Thursday 8th May 1997 Before travelling and since my journey to that country, people have asked me why I chose to travel to Finland rather than somewhere more popular, a lot of people feel that foreign travel means going somewhere southerly, and warm, to choose a northerly destination instead is a little unusual I admit. My first time to meet Finnish people, was when I was in Killarney on my seventh year of workcamps there. Two young women from that country joined us for the camp. At the time I only had a vague idea of where Finland could be found on the map, I knew it was over in some dusty old corner of Europe somewhere. So one day when I was at home, I had a look in the world fact book; page 112-Finland. The basic facts were; Population 5,042,000. Has about 60,000 lakes. (I calculated the area to be about four and a half times the size of Ireland, yet the population was almost the same) About 70% tree cover, the northern quarter is above the arctic circle; I then had a look at the distribution maps of the birds in another book, lots of species there not present at home. Clearly it was worth a visit! I read anything I could find about Finland and even got the satellite dish adjusted to receive Utel Sat 13°east. About 8pm every night they broadcast an English language program for about thirty minutes, about life there and well as various news items. Soon a map, book and basic language course were bought. For the following few mounts, the preparations went ahead, During January of 1997 I heard that Finair going to start flying direct from Dublin to Helsinki. The seats were quickly filled. The flight, the tax, plus insurance came to £237. It had been thirteen years since I had been away on a foreign holiday, a window of opportunity had opened. At Dublin airport, my mother and I sat for awhile before I went through to the departure lounge. We talked, I joked about the air ticket, it said, ‘Destination Hel, Gate. . . When I was a child I heard about this place Helsinki, in my imagination I saw flames and lines of glum people slaving over hot sinks, a lad with horns and a fork featured prominently in the vision. ‘I’ll never go there’ I thought to myself, yet all these years later, I was on my way. We flew out over Scotland, then out over the north sea to southern Norway, till finally we landed at Stockholm in southern Sweden. People got off, others got on board, baggage wheeled out and other bags loaded on below. Then the best part, the take-off, the surge of power, speeding up faster and faster, exhilarating yet scary, the wheels leave the ground, we climb steeply. It was nearly dark by the time we arrived at Helsinki airport, the western sky was a deep orange and pink colour. The atmosphere in the airport building and even the pass-port and customs area appeared so relaxed, for a time it felt as if I had been the only one on the flight. Outside in the deep blue gloom the bus waited (An Lar) The driver looked about for more people to come, only about five passengers to go to the center of town. About twenty minutes later we arrived, nothing familiar. What part of the center was I in? The driver had no English however he gestured to me to get back on and he would bring me to near the stadium hostel. A few minutes later, on a lonely looking street we stopped, the driver got off to point to the spot, a white tower in the medium distance, well lit up around the other side of that, he gestured, before he got back on and drove away. A good start, well he was friendly anyway. The people in reception had good English. I filled in a slip of paper, giving my name, address etc, paid my money. Soon I was relaxing in the dormitory, room 18, bed two. Their was few people about. Friday 9th May 1997. Got out of bed at about 8.30am, got ready and went down town, I had booked for another night, so was able to leave the heavy back-pack in the room. The tourist office was down town near the market area, they said that they only have information on the city area and that I should go across the road the other office where they said they have information on the rest of the country. The people there had very good English, I explained about the parks I was interested in visiting, so she directed me to the office up the street, so off I went, uphill, by ornate buildings, past expensive-looking shops and cafes, across cobbled streets. It was becoming clear that it may take the whole of my stay to get used to people driving on the right-side of the road. The city appeared beautiful in the morning sun, their was so much to see, but first a few things had to be taken care of. The National parks office was quite small, sparse but sufficient, lots of pictures on the walls, I showed an interest in visiting any parks in the Mikkeli area, he went over to a huge map, behind which were other maps, the appropriate one was slid out, all the parks had been coloured in, I asked a few relative questions and asked about staying in these wilderness huts and going from park to park, however it was looking a bit unrealistic, first of all, Paijanne national park was difficult to get to unless you had a car. At least two of the others were also hard to get to, as well as that their was no-where to stay either in, or near them, on top of all that, only the really northerly parks had free unlocked huts. He went over to a computer to find out more about Patvinsuo national park, as I said it appeared to look promising, he clicked the mouse a few times. It looked exciting. He was unsure if the hostel would be open, another problem was that till the week before, their was still snow on the ground there however he would phone the park to find out the latest details. The coloured map really put it in perspective. He wanted to do a few things before making the phone call for me, so I went back down to the other office to find out the train times etc. By the time I got back he had phoned, their was still some snow on the ground, though it was melting fast and would be gone in a week, the hostel would be open on the fifteenth of the month. I thought it was worth a try, so I got a leaflet on that park, asked a few more questions and went off. The next thing on the list was bread, milk etc. After walking about for quite a while, I found a small supermarket, no-where could there be seen a small grocer shop like at home. With the help of the map I found my way about quite well. By the time I got back to the hostel at about 2pm, it was closed, however the time was used well to plan my next move, surprising how time passed between late afternoon and bedtime. I had a rest, then tea, after which I done a little writing while watching some Finnish television, their was an awful thing about heavy metal, the lads on screen had their faces painted, drivel, occultish, so depressing, the reception wasn’t even very good! Saturday 10th May 1997. The distance between Helsinki and Patvinsuo national park is greater than going from the very northern tip of Ireland to the very southerly end, so I thought it a good idea to split the journey into two parts, it would also mean that I could call in to see Marjo, who I met on the workcamp the previous summer. It is something I have wanted to do ever since I begun to go on camps, it does not have to be any particular person, male or female, simply to call in on someone who I met on camp in the recent past. It was time to leave Helsinki. I walked for about a mile to the railway station. The building is larger inside than it appears on the outside, their were lots of ticket offices and shops and even more of them downstairs and under the road, in each section of the building they had tickets for those wanting to Que, so when you get in you take a numbered ticket and sit down till your number comes up on a display. After about five minutes my number appeared on the red display, so I went up to buy my