It was an early evening flight out of Stansted to Tallinn which got us in after 11pm local time and it was the best part of midnight before we got out of town with Tarvo and on the road to Roosta. We had hopes of encountering late night roadside wildlife but ended up with just a Red Fox and lolloping Brown Hare by the time we arrived at about 1.30 in the morning.
Some semblance of sleep beckoned but I was quite literally
up with the lark (a Woodlark in fact that was singing in the dark) at 5am for
our pre-breakfast jaunt in search of Owls and Woodpeckers.
It was a full on first hour that began with a White-tailed
Eagle as our first ‘seen’ bird of the trip and then a Ural Owl began calling as
we stopped which then showed very well in the half light and actually kept
hooting and producing a trembling song for the whole time was were there. They are a magnificent bird. A Pygmy Owl briefly sung in the distance.
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| Ural Owl |
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| Ural Owl - magnificent |
Finches were on the move early with many Siskins migrating
north and with them were Chaffinches, the odd Brambling and tooting Northern
Bullfinches. Yellowhammers ‘chicked’ and
Reed Bunting was noted too along with Skylarks and Woodlarks. Almost everything is a returning migrant here
with the forest being almost deserted during the heart of the winter. Nuthatches were vocal and further back we
could here the raucous calls of Nutcrackers and eventually found one perched up
on a pine top that stayed log enough to be scoped.
Two Bewick’s Swans headed over with nine Tundra Bean Geese
and Cranes were bugling some way off and echoing across the semi wooded
clearings. As ever, I just closed my eyes
and drunk it in. Two Whooper Swans and
two Greylags added to the flyover wildfowl.
Bewick’s Swans & Tundra Bean Geese 
Common Cranes - the light was very odd
There were other small birds with Marsh, Willow, Blue and
Great Tits and plenty of Blackbird action too.
It is amazing to think that some of these may have been birds that have
wintered close to my Lowestoft home and have been seen heading up and out
across the North Sea in recent evenings.
There were newly arrived Mistle Thrushes too and it feels strange to
think of these as summer visitors here.
A few Woodpigeons were on the move and we found two Stock Doves around
them while the Woodpecker action was top notch with at least four Grey-headed
and five Black Woodpeckers encountered.
Both species were heard drumming which was a first for me and at one
stage we had three Blacks playing chase overhead while a Grey-head bounded
round an Aspen! A drumming Great Spot
made it three species for the first session.
Tarvo took us on a loop around the Aulapa windfarm fields
where there were quite a few Lapwing settled in on ground that had been covered
in snow until the recent sudden thaw that prompted their arrival along with the
numerous Skylarks. There was much tumbling from one and ascending from the other. Pairs of Cranes were
dotted around along with Common Buzzards, Hooded Crows and lots of boisterous
Ravens.
Small parties of nervous Greylags were found along with two
Tundra Beans and a herd of 22 Bewick’s Swans were a little more settled. The local Moles were obviously appreciating
the thaw with countless hills especially on house lawns and we saw two Roe Deer
and a very fluffy Red Fox decked in the finest pale ginger and white pelage.
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| Bewick’s Swans |
Breakfast was calling us but we still had time to stop at
the bay before the Roosta turn where a pair of Cranes paraded and danced along
the shoreline where the male leapt in the air and threw a tuft of vegetation
around while bugling enthusiastically.
On the patches of open water there were at least 60 Smew with the White
Nuns gleaming from afar along with equally impressive flocks of Goldeneye and
Goosander.
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| Common Cranes |
A huddle of Coot did their best to see off the attentions of two White-tailed Eagles with much splashing and waving of clawed feet in the air and team work succeeded and the Cooty collective remained intact. Closer in there were two Shelduck, a female Scaup and two Wigeon – Tarvo was having summer year ticks all over the place! Lapwings twisted and turned on the closest meadow where there were more singing Skylarks and our first Linnets.
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| White-tailed Eagles v the Coots |
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| White-tailed Eagles v the Coots |
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| White-tailed Eagles v the Coots |
A fine breakfast and then a quick repack before
leaving. I got lucky and heard at least
two jooping Parrot Crossbills going over and a Coal Tit was another addition.
From Roosta we made our way to Haapsala and the impressive
bay that skirts the town. The Polar Bear
had migrated south and was no longer on its rock but here was plenty else to
see with a large vocal herd of Whooper Swans that included some Bewick’s and
Mutes and excitingly for Tarvo – three Canada Geese. They are still a scarce species in Estonia
and then only really at this time of year. All the ice and oddly warm air was
creating a fierce heat haze but we could make out a large flock of distant Smew
but thankfully there were some closer one on an opening along with Goosanders,
Goldeneye and Tufted Ducks.
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| Goosanders |
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| Mixed Swanage with Canada Geese just behind! |
There were 22 miffed off looking hunched Grey Herons along
the edge of the reeds and eight Great Egrets were noted flying along the back
of the view. Great Black-backed,
Herring, Common and Black-headed Gulls were all seen on the ice where the
Hooded Crows poked around at a corpse.
White-tailed Eagles were constantly on patrol.
