Jussi Murtosaari The bird was the 12th record for Finland and sparked a large twitch, with many people connecting with it over it's week stay. This was quickly followed with us purchasing our own  home  in Kirkkonummi and moving to the country. The task of building a new garden list began in earnest as we awaited the next big milestone, the birth of our daughter, but we took the time to take a short break in  Estonia  enjoying the Arctic migration. In June o...

The run up to Christmas has been cold this year. Here, however, that is no burden, and is indeed desireable. Everyone wants a white Christmas. Birding has been sporadic, nipping out an enjoying some choice bits and pieces as the days reached their shortest. Local Waxwings have been a real treat. A classic winter species. A local Hawk Owl was also a choice morsel, especially as the snow set in, making it all the more atmospheric. Birding in the garden has been a priority and I've invested heavily in my feeding station in the hopes of bringing the birds to us. The variety of bird food available here is a testament to how many people take the time to feed their garden birds. All supermarkets and DIY stores/Garden Centers are laden with a range of options. In fact, in some of the larger warehouse DIY places it's not unusual to find a small population of birds living inside the shop, entirely dependent on the ...