21st May 2014 we flew to Tallinn, capital of Estonia, using Ryanair from Stansted. Dave and Phil had played golf in the morning, then Terry and I met them for lunch in The Coach House, Potton. Peter, then Keith and Tony joined us briefly. Tripods, washbags, books and waterproofs re-distributed amongst the hold bags, then away we went. 
Tallinn is a bijou airport. Emptying as we arrived - the last flight in for the day.
Tallinn is a bijou airport. Emptying as we arrived - the last flight in for the day. 
Outside is a decent view over a lake - we had plenty of time to look at this as our hire-van had turned up 12 hours earlier and unsurprisingly had gone home. Tony arranged for him and Peter to go by taxi to their office where the owner brought the mini-bus and business was done. Meanwhile the rest of us listened to Corncrake, watched Arctic and Common terns and also saw a Marsh harrier.
A 2 hour drive during which it didn't quite get dark, brought us to our hotel in Tartu at half past midnight. The receptionist was on duty, there were beers in the fridge and the rooms were airy and comfortable. A Thush nightingale serenaded us all night.
What about Estonia? Well, it is flat. Average height is 50m above sea level. Highest point is Egg Mountain at 318m. It's got Russia to the right, Latvia at the bottom, the Gulf of Riga and the Vainemari Sea to the left, and the Gulf of Finland at the top (these are all part of the Baltic Sea). Compared with the UK, which has a rising population density of 257 people per sq km, Estonia has a falling figure of 30.5. (By the by, in the EU, Iceland has the lowest at 3.2 and Malta the highest at 1327!).
The first morning we went to the Aardla polder complex to listen for and look at birds, from the ground and from the air. We found our first target bird - Citrine Wagtail and one I wanted - a Common Rosefinch. My photography isn't up to the standard of some of the others, so you'll have to wait for Terry's trip report, or better still, Blomers' video.
In the evening we went in search of our second target species - the Great Snipe. It lives with mosquitos.
It's supposed to come out to play in the evening.
It's supposed to come out to play in the evening.
In flat, water-logged, fields.
When the sun goes down.
But they didn't, so we went back to the hotel for a beer (you might have seen Blomers' beer of the day on Facebook). Early next morning, Tony and Keith went out to see what was about. The next morning, so did I and found this Thrush nightingale.
Singing
And a fuzzy Pied flycatcher.
Later Keith showed me the a place where I saw my first Marsh warbler. But I missed out on the Barred warbler.
Later that day we went to find the third target bird, the Great spotted eagles.
These can sometimes, and only, be seen at the amusing Hollywood Hill.
Which happened to overlook where Great snipes aren't. And a cafe where the hamburgers are to die of. Oh, the Great spotted eagles weren't there - but we did see Lesser spotted ones.
Some people do live in Estonia.
Estonia is one of the least religious countries in world, with only 14% of the population declaring religion an important part of their daily life.
We stopped at a supermarket to buy food. In the carpark was a Nuthatch nest.
We went up north to see bears in this forest.
From this hide with 10 windows and 10 bunk beds and seven blokes and one long drop.
This is the view from the window. Can you see the Raccoon dog?
Raccoon dogs are canines from Japan and China, but where introduced to Russia for fur. They've spread a bit. We saw up to 8 of them. We also saw two foxes. And a Turtle dove, and some pigeons. Later it went dark. And we saw a bear - most of us were asleep, but the 1.30am shift woke us up. We were amazed at how large it was.
It went away about an hour later. Most of us were asleep again when the 6am shift saw a second bear. It was light by then. Fabulous!
The owners of the hides put out food. Honeycombs, marmalade sandwiches and animal carcasses. The latter two were underneath plywood boards that the other animals couldn't move, but the bear certainly could.
The bear hung around for half an hour. That meant we could get a bit of shut eye. We weren't allowed to leave the hide until 8am.
There was one other chap who stayed in the two-man hide to the left, the dark brown one, apparently, had openings for lenses for photography.
The fourth day we went to a different wood.
Where a barmy bloke tramped us around telling us all about Flying squirrels.
We then went back to the chalet and had superb supper of wild boar.....
.....before going out again at 9.30pm to see a real live Flying squirrel emerge from a roosting hole in a tree, scoot up the trunk and jump (unseen) to another tree then away into the darkness. I didn't take my camera as I knew it would be just a few moments and wanted to make sure I was watching.
Next morning there was a wryneck.
We set off to the seaside and saw a female Montagu's harrier.
Then we saw the sea.
In Tallinn are new bits.
And old bits.
And picturesque bits.
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