10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2024

A bird ringed near Helsinki, Finland, in October 1970 was found dead, 18 days later, in the Scottish west-coast town of Stranraer, a distance of 1,800km and a minimum speed of 100km per day. I’ve managed to see them, too, on their breeding grounds in Finland in summer. It’s when the rowan crop fails that they irrupt south.

Finland 218

Finland Estonia Bears Ireland 218

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2024

No, not an Arctic Fox, but a Red Fox in Arctic Finland I may not have seen many wolves, but I have seen lots of foxes (or what I should perhaps call red foxes). However, watching bears on tips isn’t really much fun, and I’ve had much more satisfactory sightings from dedicated bear hides, both in Transylvania and Bulgaria.

Fur 191

Fur Otters Bulgaria Estonia 191

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 16, 2020

The Ural Owl inhabits old and undisturbed boreal forests, in an unbroken belt from Sweden and Finland across Russia to Japan, and is rarely seen to the south, only here and there, in the Carpathians (Slovakia/Ukraine/Romania/eastern Serbia) and Dinaric Alps (Croatia/Bosnia/western Serbia).

Serbia 246

Serbia Owls Slovakia Bosnia 246

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2012

Talking to Jan Södersved the editor of the Birdlife Finland magazine Linnut whilst we were both in Portugal in early October suggested that all of the owl species in Finland had had a very productive breeding season. The numbers we have wintering in Britain are certainly bearing that out.

Barn Owls 183

Barn Owls Finland Owls Portugal 183