Hi Michael
I've been on three family/birding trips to Estonia and will be making my fourth visit at the end of May. It's a fantastic country for birding and wildlife in general as there is so much unspoilt natural/semi-natural habitat and much of the agriculture is still non-intensive. How much this can be preserved after entry into the EU remains to be seen of course.
There are relatively good populations of the rarer owls and woodpeckers, but they are not easy by any means. We have been twice in the summer and once in late spring, not the ideal time for these birds, but we have succeeded in finding Ural Owl, White-backed Woodpecker and plenty of Black Woodpeckers.
A trip in March would naturally give better chances of connecting. But you really need a local guide. This time we are hiring a birder based in Tartu who rates our chances as follows:
Eagle Owl - hasn't found territories yet, hard one to get
Pygmy Owl - chanches 80%
Ural Owl - chances 80%
Tengmalm's Owl - hasn't found a single territory, he's trying
Grey-headed Woodpecker - 90%
White-backed Woodpecker - 70%
Three-toed Woodpecker - again tough one, very silent, 50%
Great Snipe - if they arrive then 100%
We found some Great Snipe on migration in late July. We have found that other good species can be seen without too much difficulty if you find the habitat - and there is loads of good habitat all over the country. Examples: Black Stork, White-tailed Eagle, Lesser-spotted Eagle, Capercaillie, Hazel Grouse, Citrine Wagtail, River Warbler, Blyth's Reed Warbler, Greenish Warbler, Nutcracker, Parrot Crossbill.
Spotted Eagle is limited to about 5 pairs. One of the most reliable sites is at Laeva, immediately west of highway 2, 25-30 kms north-west of Tartu. This is also a good area for Black Stork.
I would recommend the Bradt Travel Guide to Estonia, which, as well as containing plenty of useful info about the country, also includes a section on the national parks and nature reserves. On arriving in the country, pick up a copy of the Eesti Teede Atlas, which is the finest and most detailed road atlas I have ever seen, anywhere. It is available in this country, with difficulty, but is much more expensive over here (obviously). The Estonian Tourist Board website at:
http://www.visitestonia.com
Other interesting sites:
http://www.vironlintuseura.fi/havainnot/index.shtml
http://www.eoy.ee/
After our last trip, I wrote an article for our local RSPB members' group newsletter. I think I've posted it on this forum before, but I'll paste it on the end of here in case you missed it.
I would be keen to compare notes and swap info with your friend.
Andy
Until fairly recently I knew exactly three things about Estonia. It is a former member of the USSR; one of its passenger ships went down in the Baltic with great loss of life; and its national soccer team failed to turn up for a match against Scotland. Then I read somewhere that a team of Finnish birders had seen 190 species in one day there – a European record. After learning that two-thirds of the country is forest and marshes, and reading about its fascinating cultural heritage, we just had to go!
That was two years ago. Since then Helen and I have spent four weeks there during the summer and some birding mates and I had a ten day trip this spring. To walk across Estonian farmland is like going back in time 40 years, to those days before modern agricultural practices left large swathes of our countryside bereft of most of its native wildlife. In high summer you can hear that constant hum of insect life that I remember as a boy. The wild flowers, insects and birds are so obviously present in far higher numbers than back home. Almost 10% of the country is under the protection of a network of national parks. And with a population density less than 15% of that in the UK (and most people living in the larger towns), there is hardly a beaten track to get off.
The people tend to be a little reserved, which is hardly surprising in view of their turbulent history, but soon prove to be warm and welcoming. Charges for car-hire are comparable with those in the UK, but the costs of most other items, such as accommodation (standards are excellent), meals and petrol are about half of those back home. The vodka is even cheaper!
Go in spring and you won’t fail to notice that almost every grass field is full of cowslips. We found pasque flowers all over the place and one day came across a large colony of military orchids. If you enjoy butterflies, then how about Camberwell beauty, purple emperor, white admiral and swallowtail for starters? Dragonflies are in great profusion too.
