Kuusamo and Varanger – May-June 2018 Simon Boswell

Kuusamo and Varanger Peninsula – 26th May – 4th June 2018

Introduction

Finland and Arctic Norway are classic birding destinations which I have dreamt about visiting for a long time. As a result, my dad and I organised an independent trip to Kuusamo and the Varanger Peninsula in May and June 2018. The basic route comprised Oulu-Kuusamo-Varanger-Oulu over a period of 11 days.

Whilst an organised trip would have likely resulted in a few more species it is certainly possible to see all the main target species in the area without local knowledge. We could have easily spent a few more days on the Varanger peninsula, conversely the time we spent in Kuusamo was probably enough to cover all the target species and get a feel for the local landscape and associated natural history. Before the trip I drew up a list of target species of which we were able to see all apart from gyrfalcon and Steller’s eider – a definite excuse to revisit Varanger earlier in the spring!

The highlight of the trip had to be the sheer number of seabirds in Varanger fjord, especially the kittiwakes and associated arctic skuas. The white-billed diver, capercaille, red-flanked bluetail, pine grosbeak and Siberian tit weren’t bad either!

Livaara Hill, Kuusamo, Finland May 2018

Literature

Along with several independent trip reports already posted on Cloudbirder (http://www.cloudbirders.com/tripreport), we also made use of the following books:

Biotope (2015) Birding Varanger – The Biotope Guide to the Best Bird Sites in Arctic Norway. An essential book independent birding on the Varanger peninsula

Gosney, D. (2010) Finding Birds in Lapland. A Gostour Guide. Available from www.easybirder.co.uk

Gosney, D. (2010) Finding Birds in South Finland. A Gostour Guide. Available from www.easybirder.co.uk

Tveit, B. O. (2011) A Birdwatcher’s Guide to Norway. Where, When and How to Find the Birds of Norway including Svalbard. A DinTur Guide – for our trip this book was superseded by the Biotope Guide

Crossbill Guides (2017) Finnish Lapland Including Kuusamo – a useful book, especially for its good selection of walks.

Kuusamo and Varanger – May-June 2018 Simon Boswell

Maps and Navigation

Even though roaming is now free in Finland and Norway we were concerned that relying on a 3G signal for mapping and aerial photography might be problematic in remote locations. Therefore we also took pre-downloaded google road maps that allowed general road navigation. We also had offline access to aerial photographs downloaded to the Viewranger App on an iPhone (http://www.viewranger.com/en-GB, also available on Android). Viewranger uses GPS to pinpoint your location without the use of a phone signal and is extremely useful abroad.

Logistics

Flights were from Heathrow to Oulu via Helsinki with Norwegian. The flights were relatively cheap and worked out well.

Car hire was with Sixt and was relatively inexpensive. The car was a Ford Focus which was perfectly acceptable, the roads are excellent in Finland and therefore it’s not necessary to hire a 4x4. The roads are refreshingly quiet throughout Finland and Norway.

Accommodation comprised a combination of youth hostels and AirBNBs which allowed us to limit costs given the general expense of travelling in Scandinavia.

Day 1 – 25th May (London – Helsinki - Oulu - Kuusamo)

Our flight to Oulu left on time at 07:30, although we had not been allocated seats for the Helsinki-Oulu flight as it had been overbooked. On arrival at Helsinki the transfer time was tight, and we were slightly concerned whether there would be seats for us, thankfully the staff were waiting for us with boarding passes at the departure gate. We arrived at Oulu at 14:30 and picked up the hire car and noting our first bird in the form of a common swift.

The journey to Kuusamo was relatively uneventful although a stop a lake on the way produced an osprey carrying a fish and a fly over green sandpiper. We arrived a Kuusamo at 17:30, went shopping and then drove to the youth hostel located just to the north of the town (Nuoriso- ja luontomatkailukeskus Oivanki: http://www.oivanki.fi/etusivu/ ). We turned out to be the only guests and there were only limited cooking facilities which was a shame. We got settled in and then walked around the lake adjacent to the hostel, there was a pair of velvet scoter on the lake, plus many goldeneye, and two wood sandpiper in a marshy area. We had some poor views of waxwing displaying on the opposite side of the lake and there were many pied flycatcher singing amongst a variety of other commoner species. Our first Arctic hare of the trip revealed itself in the slightly unexpected location of a woodland.

