Lightshow

Our cottage is located latitude 69° north on a small island at Lake Inari. It is so north that arctic circle is 300 kilometres (185 miles ) south from there. Arctic or Polar circle has a couple very fascinating features. So it is the most southern latitude on northern hemisphere where the sun doesn´t set at all for one night during the whole year. On the other hand there is also one day when the sun doesn´t rise at all. The further north you go , the more nights without sunset there will be and also days without sunrise. One interesting thing is the movement of the arctic circle. It is crawling between latitudes 65° north and 68° north every 41000 years. The yearly transition is about 15 meters which is 45 feet and it is currently moving towards north. The declination changes in earth´s axis cause this phenomenon. The whole arctic area is sparsely populated and only one to two million people live on the north side of arctic circle. Most of these people are living in Siberia and Kola peninsula. In Finland there live approximately 150000 people. Compared to the population of the whole world the inhabitants north of arctic circle are only two thousandths. The people up north have their very special character due to extremely cold weathers and special light conditions ;) During summer time there is plentifully light day and night while in the winter the darkness is stunning. The day light lasts only a couple of hours and on its best it is only twilight. Usually during this slight light time the weathers are cloudy with lots of snow falls.

But if the sky is clear and you are lucky you might catch the northern lights. That is another speciality of the northern areas. Northern lights, also called aurora borealis are seen between latitudes 60° and 75° north. It is a natural light display in the sky, especially in the high latitude region, caused by collision of solar wind and magnetospheric charged particles with the high altitude atmosphere. The charged particles and solar wind are directed into the atmosphere by earth's magnetosphere. Northern lights exist in about 100 kilometres height above earths surface.

 

In old mythologies and myths the northern lights have different kinds of explanations. Skolts, natives of Lapland, and siberians believed that northern lights were blood of the deads who had died of bleeding wounds and they were still bleeding to the night sky giving it the colours. Sami people have their own story which is much brighter. They believed that the lights were breaking out to the sky when a fox was sweeping the snow blanket with its tail. In many scandinavian mythologies they are explained as harnesses of Valkyries which are blazing in the night sky.

I was lucky to see aurora borealis during my last visit to Lake Inari. I set my photo gear on the lake shore to take pictures of the sunset. It was a beautiful evening with only a few clouds in the horizon. The light was changing slowly and the night was darkening within many hours because in mid September the track angle of the sun is still gentle. Well before dark I recognised some light waves in the sky. As a young man I worked as roadie for several bands doing their lights, so I felt happy because I was fortunate to be in the frontline to watch natures own light show. I spent three hours on the shore enjoying and photo shooting the darkening sky with northern lights.

 

Olli

40 hours

Photographing has been my hobby for more than forty years. My starting time was very active but then little by little it waned... just to be started again some fifteen years ago. And maybe ten years ago it experienced a new renaissance. During these years I have been photographing  nature quite variously but however mostly birds and deers, also landscapes from time to time. Until now I have never been photo shooting wolves or bears. Then last summer I got an excellent opportunity for that since I met Niko Pekonen, a young photographer and nature entrepreneur, at breakfast during a trip to Kuusamo.  He has wolf hides in the middle of wilderness near Kuhmo in eastern Finland. We made a deal that I will visit his hide after midsummer or in the beginning of July. Finally I decided to go there in July after I had checked the weather forecasts and I had four days available for the visit. My plan was to stay in the hide for three days. Weather forecasts were really promising for that period, partly cloudy skies with few shovers and temperatures just below twenty degrees centigrade. Perfect.

I drove eight hours from Kirkkonummi in southern Finland to meet Niko ten kilometres from the hides. We met briefly and the last kilometres I followed Niko along the roads that were getting all the time smaller and smaller. They got so small and were in such bad condition that it was good to have a four wheel drive. Niko was even towing a trailer where he had his all-terrain vehicle and some slaughterhouse leftovers as bits for wolves. We parked our cars a kilometre and a half from the hide site. Last part of the journey we drove with his all-terrain vehicle through forests and swamps. Nice and warm weather had drawn millions of mosquitos and thousands of horseflies to the swamp. I have always said that there is no bad weather, only wrong kind of clothing. In this case to avoid insects, even it is not  the matter of weather, it worked well with long sleeves and pants with long legs and with a knit beanie. Disadvantage of this kind of clothing was that it made you sweat quite easily in the hot weather.

I settled down in the hide around three in the afternoon and Niko left with his vehicle. First couple of hours went fast chasing mosquitos and horseflies in the hide and same time watching the activity outside. The hide itself was not particularly comfortable, you can´t stand straight and the observer windows are really small and on inconvenient height. Luckily there was a bunk to lay down and straighten your body which helped a lot. After insect hunt I photographed ravens and a crane couple for a few hours until tiredness dragged me down to the bunk.

