Eagles of Lapland

Wildlife of the Arctic

Finnish Lapland is full of incredible contrasts.  Small villages with picture perfect cabins are dotted around forests where nature does its own thing, mostly untouched and unseen by people. 

Today, we had the opportunity to see some of this nature in action. 

Getting us out of bed at 5:30 on a Sunday morning takes something pretty special, but thanks to the team at Ylläs Wildlife, we had the chance to visit the bird-hide that has been the talk of the village here in Äkäslompolo in Finnish Lapland.

Given that we are not really birdwatchers, you might wonder what the excitement was about, and perhaps more so if I mentioned that we regularly have a range of feathered friends visiting our patio.  

Today, however, we were hoping to see the king of birds, the Golden Eagle.

Out into the Forest

After meeting up in the centre of the village, we were quickly tied and hooded, chloroformed and hustled into the boot of a waiting car.  Ok, perhaps a slight exaggeration, but we were asked to keep the hide location secret.  

A half hour drive had us parking in a cleverly camouflaged car-port out in the forest, then grabbing our rucksacks (bird spotting books, cameras, sandwiches and coffee) and walking through the snowy and still dark* forest to the edge of the clearing where the bird-hide was built earlier this year. 

* Dark is different above the Arctic Circle.  As we get nearer to December, the days do get shorter to the point where the sun doesn't rise at all for about six weeks, and there is only a short period of "Twilight" in the middle of the day.  

This period of polar night is known as "Kaamos" in Finnish.  

However, at the same time, everywhere is covered in a thick blanket of pure white snow that reflects the minimal light, even from the moon and stars, and so it is never completely dark, but has an ethereal, magical feel. 

The Bird-Hide

It's only about a 500 metre walk from the car port to the bird-hide, and in no time we were firing up the gas heaters, setting cameras into position and getting comfortable to wait, and hope...

As winter arrives and days shorten, the chances of seeing eagles from the hide increases.  With fewer daylight hours the birds have less time to eat, and so are more likely to be seen.   

To help things along, the Ylläs Wildlife team provides some very tasty meals, at least from the Eagle perspective, including raw reindeer, moose and occasionally, pork. 

This week, pork was on the menu.

Feeding the birds like this is important as it helps increase their chances of surviving the bitter Arctic winter, especially since Eagle numbers are still recovering. 

Forest Clearing

As the sun gradually rose and the sky, still heavy with snow cloud, brightened, we began to see the clearing much better.  The snowy trees providing a perfect backdrop and a series of kelo-logs in the foreground providing perfect feeding perches.   

Almost as soon as daylight started to arrive we had company.  First a few magpies then, as if heading for a pre-arranged secret meeting in the forest clearing, ravens began to appear from all directions until there were nearly 30 of them. 

At first a bit nervous, then settling down to feed, snow-bathe, get a bit grumpy with the magpies when they got too close, and generally entertain us. 

All the while, it was noticeable that there was some shift work going on, with four or five ravens always taking lookout positions round the edges of the clearing.  

Vesa, our guide and expert for the day explained that twitchy ravens are a fairly reliable signal that Eagles are moving around in the vicinity.  

Eagles are quite nervous and will watch and wait until they see ravens feeding comfortably before they decide it is safe for them to eat too. 

This is an odd sort of relationship, since seeing Eagles in the area is one thing that makes the ravens very uncomfortable.

Sure enough, as we watched, it was clear that the ravens were a bit up-tight, and every so often would jump up and scatter before settling down to feed again. 

Was that an Eagle?

It was then that we (or at least Vesa) spotted an Eagle in a tree about 300 metres away to the right of the clearing.  I tried to take a picture of it, but struggled to hold the camera still at that level of zoom. 

We think it was a Sea Eagle, as one had been seen there recently, but it didn't come close enough for us to identify with certainty. 

Only a few minutes later, another Eagle was spotted, this time to the left. This time, I managed to get a photo, but not great quality, since it was still quite dark, but it was enough to prove that we had at least seen one! 

