We settled into Sabrina's house, checking out the feeders and nest boxes, where we saw Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Siskin, Blue and Great Tit and Northern Bullfinch with Pied Flycatcher in one of the nest boxes and then spent the afternoon catching up on some sleep before a lovely 'Finnish' meal of tomato soup, grated potato and ham with lettuce and a beet root salad and a special desert of warmed feta-like cheese and cloudberry jam which was very nice.
As the weather forecast for the area with the flying squirrels was so dire we decided not to try but to have a drive round to see Elk and anything else that was about. The first thing we did was to walk 100yds into the edge of the forest with a short ladder which Sabrina setup against a tree with an owl box on it. Climbing the ladder and peering in we could see 3 nearly fledged Tengmalm's Owls. There had been 5 eggs and 4 chicks hatched but only 3 survived and One of the owlets had a deformed beak so hopefully it will be Ok.
We spent a little time trying to see the adults but no luck so we set off towards Kajanni driving some forest tracks and stopping and listening every now and then. We had 6 Elk with one mother and calf and 3 Mountain hares.
One place we visited was a private reserve of a flooded peat bog which had a tower hide
Which we climbed giving great views across the lake. There were a pair of Cranes and a pair of Whooper Swans as well as several Mallard, Teal, Tufted Duck and Goldeneye, one other with 2 ducklings which she shepherded across the track and back, at one point with them both in her back.
A possible owl sound had us trekking through the moss and fallen branches but no sound again so we made our way back to the car, finding a small patch of Violets along with the Chickweed Wintergreen, Bog Rosemary and Labrador Tea that seem to grow everywhere in the wet forests.
Returning to the house at around midnight there was a very unexpected Hedgehog feeding on the seeds and a lot of alarming near the owl nest box but still no sign of the adults. So we turned in for a relatively early night before our long drive south.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
As the weather forecast for the area with the flying squirrels was so dire we decided not to try but to have a drive round to see Elk and anything else that was about. The first thing we did was to walk 100yds into the edge of the forest with a short ladder which Sabrina setup against a tree with an owl box on it. Climbing the ladder and peering in we could see 3 nearly fledged Tengmalm's Owls. There had been 5 eggs and 4 chicks hatched but only 3 survived and One of the owlets had a deformed beak so hopefully it will be Ok.
We spent a little time trying to see the adults but no luck so we set off towards Kajanni driving some forest tracks and stopping and listening every now and then. We had 6 Elk with one mother and calf and 3 Mountain hares.
One place we visited was a private reserve of a flooded peat bog which had a tower hide
Which we climbed giving great views across the lake. There were a pair of Cranes and a pair of Whooper Swans as well as several Mallard, Teal, Tufted Duck and Goldeneye, one other with 2 ducklings which she shepherded across the track and back, at one point with them both in her back.
A possible owl sound had us trekking through the moss and fallen branches but no sound again so we made our way back to the car, finding a small patch of Violets along with the Chickweed Wintergreen, Bog Rosemary and Labrador Tea that seem to grow everywhere in the wet forests.
Returning to the house at around midnight there was a very unexpected Hedgehog feeding on the seeds and a lot of alarming near the owl nest box but still no sign of the adults. So we turned in for a relatively early night before our long drive south.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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