Pleasure

I slept wonderfully beside my chosen rock at 1000m and really didn't want to wake at 4am. I did of course though and had undoubtedly my best TOVE route. Half of the 7.2km were above the tree line and the other half in the tree line amongst marshes. The area seemed perfect for Great Snipes (dobbeltbekkasin) but I flushed none (they would have already stopped displaying by the time I woke). It was relatively easy walking, I had no dense and sterile spruce trees to fight my way through and most of the time. I could see where I was heading for. The whole route was serenaded by Cuckoos (gjøk) with 3 birds singing but one bird dominated and could be heard from nearly every point. A Greenshank (gluttsnipe) engaged in a display flight over large areas and I heard a couple of Willow Grouse (lirype) before finally seeing one.

On the way down the Hawk Owl was still giving warning calls as I passed so after getting to the car I returned with the camera. By 9am the light was already terrible and I can only lament not having the camera yesterday evening when the warm light was perfect. The bird didn't fly at me today but did sing. I didn't see or hear its mate or young but am sure they were breeding in a crack in the trunk of an old dead spruce.

Photos - lots of them - to come. Here's a taster