The first minus degrees
I am always looking forward to the first minus degrees, they are so special. Visiting a bog is amazing in every season. Come and let’s go together!
Slow winter
Winter has stated slowly. Well, okay, November is mostly foggy/cloudy/grey so nothing new there. Sunday evening it dropped for few hours down to -7C but bounced back to around-zero again and there is a heat wave somewhere around Irland and UK on it’s way to east so it will be warmer again. I just wish to have a white ground . First because I just like snow, second I need to film some stuff. Third, I would like to have white Christmas. To think about it, it was white Christmas last year!? (I’m getting old, i don’t remeber things). But Sunday I had a half day outdoors with my friend Peeter and the evening was just beautiful compared the usual grey s….t in the sky. Just few people who have had tour with me have had a chance to see that spot. It’s a public coastline but i keep it…
The moose (or eurasian elk!)
So, it’s time to share some photos of Estonian biggest mammal – Eurasian elk (or in America they say “moose”). They are mostly seen all over Estonia and the best time for that is in autumn when they have their mating season. But actually it doesn’t matter which season you come, it’s quite possible to see them all year round. We have wildlife watching tour! Book a tour and let’s see where the nature takes us
Fox on the roof
Last Friday went to photo assignement to the Museum of Coomunist crimes at Patarei prison in center of Tallinn and found a fox on the roof. It’s a 3 floor limestone building. Semi-abandoned, museum is just part of the building. Clearly it found a opening to enter the building and then found it’s way to the roof through roof windows. Foxes has become fairly common animals in Tallinn as we have lot of green areas and some forest areas around Tallinn have vanished and replased by private housing areas. But the fox was enjoying morning sun and was not disturbed by the gulls and crows that felt dangered by it’s presents. If you want to do some wildlife photography while visiting Tallinn, then we can meet for nature phtography day tour (foloow THIS link for details).
Tallinn, what to do in winter?
Planning a long weekend to Tallinn and wondering what to do here in winter? Many people take a long weekend on even week trip to Tallinn before Christmas. Why? Well, first, Tallinn has highly recommended Christmas market, according to its thought one of the best one in Europe, see the article HERE. I was going through the city center this Saturday, the tree is already there and some market booths are built already. I think the market will be ready after week, maybe 10 days. I will share you the images of the market when they get it ready. I really hope there will be some snow to add dot on top of “I” letter :). I think the second good reason to be here is that it’s not crowded in winter. you can enjoy walks in the old town or Kalamaja hipster area, visit museums, enjoy dinner in Estonian…
Autumn buglife
Autumn, until some minus degrees, the buglife is relativly active and one very good place to find them is on mushrooms. There are still plenty of them in the forest but taking the photo is sometimes very tricky. Cloudy weather and location under tall trees seems like hour after sunset in the middel of the day. So small LED videolights with batteries are very handy here and offer possibility quickly to change light setup. So i saw there was fly climbing on the mushroom. Hoping that it will climb on the top placed light to have strong contra light. waited for 10 min and there it was. Patience and some luck pays off! If you want to discover the nature of Estonia check here all the nature day tours, follow the link HERE for our day tours. All day trips start from Tallinn.
Bohemian waxwings
Bohemian waxwings, those lovely nomads are typical birds to see during winter and we always try to find them during our birdwatching day tours around Tallinn (see the details HERE). This year has been good for mountain ash, so the food base is relatively good for them. But of course eating about twice of the body weight daily or 800-1000 berries a day the berries vanish quickly :). Did you know that they are called “pestvogel” plaguebird in Dutch and “Russ”- a Russian in Italy?
Suurupi
One of my favorite spots around Suurupi. Most of the time I come here without camera, just to sit and listen the sea. It’s moody during autumn, I don’t really mind dark days and cloudy weather at the moment. If you want to see north Estonia with your own eyes then HERE you can find details of north Estonia day tour
Common cranes
Common cranes are such a beautiful birds, and I always enjoy seeing them. Of course they are ususally one of those “must see” things on our birdwatching day tours as well. Best time would be spring and autumn migration but they are easy to see during summer as well. Either you choose to go to west Estonia birdwatching day trip or half day Tallinn day tour (Okay, its not only Tallinn, we will drive outside a bit as well) you will most probably see them. But I collected some images of them from 2019 season tours.
Autumn patterns
Autumn has created beautiful patterns. It’s interesting to see how nature is preparing for the winter. So, it’s the last change to enjoy autumn. There are still some pretty yellow leaves and even the sun shines now and then. The weekend was very stormy, but it’s a new week with a better weather.