Inside the Circle Day 4 - Heading to the Hills

Grey skies and a light drizzle began the fourth day. I was starting to wonder if the sun would ever show or if a week of persistant gloom was on the cards. Don't ask me how or whose it was but I managed to pick up a WIFI signal in the accommodation on the Netbook and online local forecast indicated an improvement in weather was due. I thought it was time to head up to the upland tundra to see what was on offer, following the River Tana valley and then heading upwards on the road to Batsfjord. The River Tana offers some wonderful scenery but as the journey progressed upwards the weather deteriorated to horizontal sleet and the amounts of laying snow deepened.

I pulled over where two smalls lakes were on either side of the road a few birds were present. I decided to come back for those later and headed out straight through the sleet across the tundra. Having walked for quite a while the only bird I encountered was a distant male Lapland Bunting but I was not surprised how quiet it was given the grim conditions and circled back towards the car and the partly frozen ponds. It looked as if Spring was slightly delayed here as it seemed to be in the UK this year and the expected abundant fly life was absent. On each pond there was a pair of wary Long-tailed Duck, in their summer colours. After a bit of careful stalking I managed to get a couple of photos.

By the side of the road there was a small number of Temminck's Stint which was one species I was hoping to photograph on my trip.

This tiny wader kept fluttering up like a large moth with its trilling song in display flight which was a real delight to watch. One bird was working its way across alarge area of snow so I decided to lay down and see if the bird would pass close. Whilst lying on the large sheet of snow, I realised that the woodland camoflague clothing was not really offering much benefit. The bird slowly made its way directly towards me up the white slope, pausing breifly on occasions. It is such a great feeling when you have a bird getting larger and larger in the camera viewfinder.

It was time to try a different area and as I headed off along the road, I noticed that the fuel was fairly low in the car. The Sat Nav had identified the nearest petrol station to be a Batsfjord so I made that my next destination of the day which would also give the opportunity to see what else the rest of the tundra road had to offer. The short answer to that was not a great deal, except some distant Shorelark, Snow Bunting and acrobatic Skuas. Mind you spotting birds in this habitat from a moving car is not that easy and the birds tend to be only revealed when you stop and start looking. After refuelling both car and myself at Batsfjord, it was time to start making tracks back. On leaving the town a bird was spotted speeding low and hawk-like along the side of the road before alighting on a bush. It turned out to be a cuckoo, not a bird I was expecting to find this far north and a welcome bonus.

The long journey back to Varangerflord was fairly uneventful with only a brief stop at the well known Gyr Falcon nest but no sign of life on the cliff face. The weather seemed to be improving with the sun occasionally breaking through. I decided a return trip to 'Ruff Bay' was needed but spotted a pair of Arctic Skua (both dark and pale phase birds). Time for some skua stalking to stretch the legs after the drive. The birds were at distance so a long commando crawl was required which eventually got me in close to the pale phase bird.

After a while the bird took off and in typical skua style undertook an inquisitive close fly-by. Great looking birds and a pleasure to see up close.

I finally reached 'Ruff Bay' which immediately looked like it was going to be less productive as the tide had already ebbed. As I checked some areas of rock platform a calling Oystercatcher took to the sky, a good warning indication of a nearby nest and the need to watch my step. The bird circled around and landed close by and then went in to a walking distraction display, feigning injury, to draw me away from the nest area.

The Ruff proved, as suspected, to be more elusive but I eventually after some patience managed a couple of photographs.

Well it had been a long but interesting day with three new species photographed and time to return to the accommodation where a hot shower and food awaited and think where my wanderings the next day might take me.

Inside the Circle Day 3 Part 2 - Discovering 'Ruff Bay'

As Ekkeroy faded in the rear view mirror, the coast road northward was rejoined under increasingly grey skies and strengthening drizzle. This was not the weather I was planning to be met by in June. The weather is not really an issue for me, but the amount and quality of the light can be. Currently I had neither good weather or light! It was time to explore one of the side tracks that headed in land and see what birds might be encountered. After about 50m down the track the car was brought to a stop as a golden plover was spotted. Just beautiful colours.



This bird was being particularly wary in typical Golden Plover style and moved away at distance to watch and stare. The next bird encounter was just extraordinary. Further down the track another plover was spotted and on stopping, this bird purposely made its way towards the red hire car (not the greatest colour!) until it was inside minimum focusing distance of 4.5 metres. The bird seemed almost intrigued by the car and walked around as if on inspection. This gave plenty of opportunity to photograph the bird in different settings.