The view outside our Kuusamo accommodations with reindeer for added authenticity

Back at the accommodation we watched the Champions League final (Real Madrid 3 – Liverpool 1). At half time I stood on the balcony, where pied flycatcher were still singing and a black grouse could be hear calling distantly. It was still light at 23:00 and we set the alarm for 03:00…

Kuusamo and Varanger – May-June 2018 Simon Boswell

Day 2 – 27th May (Konttainen Hill – Valtavaara – woodland / lakes behind accommodation - Lake Toranki – woodland / lakes behind accommodation)

We were up at 03:00 to travel to Konttainen Hill with the aim of seeing red-flanked bluetail, a species which can be difficult to locate. We parked in the layby adjacent to Konttainen Hill and begin heading up in the half light, it was cold and bird activity was low. At the summit a common redstart was singing, apart from this it was relatively quiet and we struggled to find additional species, slowly adding song thrush and spotted flycatcher.

Rather despondent we walked back down the hill, stopping as we went. After around 50 metres a sweet song whispered through the trees – a red-flanked bluetail! We walked towards the song, stopping around 50 metres away we listened intently but couldn’t not see the bird despite seemingly searching every visible tree top. At that moment two Siberian jay appeared in the trees above our heads, checking out what we were up to before moving on. The red-flanked bluetail had now begun singing further away, again we struggled to get more than a glimpse of the bird before it flew to another location and resumed singing. We were concerned about disturbing the bird too much and resolved to make an extra special effort to see the bird before it flew away. It seemed to be almost impossible to locate the bird despite the song being extremely close, we eventually crawled on our hands and knees and finally caught sight of the red-flanked bluetail at the top of a tree – magic!

Sunrise from the summit of Konttainen Hill 27th May 2018

We left the bird in peace and carried on down the hill immediately connecting with a three-toed woodpecker. The bird flew to a dead tree stump and began drumming, giving excellent views. We made it back down to the road and met a French birder who was pumping extremely loud red-flanked bluetail song into the woodland from the layby, we weren’t that impressed by his field craft and didn’t fancy his chances of connecting.

We had a snack and coffee at the car and then walked over the road to Valtavaara. Heading down the track towards the lake a black woodpecker flew over and landed in a nearby tree. Brambling were obviously getting warmed up and their wheezing song was becoming more common. The track continues to a lake where a pair of black-throated diver were present and another three toed-woodpecker gave excellent views on a telegraph pylon.

We made it back to the road and walked up the Bear Ring Trail track which continues south from this point. It was getting towards late morning by this point, although we did manage to see a pair of mealy redpoll next to small lake with the customary goldeneye, and a striking male brambling. Another red-flanked bluetail was also singing from this area but we only had a fleeting glimpse as it flew from a bush adjacent to the track.

We then drove to an area nearby where Dave Gosney had lekking black grouse in 2010. The woodland had matured and it was late morning so we didn’t see any black grouse. We took a stroll to two small lakes in this area seeing relatively little apart from a greenshank and lots of green hairstreak.

As we drove back towards the accommodation we saw two smew, a common crane and lots of tufted duck on the lakes flanking the road. The afternoon was spent within the woodland, lakes and wetland

Kuusamo and Varanger – May-June 2018 Simon Boswell

west of the youth centre (GPS 66.075691,29.007408). It was relatively warm and many white-faced darter were sunning themselves on the boardwalks. Wood sandpiper were displaying in the wetland and a typically nosy Siberian jay came to check us out. Other species recorded included goldcrest, willow warbler, great tit, teal, great spotted woodpecker, brambling, chaffinch, goldeneye, tree pipit, cuckoo, redwing and fieldfare. A pair of whooper swan were sat on a large nest at the western end of the youth centre lake and an arctic tern was quartering over the water. As we reached the accommodation a pair of willow tit passed through the woodland and a swift flew over.

White-faced darter, Kuusamo

In the late afternoon we drove to Lake Toranki on the western side of Kuusamo to look for little and rustic bunting. There wasn’t a sniff of either, but the southern lake was excellent for a range of species including at least 12 red-necked grebe, many of which were building nests in the short reeds. A colony of little gull is also present in this area with at least 100 birds present. Other birds recorded on the southern lake included a single red-breasted merganser, many goosander and goldeneye, a variety of other wildfowl including wigeon, teal, tufted duck, mallard and whooper swan. A musk rat was swimming about in the shallows. We crossed the road to a tower hide with views over the northern lake (GPS 65.944397,29.22113). There was a male ruff feeding along the shoreline, with a few other species including grey-headed wagtail, common tern, curlew and redshank.

It was still relatively light so we walked along the boardwalk by the accommodation again. We had amazing views of pair of waxwing perched on a tree adjacent to the boardwalk and black-throated diver were displaying loudly in the local area. We could hear black grouse calling in the woodland and then had a really good view of a male perched on a tree top.