I was so tired due to the early morning wake up and the long drive. I didn´t fall in deep sleep and I woke up every fifteen minutes or so to take a look outside. Once again when I watched out I was totally awake in a fraction of a second with eyes wide open and heart beating.  A bear had showed up and it was sitting fifty meters from the hide in its own peace. My camera was ready for shooting and I followed the bear through it and photographed the magnificent animal in the dim night. That was an awesome experience to be alone with a bear in wilderness though in the hide.

The bear had its own activities for maybe half an hour and then moved on and went for a night swim. I stayed in the hide and watched carefully around to spot wolves. That night they didn´t show up but just before the sunrise the bear came back once more for a short visit.

The following day went by calmly, snoozing and sometimes photo shooting ravens and cranes. When the evening was getting darker I sharpened my vigilance and looked out almost continuously hoping to spot wolves. After a few hours of peace and quiet the same bear individual from  the previous night came back for one hour visit. It came well before the sunset. That was nice because when the sun goes down the light varies a lot. During the summer time in northern Finland when the sun barely goes below the horizon the angle of light is really gentle. Also the landscape was totally different in variable light which gave its special flavour.

I had intended to spend sixty hours in the hide but ended up being only forty hours because the temperature was rising so fast in the morning.  Because of the clear skies the temperature in the hide was going to be certainly fifty degrees centigrade. Even the partly cloudy and cooler previous day had risen the hide´s temperature way up.

I took my gears and other stuff and walked back to my car. Because of the early hours there were not so many mosquitos and horseflies. While walking I looked up to the sky and had thoughts over my session in the hide. I came for the wolves which I didn´t see, photographed the bear and spent hours in a tiny little hide in the middle of nowhere. That was an incredibly awesome experience. I felt that I was part of the nature watching wild animals in their natural habitat. I really hope that we will live so sustainably that it will last for generations!

Olli 

Summer night at a field

One beautiful, sunny and warm, afternoon I decided quite extempore to go to photograph deers and moose near my house. I took my tent hide, camera and a bottle of water and jumped in to my car. I drove a few kilometres south to an area called Böle. There I turned towards east on a gravel road which ends to the see shore. Before the road ends it passes a wide field area where snakes a brook surrounded by reeds. The bay is very shallow and the reeds grow all over the shore line too. The woods surrounded by these fields and the brook are mostly coniferous/evergreen but there are some verdant areas here and there. These leafy tree zones are mostly unmanaged and past the years heavier and heavier storms have ripped off the oldest trees with their roots or snapped them in the middle. I decided to check one of these areas before I´d choose the place and mount my hide. I turned to a partly overgrown old road and parked my car there. I grabbed my backpack and tripod and took heading to a verdant and dense area. I knew I could find fallen and decomposed trees there. I came across an animal pathway, along which I started sneaking closer to that area. I had only walked a short while when I heard a woodpecker knocking. That wasn´t the very loud noise that you can hear sometimes but much softer and more silent. When I approached the voice I noticed that it was a Black woodpecker working with a bark. What a pleasant surprise! I stayed  quite faraway and took some pictures, the light was a bit bad but I didn´t use my tripod not to frighten the bird away.

That was a good start for my photo shooting evening. The evening was just beginning, it was only 8.30 pm and I had well time to choose the next spot and set up my gears before deers and moose were on the move. Usually they come on open places like fields in twilight. I chose my place so that a hill behind the field and the setting sun shaded nicely the field. I hoped that the shadow and twilight would tempt the animals from forests. Unfortunately my hide was for quite a long time in the hot sunshine before the releasing shadow reached it. As long as the last sun beams warmed up my hide and its surface it was like sitting in a wasp nest.The buzzing was absolutely stunning. It was such a pleasure that all the hide openings were covered with insect nests. All the honeybees and bumblebees were enjoying the heat of the tent hide but luckily outside. While waiting the deers and moose to be photographed I heard some noise caused by breaking branches. I peeked through the back window and there it was, a handsome male moose staring behind me. Very carefully I released my camera from tripod and the insect net from the opening. To loosen the net made terrible noise and the moose noticed it.

I took that picture quickly and left it by it self and paid attention to the activity of the field in front of me. Pretty soon after that it started to happen there. Deers came first from their hides from the woods then the moose. And once again even it didn´t happen nothing special during the night it was so great just to watch. Those fine creatures were so beautiful when they were in the middle of their own bustle without any disturbances.

On my way back home I saw more moose on a field enjoying their dinner. The sun had already set down and the night was almost too dark to photo shoot, but anyway I tried and I think it was worth it.

Olli

Raven - Witchbird

That day I was out with our dogs early in the morning. We made a walk to the woods just next to us. The night had been relatively cold and the day really warm so all the bare twigs were wet. Luckily I figured that out and put rubber boots on. Pretty soon my dogs were soaking wet. At that time we had walked less than a kilometre, when I heard loud noises from the forrest. Ravens had lot of issues to talk about, so much yelling was in the air.

