In early February I spent two weeks in Finland trying my luck at a number of species. The first week I was with my good friend Nigel Spencer who had arranged for us to spend a few days in a forest hide in the east of Finland. This hide had the potential of seeing and photographing some classic boreal forest woodpeckers. Now I like woodpeckers but I was more interested in the Siberian Jays that were also visiting the feeding station. I have photographed this beautiful bird many times but I was never entirely happy with the images and thought there was room for improvement.
Our timing was spot on as the forest was beautiful with all the trees covered in snow. Heavy snow had fallen a few days before we arrived and no wind had meant the trees were laden with snow, the perfect backdrop. The Siberian Jays were the first to arrive and sometimes we had not even set-up and one dropped in. Two species of woodpecker were also our top targets Grey Headed and Black.
The Grey Headed woodpecker is a beautiful species and was a first for me as I have never even seen one. Like all woodpeckers there is subtle difference between the male and female, the male has a brightly coloured red head. We got a lot of visits from them throughout the day. The Black Woodpecker is a really impressive bird and it is quite rare for one to visit a feeding station. We only got a couple of visits a day but each time she came in it was exciting. She looked beautiful in these winter forests.
The great thing about working a feeding station like this over a period of days you can change things around and so change your images. The other good thing about this particular location is you get lots of visits from the more common woodland species as well like Common Jay, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Willow Tit and a welcome surprise that beautiful forest mammal the Red Squirrel.
When I do a trip like this you are kind of taking a gamble as you just don’t know what you’re going to get. I went with the intention of concentrating on Siberian Jays but I was won over by the Grey Headed Woodpecker, it is such a stunning bird.
I used a variety of different lenses over the course of the week as I wanted to cover as many angles as I could. The size difference between the Black Woodpecker and everything else was a factor too because my 500mm was just too much glass. I always carry my 300mm with but don’t use it as often, it came in handy on this trip though.
So a trip I wasn’t too sure about or what to expect turned out to be very productive and enjoyable. Thanks to Ville and Nigel for a great week. I then headed up to northern Finland into the mountains looking for white grouse. I will post a blog in a week or so.