It had been a long but successful day - our alarms were again set for 03:00.

Day 3 – 28th May (Roads east of Kuusamo – Livaara – Naranganvaara aapa mire – woodland / lakes behind accommodation)

We were up and out of the accommodation at 03:00 heading to the tracks to the east of Kuusamo in search of capercaille, one of our key targets for the trip. Birds in the fields before we entered the forest included yellowhammer, starling, garden warbler and best of all two woodcock sat on the side of the road. We drove for around another hour passing through small residential areas with longer expanses of forest in between, we eventually rounded a corner to see a stonking male capercaille staring back at us (GPS 65.887687,29.778208). The bird had its tail fanned and slowly walked into the forest adjacent to the road – a memorable experience. A little further on an immature male capercaille was also on the road giving us the opportunity to see this unusual plumage. We stopped a bit further up the road to have a coffee and came across a large group of common crossbill, unfortunately we were unable to root out any parrot or two-barred crossbill. A few other species were recorded including chiffchaff, ‘northern’ bullfinch and siskin.

Kuusamo and Varanger – May-June 2018 Simon Boswell

Young male capercaille, Kuusamo

We then made the short drive over to Livaara to search for greenish warbler. To get up the hill the path crosses a small bridge with associated wetland area, this area held reed bunting and an osprey flew past on the nearby lake. We began to walk up the hill, where at least four singing greenish warbler were present. We were then distracted by two singing red-flanked bluetail, one of which was singing in plain sight at the top of a spruce tree. The view from the top of the hill was excellent, and we added a singing tree pipit and the first woodpigeon of the trip. As we walked down the hill we caught up with another bird group who were using a whistle to try and attract hazel grouse, they were successful and we heard a hazel grouse return the call deep in the juniper covered forest floor.

It was getting rather late in the morning and we decided to drive over to an aapa mire on the Russian Border (Crossbill Guide Kuusamo Route no.6). The google maps route was rather misleading and we spent about 1 ½ hours driving along rutted tracks without seeing much more than a whimbrel perched on a tree, eventually arriving at around 11:30. We headed out on the mire where one of the first birds was a common crane sitting on a nest. The mire was relatively quiet although there were singing meadow pipit, a few redshank, greenshank and wood sandpiper. In a small group of pines a cracking rustic bunting perched just long enough for an excellent view. The boardwalk we were following was rickety and in the process of being replaced, towards the eastern end of the mire was a very wet area and we were unable to continue. On the way back to the car we admired the many white-faced darter and bog bean which was just coming into flower.

Aapa mire, Kuusamo

We drove back to the accommodation, stopping at the main building to settle the bill, the site manager introduced us to an employee who was interested in birds and monitored a bird box scheme locally. We mentioned that we were searching for Siberian tit and he explained where a nest was located which held incubating adults and agreed that we could go and look. It was only five minute drive from the accommodation. We located what we thought was the correct box and peeked inside only to find a

Kuusamo and Varanger – May-June 2018 Simon Boswell

great tit. We searched the local area but could only fine another box with an empty nest. We watched this box from a distance for a while but did not have any luck…the one that got away! We sat next to a nearby lake as the evening progressed watching a pair of pristine black-throated diver.

Day 4 – 29th May (Kuusamo – Kohkonen reservoir – Petkula bog – Pikku Petsamo – Inari)

We were up early again and took a short walk along the boardwalk adjacent to the youth hostel. It was rather cold and quiet in the woodland. Although we did see Siberian jay, a large group of common crossbill and two more willow tit. Many of the crossbill has rather bulbous bills and were trying to look like parrot crossbill!

We had breakfast in the restaurant and bumped into the man who had tried to explain where the Siberian tit was, it soon became apparent that we had been looking in the wrong boxes! Today was a travelling day as we were due to head north towards Varanger stopping at Inari for the night on the way. We packed our bags and checked out deciding that it would be sensible to try again for the Siberian tit. We located another box in the right area and opened the lid, a Siberian tit immediately flew out and perched on a branch about a metre away. After taking a few photos we left the bird in peace.

Siberian tit, Kuusamo

We began the long drive north stopping at a Kohkonen Reservoir seeing a smew and common crane amongst a small range of other commoner species. Next stop was Petkula bog where we walked across a short board walk to a tower hide. There were a few waders around including wood sandpiper and common snipe but no sign of broad-billed sandpiper. It was windy on top of the tower hide and the only new species we saw was a group of common scoter on the adjacent lake. We drove round to the northern edge of the bog to try and get a better look at the site without having much additional luck. As we drove on we immediately saw a jack snipe flying adjacent to the road, the only sighting of this species during the trip. Further up the road we stopped to look at a ruff lek and dad saw a merlin over the open landscape.