Now let’s talk about the birds. The first thing that struck me was just how incredibly abundant some species are – swallow, white wagtail, whinchat, lesser whitethroat and spotted flycatcher spring to mind. You see honey buzzards, Montagu’s harriers and red-backed shrikes with unceasing regularity. In late spring you will be entranced by the vibrant song of the ubiquitous thrush-nightingale and you can easily find other birds which over here are mainly scarce East coast drift migrants – wryneck, barred and icterine warblers and common rosefinch, for example.
There are relatively high populations of some birds much sought after by British birders. We have found migrant great snipe quite easy to find in damp coastal meadows after the late July hay-cut. Corncrakes are thought to number an astonishing 5000 pairs. There are various owls and woodpeckers, although for a decent chance of these you need to be there in early spring or hire a guide to show them to you. We’ve done neither, but have so far managed to find ural owl and white-backed and black woodpeckers. Parrot crossbills can be numerous, if unpredictable.
It’s a small, flat country, about twice the size of Wales, so you could drive from one side to the other in a day (except that it’s difficult not to keep stopping – distant raptors, birds on wires, yet another photo of white storks on telegraph poles, etc.). We have explored the west coast and the south-east, down toward the borders with Russia and Latvia. Good habitat is readily accessible via a network of well maintained and largely deserted gravel roads, which lead for endless miles through remote farmland and forest.
Matsalu Bay, on the west coast, is a Ramsar-listed wetland of staggering proportions. There are over 10 square miles of reed-bed (one of the largest areas in Europe), together with a great expanse of shallow open water, rivers, alluvial meadows and woodland. Its bird-list is equally impressive at 270 species, of which no less than 157 are regular breeders. Highlights of the many exciting species we’ve seen in the area include lesser spotted and white-tailed eagles (four of the latter circling in one thermal on one memorable occasion!), red-necked phalarope, hazel grouse, citrine wagtail, river warbler and Blyth’s reed warbler.
By the way, the Estonians don’t go in for bird-hides. Instead you will sometimes come across a strategically erected observation platform, from the top of which you will get panoramic views of the nearby estuary, or be able to look down on hawfinches feeding in the tree-tops, or whatever. There are several of these towers all around Matsalu Bay. From the giddy heights of the tallest, 70 feet up, we watched several very shy elk going about their business, oblivious to their observers.
A good base on the north-west coast is the sleepy town of Haapsalu, where Tchaikovsky used to stay regularly and which apparently inspired some of his finest works. Haapsalu is handily placed midway between Matsalu and Poosaspea Cape, a promontory which juts out toward the Finnish coast 45 miles away. The cape is well-known amongst Scandinavian birders as a prime sea-watching spot. We spent an unforgettable morning there in late May, watching vast swirls of common scoters, together with their velvet cousins, goldeneye, mergansers and summer-plumaged divers heading east along the Baltic flyway. One warm August morning we arrived in time to see a flock of 50 nutcrackers bounding over the nearby pinewood.
One of the best areas for six woodpecker species is the vast Alam Pedja National Park, down towards the university city of Tartu. A few black storks and spotted eagles and plenty of great snipe, Tengmalm’s and pygmy owls breed here too, along with good numbers of brown bear, wolf, lynx, beaver and otter. There are two excellent trails through the Park, one of which is partly board-walked over a vast quaking bog where wood sandpipers breed.
Before catching the flight home, the Old Town quarter of Tallinn, the capital, is well worth a few hours’ exploration for its Gothic architecture, remarkably cosmopolitan restaurants and tasteful craft-shops.
I’m really keen to encourage people to visit Estonia for its natural environment (hence this article) and I’ll tell you why. In 2004, they join the European Union. Whilst that will undoubtedly bring economic benefits, the rich assemblage of wildlife associated with all that non-intensive farmland will be at risk, as we know only too well from experience. One way to help is to promote the country’s ecological richness as a tourism resource. So if you do go, please write to the Estonian Ambassador when you get home and tell him why you enjoyed it so much.
