Weekend in Southern Finland
On Friday evening after floorball training I started a long drive towards south. I had decided to go to try to see Sandwiched Tern which I’ve never seen in Finland. The species is almost never twitchable but still almost regular visitor in Southern coast – mainly in Hanko.
On the way I stopped in Lappeenranta in a place where had been a Lanceolated Warbler in a couple of night but last night I didn’t had any information and I still thought it was too early so I continued my way soon. The night seemed to get too dark to do any twitching in Helsinki so I decided to drive to Hämeenlinna Hauho again.
2nd of July I parked to Scops Owl place at 00:30. I had planned to record the owl but again there were too many twitchers. So I decided to wait just 30 minutes and keep on going. Luckily only after 10 minutes waiting the owl started to call pretty far on the other side of the field. I still waited for 20 minutes but it didn’t call again.
On the way to Hanko I stopped in Raasepori Oby where Jörgen Palmgren had just found a Lanceolated Warbler. There were no twitchers at all so I managed to get very good recordings and videos of the bird.
Finally I was in Hanko at 5 a.m. where I first stopped in Svanvik bird-tower. Only better tern was a Caspian Tern, also some waders and a White-tailed Eagle were seen. Soon I continued to Tallholmarna where I scanned to the sea for a couple of hours in a windy and surprisingly cold weather. Maybe the reason for the cold feeling was more that I hadn’t been sleeping enough? Anyway even though nothing else than a Common Scoter, an Arctic Skua and another Caspian Tern were seen I continued next to Långören which was empty and then to Vedagrundet.
When I got to Vedagrundet the weather had warmed up to more than 30 degrees! I did seawatching for several hours, but I also slept just enjoyed the sun for some time too. Nothing better was found anyway. In the evening I checked the same places again but couldn’t find anything better than an Icterine Warbler in Svanvik. So I gave up and decide to go twitching… I’d continued the Sandwich Tern project later again…
I drove to Espoo Laajalahti where a Great White Egret had been for some days. I couldn’t find the egret but heard a Citrine Wagtail a couple of times. Soon I decided to continue to Helsinki Hietaniemi cemetery where I immediately heard a European Serin singing. Then I continued to Kaivopuisto beach where I found a Brent Goose swimming with many nowadays so common Barnacle Geese. Then I still continued to Seurasaari where after some searching I first found the right pool and then soon a Mandarin Duck too. All these 3 species were new July ticks (We crazy Finns are collecting so many ticks!)
I still decided to get back to Laajalahti where a Great White Egret was now easily seen before I continued to my parents to sleep.
On the 3rd of July I woke up at 5:10 a.m. when I got a message that there was a couple of Ruddy Shelducks in Laajalahti. I first thought not to go but as I was awake already I decided to go. When I was climbing to the bird-tower the 4 birders that already were there shouted me that the birds were flying! I saw them very well but soon they disappeared behind the forest and continued east. They were never seen again… I still spent an hour in Laajalahti as there are so many birds – waders and ducks and so on. The Great White Egret was also seen briefly in flight. But soon I decided to drive back to sleep.
The rest of the day I was shopping and in the evening I drove back to Parikkala. On the way I stopped shortly in Lapinjärvi Lindkoski where I didn’t see a Turtle Dove and in Lappeenranta Askola where I saw only an Oystercatcher and a Redshank.
J.A.