By this time the weather worsening so we didn’t stop until the edge of Ivalo. We took a short detour to a site where Dave Gosney suggests looking for little bunting, it was raining and we weren’t holding out much hope. We waited a few minutes and amazingly there was a break in the weather, getting out the car we could hear the song of a little bunting nearby. We got the bird in a scope and enjoyed lovely views for around 10 minutes.

We carried on to the accommodation, another youth hostel on the lakes of Lake Inari. After dinner we went birding in the local area. There was a group of ringing plover and ruff on the lake shore outside the hostel. New species for the trip on the river feeding Lake Inari included common sandpiper, dipper, rough-legged buzzard and red-throated diver. The area was covered in evidence of moose but we didn’t have a sniff of seeing one in the flesh. We headed back to the accommodation for a well-earned rest.

Day 5 – 30th May (Inari – Neljan Tuullan Tupa - Mount Ailigas – western Varanger Fjord – Golnes - Ekkeroy)

Kuusamo and Varanger – May-June 2018 Simon Boswell

We set off relatively early passing through a bleak landscape of birch scrub north of Inari that was yet to burst into leaf, the hills started to be snow topped and the weather felt decidedly cold. Our first stop was the café along the main road which has become famous for the pine grosbeak which visit the feeders. Heading around the back of the café we immediately saw an immature male pine grosbeak just under an enormous pile of sun flower seed husks. There was two red squirrel, along with 10’s of brambling and mealy redpoll in attendance too. We eventually saw a maximum of four immature male pine grosbeak and a single cracking adult male. It felt like cheating but we didn’t care!

Pine grosbeak, Neljan Tuullan Tupa

We didn’t stop again until the town of Utsjoki which is on the Finnish - Norwegian border, having seen a spotted redshank adjacent to the road on journey. We birded Mount Ailigas next to the town to locate some mountain birds. However, it was rather disappointing being cold and quiet, with frequent rain showers. The birch scrub did hold a singing bluethroat and a couple of golden plover flew over.

We carried on over the river into Norway and didn’t stop until we reached Varangerbotn at the eastern end of Varanger Fjord. Our first stop at a hide to the east of the museum revealed a selection of species which acted as a precursor for our time in Varanger Fjord. Waders included four Temminck’s stint, ringed plover, oystercatcher, curlew, bar-tailed godwit and redshank. A white-tailed eagle was loafing around the area and great black-backed gull and kittiwake were new for the trip. We drove to the nearby police station and walked down to the shore immediately seeing a group of nine long-tailed skua flying overhead, brilliant! An adult glaucous gull was on the beach with a group of commoner gull species. Pintail and shelduck were also new for the trip at this stop.

We slowly drove along the northern shore of Varanger Fjord without next proper stop at Nesseby. There were common eider on the breakwater and our first knot (100+) of the trip in the harbour. We then carried on to Vadsoya the island south of Vadso connected to the mainland via a bridge, the lake here contained lots of red-necked phalarope in breeding plumage as well as a few wood sandpiper.

Kuusamo and Varanger – May-June 2018 Simon Boswell

Red-necked phalarope Vadsoya

We carried along the coast to our accommodation, a small holiday home with a large window looking over the Fjord (https://bit.ly/2EUXkkR). We struggled to find a key or anyone that might know where the key was, eventually we roused a rather grumpy man next door who explained that it was hanging above the door! Looking out over the fjord there were 1000s of kittiwake, 10s of arctic skua, black guillemot, gannet, razorbill, arctic tern, guillemot, puffin. With many of the kittiwake forming huge feeding frenzies with attendant arctic skua. Turnstone, gulls and a white-tailed eagle were on the shoreline and wheatear buzzed about the local area.

We were keen to get out birding so set off for Ekkeroy, five minutes down the road. On the spit of land over to the island there were 25 summer plumaged sanderling on the beach. Purple sandpiper were feeding on the rocky shoreline with arctic tern calling everywhere. We walked along the lower southern section of the island past disused fish drying racks, viewing the kittiwake colony and many of associated arctic skua. On top of Ekkeroy there were beautiful arctic skua sat out on the heather. We sat and watched the sea for a while seeing a grey seal close to the cliffs and a humpback whale associating with one of the feeding frenzies relatively distantly. We walked back towards the car getting some nice views of a rough-legged buzzard sat on a fence post.

