1st:
After a good flight heading away from the sunset with Ascend
Air (never heard of them but subbing for Whizz!) from Luton we touched down in
good time in Tallinn for the start of the Oriole bespoke autumn tour for the
York RSPB group.
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| Day meets Night |
Tarvo met us and we
were soon heading off to Altmõisa near his home town of Haapsalu where I stayed
last June.
It was gone 11pm before we arrived and a Tawny Owl greeted
us from the shadowy trees. Sleep soon
arrived.
2nd:
A pre-dawn rise revealed a very chilly morning and both
Long-eared and Tawny Owls could be heard outside while a susurration of
stirring Barnacle Geese were to be heard in the distance out in the coastal
bays.
By just before seven it was light enough to see the
flicking, ticking shapes of Robins outside (Tarvo had over 100 on the drive in
from home) and Blackbirds and Redwings could be heard. We were soon on the vans
and making the short drive down to Puise at the end of the headland.
What happened in the next one hour and forty-four minutes was the most exciting display of passerine visible migration I have ever seen. The list below can speak in numbers but it was the spectacle of hundreds of Tits on the move that will be engrained in the memory.
The first little white snowball Northern Long-tailed Tits
barrelled through and I joyously made sure everyone saw them, unaware of what
we were going to witness and by the time breakfast called us back we had
counted 966 of these super cuties moving through the headland in flocks of up
to 70 but they were not all low down with some groups way up in the sky that
was still thinking about colouring up for the day. It was an experience never to be forgotten.
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| Northern Long-tailed Tits |
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| Northern Long-tailed Tits - and at last in a glimmer of light! |
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| Northern Long-tailed Titsdots |
But it was not just LTTs and we logged 222 Great Tits and
103 Blue Tits, three Coal Tits and a single Willow Tit and small groups of
finches and thrushes (including Mistles) were still on the move. Hawfinches circled and one came
down and perched up and plump gleaming raspberry sorbet Bullfinches moved
through too making loud tooting calls.
There were occasional Buntings and a few Tree Sparrows but
oddly we did not hear a single Robin given how many there were around Altmõisa. Higher up Wood Pigeons were on the move with
Barnacle and both Tundra Bean and Russian Whitefront flocks and three Cranes
were picked up over a distant wood where we had also seen 40 Great Egrets leave
their roost. Many others could be seen
in the bays where White-tailed Eagles sat on rocks. Two immature birds did a full talon grapple
tumble right in front of us!
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| Wood Pigeons |
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| Both Grey Geese |
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| Barnacle Geese |
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Barnacle Geese
|
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| White-tailed Eagle |
We checked the local Starlings for Rose-coloured but had no
joy and counted cold looking Swallows as they circled and waited for breakfast
to warm up and take to the wing.
Chiffchaff was the only Warbler and two icy white Treecreepers were seen
in what we called The Tit Tree and down on a shoreline boulder a Black Redstart sat boldly. A Lesser Spotted
Woodpecker bounded over and it felt strange to see this species as a passage
bird – in fact I do not remember the last time I actually saw one!
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| Starlings |
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| Jays - along with a few other Corvids were seen moving |
It was difficult to tear ourselves away. On the short drive back a Buzzard was sat up
on the wires and I was delighted to find two Nutcrackers as they flew in front
of the van but we could not stop at that point and I had to hope that we would
get another chance. They were my first
non-British ones and the one at Kingsdown in Kent in September 1998 seems a
lifetime ago.
After a fine Altmõisa breakfast we headed back to the coast
to start with and scanned the rocky bay at Põgari where we took up position on
the old barn ramp like last summer. A group of Barnacle Geese on the meadow in
front and the bay held a large number of dabblers as well as a raft of 600
Tufted Duck that contained a few Scaup and Pochard too. Gangs of Goldeneye snorkelled closer to shore where Lapwings and two Grey Plover were
found.
Yellowhammers came up from the surrounding fields along with
a few Skylarks and Tit passage continued overhead with 12 Northern Long-tailed
Tits, three Great and four Blue Tits. The
flashing red tail and Black Redstart flicked by and she perched up in a bare Rowan
for us.
Suddenly all the wildfowl were up in the air and flying
manically in all directions. It was not
the co-ordinated attack of a Peregrine but the sneakily lumbering approach of
not one but four White-tailed Eagles. They
look cumbersome but can turn and drop on a slow bird in an instant! Three
Woodlark came by as we got back on the vans and a Kestrel was hovering
alongside the road.
