Estonian Nature Tours' first mammal watching tours have been very successful. During the 8-days holiday people saw Flying Squirrels, Brown Bears, Lynxes, Elks, Wild Boars, European Beavers, Racoon Dogs and many interesting bird species for example Capercaillie, Hazel Grouse, Black Grouse, Black Stork, Great Snipe and various species of woodpeckers.
Roy Atkins visited Estonia last week and his first comments during the trip:
25th May. So far so good!
"We have had some great sightings and missed a few things - but basically it is great. We saw not just one but two Flying Squirrels with Uudo -
absolutley superb little things even if you don't get long to look at them!
I was absolutely thrilled. We saw both of them come out of the hole, climb
up the tree and then fly off - brilliant!
Brown Bears were also good with two animals coming in to the bait at the
hide at around 22:50. They stayed for around 20 minutes before heading off
agin into the forest. I think the hide is superb - very comfortable indeed.
But more astonishing we saw two more on our night drive last night! One was
a beautiful creamy coloured one. We watched them for several minutes and
everyone was so excited.
The birds have been very good with a great selection including White-backed, Grey-headed and Three-toed Woodpeckers, Hazel Hen, lots of Black Grouse, River Warbler, Lesser Spotted Eagle, Nutcracker, Ural and Pygmy Owls, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Icterine Warbler, Thrush Nightingale and stunning close up views of Montagu's and Hen Harriers
We have seen tracks of Elk, Wild Boar, Lynx, and Raccoon Dog but sadly all
these animals have stayed hidden."
31th May. Final comments
"I think the tour went really well and we saw loads. I still can't believe
we saw not just one but two Flying Squirrels!! This meant everyone managed
to see one fly as well (some people lost concentration and missed the first
one!).
I am also thrilled with our bear sightings. Not just seeing two at the hide
but then two more the next day was wonderful - but then adding a final one
at the wild boar feeding site was simply crazy!!! Where did that one come
from?! Uku was clearly astonished - I have never seen him so excited. He
just couldn't believe we had just seen a bear so close to Tartu and kept
saying that you don't get them there!!! Even the guy who runs the feeding
station was astonished - he has never seen a bear there. How lucky were we
to see that... and what a wonderful finale. The Wild Boars were very good
here by the way and well worth including. We saw them from the van as they
were already there when we arrived. I am not sure how a whole group would
fit in the hide and tower - but you could always do it from the vans if
necessary - we got great views of them.
I still can't believe we never saw an Elk. That must be one of the easier species of mammals in Estonia and it is bizarre that we didn't see one. Did you know Uku saw four while we were there - three one morning when we went to retrieve his map after leaving it in Triin's bus by mistake and then he had one swimming in the flood when we were out beaver watching (he could not come with us as there was not enough space on the boat). He phoned us on the boat to try and guide us to it but we were watching the beaver at the time and by the time we were finished it had gone. So I think we were just unlucky - will be interested to see whether the group out there now see any.
We saw lots of foxes, got good views of beaver, glimpsed a single Raccoon Dog and saw lots of foxes. Also saw a single mountain hare as well as a couple of Brown Hares.
Birds were excellent to largely due to Uku's excellent birding skills and
local knowledge. We saw 2 Ural Owls, Pygmy Owl, Three-toed, White-backed
and Grey-headed Woodpeckers, Marsh Sandpiper, Broad-billed Sandpiper,
Red-necked Phalarope, River Warbler, Hazel Grouse, Thrush Nightingale,
Common Rosefinch, Icterine Warbler, Lesser Spotted Eagle, Citrine Wagtail,
Black Stork, lots of White-winged Black Terns and lots more plus we even
managed to see the lekking Great Snipe! At first we thought we would not
see these as Uku said the water levels were too high but we went and checked and they had dropped and we saw several birds displaying - brilliant!"
All in all I think it was an excellent trip and am absolutely thrilled by what we saw - my first ever Flying Squirrels, Brown Bears (in Europe), Raccoon Dogs and European Beavers and my best views of many of the birds including Lesser Spotted Eagle, Thrush Nightingale, Icterine Warbler, White-winged Black Tern, Marsh Sandpiper and others. Many thanks for doing such a good job of putting it together and organising everything."
R.Atkins / May 2011 Speyside Wildlife /
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