Back at the accommodation we got ready for the next day and marvelled at the amount of birdlife in the fjord. A small number of harbour porpoise were also moving around just off shore.

View across Varanger fjord from inside our accommodation

Day 6 – 31st May (Golnes – Vardo – Hornoya - Hanningberg – Golnes)

Today we were up at 04:30 heading up the coast towards Vardo. Our first stop produced displaying Lapland bunting and red-throated pipit. With a group of six taiga bean geese in a field a bit further on. We stopped at Indre Kiberg harbour to look for Steller’s eider, no luck, but there were many smart long-tailed duck and common eider.

It was still relatively early in the morning when we arrived in Vardo and booked the boat to Hornoya, unfortunately there had been a land slip and it was only possible to access the lower section of the seabird cliffs. We had enough time to head over to Vardo Fort and the nearby tidal inlet, there were a few waders here including a single avocet (!) and an Iceland gull.

The boat trip over was relatively short and as we approached the landing the sea was covered in a carpet of common guillemot with various other auks. We set up the telescope and soon found the small colony of Brunnich’s guillemot. It was relatively restrictive not being able to walk far, although it was possible to head north along the edge of the island where you could get a better view over the open sea. Blue phase fulmar were passing regularly and despite a lot of trying we couldn’t turn any of the common eider around the shoreline into Steller’s…a theme that would continue! A small number of breeding greylag goose were present on the adjacent island and rock pipit was a new bird for the trip. Occasional panic in the colony usually turned out to be a passing white-tailed eagle.

Kuusamo and Varanger – May-June 2018 Simon Boswell

Rafts of guillemot next to Hornoya

Back on the mainland we wound our way north again scanning various bays along the road. By around 12 we were seawatching at Hamningberg which felt a bit like the end of the world! We recorded great skua offshore but missed a pomarine skua which had been seen by others. There were also ‘large’ divers passing off-shore, although all were distant, and we couldn’t identify them to species, frustrating bearing in mind that great northern diver is rare here. A British couple let us know that there was a white-billed diver on of the bays to the south, which we decided to try and find on the way back. In the first instance we birded around Hamningberg catching up with Arctic redpoll amongst a selection of commoner species.

We drove slowly back south stopping for dinner in a bay with a dramatic backdrop of towering snow topped cliffs. We were scanning the cliff tops for gyrfalcon when a pair of snow bunting flitted up onto one of the snow patches. We had distant but decent views in the scope and these turned out to be the only sightings of the trip. The bay held a raft of long-tailed duck but no sign of a white-billed diver. We drove further south seemingly travelling well away from where the British couple had recorded the diver. We took one last scan of a bay and…spotted a summer plumaged white-billed diver!

We then made the long drive south stopping at around 8pm at the road which snaked inland towards the National Park. We had a walk through the area after a long day of driving, almost immediately a willow grouse flew up out of the heather and began displaying on a nearby summer house. The next two hours were wonderful with amazing birds everywhere, bluethroat, long-tailed skua, long-tailed duck, Taiga bean goose, red-necked phalarope, lekking ruff, displaying bar-tailed godwit, golden plover, whimbrel and best of all a shorelark running along the path in front of us. A great end to another long day.

Day 7 – 1st June (Golnes – Gendje – Batsfjord – Kogsfjord – Tana Bru – Golnes)

We decided to split up today dad wanted to have a day without driving, therefore I dropped him in Vadso so he could walk up into the tundra behind the town. I carried on towards Tana Bru and then up into the centre of the National Park, a bleak but spectacular setting. Many of the lakes were still frozen and it didn’t fell much like 1st June! My first stop was at Gendje where another shorelark was on the road side and a Temminck’s stint was displaying. The surrounding area was relatively quiet so I moved on toward Batsfjord relatively quickly, stopping along the way to scan the local area. This produced a

Kuusamo and Varanger – May-June 2018 Simon Boswell

relatively distant ptarmigan, long-tailed skua, two more shorelark and lekking ruff. I couldn’t find any Steller’s eider in Batsfjord and there was only a small selection of waders in the harbour.

Frozen lake near Gendjes

Next stop was Kongsfjord to look for gyrfalcon, a hide has been built here by Biotope which overlooks a cliff where the species breeds regularly. I noticed a white-spattered rock face on the cliff and a could just about see fluffy bird, my luck was in. A few minutes later a raven flew in and landed on the nest, nightmare. Worst still, the pair of ravens were chasing all other birds away from the area making it unlikely that gyrfalcon were breeding here this year. Five common tern in the harbour here were the only sighting of this species in Norway.