ticket, I already had prepared a bit of paper, written in Finnish, of where I wanted to go, so their could be no confusion. Finnish railway tickets are quite large, about twice the length and width of Irish ones, they come on a roll, which is printed out then torn off. The return journey cost 248 Markas, that’s about £33, this journey is approximately the same distance as going from Dublin to Cork return. The pricing is very sensible, for instance a single journey ticket is a little more than half the return fare and to go twice the distance return is about twice the price. I have always thought the Irish system a bit strange, if you travel twice the distance, the price is often little more than the same and a single-way fare is nearly the same as the cost of a return journey. Finrail have a system where you can book a seat by paying a small bit extra, if you get on the train and find someone sitting in your seat you have booked, then you can ask the person to move, most people don’t book their seat, neither did I. Soon we were moving off. The journey was smooth and quiet, perhaps even more so than the Dublin to Cork run, though the speed was not quite as fast. Along the way I saw some graffiti, most of it was really well done, more like works of art. Soon the forest was to be seen, though their was still quite a lot of buildings and some fields, gradually more and more forest could be seen, though few lakes. It was a dull cool day, we passed through a few light showers. Brown was the dominant colour of the landscape, this was due to the fields been recently been turned for that years crop. After about an hour of travelling, lakes were more often to be seen, in-between was lots of forest, one lake was frozen, yet the next one I saw was not. Finally I arrived at Mikkili. Their was no platform, so you just climbed down as best you could, somewhat reminiscent of the wild west, the station building was an all wooden structure, inside were lockers, 10Mks per day, the bottom ones were huge and so the whole back-pack fitted inside. The woman at the ticket office gave me a free map of the town and she marked the spot where the accommodation was. Mikkeli is the capital of the province of Mikkili and has a population of about 32,500. Up the street from the railway station was the tourist office. It was too late to go in. I crossed the empty market square and followed the arrows on the map towards the edge of town, along a straight road till finally I arrived at the place where I was to stay. The bell didn’t seem to work. Eventually however a lad came to the door, he had some English, he said that the other lad has to be phoned up to get him to come out, to give me the key and collect the money etc. He kindly phoned up for me. After that I sat in the kitchen, it was strange having that room in the front of the house. While I waited for about forty minutes, I looked out the window at the road, few cars went by, I didn’t mind sitting there, as their wasn’t much to do with the remainder of the day. The cost per night was about £18, this seemed at first to be somewhat expensive, however when he showed me the room I was glad to be staying the night. A medium sized room, yet cosy, lino on the floor and a coloured rug near the door, a large bunk-bed in one corner, sheets on the bed—I would not have to use my own. The upper bed was quite high up so one would be unlikely to hit ones head of it. There was a desk with a small radio under the window. The sun shone in through the triple glazed window. I was looking forward to the comfort of staying there, however the backpack had to be collected from the station and some grub had to be bought, I didn’t know when the station closed, so I went off as soon as I could. It was a good twenty minutes walk down town, but such a pleasant evening. Neat rows of houses on each side of the road, some flats further on, however there was no dirt or graffiti, nothing vandalised, no litter, nowhere tumbling down. From some gardens came the sound of Redstarts singing, (a rare bird at home) In the train station I collected the backpack, then I looked up Marjo’s address in the phone-book. Sadly no look. Perhaps I had even passed her door without even knowing it . . . However perhaps the spelling was . . . I knew the address was number 33 something, then going down through the list under a different spelling, I found it. Next thing was to get back up the road to the small shop to buy a few things. The lad in the little room helped me to find Marjo’s road on the map, soon I was on my way. The lad stayed in the little room, I wondered what he done all day? He seemed a bit sad, he said he had sold his apartment in Helsinki and had come to find a place to live, I didn’t want to ask too many questions or pri in to his affairs too much, though I was curious about some aspects of what he has said, but his English was not quite good enough to have a really good conversation. A short distance away was a pedestrian tunnel under the road, further on a small supermarket, around the corner two roads, I paused to have a look at the map. A lad on a push-bike came over, without me having to say anything he said, in English, ‘Hello, can I help you,’ he was friendly. The map had at least one error, he had saved me from going up the wrong way. Marjo’s road was all pulled up and had been covered over with sand and stones. Wooden bungalows on each side, small gardens, some surrounded by shrubs, her house was on the corner of a joining road. It was green with a red roof and white windows. I knocked on the door and soon I was explaining who I am etc. It was her sister I saw, Marjo herself was away in Oulu, which is in the west of the country. Pity she wasn’t at home, at least I got to see her sister and mother. That night It didn’t really get dark. At about 3am I got out of bed to have a look outside to see what was making a rustling sound, the noise had stopped by the time the door was opened, however a lot of birdsong could be heard coming from the edge of the nearby woods, though the sound level was low. Sunday 11th May 1997 Was out of bed at about 8.30am, got ready and walked down the long straight road towards town. Almost everywhere was closed, though finally I found a shop that sold postcards, they had stamps too. Each card with stamp cost about one pound each! So only half the number were bought that had been intended. They were nearly double the price compared to at home. The town was reasonably quiet, few people on the streets or cars on the road. A beautiful dry sunny morning, I walked about having a look at the various buildings. The church near the town center is the largest in Finland, according to my travel book, it has an area of 2734 square meters, yet it has only 1000 seats. It is only open in summer. After having a stroll about town I went back to where I was staying, along the way I admired the cleanness of the streets and the pleasant air of the district. I loved the light there, bright yet soft, the sort of light you get in the mountains, fresh, cheery and bright, yet not hurting to the eyes. I took it easy all day till teatime, after which preparations were begun for the following day. Later there was some heavy rain and thunder. In the room was a radio made by Goldstar, it had the most amazing sound quality, perhaps it had something to do with the acoustics of the room, however the effect was that the people talking seemed to be in the room. A somewhat odd thing about Finnish radio is that they often have bird sounds in-between songs while the presenter was talks, very unusual. I sat at the desk and wrote for awhile before going to bed. Monday 12th May 1997 After breakfast I went out to do a little sight-seeing, before getting the afternoon train. In the town center I posted a card and found a shop where slide films could be bought, these worked out