Wild Finland
Last summer, I went on a two week road trip around Finland, looking for bears, birds and exploring some really cool places. We started our trip from Helsinki and travelled north-east through the lake country. My personal highlights in this area were the Osprey - we saw plenty flying distant and high over the lakes. Barnacle geese and whooper swans were in here in huge numbers as well, and red-necked grebe could be seen elusively poking out of the reedbeds. Hobby were also present, feeding on the many Downy Emerald and Northern White-faced Darter dragonflies.
A barnacle goose, northern white-faced darter, whooper swan and hobby - all perfectly at home in Finland’s lake country
We next headed further north, in search of two of our main targets: the wolverine and the wolf. I’d rented an overnight hide in prime habitat for these species, east of Kuhmo and right on the Finland-Russian border. After checking in, our guide drove us a short distance to the hide. We’d be in here until dawn - in early June, the sun stays up here through basically the whole night. The hide was situated in a large clearing on the edge of dense forest.
Acrobatic black kites and feisty ravens, frequently battling over scraps and prime perches, kept us entertained whilst waiting for the main event. After 7 hours the luck arrived - a wolverine bounded through the clearing, disrupting the party of ravens and surveying the whole area for anything edible. It didn’t hang around for more than a few minutes, but it was only a couple of hours before another appeared. This beast sported a gruesome scar in place of a left eye and had clearly been through a lot, but was no less inquisitive, spending about 30 minutes sniffing around before heading off into the trees. Unfortunately no wolves came, though I was treated to a pair of courting cranes at dawn.
Thankfully, our schedule was flexible so we decided to stay another night to see if we could get a wolf. After a long day’s sleep, we were back in the hide and ready for another 10 hours of watching. Thankfully our patience was rewarded - just before 10pm a lone grey wolf slowly made its way across the clearing. A young female, I think, and she blended perfectly in with the tundra foliage in her summer coat. Though she was the only wolf we saw up close, we noticed another patrolling the tree line in the distance.
Next up was the northern city of Oulu. A bird I’ve wanted to see my whole life has been the great grey owl, and near Oulu, I got my wish. A guide took us deep into a protected region of forest, which seemed eerily empty except from the odd reindeer or shriek of a goshawk. We were headed to the nest of a pair of great grey owls that the guide had been monitoring for some time. An ural owl was a treat en route, though we didn’t spend much time with it as it was very territorial. We eventually reached the great greys - the female was comically sitting partially inside a hollowed-out tree stump, her mass of feathers spilling out as she protected her newly-born chicks. We sat and watched from a pop-up hide as the male diligently returned to feed his growing family.
Father great grey taking a break from the hunt
Some walks in the local forests afterwards and around Kuusamo revealed some more great birdlife. My personal favourite, and one I had been hoping to come across, was the Siberian Jay, a tiny little corvid (though not at all lacking personality). A late night moose tour, though sadly leading to 0 moose, did reward me with my first ever capercaillie. Other species of the forest included parrot crossbills, brambling, greenfinch, lapland bunting, spotted flycatchers, woodcock and plenty of red squirrels.
The final stop of our trip was coming up next, it’s safe to say the best was saved for last. As we walked through the forest towards our bear hide, the guide stopped every now and then to point out claw marks in the tree trunks, setting the atmosphere and letting us know whose territory we were entering. Once in the hide, we saw firsthand where these marks come from - the bear cubs (from the season before, we were too early to see this years’ newborns) would zoom up the trunks whenever an adult male entered the clearing. One stayed clung to the tree right in front of the hide for nearly an hour! To be fair, the hulking adult males were quite scary, covered in bloody wounds and cuts indicative of previous fights, and their broody personas implied that they maybe wouldn’t be too tolerant of playful cubs. We also saw a mother bear breastfeeding right in front of the hide, cubs play-fighting and a white-tailed eagle regularly visiting the canopy.
The swamp hide offered a totally different experience. I was in a tiny, ground-level hide, with only a small bit of fabric and wire fence between myself and the bears. It was mostly the adolescent bears visiting this hide, and some came incredibly close as they scuffled around searching for food. This offered some really unique photo opportunities, but ended up being far more than just about photography. Falling asleep knowing that I was mere meters away from a load of brown bears was pretty wild. This will be a tough wildlife experience to beat, and I’d imagine it’ll remain my favourite for years to come.