On the way back to the accommodation I stopped at the expansive mud flats at Tana Bru where large numbers of ringed plover were present and a couple of little stint. Another stop on the way back produced a singing bluethroat and I also saw two kestrel from the car and a couple of sand martin in Vadso harbour. My dad had managed to walk back to the accommodation and had great views of bluethroat amongst a selection of other species.

We had a quiet evening watching the huge feeding flocks of birds out of the window.

Day 8 – 2nd June (Golnes – Vardo – Golnes)

We again decided go separate ways, I drove up the coast and dad did some seawatching from Ekkeroy. My first stop was just north of Ekkeroy where a short-eared owl was hunting, the first of the trip. This was followed later by a great view of this species foraging over some farmland. Slightly further up the coast I spotted something floating in the water just off shore which turned out to be a decomposing minke whale. At Indre Kiberg I began scanning for eiders and quickly picked out a small flock of common eider with three king eider. Driving around the coast to get a better view of the shoreline I was amazed to see a total of 38 king eider, all of which were females or immature males. Another shorelark was also present in the dunes near here along with two red-throated pipit and two Lapland bunting.

I again drove across to Vardo and along the centre of the island to the northern headland. A couple of finches with nasal calls unlike that of the regular redpolls caught my attention flying past the car. I quickly stopped and walked back up the road, eventually finding a pair of twite feeding on the shoreline. The male even had a pink rump which I’m not sure I’ve seen on the ones from Shetland.

I sat at the northern end of the island for a while hoping to pick out a Gyrfalcon heading to or from the seabird colony at Hornoya. The best I could achieve for a while was a white-tailed eagle which stole a fish from a grey seal. Then suddenly a large falcon appeared on the horizon, coming straight towards me…it got closer and revealed itself to be a peregrine.

The weather was closing in slightly as I left Vardo and moved on to my final stop, the Biotope hide looking over the wetland at Barvikmyra. I started to scan over the area and immediately picked out two waders displaying over the bog around one kilometre from my position. One was clearly a dunlin but the other was slightly larger and had an odd shaped sternum in flight. When it landed it was really

Kuusamo and Varanger – May-June 2018 Simon Boswell

difficult to pick out in the vegetation but the impression was of a pectoral sandpiper! Another birder arrived, and I tried to get him onto the bird, but he was only able to confirm that they were waders! I had phone signal and looked up the display flight of a pectoral sandpiper. A short video showing the species showed the distended sternum typical of this species’ display flight and my suspicions were confirmed (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnOUHaD1hdo). I tweeted the Biotope team with the sighting and a map of the location, later that evening they were able to witness this amazing spectacle for themselves. An amazing record for Europe.

Other species present in the area included nest building red-throated diver, four scaup, Taiga bean goose, greylag goose and red-necked phalarope. It was late in the afternoon by this point and I headed back to Ekkeroy to pick up dad. He had been watching lots of seabirds and harbour porpoise. He commented that the porpoise had suddenly vanished even though the sea conditions hadn’t changed…

We drove back to the accommodation and had dinner, scanning the sea out of the window for anything interesting. Amongst the gulls on the shore was a first summer glaucous gull. Then suddenly a large group of killer whale appears, including a bull, many females and young animals. They loafed around the area for a while seemingly playing, then suddenly a dead harbour porpoise was flung clean out of the water. They stayed around the area for more than half an hour and we got some great views. It was hard to estimate the number of individuals, but we thought there was at least 15 animals.

Day 9 – 3rd June (Varanger – Oulu)

Today we made the long drive south from Varanger to Oulu. Setting off early we made a stop at Killopea hill to try and see dotterel and ptarmigan. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived there were already people walking up the hill and the closest we got to a dotterel was the possible call of one. Other birders that turned up later had seen this species here the day before, I guess we were just unlikely. We did get some great views of two ptarmigan which were chasing each other around, seemingly oblivious to our presence. On the way down a trilling call brought our attention to a waxwing.

Another few hours of driving followed, including a roadblock by the police to breathalyse motorists, before we crossed the Arctic Circle. We saw relatively little on the rest of the drive and arrived in Oulu around 5pm. We headed out to Liminganlahti Bay and walked to a tower hide along a boardwalk. Quickly clocking up a number of new species for the trip including marsh harrier, mute swan, a singing common rosefinch, black-tailed godwit, shovelor and sedge warbler. The view over the bay from the toward hide was slightly spoilt by a cold breeze although there was a large group of common crane on a far bank, 50+ spotted redshank, 50+ little gull, 10s of wood sandpiper amongst a range of commoner species. A few interesting plants here included bunchberry, wintergreen chickweed and arctic raspberry.

