Latvia / Estonia....

 A real birders trip to Latvia and Estonia looking for  Hawk Owl and Steller's Eider . Other highlights included Ural Owl , Black Woodpecker , Grey headed Woodpecker , Great Grey Shrike , Rough Legged Buzzard , Hen Harrier male , Golden Eagle , White Tailed Sea Eagle (35+ sightings) , Smew , Crested Tit , Northern Bullfinch , European Nuthatch , Nordic Jackdaw , Pale Willow Tit ,  Long - tailed Duck and Scaup..Many thanks to Gary Waddington ( photos and everything else) , The man Nick Carter and Big Ady...cheers guys

We flew into Riga and headed straight for the Hawk Owl only 35 minutes from the Airport , we searched hard in the freeing cold conditions and found Great Tit , White Tailed Sea Eagle (3) , Great Spotted Woodpecker , Raven , Northern Bullfinch aprox 15 in a mixed flock but some cracking males , Hooded Crow and Blue Tit , but no Hawk Owl our luck turned when we bumped into a local birder who took us to see the Owl , amazing views of the Hawk Owl catching a vole and promptly ripping its head off to feed....WOW

Day 2 we headed into Estonia stopping on the way to for another Hawk Owl  with no luck , but 2 Black Woodpeckers showed really well and a total  5 seen throughout the day .Nordic Jackdaws were common along the roadside with there bright white neck collars. Hooded Crows , Goldeneye , Herring Gulls , GBBGulls , Sparrowhawk and Redwing were also seen along the way. Everywhere was fro en , every river , lake and seven the sea . Birds were hard to come by.....

                                                             White tailed  Eagle

Day 3 

The first birds of the day were 3 pale Willow Tits of the Baltic race  , Crested Tits , Nuthatch also of the pale Baltic race , Northern Bullfinch and Goldcrest in the garden of the B and B , a great start. Into the local pine forests next , the first bird a cracking Lesser Spotted Woodpecker , Ravens , an immature Golden Eagle flushed from one of the clearings which was a massive surprise to us all.. The highlight of the day was a Ural Owl , which gave incredible views . Another 2 Ural Owls were herd calling .2 White Tailed Sea Eagles were also seen .

                                                              Ural Owl

Day 4 

   We headed for  Saaremaa Island  in the search of Stellers Eider our second target species. The sea was frozen and White- tailed Sea Eagles were common with 5 + seen sat on the ice and 10 + throughout the day. !!! Hundreds of Long tailed Duck were seen on the crossing and the day count reached 1000 + .We headed for the harbour at Kuuli  where Stellers Eider were meant to be seen .an interesting herring Gull with yellow legs was surely Omissus.  A beautiful male Hen Harrier  and Great Grey Shrike were seen on the way. Arriving at the harbour we immediately saw one adult male Stellers Eider..what a bird stunning. When we turned and looked into the harbour there were at least 48 Stellers Eider ,150 + Tufted Duck , 15 Scaup , 25 Coot , 500 + Mute Swan in the distance Red breasted Merganser , Red-throated Diver 5 + , Whooper Swans , Velvet Scoter , Cormorants , Mallards , Long tailed Duck and a single Auk species which I id'd as Guillimot but was probably Razorbill so will go down as Auk sp....

                                            The frozen  Baltic

                                                 Stellers Eider and Scaup

Day 5 Sorve lighthouse

A real red letter day for me going here a place I have always wanted to visit and it did not disappoint..

25 Smew including 13 males , Snow Bunting 4 , Whooper Swan , White tailed Eagle 17 +  , Grey Seal 100 + , Great Crested Grebe , Goldeneye , Velvet Scoter  9 , Common Scoter 2 , Scaup 60 + , Nordic Jackdaw a flock of 50 Greenfinch , Red breasted Merganser , Goosander , Great grey Shrike , An adult  Rough Legged Buzzard was the icing on the cake.....

                                                               Male Scaup feathers