We settled back down to hope that this second bird would be hungry enough to venture into the clearing. 

Movement in the undergrowth

Just as we were getting over seeing our first Eagles, we spotted something moving through the frosty forest undergrowth.  It was difficult to tell what it was at first, but as it moved towards the clearing, it turned out to be a fox. 

This fine fellow was nothing like the scraggy urban foxes we'd got used to seeing on the outskirts of London, but a healthy fit animal with thick luxurious fur.

As he moved into the clearing, the ravens and magpies didn't seem to be too concerned, and soon he too was enjoying a pork breakfast.  

Just as he was getting comfortable, the ravens suddenly scattered again, and the fox and magpies immediately retreated to a safe distance. 

Looking round, like us, they were just in time to see two Eagles settling in a tree at the back of the clearing.  

Then the oddest thing happened.  As the magpies and ravens shuffled nervously around the food, one Eagle took flight and disappeared into the distance. but the other gracefully swooped down and settled in the snow near to the fox.

By this time, we were all holding our breath in expectation of what might happen next.

After a moment or two, the Eagle walked through the trees, to within a few feet of the fox, almost out of our sight, and the two seemed to acknowledge each other in respectful silence.

Seeming happy with events, the fox headed off about his daily business and the Eagle decided that it was safe to return to the pork. 

The Eagle has landed 

For almost two hours, we watched, transfixed as this majestic bird ripped and tore at the pork, occasionally batting enormous powerful wings to warn off magpies that got a little too close.

The ravens on the other hand seem to have a lot of respect for the Eagle, and mostly stood back watching while he was eating, unlike the cheeky magpies. 

I don't think I've ever felt two hours pass so quickly.  It's an enormous privilege to be so close to raw nature and see such magnificent creatures at close quarters.  

With the eagle so comfortable feeding there for so long, I managed to catch a short video him.  Though there isn't any outdoor sound, you can almost hear us holding our breath as the camera shutters fire.  

If only I'd known we were going to have such an incredible view, I'd have invited a film camera crew and sound unit to join us! 

Ylläs Wildlife

If you are interested in Eagles or are visiting Finnish Lapland and would like to try to see them, the team at Ylläs Wildlife would be very happy to see you or hear from you.  

Their web-site www.wildlifeyllas.com has details of the hide and the Eagle Safari trips that they arrange.

Our sincere thanks to Vesa and Reino for setting up such a fantastic facility and giving us such an unforgettable day.  Special thanks to Vesa for sharing his enthusiasm and knowledge and making sure we didn't miss anything.  

I don't think that will be our last visit!

There were these tree fellers...

Oh Christmas tree...

It’s funny how switching location can change your perspective. 

Last week during a short return visit to London, we were happy to join in with the usual grumbling about “Christmas” being too early in the shops, with Christmas displays, music, decorations and advertising music even preceding the Guy Fawkes celebrations in some cases.

This week, back in Lapland, we’re spending the morning acquiring our Christmas tree.  In mid-November!

Really, it’s all down to logistics.

  

While our little corner of Lapland already looks like a winter wonder-land with snow everywhere and trees heavy with frost, it’s still “early-winter” which means that the deep snow has yet to arrive.  

It’s a lot of fun heading off into the forest in snow shoes to find a tree in mid-December, but it’s never much lighter than twilight and it’s really quite hard to move felled trees around in deep snow.

Anyway, since the trees in the far north don’t take much water on-board at this time of year, it’s not a problem to bring one home and leave it outside, effectively  in “cold-storage” until a more socially-acceptable time to take it indoors decorate it and give it pride of place in the cabin.

 

Anyway, after a coffee and chat to discuss tactics, we headed off into the countryside with two of our Finnish friends, with a car and trailer, and were soon marching off into the forest.   

In the north of Finland, it's possible to select and retrieve your own tree, and pay for it with an automated call to 

Metsähallitus the Finnish forestry people.

Though it can be tricky making the call in finger-chilling -20C! 