surprisingly cheap, though I later found out that the reason is that they don’t mount the pictures as they do at home, the pre-paid envelope was addressed to the Fuji lab in Finland. All in all, the price was a little higher than at home. I kept a look out for phonecards in the phoneboxes, because I wanted to find some discarded ones for my collection and a few extra to share with others on my return. There was lots of phoneboxes, but never once were there any cards to be seen, everywhere was so clean, perhaps people collect them. Next stop the information office. The people there spoke good English and helped me to find a place to stay for the coming night. A lot of the cheaper hostels and hotels would not be open until the middle of the month they said. My options were narrow. She found a place in Lieksa, then she phoned up to make a booking for me, after this she rang up another place, this call could be classed as medium distance, yet at no cost to me. I thanked her for all her help and then had a look at the postcards on display. I thought it a pity that the cards had already been bought because there selection was so much better, however I bought a few and went off up the road to number 63 to collect the backpack. It was sunny and dry. On the way I stopped to have a look at a few council workers raking up leaves, these beautiful young women made small piles to be collected. At home the amount they were collecting would be considered too small to bother with. I would love to have taken a picture of them to show the lads in the council yard at home, but unfortunately I hadn’t the language to ask them and explain why I would like there photo. On the train journey to Lieksa there were two places where I had to change trains, the first was at a town called Pieksamaki, the other at Joensuu. On the journey there was little to be seen except pine and silver birch forest, or sometimes an occasional lake. Now and again we stopped at an almost deserted rickety old wooden railway station, way-out in the middle of no-where, or so it seemed. The countryside became more wild, the weather duller and more gloomy as we went north-east. In two places the train stopped for awhile because of work being carried out on the line. I wondered if I would make it on time so to get the connecting train at Joensuu. A few lakes were still covered in ice, it wasn’t looking good. What was Patvinsuo national park going to be like, how thick would the snow and ice be? Happily I made it on time, the conductor helped me with the backpack. We waved goodbye at Lieksa. The engine and two carriages went away. A rainy evening, a sultry greyness closed in, it became wetter. The hotel wasn’t far away. The hotel Kulma is described in the travel book as a ‘bit sleazy’ indeed it lived up to it’s reputation. Still it was a place to stay. I prepared for the next day, cleaning and sorting out the things in the bags, I also worked out my next move. Hardly anyone appeared to be staying the night, a few people drank at the bar downstairs. A heavy glass and steel door separated the rooms area from the rest of the hotel. Strangely all the doors opened out, whereas at home they open inwards. Train doors open in, at home they open out. The keys were strange too. Half-moon in section, it took me awhile to master the knack of opening doors with them. Even the water taps were unusual, the handle has to be raised to get the water to flow, then a side to side movement decides whether you get hot or cold water. A good idea once you get used to it. The first time I encountered them, the water gushed out, somewhat reminiscent of a scene in the film ‘Mr Bean’ The one where he is sent to America. It was midnight by the time I got to bed. Tuesday 13th May 1997 After breakfast I went out to find the tourist office. The woman there was very helpful. She phoned the national park to find out when the hostel would be opening, also to book me in for two nights. Though for that coming night the hostel there was closed as it was still too early in the season. She mentioned that some Dutch people had ventured there in the previous few days. Yes, there was still snow on the ground, but the weather forecast was good for the coming few days. She phoned up the railway station to ask if one can use the two return tickets, to get back to Helsinki by a different way, the answer was, yes I could. Across the road was a Spar supermarket, it felt like a little bit of home. Food was really expensive, for instance a small sliced pan, cost about £1.25. A red grapefruit was about 60p. Though admittedly they were big and of the highest quality. There was no sell-by-date grub, no small oranges, or seconds of anything. A packet of biscuits was no less than double the price of a similar type at home. There was no Irish products on the shelves, at least not that I could see. I bought enough grub to last a few days. Then went back to the hotel, packed up and went off to find the bus terminal, this was within walking distance. Soon I was on my way to the park. The bus was nearly empty, till it stopped near a school, a lot of children and teenagers got on, however they were well behaved and got off at various stops as we went up side roads in to a residential area, in the forest. Most of the houses were of wooden construction. Soon we reached the edge of town and begun to head out towards the country, there was forest on both sides of the road. I think I was the only one left on the bus by the time we got to the last stop at a place called Lehnuvaara. This was hardly even a village and seemed to be deserted. I asked the driver what the chances were, of getting a lift on the road, his reply said it all, ‘well you can try,’ he said. The bus went away. I was alone, the road appeared to be dusty and dry, but it was only the type of surface used, not the dark grey or black tarmac back home. Quite a wide road, yet deserted, a car came along but in the opposite direction. There was a lot of snow next to me, the remains of a large pile no doubt. I took a handful and put it on the ground to see how long it would take to melt. After another few minutes, a car came along, but didn’t stop, another two came as well but they turned of at the junction nearby. All was quiet again, so I had some lunch while waiting. Finally after about 30 to 40 minutes, a car came along from the side road, turned out on to the main road, oh wonderful, he stopped for me. He was on his way home somewhere 300km south. About 12 miles further on we stopped at the entrance to Patvinsuo national park. I had been really lucky to get that lift, because there was even less chance of someone stopping for me on that road, that is if I had got on to the start of that road, or if I had wanted to go further. From there it was a 4km walk to the hostel in the center of the park. I had arrived. Joy. The first part of the 4km walk was nearly straight, the road more wide than you would expect it to be, given the use I imagine it gets. I paused often to get a rest from the heavy weight on my back. There was nothing but pine trees to be seen, little undergrowth, stony ground in places, like gravel. There I was, a fair few miles from home, alone, no-one about, or likely to be for awhile. Where where these snakes people talk about? I admit a little voice inside me said, ‘what have I let myself in for, coming alone to this place?’ Generally though, it felt good to be alive. Later there was the possibility of even doing some birdsong recording, it was good weather for it. Further along the road was a stream running in the ditch, it’s source was the melting snow. The silence was so pure, no audible interference whatever. The sun was shining, there was snow all around me yet I wasn’t cold, even though I was wearing a T-shirt. Moving about with a heavy weight on my back, helped to keep me warm I suppose. Few birds sang. I came to a left turn and soon stopped at a bridge over a stream, had a rest and took a picture of the water, snow and evening sun. It wasn’t far from there to my destination. Soon, a small way up ahead, the information hut came in to view. There were other buildings in the small area as well. Also there were piles of firewood, a water pump. The grass was short, all very neat. Past these buildings, I made my way carefully over some hard packed snow, before entering the woods again, up ahead was a hut and an open shelter and a campfire area, just as it said in the book. Gladly I left the weight down on a heavy table, just then I heard a sound that made me stop and listen in awe, Blackcocks! Amazing! The equipment was set up quickly and soon I was at the edge of the lake recording the wonderful distant babbling of these birds. The chances were that a better recording might be made, next day or evening, however experience has taught me, if it is good, record it. The subject may very well be there, but nothing is certain, especially when it comes to bird-song recording. The sound was coming from a fair distance away, however it would still make a very lovely dreamy recording to be played back at a low level. Some songbirds sang in trees nearby. Blackcocks do not live in Ireland, so it was a pleasure to hear them so soon after my arrival. I could identify them because I have so many bird C.Ds and tapes. The sound seemed to be coming from the forest at the far side of the lake. It was getting late so I didn’t feel like chasing after them. After this first recording the next thing was to record some of the Redwings, lots of interesting sounds around. It was time to sleep, so putting the sleeping bag on a board under the roof, I lay down and got reasonably com-fortable. A slight draft came from under the shelter, where a gap had been left between it and the ground, so I was a bit cold, at least the next few nights would be spent indoors. I lay there, the dreamy sounds of Blackcock con-tinued. It then occurred to me that the recording, just made of them had songbirds along with the main subject, now the Redwings had fallen silent, how about a recording of the birds by themselves? I lay there, half asleep, wondering what to do, it was a good idea to get up and record, but then the mechine was in the box inside the sleeping bag to keep it warm, the tripod would have to be set up again, the leads would have to be connected once more and all this in the gathering gloom. But then, I had come so far, it was only a few times in a lifetime opportunity to do such work in a pristine environment in a foreign country. This line of thinking was enough to get me to arise, bleary-eyed, to get the gear ready. At this stage the sun had long set, it was as dark as it was going to get, yet there was still some light in the sky, a dim blue glow. This reminded me of the happy times spent in a place at the edge of Dublin, when in 1983-84 I used to go, when I first started to record birds, those dreamy evenings at dusk, in spring and early summer. The feeling was similar to when the last bird had sang, when I was alone there among the trees, in a place appropriately named ‘lovers lane.’ Now before me was the frozen lake Suomunjarvi, the part near the shore had melted. The place was different, only water and forest, with few roads, no fields or hedgerows, cattle or sheep, no little cottages, farmhouses or mountains, yet every bit as beautiful in it’s own way. In the distance from another direction at the far side of the lake, the Blackcock calls gently reverberated, the whole effect was so majestic. After about five minutes the mechine stopped working when the batteries went low, as it happened the duration of that track was long enough. I inserted new batteries and paused awhile, there was a good chance I would get closer to them at some other time. Just then some common frogs nearby to my right, began to call, these are the same species as at home, except that in Ireland they spawn and call at around and about the time of the full moon during February, so for the Finnish frogs it is a short season, spring comes late in Finland! The directional microphone was set up, this one is also slightly more sensitive and quiet, it needs to be as the sound level from frogs is very low, they are a difficult subject. If there were any rumble from traffic, it cannot be filtered as this would also take out the sound of the frogs, which also make a low frequency sound, the level is very low, so a lot of amplification is needed as well. Gladly there was no man-made noise at all and as for the slight amp and microphone noise this can be filtered out without effecting the sound of the subject, because hiss occures mainly in the eight kilohertz band, far above the frequency of the frogs. Glad to have made the effort, I went back to ‘bed.’ It often happens that you set out to record a certain bird or whatever and you end up getting something quite different, or even more than expected. Wednesday 14th May 1997 Got up and went over to the lake edge for water, such a beautiful sight there. The morning sun was at a low angle, shining on the ice. The Blackcocks had fallen silent sometime during the very early morning. Some birds sang nearby, a slight mist hung about in places. The sky was clear except for a few wisps of cloud, I got the camera. Soon I was ready to go and see if there was anyone around, because it would be good to leave some of the heavy bags in the hostel, even if I couldn’t stay there till evening. Up ahead was the information center, a young woman stood outside enjoying the sunshine, I went over. She was small with spiky blonde hair, she wore combat style clothes, she was bright and friendly, and gladly for me, spoke quite good English. The hostel was above the information center and had nine beds. The cost was 25 Markka per night, that’s about £3.50 in Irish money, so I booked for four nights. The place was very snug, upstairs was like an attic bedroom, a long room with only one window and that was at the end wall. A stove sat in nearly the middle of the floor. Grey blankets on the beds, no shelves, presses, pictures or anything else there. After being given the key, I sat in comfort and done some unpacking and writing, then it was time for lunch. After this I slept for awhile to make up for a poor nights sleep. That evening I went of for a walk to see if there was anything about worth recording. First I went towards the junction where I had been the evening before. I turned left and went down the gravel road for about a quarter mile. Forest on each side, nothing but silence. I turned back and found what appeared to be a short cut back to my lodgings, this was a woodland path, over a boardwalk in places over the boggy places. A dull damp evening, almost autumnal in mood. In the more open parts of the forest, was the remains of the winters snow. In one place there was a branch of the path, this brought me to a stream. It was a good sound, I could picture the album—if there was to be any, opening with sound of the stream swelled by the melting of the winters snow, then this smoothly cross-fading over to the dream-like babbling of the Blackgrouse. It seems that the best sounds were to be had, near to and around the area of the hostel. Another walk took me past lake Suomujarvi, on a nature trail to what I thought would lead past a large pond. However it led instead up along the main lake, so I turned back and went by a different way. First I came to a bridge over a swollen and quietly flowing stream, then left along a wider snow covered path, all was silent till I came to within the vicinity of the few wooden houses, there a Redwing sang loudly in the treetops. A half-moon shone brightly. The place where I could get closest to the bird was also waterlogged, however it would be a good recording if it