Few places in Europe can match Estonia’s amazing birdlife at almost any time of year. The most important wintering area for Steller’s Eider, Europe’s most endangered seaduck, is off the coast of the biggest island, Saaremaa. These eye-catching birds arrive in December and can congregate in flocks of 300-400 birds here at this time of year. Our trip is timed to see the birds before they depart, without visiting during the coldest (and shortest!) months of the year. As well as the Steller’s, carpets of Long-tailed Ducks on the sea can number thousands, and in sheltered harbours there are sometimes amazing opportunities to photograph this most charismatic seaduck. Saaremaa is also great for finding species such as Smew, White-tailed Eagle and wintering mixed flocks of both Taiga and Tundra Bean Geese, while our charming hotel has gardens where the fantastic Northern race of Bullfinch can be found – as well as Hawfinch of course! Estonian Western Taiga forest has an extraordinary richness of species, even though they are not always easy to find!
Spring in Estonia begins in mid March when woodpeckers start their drumming and all the swamps and bogs resound with displaying Black Grouses at sunrise while Hazel Grouse or Capercaillie can surprise you near the roadsides while driving in forested areas. We will make dawn and dusk visits to the forests, looking for these elusive specialists, and we have a good chance to find White-backed, Black, Three-toed, Lesser Spotted and Grey-headed Woodpeckers here. In one national park in Estonia more White-backed Woodpeckers may nest than in the whole of Sweden! You can hear the calls of Ural, Pygmy and Tengmalm’s Owls as it gets dark, and we’ll be working hard to try and get you sightings if we can – with snow on the ground, these dusk vigils are very atmospheric as we find the tracks of Wolf and European Lynx on the forest rides too! In some years, Hawk Owl is also present in the area and if they are around, we will make a special effort to see one. Other species we could expect include Rough-legged Buzzard, Nutcracker, Great Grey Shrike, Mealy Redpoll, Northern Goshawk, borealis Willow Tit, caudatus Long-tailed Tit (white-headed subspecies) and europea Nuthatch. Accommodation has been carefully selected by our ground agent and may well excel expectations, with superb food (especially the lunches) to boot. Due to our very small group size of just six participants we are able to use well appointed local guest houses and of course your overall tour experience is superior to trips with larger groups. You can expect to walk only about 1 mile per day on this tour, but wrap up warm – it could be as cold as -10C with snow on the ground and plenty of ice. We can expect to see around 90 species.
We take an evening flight London/Tallinn and meet our ground agent and birding guide from at the airport. From here, we will make the transfer west of around two hours to our base at Roosta. Due to the timing of the flight, we will arrive late but there will be the chance to look for Ural Owl on the way to the hotel. Overnight Roosta Holiday Village.
Today we will visit the heath-land forest environment in the early morning. We hope to hear Pygmy Owl or even see Ural Owl hunting for small mammals at the forest edge whilst other attractions in this area include bubbling flocks of lekking Black Grouse, maybe Hazel Grouse and some interesting woodpeckers such as White-backed and Three-toed. Snow-covered tracks are great for finding prints of some of Estonia’s elusive mammals – Elk, Wolf, European Lynx, Racoon Dog and even Brown Bear, which is just emerging from hibernation. We will visit also Noarootsi peninsula where we scan over the area of mixture woodlands, fields and agricultural landscapes to search the Hawk Owl probably find wintering Rough-legged Buzzards too and maybe more mixed flocks of geese and wild swans.
In the afternoon we will be taking the ferry across to Muhu Island. The journey could well produce our first sightings of Great Grey Shrike, White-tailed Eagle and goose flocks, or even a Northern Hawk Owl if the year is good for them. The sea state on the crossing is variable, but if there is unfrozen, open water, then we could see large concentrations of Long-tailed Ducks. Once on Muhu, we cross by causeway onto Saaremaa Island, stopping to scan the wildfowl on the way over. Big rafts of Goosander can hide the odd Smew, and there could be wild swan herds, and resting White-tailed Eagles around the shore. Reaching our accommodation, we settle in just in time for dinner at the end of a long day. Overnight ASA Spa Hotel Kuressaare.
An early morning walk around the hotel gardens should reveal the distinctive Northern race of Bullfinch, being larger, stockier and deeper red [in the male] than our own British race and with a distinctive call. After breakfast, we will head to the peninsula at Undva and have the first opportunity to scope Stellers Eiders. To see dense flocks of these magnificent birds we have to drive to the north-westernmost part of Saaremaa. Uudepanga Bay near Undva hosts up to 1000 Seller’s Eiders each winter, though often numbers are between 300 and 600. Birds form dense flocks where they behave synchronously, especially when diving. Other sea-ducks will be seen with a chance of divers and waders including Purple Sandpiper. Because of bio geographic reasons Saaremaa is not rich in rarer woodpecker and owl species, but we can see or hear Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Nutcracker, Great Grey Shrike and Rough-legged Buzzard on short stops on our way to Undva or after that. After lunch back at the guesthouse and a short rest we will explore the forest nearby for our first chance at Nutcracker and Pygmy Owl, or perhaps another Northern Hawk Owl if one is around. Late afternoon represents another chance to try for Steller’s Eider, either better views at the point, or by checking one of the sheltered harbours where close views of Long-tailed Ducks and big rafts of Velvet Scoter can also be seen. At dusk, we can go for an owling session. If we are fortunate we can hear and hopefully see Tengmalm´s and Pygmy Owl in Viidumäe Nature Reserve. Overnight ASA Spa Hotel Kuressaare.
After breakfast and scoping Stellers again (if necessary) we will return to the Viidumae forest and try again for Nutcracker and Pygmy Owl, if we missed them yesterday, or perhaps try an area for Rough-legged Buzzard. Then we return to the mainland. Depending on winter severity and weather in spring the Suur Väin Strait can be covered with ice, or host large flocks of seaducks. We then drive to Pärnu, where we will have time in the late afternoon to try again for owls at sunset. Overnight Villa Wesset.
Early morning takes us to the Soomaa National Park in southwestern Estonia where we will be spending most of the day. The sparsely populated area holds a vast variety of good habitats for birds, including large raised bogs, rivers, floodplains and old growth woodlands. We will be birding mainly in mixed woodlands there mature spruces and aspens hold good breeding numbers of our target birds. The national park is one of the strongholds of the local Capercaillie population which will be one of many target birds during our morning birding session. During our walks we are hoping to get views of Hazel Grouse and some of the 6 species of Woodpeckers breeding in the national park.
After a delicious picnic lunch we will be focusing mainly on finding the missing Owls. We have good chances to find Pygmy and Ural Owl while hopefully we will have luck also with Tengmalm´s.
Overnight in Pärnu, Villa Wesset.
DAY SIX
We have a days birding today before we return to the Airport in Tallinn to connect with the onward flight back to the UK.
WHATS INCLUDED
Return economy class flights London/Tallinn with specified luggage allowance, five nights en suite accommodation of a good standard, all meals from dinner on day one (snack on route due to late arrival of flight) to breakfast on day six, return ferry crossing to Saaremaa Island, services of leaders, ground transport in Estonia and reserve entrance fees.
NOT INCLUDED
Travel insurance, drinks, gratuities and any items of a purely personal nature. Lunches on days one and six are not included in your tour cost.
CLIMATE
It can be very cold on this trip, particularly when we are on the coast scoping the seaducks – temperatures of -15C are not unusual with thick snow still on the ground, and wind chill must also be factored into account. There is very little walking on the tour, and we are never far away from the minibus, to warm up!
PASSPORT, VISA & HEALTH
