There and back again - a return to no man's Land, Finland

[kittykat23uk]

Yeah definitely, it was fantastic to see a wolverine again! This is why I love Kuikka, you have a chance for the big 3.. We did debate doing two different sites this year to try and increase the chances of wolverine but Ian decided he didn't want to do too much driving, so after some discussion we settled on Kuikka again. 😁

[kittykat23uk]

Some more wildlife around the camp, a few playful red squirrels, house martins and siskins:

 

Siskins by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Red Squirrel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Red Squirrel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Red Squirrel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

House Martins by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

House Martins by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

House Martins by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Red Squirrel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Red Squirrel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Red Squirrel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Red Squirrel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Red Squirrel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Red Squirrel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Red Squirrel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Red Squirrel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Red Squirrel by Jo Dale, on Flickr

[kittykat23uk]

Night 4 was a lot busier at the base camp, so since Ian wasn’t joining me that night, in order to have some company I joined a couple of ladies in a bigger hide at Paradise. Our first sighting was of the wolves, who came and went for around 2 hours. We had a fabulous experience with the female wolf who, after eating some of the salmon, began howling right in front of our hide. She was soon joined by her two packmates at the edge of the forest where they soon melted into the trees, but then they all joined in wolfsong from the cover of the forest. It was eerie and beautiful and sent shivers down my spine! 

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

 

[kittykat23uk]

I spotted a red fox around 1145, it was quite distant and didn’t approach, but at least it paused long enough for a record shot. 

 

Red Fox by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Red Fox by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Scarface then put in an appearance, but it was very dark at this point in the night. Still, he remained in the area for about 20 minutes, ripping into the pig carcass and then approaching the hides looking for other tasty morsels.

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Wolverine by Jo Dale, on Flickr

[kittykat23uk]

As dusk drew in, the vista changed completely. Moisture evaporating from the marsh-covered the landscape in waves of fog and mist. At this time of year, the sun is not below the horizon for long and dawn broke behind the bank of fog, creating a very atmospheric sunrise. A wolf appeared in the treeline, heading towards the carcass. He lost interest quickly and trotted towards our hide where he foraged for any tidbits of salmon that were left. The remaining mist sucked the colour and contrast out of these images but the dewy grass makes for an interesting image in my opinion. 

 

P6121140 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6121171 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20240612_220343 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20240612_221330 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20240612_221508 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Moody skies at Kuikka by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Moody skies at Kuikka by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Moody skies at Kuikka by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Misty Sunrise by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Misty Sunrise by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Eurasian Wolf by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

A young White-tailed Eagle swooped down to pick up some distant scrap of food and a bear made its way along the back of the marsh, just by the treeline shortly before we were due to leave the hide.  Apparently it, or another bear was spotted by some guests in an adjoining hide making its way behind us. We couldn’t fathom how we’d missed that ourselves! 

 

IMG_20240613_033337 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Barn Swallow by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Kuikka by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Kuikka by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6131308 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

[kittykat23uk]

13th July- after breakfast we packed up and said our goodbyes. Things are slated to change from next year as the war in Ukraine means that they are no longer going to be allowed to locate the hides in No Man’s Land. So the whole paradise studio will currently need to move, unless the government changes their position. We were told that they have been trying to fight this decision but have been unsuccessful. They can still operate out of the basecamp itself, which is not inside the zone, but the hides are a different story. It will be interesting to see how things develop. 

 

One of the things that is a lovely touch in this place is that they give away some beautiful photography books to their guests and we took home a spectacular pictorial this time which contained a lovely mix of black and white photos and watercolour sketches of the wildlife around Kuikka, focused on the wolves in particular. 

 

Since today was a travel day I didn’t take any pictures for the rest of the day and we pretty much chilled out back at our friends’ house in Oulu. 

 

14th July- It was our last full day in Oulu and Ian was pretty tired so we didn’t do a lot. I took a walk around the bay on my own, and spotted a few new butterflies, Map, Small Heath and Northern Chequered Skipper. One of the properties had some bird feeders set up that attracted Bullfinches, a Yellowhammer, various tits and Tree Sparrows, whilst Redwings and Fieldfares foraged on the lawns.  I also found a Common Rosefinch. 

 

Redwing by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Hooded crow by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Hooded crow by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6148446 Northern Chequered Skipper by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20240614_105915 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

IMG_20240614_110415 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

P6148499 by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Common Rosefinch by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Common Rosefinch by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Small Heath by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Map Butterfly by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Yellowhammer by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Bullfinch by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Bullfinch by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Tree Sparrow by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

We decided to go into Oulu for an early meal and found a lovely Nepalese restaurant,. For 20 euros each we had a really nice slap up meal. 

 

Our friend had mentioned a tame “rabbit”  that he often saw whilst walking the family dog, so after we got back I went to take a look. I was delighted to find that it was in fact a Brown Hare that had made a home in the garden of a local property that looked like it was under renovation. 

 

European Brown Hare by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

European Brown Hare by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Goldeneye by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Goldeneye by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

The weather was pretty manky that evening with persistent rain bringing out all the local mossies. So I took a quick look at some local wetlands, spotting Snipe, Curlew and Goldeneye but then headed back to the house and we just relaxed for the rest of the evening.

 

Thankfully this time our flights were on time and we flew home early the next day.  

 

 

[TonyQ]

A very interesting report @kittykat23uk. You had some great sightings.

Thank you for posting.