Kenya Trip Report
(16/6/2002 – 1/7/2002)
Peter Jones and Kathleen Lockyer
Introduction:
Our first trip to Scandinavia for its wilderness, scenery, and wildlife. We started with a nice evening in Stockholm, before flying north to Lulea. From here we embarked on a circular trip to Varanger in the far north, then south through Finland stopping at Kuusamo, Martinselkonen (Brown Bear Watchpoint), and Liminghalahlti near Oulu, before heading back to Lulea and home via Stockholm.
The Brown Bears at Martinselkonen were fantastic. A thoroughly recommended experience. I travelled to Scandinavia with a big list of at least 30 bird species that I had never seen before. I saw 7 new species, but also plenty of species that I had only ever twitched in the UK, which were nice to find myself. Also the views of many of the waders displaying and in breeding plumage was fantastic.
Nevertheless, I returned to Scandinavia with more than a little help form Ibis, and my good friend Keith Mitchell in 2003 to find quite a few more of the ones that got away (See Scandinavia 2003 trip report)
Click here for Photo gallery from Scandinavia 2002
General information:
Flight: Ryan Air to Skavsda, great low prices! a Swedish Airlines to Lulea got us within striking distance of the Arctic Circle..
Car Hire: With Hertz. Excellent car, great service at the check in.
Accommodation: Accommodation was fairly basic once we started our journey north from Lulea. We found B&B type accommodation, hotels, or Cabins fairly easily as we arrived in towns and villages each day. Highlight was the small cabin in Syltefford were we cooked fish over a fire.
Getting by in Scandinavia: Our impressions of Scandinavia was a very efficient, friendly, and clean land. The Roads were very quiet, and the landscape, particularly in the far north was more remote than you would see anywhere else in Europe. However, it is a vast country, and journeys could take several hours, and need to be planned carefully.
This was a holiday of massive road mileage, but each stopping off location had charm and natural beauty to make the journey worthwhile.
The one aspect of the trip that I would have changed was to fly to Oulu in finland as opposed to Lulea in Sweden. Simply because the road from Lulea to Varanger was totally dominated by secondary forest, and very poor for birdwatching compared to the faster highway through Finland which is dominated by lakes bogs and mountains.
The introduction of the Euro in Finland, but traditional currencies still used in Sweden and Norway made the cash very awkward for most of the holiday. We ended up using Visa for everything.
The Sites
Lulea to Noregian Border: This was a long drive that took 24 hours including a sleep over in a small town B&B. The drive was 90% Secondary coniferous Forest (i.e. No birds except Willow Warblers!), and drove us both crazy.
Once in Norway, the habitat opened up, and we started seeing some birds on the roadside pools and lakes. Smew, Red Necked Phalarope and Rough Leggged Buzzard were quite a relief after the previous 24 hours.
Varanger: Varanger is an excellent area to Birdwatch, and I would certainly return to the area again. We had good views of Twite, Arctic Redpoll, Sea Eagle, King Eider, Brunnichs Guillemot, and Seabirds at the Horneroy Island off Vardo. As expected, it was extremely cold, -10Deg C at one point.
Ivalo: Haapalahti Bird Tower was enjoyable with Three Toed Woodpecker and Waxwing seen well. We were lucky driving through Ivalo area in that we saw a Hawk Owl perched on the roadside.
Kuusamo: Vaaltavaara was another good area for birding. Had excellent views of Siberian Jay, Hazelhen, Capercaillie, and Arctic Hare, but many other species got away (Siberian Tit, Red Flanked Bluetail, Crossbills, to name three)
Oulu / Liminganlahti: A nice finish to the holiday. The reserve had very modern and clean accommodation. Some nice birds to finish the holiday too with a very prominent Corncrake calling all night from the top of a post, and Common Rosefinch calling in the car park the next morning. Plus a Quail heard calling in distant fields.
Systematic List
List of all Birds Seen on trip
Mammals Seen included: Brown Bear (Martinselkonen), Arctic Fox (Vardo area), Elk and Reindeer