It was a privilege to have such a prolonged close encounter with this wonderful species that really shone in the stark landscape. Even the light seemed to improve momentarily.

Whilst out on the track, Long-tailed skuas passed in chase but at too great a distance for the camera. On returning to the main road a turn was made south to re-explore the stretch of coast road travelled previously and back towards the accommodation. A Long-tail Skua close to the road was the first required stop.




The road passed close to a small bay, which for the rest of the trip affectionately became known as 'Ruff Bay'. The tide was in and waders were on the beach. I have photographed in some unpleasant situations but this small beach must rank at the top for memorable odour. The beach consist of 'hills' of decomposing red, purple and orange seaweed with a sewer from a small local settlement bubbling away below. A smell that comes to me even now with little thought required. The insects were the obvious attraction to the birds picking there way the debris. A reason to endure the stench was not the presence of waders common to the UK autumn and winter, but in their summer colours, like this Dunlin...



...its was a group of Ruff including a number of males. A bird I have longed to photograph and definitely now always will.









As you will notice by now the beauty of the birds is the individual colours of the male and what they can do with their summer headdresses.

Wonderful birds of which some more photos will appear in a later post and a great way to end the third day.

Inside the Circle Day 3 Part 1 -Following the Coast

I never sleep well in a different bed on the first night. The odds were against a good sleep on that first night in Norway with the perpetual light pouring through the thin curtain and a Willow Warbler outside the window deciding that 2am was time for a dawn chorus of incessantly descending plaintive notes. The mobile phone alarm rattled in to life at 6-30am and I woke from a brief sleep to overcast skies and limited light. Not idea for photography but at least the biting icy wind of the previous night had subsided. After breakfast it was time to head out and the day was to be taken up by travelling the road that follows the north shore of Varangerfjord. This first day proved to be productive so I will split it over two Blog posts.

My first stop was to be a small nature reserve on the small island reached by bridge from Vadso known as Vadsoya Kultureparc. From some pre-trip research I knew there to be a small pond there that usually held good numbers of Red-necked Phalarope. The UK population of this bird is probably around 30 breeding pairs most of which reside on the Shetland Isles. It was a wonderful sight on reaching the pond in my chest waders to see about 80 birds frantically feeding. If you have not seen phalarope feeding they tend to do so by spinning around in tight circles which can mean many wasted photos, particularly in low light and given the fact they are such tiny birds. Fortunately they are completely oblivious to human presence. Firstly a male bird which in this species are less colourful than the females.

and the bolder marking of a female for comparison

I think the birds were mainly feeding on midge larvae that they were picking out from the surface layers of the pond.

I will not inundate you will Phalarope photos as there will be more to come later in this journey but liked this photograph of the pair that decided to mate at close range right in front of me.

Before leaving the small nature reserve I decided to take a quick walk around to see what else was on offer for a return trip later in the week. At the far western end of the island I was greeted by the familiar calls from a large colony of Arctic Terns, which were being harassed out at sea by pursuing Arctic Skua. Below were rafts of Common Eider gently rocking in the small swell. Walking back through the reserve apart from the omnipresent Willow Warblers, I caught fleeting glimpses of Red-throated Pipit and thought I heard a brief burst of Bluethroat song.

Just by the nature reserve car park there is access down to a small area of beach which I though worthy of brief visit before leaving. A calling Oystercatcher soon started circling an obvious sign of its ground nest nearby so I quickly moved along and watched my step.

Further along the beach another small group of Red-necked Phalarope were encountered and a couple of birds were stepping out of the water and picking their way through the seaweed.

It was time to move on and as I travelled up the coast road, admiring the occasional distant sea eagle or skua on my journey, when I came to a sign pointing to Ekkeroy which I decided to follow as I knew there were some cliffs there with a large colony of Kittiwake.
The weather was turning decidedly damp as I made my way along the footpath at the base of the cliff and large numbers of birds circled overhead. It never fails to amaze the assault of the sensors created by a seabird colony in terms of sight, sound and smell.
I took a few photographs of the Kittiwakes but was distracted by an potential photo opportunity I had passed on the way.

A bird coming in to land on its narrow ledge with its progress under the scrutiny of its neighbours.

I made my way back along the base of the cliff to the Ravens nest I had spotted previously that was built on a ledge close to the base of the cliff. I love Ravens due to their size, apparent intelligence and the beautiful blue sheen to their feathers but actually have very few photographs of what is a very wary bird. There were three well grown young in the nest.

Slightly higher on the cliff face the adult birds were looking for a easy chick snack to pluck from a Kittiwake nest. Every time one of the Ravens took flight you could sense the panic flooding through the Kittiwake colony as the volume of calls rose.