On to Haapsalu to check out the lagoon that they town
overlooks. Tarvo had told the crew that
if they did not get to ten White-tailed Eagles then there would be no
cake. We managed 13… There were vast rafts of feeding Coot and associated
Gadwall and Wigeon – two prime weed thieves and 700 Pochard in a single group
was exceptional for this nationally declining species. Four Great Crested Grebes and female
Goosander were also new along with six Whooper Swans that flew through but
there were no other wild swans amongst the countless Mute Swans.
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| Raven and the Eagle |
One of the local massive Great Black-backed Gulls were attempting to take down an out of range Polar Bear. There were four species of Tits in the trees and the local Rooks, Hooded Crows and Jackdaws were all looking smart
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| The Bear never stood a chance |
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| Jackdaw |
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| Hooded Crow |
Having earnt our cake we looped through the rather splendid
castle grounds before fish soup followed by cinnamon buns and coffee.
On again and a stop at the ‘Moorhen Pond’ immediately gave
us two of this tricky Estonian bird.
Like last June the closest one dived immediately and was never seen
again and in fact I think half the group never saw either of them before they
vanished!
However, there were no tears as a male Grey-headed
Woodpecker put on a superb show in the lakeside trees and gave me my best ever
views and all Moorhen related thoughts dissipated. A Hawfinch was sat up on a
dead snag and Nuthatch called while in the sunny verges there were Migrant Hawkers
and Common Darters sunning themselves and a few Hoverflies on the Dandelions
which seemed to be Helophilus pendulus and Eristalis pertinax but I will have
to check whether both species are found in Estonia.
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| Grey-headed Woodpecker |
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| Common Darter |
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| Helophilus pendulus and Eristalis pertinax |
We made our way back through the lanes towards Altmõisa for a ‘rest’ but were forced to stop and watch a Grey Ghost male Hen Harrier patiently quartering the fields. Always a joy.
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| Hen Harrier |
A rest for some us meant a walk
down to the sea and back on the boardwalk across the road. Judith and I did quite well with a few left
over thrushes and tits, ticking Robins and a Reed Bunting while three
Sparrowhawks were on the prowl. Down at
the end a decoy duck on a pond had me puzzled for a while and a Northern
Wheatear was picked up on the rocks. A Stock Dove went over with some Wood Pigeons and a Great Spotted Woodpecker called.
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| A ex-Mole |
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| Common Frog |
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| The gall of probably Urophora cardui on Field Thistle |
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| Knapweed |
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| White Dead Nettle |
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| Alder Buckthorn |
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| Clustered Bellflower |
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| Juniper |
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| Marsh Tit on the sunflower heads outside the hotel |
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| Marsh Tit |
We were back on the road by 5pm and heading towards Haeska where the fields were slowly checked for Lynx and Elk with no joy but we did pick up a fine Great Grey Shrike and a small mixed flock of grey geese going over. We tried for Pygmy Owls but had no joy so headed for the massive Haeska viewing tower where we stayed until the sun dipped below the horizon.
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| Great Grey Shrike |
The view was superb and the light perfect for identifying waders at range which gave us Spotted Redshank, about 50 Snipe, Grey Plover, Ruff, Lapwings, 20 Dunlin and a couple of Ringed Plovers. There were plenty of dabblers and Great Egrets and flights of Barnacle Geese moved across the landscape where White-tailed Eagles periodically appeared.
The homestead gardens were alive with five thrushes and it still felt odd to keep finding Mistle Thrushes with these migrating flocks – it is just not something we see at home. There were pasty orange Robins lurking and the odd Chiffchaff hu-weeting while a Great Grey Shrike flew over as we were trying to board the vans and hovered for long enough to get the camera back out and pointed in the right direction!
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| Great Grey Shrike |
We had dinner at the lovely Tänava farmstead where the home cooking was excellent but we almost had an indoor Nutcracker as I attempted to decapitate myself on a low door whilst carrying a pot of homemade Sea Buckthorn Mustard but somehow my thick skull was undented and the condiment remained largely in the jar and in my hand.
A final drive around the lanes gave us no Ural Owls on a dark Haeska forest track or large furry cats either but it had been a fabulous day and the morning session alone would remain with everyone for a very long time.