Bunchberry

We drove back to the hotel and treated ourselves to a meal out, getting to bed early because the alarm was set for 02:30 for the Finnature owl tour.

Day 10 - 4th June (Finnature Tour – UK)

We met the tour guide in the hotel car park and drove to a location where a short walk took up to a pygmy owl territory. A short burst of tape luring attracted this diminutive owl, and the male sat in a nearby tree looking at us. He eventually flew off and we left the area, driving to a hawk owl site via a short-eared owl sat on the edge of the woodland. On the way we saw a blackbird and two rook, two species we hadn’t seen before on the trip.

Kuusamo and Varanger – May-June 2018 Simon Boswell

The hawk owl site was a tree stump with a hollow top, there was a single chick still in the nest and three others sat around in various locations near the nest. We waited for a while and one of the adults brought back a large rodent, which a chick duly swallowed whole. Just up the road we visited a box containing a Tengmalm’s owl which looked out at us as we approached. Two woodcock flew over as we had a coffee and snack.

Next stop was a Ural owl nest, a species which is extremely shy. As we walked towards the nest a wood warbler was singing in the trees, another new species. We stopped around 300 metres from the nest and one of the adults landed on branch through trees. It was difficult to view but once we got it in a scope everyone had cracking views. This species was certainly my favourite owl of the tour.

The final owl was a great grey owl nest where one of the adults stared back at us, occasionally falling asleep. Six owls is as many hours was impressive, although it would have been good to find them ourselves. Maybe one day!

The tour guide asked us if we wanted to try and see a pallid harrier, which everyone was obviously keen on. The birds were breeding on some farmland relatively close to Oulu, unfortunately we didn’t have any luck. Other species did include a cracking male common rosefinch, a hobby and our first whinchat of the trip.

Back at the hotel we decided to take a short walk around the surrounding farmland and to the adjacent lake shore. It was extremely windy and the lake was almost unbirdable. However a little ringed plover flew past as we tried to stand on the shoreline. We decided to head inland and had some success seeing new birds for the trip including a flock of tree sparrow, robin, coal tit, stock dove, blackcap and blue tit. Best of all was a pair of Slavonian grebe in a small lake in a leafy residential area.

We took the car back to the airport and checked in, our flight was delayed, and it was touch and go whether we’d make the connection in Helsinki. We ran through Helsinki airport and arrived at the gate as the passengers were boarding. We were back in the UK by 8pm.

Simon and Steve Boswell

Sa.boswell@btinternet.com

Kuusamo and Varanger – May-June 2018 Simon Boswell

Species 26 May 27 May 28 May 29 May 30 May 31 May 1 Jun 2 Jun 3 Jun 4 Jun

1 Gannet x x x 2 Fulmar (blue phase) x x 3 Cormorant x x x x

4 Shag x x x x x 5 Whooper swan x x x x x x x x x x

6 Mute swan 2 7 Taiga Bean goose 6 1 8 Greylag goose 10 2 x 9 Shelduck x x

10 Mallard x x x x x x x x 11 Pintail x x x x x 12 Shovelor x 13 Wigeon x x x x x x

14 Teal x x x x x x x x

15 Tufted duck x x x x x x x x x x

16 Scaup 4 17 Smew x x 2 18 Common eider x x x x 19 King eider 38 20 Common scoter x x x x x 21 Velvet scoter 2 x 2 x 2 2 22 Long-tailed duck x x x x 23 Goldeneye x x x x x x 24 Goosander 2 2 x x x x 25 Red-breasted merganser 1 x x x x x x 26 Slavonian grebe 2

27 Red-necked grebe 12 28 Red-throated diver 1 x x x x 29 Black-throated diver x x x x 30 White-billed diver 1 31 White-tailed eagle x x x x x 32 Marsh harrier 1 33 Osprey 1 1 34 Rough-legged buzzard 1 x 3 3 2 35 Kestrel 1 1 36 Hobby 1

37 Peregrine 1 38 Merlin 1 39 Ptarmigan 1 4 40 Willow grouse 2 1 41 Black grouse x x x 42 Capercaille 2 43 Hazelhen heard 44 Crane 2 1 x x 100+ 2

45 Oystercatcher x x x x 46 Knot x x x 47 Little ringed plover 1

48 Ringed plover x x x x x 49 Golden plover x x x 50 Lapwing x x x

51 Sanderling 25 2 52 Purple sandpiper x x x x 53 Turnstone x x x x 54 Dunlin x x x x 55 Little stint 2 56 Temminck's stint 4 5 57 Pectoral sandpiper 1 58 Green sandpiper 1 59 Wood sandpiper 2 x x x x x x x 60 Common sandpiper x x 1 x