Beautiful birds and a very welcome and unexpected encounter.

I think that is probably enough for this post but the rest of day was to get a good deal more colourful in terms of the birds encountered as I will reveal soon in the next installment.

Inside the Circle Day 2 - Heading to Varanger

The plane bumped around in the turbulence as it descended at lunchtime the following day through the thick grey cloud into Ivalo airport. There was a noticeable drop in temperature on exiting the plane and a strong icy wind accompanied with drizzle as I had finally arrived inside the Arctic Circle. The arrival formalities were quickly over at this tiny airport and in no time the hire car was speeding northwards past the Finnish lakes and mixed forest of birch and pine. The first destination was going to be the accommodation were I was supposed to have stayed the previous night just to the north of Kaamanen to visit the well known feeding station. Some lunch was in order first and stew was quickly consumed while watching a constant stream of birds coming to the feeders outside the window. This appeared to be mainly a mix of Brambling in summer plumage and various Redpoll. The stay at the feeders was going to brief as there was still many miles to cover to the destination but I was due to visit on my return journey southward at the end of the week.

The feeder setup was a bit awkward for photography with its position and light at that time of day but a few photographs were to be had and I started on the Redpolls which I have not photographed previously. Separating out the different types of Redpoll is not an easy task and I think there were two types visting here which were Lesser Redpoll and Mealy Redpoll.

The Redpoll photography was briefly interrupted by the arrival of a beautiful looking Red Squirrel, although it stubbornly refused to sit in a better photographic setting than on the mountain of sunflower shells that accumulated below the feeders.

I returned from the brief distraction to the Redpoll photography.

Movement in the pine tree to the right caught the corner of my eye and a female Pine Grosbeak landed with and audible thump. A surprising large bird (small thrush size) but subtly beautiful with its mix of grey and rust colours.

Unfortunately it was all too soon time to leave and continue the journey northwards as there was still a good 3 hour drive to the final destination where I had an appointment with a pre-booked evening meal. The journey was relatively uneventful, except for wrestling with an automated petrol pump, as mile upon mile of forest were passed with a noticeable decline in the height of trees with the progress northwards. After passing over the border in to Norway, a brief stop was made at Varangerbotn to check out a small nature reserve behind the Sami Museum which appeared devoid of bird life except for a few Arctic Skuas harassing gulls at distance out across the rough waters of the fjord. I continued my journey, stopping briefly at the amazing sight of two White-tailed Sea Eagles casually sat on the beach unfortunately out of photography distance, before reaching my final destination of Vestre Jakobslev which would be my base for the rest of the week. Stepping out the warm comfort of the car I was greeted by a strong wind armed with cold knives under a leaden sky. I decided after a warming stew supper that the best approach would be to settle in and make a fresh start in the morning under hopefully some better conditions.

Inside the Circle Day 1 - A Slow Start

As some of you will know last week I was away on holiday up in the Arctic Circle on a photography trip. The next few posts will be dedicated to that trip as I intended to give a day by day account of this Arctic adventure in the bird wonderland under the midnight sun.

My journey started smoothly with a trip to Manchester airport and a hassle free passage through to the departure lounge despite carrying some significantly overweight hand luggage holding the camera equipment. My mobile then bleeped with a text message from Finnair announcing that the first plane of the journey to Helsinki would be delayed by two hours. It took a couple of minutes to realise the ramifications of the short message which meant an almost certain missed connecting internal flight to Ivalo and a need to contact both car hire and the accommodation for the first night to make some rearrangements.

The late arrival in Helsinki meant missing the connecting internal flight by 30 minutes and a forced stay in an airport hotel until the next available plane the following morning. After checking in, a quick walk around to stretch the economy class legs revealed some Fieldfare at the back of the hotel. What caused me to go and collected the camera was the presence of a number of recently fledged birds, which is a sight that cannot be seen in the UK as they are winter visitors. This was not how I had planned to take my first photographs in Finland but it would be a good warm exercise.

The adult birds stayed in the trees above keeping a watchful eye over their new brood.

Down below most of the fledglings were hopping around on the ground except the youngest looking nird that was perched on a low branch.

The young birds were unconcerned by the presence of the camera and a few photographs were taken over the following hour.

Resting in the shade of a tree.

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Checking out the work of the local lumberjack

and generally appearing to enjoy soaking up the rays of some late evening sun.

The next post will see me continue my journey northwards and up into the Arctic Circle and finally put some new species in front of the lens.

Heading Northwards