Unexpected

A quick snapshot. A moment of suprise for all parties involved I think.

Flower power

cherry blossoms

Larger than Life

St Petersburg, Russia

 

 

In the Woods

Hidden between the leafs you were, just a shadow, a blur in the forest.

 

 

Fishing

Whooper Swans, the national bird of Finland

We are closing in on summer.  Still only a couple of days ago eastern and northern parts of our fair land received fresh snow. But today, the forecast is for something altogether different. Soon it appears, that we will be having a hot spell in the region of 22-30 Celsius. Stupendously quick change of weather so to speak. The countryside of Finland is filled with fields, forests and lakes. Such a view is quite common at the moment, fields growing green, trees getting leafs.  And nour national bird Swan in small groups and large.

Swans used to be hunted in Finland and that resulted in diminishing numbers and after strong debate it was protected as a species. Eventually the numbers have grown back. Now they can be spotted in small ponds and lakes and of course in large migration gatherings.

The species of swans that are pictured here and that is our national bird, is the whooper swan. They also sing with a beatiful voice from where comes the Finnish name “laulujoutsen” the Singing swan”.

A typical nest of a swan. A small pond, with a small island in the middle. And a nest. The swans form life-time “marriages” with their partners so there was another swan just outside the view of this photo as well. Pretty soon there will also be a couple of small ones around as well..

These ones had not yet found their partner and still moving in bigger groups.  Beautiful birds aren’t they?

Happy international Mothers day

Terns

Building nests and getting ready to multiply.

And just doing the basic hover before the plunge for some fish.

Beautiful birds, terns are.

Changing weather

Just another beautiful day here in the warm capital of Finland.

 

Hale? No, I´m good.

The weather has been a bit erratic here in Helsinki of late. A couple of days and the temperature dropped from +20 to +2 and there has been a lot of rain, in different forms. Yesterday a halestorm and sleet. Just goes to show how far in the north we really live.