When we walked towards the noise I remembered a study of ravens voices. Scientists have found out that they have more than eighty different kinds of voices. Ravens use language and even tools to solve problems! Quite amazing creatures! They can also imitate   

almost every voice. One individual amused bird hospital personnel by coughing loud, gagging and hacking like a serious smoker. As soon as it had cleared its throat it flew down from its roost and made a loud spitting noise. This bird had been kept as a pet in a family where the husband used to visit veranda for a cigarette with the raven. Obviously they had had good times out there together.

When we approached the noisy ravens I recognised first birds in the treetops, far away from the site. Here and there were ravens watching and warning if somebody or something suspicious came too close. I with dogs stayed in the wood borderline on the other side of the meadow. With my binoculars I saw an animal carcass over there where each raven was trying to get his own bite of it.

I remember how I watched and wondered the really acrobatic flying and how beautifully the colour of the plumage varied between black, green and purple.

In the old days people had dark and suspicious beliefs of ravens which might have stemmed from their eating habits at carcasses and from their black colour. Ancient Finns considered raven as a bird of the devil with evil power and connection to the mythical underworld. People at that time thought ravens will live for hundreds of years and do all the bad and nasty jobs of the devil. Thats why people in the past thought that even seeing a raven was  an omen of unpleasant  and sad things.

In some myths raven is an ancestor of shamans. It was believed that raven was a spirit of shaman and could pass messages between this and spirit world. There were also stories of a magic stone of ravens. A little stone which raven kept in its nest or under its tongue. That stone gave its owner power to be invisible. Commonly in shamanistic cultures ravens had supernatural skills.

This shy and cautious bird is also related to some positive myths. Among North American indians raven´s status was honoured. Many tribes have raven figures in their totem poles. They also considered raven as a bird of light and understanding. They believed that ravens brought the light to mankind.

While remembering myths and stories time flew and I awakened to specially loud noises. Something had happened but the situation calmed down quickly and normal hustle and bustle went on. As I started my way back home I still had my thoughts on Edgar Allan Poe´s poem The Raven and I stumbled in rocky ground. I heard laugh of ravens behind me; Such a wise creature which spirit lives its own life in myths, stories and literature.

Olli

Wet afternoon of the Hawk owl family

I was photo shooting Hawk owl last May in Kuusamo. At that time the owl was brooding and not much happened during the long photographing day. That´s when I decided to come back when the chicks have hatched and feeding is going on with full speed!  But the time elapsed and the departure to Kuusamo delayed and delayed. Eventually in the late June we were packing with my wife Kati to drive to our cottage at Lake Inari. We planned the route up north via Kuusamo and The Nest. The big question and uncertainty was if the chicks still would be in the nest. I would get the answer in a couple of hours.

We departed from Kirkkonummi really early in the morning to catch Kuusamo in the afternoon. The driving was quite easy despite the rainy and windy weather. The plan was to leave Kati with our dogs to the hotel and drive alone to the nest. However the weather was so bad that I suggested Kati that if she drove me to the nest and picked me up in the evening she`d have the car to explore the Kuusamo area. Kati accepted my proposal when I swore that it would not be far a way, so I remembered. She was not particularly happy when it came clear that the site was forty kilometres a way and she had to drive the narrow gravel road four times. Finally it went quite okay and Kati had the car to ease her day and keep her feet dry.

I arrived to the nest about 3 pm and the owls were still there, female with four chicks!!  I waited patiently until the female left the nest and then quickly sneaked in to the tent hide some twenty meters from the owls. I didn´t need to wait for long when the female returned to cover her young ones from the rain. The rain was really heavy for time to time and the female stayed there for long periods to keep her chicks dry. The feeding intervals stretched remarkably long but once again just watching them was enjoyable and interesting.

                      

 Once in a while the chicks wiggled so much that their mother had to do almost acrobatic moves to be able to hang in there. And next the young ones got anxious and they started to flap their wings wildly even though they could not generate the upthrust to fly.

                                       

                                       

Sometimes when the female was standing on the edge of the nest she called the male who answered. It looked like they had a conversation with important issues. Males do not feed chicks although they catch food for them, but the females delivere it.
                                       

When it rained a little bit weaker the feeding accelerated significantly. During the weaker rain periods hunting was active and they carried moles all the time to the chicks. There were four greedy mouths wide open to feed.

 

During this late afternoon and evening the weather was really bad. It rained nearly continuously when I was there but happily there were short periods with almost no rain. Day temperature was four degrees centigrade and wind was really cold. Quite soon after I arrived the hide I realised that my summer outfit would not be enough and I was freezing the whole evening. While sitting I did a lot of exercises with my every single muscle to keep me warm. I managed to do so until 9 pm, then the female left the nest for a while and so did I. But before that I photographed the male sitting in the rain in a distant tree.

I walked half a kilometer through a little forrest and a field growing tall grass and I was totally soaked. On my way I called Kati to come and pick me up.  After 45 minutes of waiting, when I saw her arriving with the warm car I was so happy. Kisses to Kati with love!

Olli