The principle is that, in the government-owned forestry areas, outside the National Parks, taking these small trees from near the roadsides provides an essential "Thinning" service, and so is encouraged. 

Not surprisingly, in a Finnish forest, there are a lot (a heck of a lot) of trees to choose from, so then started a process of selection, which, in our case generally meant... lots of discussion, almost choosing a specific tree, then deciding that the next one was a better colour, or shape or height.  

Finally, the ideal candidate was found and preparations were made. 

Preparations, in this case, being to stand back and take photos of the man with the saw. 

Fir trees are quite easy to cut down (says me who wasn't actually doing any sawing) and in no time, once the perfect height at which to cut had been decided, the sawing was underway. 

In Finnish forests, especially in winter, silence is a major attraction, so we managed to resist the natural desire to shout "Timber" as we gradually lowered the tree to the ground, and prepared to carry it back to the trailer. 

In celebration of the successful operation, and to warm frozen extremities after carrying the tree back to the car, we were tempted on to the forest trail that heads for Äkässaivo around a 3km loop. 

Äkässaivo is a deep forest lake that has no obvious means of filling and was a sacred place for ancient Sami people. 

After hearing some fascinating stories of the ancient peoples that lived, worshipped at the ancient lake, and sharing some hot tea and delicious home-made sandwiches, provided by our tree-felling friends, we took advantage of the frozen lake to make some celebratory snow-angels.

Job done for the day, time to head back to the car and take the tree back to its new temporary home in the back garden, ready for the decoration stages to happen a little nearer to Christmas.  

Another day, another new experience in Lapland.  

If you are visiting Finnish Lapland over or around the festive season, it's fun and quite satisfying "hunting and gathering" your own tree, before preparing it for the Christmas celebration.  

Hullun Polkasu 2014 (The Mad Cycle)

Äkäslompolo, Finland: Thursday 3^rd July 2014

It’s been light all night as it always is at this time of year in Lapland.  This far north, we have around two months of midnight sun with what they call “nightless nights” when the sun never sets.

Fortunately, this morning sees it a bit cooler and overcast, as we are up early, drinking strong coffee, repacking and trying not to think too much about the fact that we are about head off, with a group of fit Finns, on the longest cycle we’ve ever attempted – The Hullan Polkasu or, in English, the Mad Cycle.

Hullan Polkasu  

Sampo Kaulanen (left) owns and runs Jounin Kauppa, the supermarket and shopping centre here in Äkäslompolo. 

One day, in the heat of summer (yes, as well as being light for 24 hours it often tops 30C in Lapland) he was looking at a map of the area while trying to think of some ideas for a summer fun event.

He thought about the short distance to Norway, and came up with the idea of going for a cool refreshing swim in the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Norway.  

With typical Finnish consideration for the environment, he decided it would be best to cycle there,  all 350 km, and the idea for the first Hullun Polkasu was born.

The one proviso was that he put details of the event on Facebook, and would only go ahead with the cycle if it got 50 000 “Likes”. 

Within a few days, the number of “Likes” sailed past the 50 000 mark, and Sampo had started training!

Of course, it's no fun to cycle such a long route on your own, so Sampo sent out a general invite for people to join him on the trek.

Lapland Finns are typically fit and very keen on the outdoors, so soon people were signing up from all around Finland to join in. 

As part of the small contingent of Brits in the village, and badly in need of some exercise, we decided to sign up too.  Now, on the morning of the first day, it seems a bit rash to have made that decision only three weeks ago!

Äkäslompolo –> Hetta (Enontekio) – Day 1

As we gathered outside the supermarket at 7:30am we found, somewhat to our relief, that not only were there indeed quite a few other people ready to take part, some very well prepared with racing bikes.

Age no Barrier

Fortunately, there were some people that looked like they might go at a more reasonable pace, including a couple of fellas on a tandem, quite a few bikes with cuddly animal passengers and a lady on a traditional Tunturi bike with no gears!