could be made. At this stage it was dusky enough to have to shine a light in to the bag so I could see the record levels, the sound came in crisp and loud. Another recording was made, then the batteries went low. Just then the far distant Blackcocks begun to call, the sounds both far and near reverberated gently through the trees, this gave the recording a beautiful quality, the digital recorder captured it well. Thursday 15th May 1997 Was too tired to get up as early as I should have liked to. Their was a strange noise outside coming from a long way of, at a low level, though still annoying, this delayed the start of the mornings recording work. There was little of a chorus of birds like we are used to in Ireland, however the sounds were different, even a distant woodpecker could be heard now and again. This is another bird not found at home. A Willow warbler began to sing so I had a go at recording it. Unfortunately it moved about quite a bit, so success was only obtained on the third try. I entered the woods to record a Wood warbler singing there, nearby was another one of those huge ant nests. Most of the ones I found were about 50 to 60 cm in height. I had already counted about five or six in the area. The next recording was made at full gain, this was of the general atmosphere in the forest, it begun with the Wood Warbler song, other birds sang nearby. After a few minutes a Great spotted woodpecker drummed loudly. At the eight minute mark, a distant car could be heard so it was a good time to end the recording. After this I stood there and enjoyed the morning and just being in the forest. At the same time I was ready in case some other good sounds began. During this time I saw a woodpecker drum in a tree nearby, this one was next to an ants nest. I had no binoculars with me, though I could still see the beautiful red patch beneath its breast, it had been down near the top of the ants nest a few moments before it flew up to drum. Later when back in the house, while having breakfast, I happened to look out the window, to my amazement I got a glimpse of what I thought might be a rosefinch. It flew away, I went outside and saw it again perched at the end of the roof for a few seconds. Nearby was a Fieldfare bathing in a puddle. Fieldfares and Redwings are common in Ireland during the winter, it is during march that we hear a weak version of the song, however it is only when they return to northerly countries in the spring that they sing there full song. During the day I rested, though I listened out for Ira and Tomi, they seemed to be working in the park. I needed to see them for a few minutes, about shopping and some other matters. The information room was open, so I had a look about. Model birds hung from the ceiling, a string hung from each bird which was weighed by washers, when pulled gently made the wings move up and down. On the walls were large photographs of the park, the aerial shots were interesting, the various roads and other features as well as the extent of the forest could be seen. Other pictures were also of the park in winter. The silence must be intense at that time of year. For the afternoon I took it easy and even slept for awhile. That evening there was a rumble of thunder, it began to rain, so it was best to stay indoors. Although it was possible to record in the rain, there was no radiator to dry cloths on, so instead I recorded the birds from the hallway with the door open. First the metal bin lid was covered with the door mat to silence the dripping noise, a bucket also made noise so it was taken indoors. The parabolic reflector was set-up and pointed out towards the trees, the recording lasted for about eight minutes, the lovely touch to the whole recording was the small bit of thunder heard from time to time, loud enough to be heard, though not enough to cause the record levels to go to high. Some very low frequencies present, but no man-made rumbles, so no filtering needed in the mastering at a later date. When the rain had passed I took the gear down to the lake shore to the sandy beach to see what was about, I had heard the diver that evening so I wanted to have a go at recording it, a cuckoo also called from time to time. I decided to record the ambience. The reflector was pointed at the distant shore where I thought the diver may be. The only sound to be heard during the recording was the very faint cuckoo and at one point a rumble of thunder, it was the highest peak on that part of the tape. However it is often good to have a recording like that because it can be mixed in at a very low level with a bird in the foreground. Sometimes a bird on tape may have little or no background so an ambience is useful to add to it, to make it sound more natural. To the east a piece of blue sky appeared, the thunder clouds, wet looking, vertical streaks of pink and grey, billowing tops, had watered the forest and were then drifting eastward towards Russia. Friday 16th May 1997 Two or three people were due to stay in the hostel, they booked all nine beds, so that they would be sure of having privacy. It was a bit strange, however it worked in my favour, because I was given the downstairs room instead. This also had a wood stove, but only one bed, so I had the room for my own use only. This ment that the equipment would not have to be taken up and down the stairs. After breakfast the bags and other gear were taken down to the small room. Then I prepared to go to see the bog and marsh area, south of lake Suomunjarvi. Before noon I set off. It looked as if it might rain. I went from notice board to notice board. Met no-one along the way. About two and a half Km out I took a right turn in to a forest path, soon I was on a boardwalk over the edge of the bog, entering the trees again the boardwalk ended, soon I came to the main section of bog. In places the water covered the boards, on and on it went. The pine trees became smaller and more dead looking the further on I went. In one place to my right some Whimbrel called, there sad haunting calls now beginning to be swamped by the sound of the wind. In the middle of the bog, was a single tree, twisted and stunted. Another ten minute walk and I came to the edge of the forest. After lunch I walked on through the trees, all the while keeping a lookout for brown bear. I saw none. At the edge of the forest where the trees are smaller, and where the sun shone, I paused, Looking in the general direction of home, I thought how these trees grew all these years while the rest of us went about our busy lives and how they would continue to grow quietly when I’m gone. It is comforting to know there is at least some silent places left in the world. Sometimes during the cares of a busy day I think about that forest and wish to return again. It was a long walk back through the trees and over boardwalks to the hostel, it was about a 12 Km long walk, round trip. I got back at about 3.45pm. The fire was lit in the little wood stove and slowly the room warmed up. I managed to get some sleep before teatime. After that a lot of small jobs. Every so often I would go to the door to listen to see if any birds were about, all was quiet though. It was strange how one evening the birds actively sing, while the next evening they may be silent, at home it is the same also. Outside was the woodpile, most of the wood was too big to fit in the stove, so I collected small bits of firewood from the ground, it tidied up the place too! My cosy room was as much a pleasure to be in than wondering about the forest. The walls were built of solid timber, squared sections of logs built one on top of the other, rough joints at the corners for strength, the ceiling was wooden too, as was the floor, only the piece under the stove was tiled. A heavy pine table stood at the window, on the wall hung rain gear and other assorted things needed by