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| Hooded Crow |
The local Rooks were back in town for the season and both Sparrows and Jackdaws were also seen as we scanned the wildfowl while Greenfinches and Goldfinches were heard over us.
On to Matsalu National Park and the familiar terrain around Põgari where the old farm barn loading ramp once again offered us views over
the coastal fields and bay beyond. It
was still early for proper passage waders but both Lapwings and Ringed Plovers
were back and displaying in good numbers.
A flock of 140 Greylags did not contain anything different but four
Barnacle Geese that flew through were the first returning northbound birds of
the spring. As usual, White-tailed Eagles were actively patrolling the area and a Meadow Pipit was heard overhead.
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| Barnacle Geese |
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| Barnacle Geese |
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| White-tailed Eagle |
On to the Haeska fields, tracks and hamlets where we found
more Cranes and a large flock of Jackdaws and Rooks in a ploughed field while a
mixed flock of Russian White-fronted and Tundra Bean Geese went north
high. We tried for more Woodpeckers but
the breeze was getting up but we did have Great Spotted drumming and a Lesser
Spotted Woodpecker was seen briefly before being heard drumming too. Frustratingly only I saw two Hazel Hens that
gave themselves away but making the leaves rustle and a twig snap. I just happened to look it at the right spot
as they calmly walked over a small ridge just 10m away and disappear
permanently. Hopefully we shall get
another chance.
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| Ravens were barrel rolling over us |
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| Pronging Roe Buck |
We tried one of the small villages for Middle Spotted
Woodpecker and had better luck with a calling male as soon as we got out and
with patience we all got some excellent views along with a silvery Nuthatch and
both House and Tree Sparrows in the gardens.
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| Middle Spotted Woodpecker |
It was food time once again and we visited the farmstead that I remembered for the fantastic mustards and the enormous puppy. I warned the others of his exuberance and we were warmly welcomed but both him and his owner. Lunch was as expected excellent and their cat obviously decided that I was a suitable lap to curl up on leaving me voluntarily eating dinner with just the one free hand!
Fully sated we hit the road once more and began the drive to Virtsu to catch our ferry to the islands but it was disappointing that we saw so little on the journey through the countryside with just a few Cranes, Geese, Buzzards and Corvids.
With Tarvo’s expert judgement, we arrived literally as the
ferry was boarding and just three minutes later we were under way. The sea hear was still largely frozen solid
but the ferry keeps the main channel open with its frequent passings (unlike my
first foolish February visit all those years ago) while a side channel heading
north had been opened up by an actual icebreaker.
There was plenty to see and we gently pushed all the duck
head of us until they got bored and circled back behind us with about five
minutes to go. There must have been over
150 beautiful Long-tailed Ducks with the drakes resplendent in their winter
finery and amongst then we found a male and two female Velvet Scoter and
excellent numbers of both Goosander and Goldeneye once again.
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| Long-tailed Ducks |
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| Long-tailed Ducks |
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| Velvet Scoter |
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| The carved passage through the ice heading north |
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| Goosander and Goldeneye in ice holes |
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| Long-tailed Ducks |
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| Long-tailed Ducks |
There were a few gulls which included a 2w Caspian and there
were Cormorants off towards the islet colonies and a snaky line of 41 Tundra
Bean and six Russian White-fronts headed low towards the mainland we had just
left behind.
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| Migrating Geese |
We were soon across Muhu and across the causeway onto
Saaremaa and with time to spare we opted to have a go for the Steller’s Eiders
at Saarema sadam. Once again the drive
did not produce the goods with just the same selection as on the mainland but a
Kestrel was new. Down at the harbour
(where I had flashbacks of that first trip in -27c) there were no Steller’s
Eiders but we did find a drake Common Eider, two Red-breasted Mergansers among
the Goosanders and Long-tailed Ducks and close in to us there were a couple of
Goldeneye, a female Pochard with some Coot and two female Scaup with a male
Tufted Ducks.
Two Scaup and a Tufted Duck.
An Estonian couple that Tarvo knew had left before us and a
quick phone call from them had him switching to twitching Saaremaa rally mode to
get us the mile or so down the road and onto a track to the point where a hasty
walk through the pines took us to a cliff above the sea where a small raftlet
of 14 drake and nine female Steller’s Eiders were actively feeding in almost
perfect synchronicity. The light was
holding on for us and they were beautifully illuminated in the scope, at long
last allowing me to get some quality views of this species that I last saw from
the same point about half a mile out beyond the edge of the frozen Baltic. Today there was no sea ice here and they were
energetically feeding and displaying just behind where the first waves started
to brake. Such an intricate plumage
pattern.
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| Steller’s Eiders |
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| Steller’s Eiders - trust me - they looked fabulous in the scope |
There were a further nine Mergansers and a female Velvet Scoter along with the previous ‘usuals’ bobbing around and with a final look at the Steller’s Eiders we packed up and walked back to the van with big smiles.
Dinner at our new lodge – Loona
Mois was exceptional and unlike my venison at Speech House during the week,
this Red Deer was taken locally and not shipped in from 500 miles away.
Cranes called from the fields around the house as a fitting
ornithological end to our first day.
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