The youngest participant was 11 and the oldest 63, excellent examples of the characteristic Finnish “Sisu”. 

After a quick pep-talk from Sampo and a brief group stretching and warm-up session, we all dropped our bags with Nils-Samuli in the Jounin Kauppa “Support van”, which was to follow us for the full route.


This was to prove a valuable lifeline as, along with carrying luggage, it was stacked with goodies!

Just time then for a group photo of a bunch of enthusiastic cyclists before setting off on the first part of the trek.

140 km to the lovely Sami village of Hetta (or Enontekio as it’s shown on the map). 

The road out of Äkäslompolo has one steep climb, perfect for warming up the cycling muscles.  

Once we had puffed our way up that, we were off at a good speed, and in no time, we had passed the road to Akäsmylly at 20 km, marking the furthest we’d previously cycled in that direction. 

The first Pit-Stop

Several Jounin Kauppa suppliers had contributed food, fitness drinks and energy bars to the cause, so after about 30 km, there was a pit-stop set up at the roadside for a quick refuel.  

This was the first time we really understood the benefits of having a support team, as they handed out much appreciated food and drink.

After a couple of minutes relaxing and watching a few other participants coming and going, we pressed on for the next 40 km to the lunch stop at the Loimu restaurant in Raatama, where there was lots of gorgeous Lappish salmon soup to get everyone raring to go again.

By this point, it was clear that we had spread out quite a bit, with the “Elite” riders well ahead, and the rest spread over quite a distance, in small groups, making new friends as people of similar speeds cycled together (some closer than others) or regularly passed each other.

By the time we hit the 110 km mark, it seemed that most people were feeling the effort taking a toll on their legs, and it was perfect to have another pit-stop to top up energy levels which helped the last 30 km fly by.

Welcome to Hetta

On arrival in Hetta, most of us were staying in the Hetan Majalta hotel.  Anticipating the arrival of a lot of weary Finnish cyclists, the hotel knew exactly how to prepare; getting the beers chilled as the sauna heated, providing the perfect welcome for the end of day 1.

The Hetta locals had arranged a welcome festival for the cyclists in the market square in the evening, with stalls selling coffee, cakes, sausages and

other post-cycling delights as well as laying on some locally flavoured entertainment, the highlight of which was a young singer performing a song that she had written especially for the Hullun Polkasu event.
  

Then back to the hotel, to bed.  

Day 2 – Hetta -> Kautokeino - Let’s go North of the Border

Day two dawned and it was apparent that the promise of lovely weather had been a little optimistic.  

Heavy clouds covered the village, and it didn’t look like the light rain was planning to stop anytime soon.

Gathering to start from Hetta market square, the villagers gave us a fantastic send off, with a quick Zumba session to warm up weary legs and a great sing-a-long of the Hullan Polkasu song, which even the Finns couldn’t understand as it was in the Sami language; not that that stopped everyone joining in with the chorus.

So many options!

Everyone started off in cheery spirits and was soon clocking up the miles to the first café stop after about 30km.  That bit wasn’t too bad, especially with the thought of lunch on the horizon.

The second half of day two was promising to be a bit tougher, with everyone setting off still damp after lunch, and with full stomachs and some steeper uphill sections, it was all getting to be a bit of a slog.  Then two things happened that really boosted us. 

First, we came to the border crossing between Finland and Norway.  It was an easy border to pass, with no stops and checks, but it was nice to get a cheery wave from Norwegian customs as we pedaled past.

Then the Jaunin Kauppa support van drove past with the team handing out energy drinks and chocolate to all the cyclists, on the move! 

No one could fail to be lifted by that kind of surprise, and with it being a shorter day, covering only 80 odd km, we soon had Kautokeino in view through the low clouds and a lovely downhill section to the Arctic Motel and Camping site to finish.

This time, some of the participants were staying in cabins at the Kautokeino camp site and some were up the hill at the Thon hotel.

After checking in, we headed off to relax in the outdoor hot-tub under the watchful eye of some of the local reindeer.   