61 Redshank x x x x x 62 Spotted redshank x 50+

Kuusamo and Varanger – May-June 2018 Simon Boswell

Species 26 May 27 May 28 May 29 May 30 May 31 May 1 Jun 2 Jun 3 Jun 4 Jun

63 Greenshank 1 x 64 Black-tailed godwit 3 1

65 Bar-tailed godwit x x x x 66 Curlew x x x x x x x x

67 Whimbrel 1 x x x x 68 Woodcock 2 2

69 Snipe x x x x x x x 70 Jack snipe 1 71 Red-necked phalarope 20+ 4 1 72 Ruff 1 x x x x x x 73 Avocet 1 74 Great skua 1 75 Arctic skua x x x x 76 Long-tailed skua 10 6 x x 77 Black-headed gull 1 x x x x x x x

78 Common gull x x x x x x x x x 79 Herring gull x x x x x x x x

80 Lesser black-backed gull 1 x x x x x x 81 Great black-backed gull x x x x 82 Little gull 100+ x 50+ 83 Kittiwake x x x x 84 Glaucous gull 1 1 85 Iceland gull 1 86 Common tern 1 5 87 Arctic tern x x x x x x x 88 Puffin x x x 89 Black guillemot x x x x 90 Guillemot x x x 91 Brunnich's guillemot 100+ 92 Razorbill x x x 93 Woodpigeon 2 x x x

94 Stock dove 1

95 Feral pigeon 2 1 96 Cuckoo 1 x x x x 97 Great grey owl 1

98 Ural owl 1

99 Hawk owl 4

100 Tengmalm's owl 1

101 Pygmy owl 1

102 Short-eared owl 1 1 2

103 Swift x x 104 Black woodpecker 1

105 Great spotted woodpecker 1 x x x 2 x

106 Three-toed woodpecker 107 Skylark 1 1 108 Shorelark 1 3 1 109 Sand martin 3 2 110 House martin x x x x x 111 Swallow x x x x x x x x x

112 Rock pipit 2 1 113 Meadow pipit x x x x x x x 114 Tree pipit x x x 2 x 115 Red-throated pipit 1 2 116 White wagtail x x x x x x x x x x

117 Grey-headed wagtail x x x x x x 118 Dipper 1 119 Waxwing 2 2 4 2 120 Robin 3

121 Bluethroat 1 2 x 1 122 Red-flanked bluetail 2 2 123 Redstart 1 x x x x 124 Wheatear 2 x x x x x x

Kuusamo and Varanger – May-June 2018 Simon Boswell

Species 26 May 27 May 28 May 29 May 30 May 31 May 1 Jun 2 Jun 3 Jun 4 Jun

125 Whinchat 1

126 Song thrush x x x x 127 Redwing x x x x x x x x x x

128 Fieldfare x x x x x x x x x x

129 Blackbird 2

130 Garden warbler 1 131 Blackcap x

132 Sedge warbler x x

133 Chiffchaff 1 2

134 Willow warbler x x x x x x x x x x

135 Greenish warbler 4 136 Wood warbler 1

137 Goldcrest x x 138 Spotted flycatcher x x 2

139 Pied flycatcher x x x x x 2

140 Coal tit 1

141 Great tit x x x x x

142 Blue tit 2

143 Willow tit 2 2 144 Siberian tit 1 145 Magpie x x x x x x x x x

146 Jay x x 147 Siberian jay 3 2 3 148 Jackdaw x x x x x x x

149 Raven x x x x x x x x x

150 Hooded crow x x x x x x x x x x

151 Rook 2

152 Starling 1 1 153 House sparrow x x x x x 154 Tree sparrow 6

155 Chaffinch x x x x x x

156 Brambling x x x x x x 157 Twite 2 158 Mealy redpoll x x x x x x x x x 159 Arctic redpoll 2 160 Greenfinch x x x x

161 Bullfinch x x 162 Pine grosbeak 5 163 Common crossbill x x x 164 Siskin x x x x 165 Common rosefinch heard 1

166 Reed bunting 4 x x 167 Snow bunting 2 168 Lapland bunting x x 2 169 Little bunting 1 170 Rustic bunting 1 171 Yellowhammer x x x x

Other Species Killer whale 15 Harbour porpoise x x Humpback whale 1 Minke whale (dead) 1 Grey seal x x Musk rat x Root vole (dead) x

Red squirrel x Arctic hare x x reindeer x x x x Moose (field signs) x x x Green hairstreak x x White-faced darter x x x