the park staff. Before dusk, I went out to record a Redwing in the trees nearby, it sang alone, there was hardly any other sound. The bird made none of the lower level in-between sounds like some other birds. This made it different and therefore worth recording. It is difficult to record a wildlife subject completely free of background sounds, so to get it like that is somewhat unusual. I like to make both species and sound picture recordings. After putting the recording gear in the house, I went down again to the lake shore to sit and stare at the frozen lake and the distant forest, to enjoy the pure silence and to appreciate also the colour and shades of the scene before me, to hear the diver call again, the wild cries echoing about the wall of trees surrounding the water. It always seemed to fall calm every evening at about the same time and it would stay that way till the next day at about nine am. Wonderful conditions for the recording of birds. Saturday 17th May 1997 Got out of bed at 3.17am. Got ready quickly and went down to the bog area to see if the Whimbrel would be calling there. When leaving the house I though I saw a white hare, nibbling at the grass, it ran away when it saw me. The weather had become cool, yet I thought it held the promise of warmth in those coming days. Low down in the sky a half moon. When I was about half way down towards the turn for the bog, the Blackcocks began to call again. I thought it odd that they were calling as they hadn’t been heard for about two days. Perhaps they had finished there displays till next spring, apparently not! So there was a choice, right to the Whimbrels, or left to the Blackcock, so I took the left turn and had a quick look at the information board, the woodland path seemed to veer away from where the birds were calling, so I left the path and made my way carefully over the low vegetation towards the lake, nearer to the sound, I had not gone far when it occurred to me that I could make little progress as no doubt a ditch or wet bog area would be encountered, this along with the poor footwear, would surely stop me from getting very far, so I felt that a lesser recording may have to be settled for, though perhaps, at least less distant perspective than the one made on the first evening. Just then I stopped and glanced to my left towards the lake, to what could be seen of it through the trees, there to my excitement and joy in the near distance, were the birds displaying on the ice. That made sense, they could see the approach of a predator better than among the trees, which is where I had imagined them. Indeed any wildlife pictures I have seen, including paintings, shows them in a wood-land setting, the males performing, while the females look on quietly nearby. These birds were about 70 or 80 meters away from me and moved little, but called a lot. The gear was set-up quickly, the dish pointed at the birds. A parabolic reflector is not really the correct way to record Blackgrouse, unless the dish is very large, because the low frequency part of the calls are not really reflected by the dish, as the wavelength is longer than the width of the parabola, however the microphones have a good low-end response which partly makes up for the deficiency of the dish. There was about twenty minutes left on the tape which was enough, the gain level was turned up full, gladly the incoming single was relatively high, so the meters were reaching minus fourteen db. My other mechine, then at home, the Uher 4200 portable reel to reel has more powerful amps which would get the level up to 0dbs, but being an analogue system, has some tape noise, Whereas a digital mechine is almost noiseless, so there is more scope for increasing the levels on playback, they say that there is distortion at low levels on digital, well I have yet to hear it, perhaps certain types of recorded material show it up more than others. The incoming sounds were really beautiful and well worth getting up for, indeed a lovely touch to the whole recording was the sound of water near the shore making the broken ice tip against the main ice-sheet, the effect was a low level tinkling, behind the birds. During the recording a Diver flew down and landed on the water in front of me, the bird dived under, that was the last I saw of it, it’s call is really evocative, though perhaps it is good it didn’t call at such close range as the record levels would have gone very high indeed. I was stiff and a bit cold by the time it was finished, though it was worth it. Further down the path a bird called in trees to my right, it sounded like a Greenfinch, but lower pitched, in another place a Tree Pipit sang, a breeze was making a noise in the treetops so I decided not to set up again to record. It was time to go back to the hostel for breakfast. Arrived back at about 6.45am and began to light the fire then I went to bed for awhile. At lunchtime Tomi, brought me a few things from the shop. That afternoon I went out for a walk around a nature trail to explore an area near and around two small lakes. A wrong turn brought me to the edge of the lake. Nearby was a wooden building, which I thought might be another lakeside sauna, however it turned out to be an old fish-smoking cabin, the door hinges were in the shape of fish. Soon I arrived at the small lake and there sat down on a log to enjoy the peace there among the trees. A few times that afternoon a sound like a Wolf could be heard. In one place the boardwalk was under water so the boots had to come off, at another place I nearly had to do the same again. One tree had a big bulge on one side near the bottom, it was unusual enough to take a picture of it. Further on was a display, but the explan-ation was in Finnish, so I can only imagine it was some sort of woodpile. The nature trail was not too long, about 3.5km, just about right for me. The forest path led back to the waterpump near the house where I was staying. From then till evening I relaxed, then the equipment was set-up and I headed down to the lake edge to see if there was anything to record, it was cold but flat calm, yet the atmosphere of the place was not the same as being in a wood in Ireland during snowy weather. Slightly dull there but so peaceful. At the campfire area some people sat around the fire in silence, a tent had been erected nearby, the Diver called some distance away, the cry echoed through the trees, I sat there at the lakeside on a seat and enjoyed the perfect peace. Some time later I strolled back to my room. Wonder why the birds were so silent. Sunday 18th May 1997 Got up out of bed quite late because I had been up so early the previous morning. Before lunchtime I went out to record some birds at the edge of the forest, the sun was shining. First I recorded a Fieldfare chattering and a Willow Warbler in song, soon a Chaffinch began to sing at close quarters, after that a Tree Pipit sang in trees nearby, it was a pity it moved about so much, I knew even then it might have to be copied to quarter inch, to be dub, or cut-edited, then copied back to the orig-inal tape. After awhile some car doors banged, so that brought that recording to an end. I went down to the beach to sit down at the waters edge again. Afterwards I tried to see if there were any Redstarts about, there were none. I sat there in the sun at the base of a tree and enjoyed the after-noon, in a way I didn’t mind too much if one could not be recorded as birds were not the only reason I had for visiting the country. It was a Sunday, a rest day so I took my time doing everything, that afternoon I went for a walk up as far as the first notice board I had seen on first entering the park, I went there by a different way so as to discover as many places as possible. All the while I listened out for any unusual sounds, no-one about at all. On the way back I found a short nature trail, 