As we sat chatting with some of the other cyclists, the weather started to clear, with the magnificent Norwegian mountains and scenery gradually appearing through the clearing clouds.

It’s at times like that, you realise what a special place Lapland is.

Gallery Visit 

With an earlier end to the cycling at 3pm, we had time to visit Juhls’ Silver gallery in Kautokeino.

The building and all the exhibits (most of which are for sale) were designed, build and collected by Frank and Regine Juhls since settling here in the 1950s.

It's a welcoming and fascinating place with an amazing history and a free guided tour.  It's no surprise that people travel from all over the Nordic countries to visit.  Highly recommended. 

Day  3 - Kautokeino -> Onward to the Arctic Ocean

After the wet weather of day 2, it was something of a relief to see that the more typical Lapland summer weather had returned.  

As everyone gathered outside the hotel, we started off in good spirits, though with dire warnings of mountains between us and our final destination, Alta, to be tackled later that day, ringing in our ears. 

  

The only en-route stop on day 3 was after 70 km at the top of the one steep uphill section, the first tough section that we had encountered that day.  

Photographer Stepi enjoys lunch

The support team had somehow managed to get hold of a vat of sausage soup, which, accompanied with cheese sandwiches and a fantastic view of Norway was the perfect pick-me-up for the second half; and what a second half it was!

As we descended from the stopping point, we seemed to hit one downhill after another, and were keeping up a much higher speed with far less effort than before.   Even the few uphill stretches seemed easier. Then we started to see the mountains in the distance, looming closer with every km.

Each km seemed to expose more and more impressive Norwegian scenery, with high cliffs, still topped with snow, gushing waterfalls and majestic lakes around every corner.

As we arrived at the mountains, to our surprise, the road seemed to go downhill more and more steeply, with the bending road snaking down through the mountains, where only the bravest of cyclists stayed off the brakes completely.

   

Keeping the UK end up

Past the mountains, it was easy to keep up the momentum, and keep the UK flags flying, as the last few km flew by and we were soon arriving at Alta River Camping, the end of the cycling route.

It was great to catch up with everyone there, enjoying the camaraderie, a relaxing beer, a sauna (of course) and some dinner in the sunshine.

A Refreshing dip

In the excitement of finishing the cycling, we almost forgot that the objective of the event was to swim in the Arctic Ocean.  

Fortunately, one of the Ylläs coaches had been laid on, and by 9pm we were all boarding to start our unusual trip to the seaside.

A couple of km outside Alta, we stopped at a lovely little beach with Norwegian mountains and sky perfectly framing the Arctic Ocean.

The end of the challenge and time for quick photo, just giving a few moments to think about the prospect of the final swim in the Arctic Ocean. 

Then into bathing gear to charge, run or paddle into the sea.

The water was quite cold, but wonderfully clear and refreshing after days of cycling.

It’s hard to imagine how the last day could have been better.  The gorgeous weather the Norwegian scenery and the fun of swimming in the Arctic Ocean really made it a special experience.

Big Thanks

Special thanks to Teemu Haavisto & Ylläs Sportia for support and technical services and to the Jounin Kauppa support team for helping us all to make it to the end, and of course to Sampo Kaulanen for the original idea and for making the event a reality.





Thanks also to Stepi Sundberg for taking so many great photographs of the event during all three days, and especially for allowing me to use some of these here.  You can see more of his work on his web site by clicking on his name.

Not forgetting Ylläs Express for picking us up and taking our bikes back to Äkäslompolo, especially since I’m not sure any of us could have cycled back up the long climb back out of Alta!

Video Footage

To get an idea of the spirit of the event and see some of the magnificent wild scenery, Veli-Matti Näränen took some excellent video footage during the event…

And the team from JVPS did a fantastic video blog!

Roll on Hullun Polkasu 2015!

Join Us?

If you fancy taking part in Hullun Polkasu 2015 and experiencing some of the summer magic of Lapland, please feel free to contact me or visit the Hullun Polkasu Facebook page.