3.3km in length, so I strolled around it, the trail went through bog for most of the way. In one place I climbed a hill through some trees, and came to a piece of high ground over-looking the bog, the bird watching tower turned out to be a wooden platform, with a fence around about three sides, attached to it was a notice board, written in Finnish. I walked on through the trees again, the path went downhill, gradually turning right till it met the boardwalk again, in one place water flowed under the board, it had occurred to me that if someone wanted to pass me, how would we do it as the planks were so narrow, hardly enough for one person to walk along. The day was becoming warmer and the sun shone in my eyes The place was deserted, amazing to think no-one was around. The end of the walk came out in at a spot near where I had begun. I arrived back at the house in time for tea. Afterwards I had a go at recording the bird calls in the trees nearby, later I discovered they may have been Siskins calling. Unfortunately the tripod broke, so about an hour went by while I attempted to repair it, strangely I felt there was a way to fix it and that the answer to the problem would come to me if I gave it time, however I was wrong, all that could be done would be to get a small G-cramp in a hardware store, this could squeeze two of the parts together, enough to get by till it could be repaired properly. A bad time for such a thing to happen. Outside I had a look about for some cardboard or very small wood to start the fire, the large bin provided a lot of burnables. Soon the fire was lit and I got quite confortable, indeed it was all very romantic, the who area to myself, the room warm and lit softly by an oil lamp, it was deeply peaceful and quiet, all I dreamt of, every bit as good. By 10.30pm the sun had well set and the scene outside my window was lit by a dull blue glow, it seemed especi-ally so since the light of the lamp was yellow in colour. I lay down and thought how, when I am away, often I want to be at home and when at home I long to be somewhere else, if I relax, I feel I should be working, so to have something to show for the time and when at work, I want to relax, what a way to be! Monday 19th May 1997 During the night it appeared to rain. I lay on in bed till about 10.10am, when a car pulled up outside, I got out of bed, looked out the window and was amazed to see snow, about 5cm in depth. I had mixed feelings about seeing it, as in one way I love the silence and whiteness it brings, however, it ment I would have to get out fast, imagine how quiet the roads would be when under snow, they were deserted even on the sunny dry day when I arrived. The grub was almost gone. I began to pack, when I saw Tomi, outside the house opposite, I went over to see could I get a lift in to Lieksa, he said they were going in all right, but it would be sooner than they thought, about 1pm or so. The packing was completed and the room left really clean and the fire set for the next person. Outside in the branches of a tree were two male and two female Bull finches, their colours so vivid against the snow, when they flew down to the grass under the tree, they appeared dull by comparison. The town of Lieksa was about 35 miles away. Tomi looked in to the room I had been in for a few seconds. At times like that, one would love to know what someone is thinking, I wondered to myself, was he looking to see was the place in a mess, I heard him opening the wood stove, then closing it again, perhaps he thought, ‘oh, these Irish people, so clean, he even set the fire, good.’ I like to imagine he was thinking like that. Soon we were on our way, the car was a Volvo, well able for the conditions, I knew the forests in Finland were vast, but in snowy weather they appeared to me to be even more mysterious, vast and lonesome. Under the tree cover, so dark, empty, both inviting and terrible at the same time. For a moment I remembered a still from a wildlife film, an Eagle Owl, in the branches of one of these snow laden pines all alone, just perfect silence and snow, my God, how wonderful. As I was beginning to wonder had Tomi’s father taken the long way to Lieksa, we arrived at the edge of the town, by the time I got out at the railway station the snow had turned to sleet, I thanked them and gave them two of my own birdtapes, one for them and the other for Ira. Without their help I would not have got some of what turned out to be the best recordings of the holiday. I was already booked into the hotel. After awhile I went out again to the tourist office for a few details like the weather forecast, etc., yes the weather was closing in, there was more snow on the way. After that, some shopping also bought a 30 Markka phone card, the 100 Markka card had a Waxwing printed on it, so similar in ways to the Bullfinches I had seen earlier, it too was surrounded by snow. I tried to find a phone of the same company printed on the card, eventually down at the railway station I found one and attempted to phone home, the place was deserted, the phone was broke. Across the tracks a line of wagons stood silently, every one fully loaded with pine and silver Birch trunks, even the engines were quiet. On a building nearby, a sign displayed the temperature, minus two degrees C, it began to feel like it. Why, I wondered did they paint everything, it seemed, in cold colours, like white, Grays, blues etc., shurly in a cold country where they get snow for a good part of the year, people would use warm colours. Tuesday 20th May 1997 Got up out of bed at about 7.10am. Breakfast wasn’t till 8.30am, the woman in the kitchen made breakfast for me when I showed her the train timetable, and the time the train was to depart at. I had two tickets to get back to Helsinki, though this time I was going via the eastern line rather than via Mikkeli the way I came. There was one change, at Joensuu, then it was a very long run south-west to my destination, soon I was on my way. A good day for travelling, sunny and dry, not to cold, put in to perspective the distance was about or even greater than from the very northern tip of Ireland to Cape clear in the south, an eight hour journey. Glad I got to see another part of Finland, it too was trees and lakes all the way, hardly a field anywhere, no cattle or sheep at all, where do they get their milk The last of the three ticket checkers, had a good look at my two tickets, perhaps he was a stickler for the rules, I thought their was going to be a problem, but when I showed him on the little map, the route I was taking, he was satisfied. In the late afternoon I arrived in Helsinki, so I made for the hostel under the stadium where I had been before, when I arrived there was a bus outside, it seemed a lot of people might want to stay, I was right, on the door was a note which said, ’sorry we are fully booked up’. The near-est place to stay was over a mile away, and I didn’t feel like carrying the heavy backpack that distance so late in the day, however I had a feeling if I went in and made sure, I might be lucky. That is just what happened, they had one or two spaces left, though only for that coming night, so I paid the money and got confortable in the dormitory, then had something to eat. Afterwards I went out down town, mainly to make a phone call, but also to have a look around. Another beautiful evening, it always seemed to become calm after teatime, the weather appeared to be more predictable than at home. I found a’ Tele’ telephone, (The Tele phone company) near the train station and begun to phone my perents. The card bought cost about four Irish pounds, so I thought it would be enough to make a quick call home, all I got though was an Irish voice telling me to key in my security number, a hash key and the card number, I was puzzled because it was just an ordinary phonecard, there was the option of getting through via the operator, but then my mother would end up paying for the call, and after all why do that and not use the card which had cost me so much, it would be a waste not to use it, so I went off to have a look around the city centre. Under the railway station is a large shopping mall, which even goes under the road to the far side, so I had a look around, the record and book shops were the most interesting, there was a lot of Sibelius C.Ds, there seemed to be the whole set in the shops, it is to be expected as he was Finnish. The nature sound C.Ds with music were good value, I held off buying anything because if I had to go to another part of the country, they would be a lot to carry about. The selection in the shops was quite good. On the way back, I decided to have another go at phoning home, this time, via the operator, the number 0800-11-0353, got me through to Ireland, a lad asked me the number, my name and who I wanted to get through to etc. soon I was explaining to my mother why I hadn’t rang sooner, all was well at home, my own place was alright too, they had been down in Arklow a few days before, the call was long distance so we kept the conversion to the minimum. Wednesday 21st May 1997 Got all the bags completely packed, the staff allowed me to leave the backpack in to a room until about 4pm, while I went off to find another place to stay for the coming night. In the centre of town I went in to see if an early flight could be got home, basically no, they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, so this is the only thing about these cheap tickets, there are no changes allowed and anyway the flights were fully booked up so I wondered how the follow-ing five or six days, could be filled, there was the poss-ibility of visiting the Nuuksio national park, somewhat outside the city, but I wasn’t really ready to go there at that time, I admit I wasn’t too happy then. The next job was to have a look about for a hostel for the coming night, this too was difficult, all seven on the list were fully booked up, it was looking bad, there was supposed to be a cheap hotel somewhere, but I had to give up on trying to find it. There was the Margarita and the Omapohja, these I found, on arriving the doors were locked, just then someone happened to go up to the door and was let in, he had the language, upstairs they said they were fully booked up, try next door, so I did, again the same thing happened, a lad just happened to be going in. Upstairs there something happened that I didn’t fully understand, or how it occurr-ed, but I was given the phone, a lad on the other end told me in English something about a place to stay, there was more to it that this, however I still don’t really know what went on with them that day, they said to go next door, I had already been there, ’no they have a bed’, they said, so I went in again, the girl in behind the desk was amused, ’no we have no beds, we are booked up’ however she gave me an address of a cheap hotel. Eventually I found the it, went in up some grubby steps around the caged off lift area to a tiny reception, the woman there spoke good English, she was pleasant also, a dormitory bed cost about eleven eighty, in Irish pounds. With the heavy weight left in the room, I went off to buy a few things, one of which was a small thumb cramp for the tripod. A supermarket was quite hard to find, there were no small corner shops like you get at home, simple things like bread and milk were hard to find. Back in the accommodation, a few cloths got washed, left soaking in the wipp express while I went out to phone home, then back in the room again I prepared for bed, the lad in the bunk below me woke up and began to talk to me a lot, I gestured to him that I didn’t understand him, however he still went on and on, he drank more beer and as each bottle was emptied it was put away carefully into the wardrobe, he got in and out of bed, at one point he went outside and came in a few minutes later with the woman that worked in the hotel, he pointed at me and mumbled something to her, she smiled gently at me, then said something to him, everything was alright after that, I got into bed, he got in to bed too, he talked and mumbled on for about ten minutes, I read the leaflet about the Nuuksio national park, then it was time for prayer and soon after, some sleep. Thursday 22nd May 1997 Got out of bed at about 8.30am, everyone seemed to be asleep, so I got ready, had breakfast, after which I got talking to a coloured lad from Ethiopia, he told me that he was homeless and drifted about the world, a year here and a year or two there, no, he had never been to Ireland, the closest was England. I thought him very optimistic for someone living that sort of life. Another sunny day. In the railway station I went to the wrong hatches in my attempt to get what they call a Seutulippu, this ticket is only valid for one hour, from the time the mechine stamps it, but is valid for both train and bus, at least for the place I was going to. Their local trains are like the DART at home, except they are yellow and one has to climb aboard, the platforms can be very low indeed in most places. Their are four types of trains for local journeys, U, E, S, and L. I am unsure of the details of the differences, however I was assured that anyone of them would bring me to Leppavaara, two stops from town. Two inspectors got on before the train left. The carriages have ticket stamping mechines. The second part of the journey was by bus, this I had to wait about an hour for, I had a good book to read. At 12.50pm, was on my way again. Slowly the city gave way to the countryside. About 3km on, the road came to an end at one of the entrances to the park, I wanted to go in by the front way, where the information centre is, according to the map the camping area was not far away from there. If I had known the area it would have been better to get off the bus one stop back, however it wasn’t far to walk. From there it was about 2km to the information hut along a gravel road, very twisted and hilly, finally arrived, what a building, a great big log cabin, rugged, yet confor-table looking, and warm inside, the lad there had some English, it didn’t look as if there was anything really rare in the park, however one could always try and see what was about, I had to pass a few days also. The tent was erected, the bars had been left at home so to reduce weight, instead of bars I had a small saw, no handle this was to make the pack lighter. A long straight piece of wood was found and prepared as the ‘bar’ for the top of the tent and instead of having two uprights, the tent was hung from light ropes tied on to two trees, the idea worked very well, I got confortable and had a sleep before tea. On a higher piece of ground were other tents, quite a few people around. In the early evening I peered out of the tent to see what some children were getting up to, nearby on the forest path, between me and the lake, six children gath-ered, sang songs and danced, such gaiety and joy, laughter and innocents, occasionally, they jumped up and down, clapped and started the song over again, not once did they seem to disagree, nor utter a cross word, though their song I didn’t understand. Their unspoiled innocents impressed me. That evening I relaxed and done some writing, every so often a Great spotted woodpecker called and drummed from a tree nearby, it had a red patch under it’s tail, the rest of the plumage was black and white, really noticeable even without binoculars, when it called, the sound was reminiscent of a blackbird. Went to ‘bed’ at about 9.30pm. The Woodcock is an interesting bird, it flew over the wood and called at 9.12, 9.20, 9.21 and 9.24pm even though it was still not at all dark. Then in the later part of the night the bird came over again and called at 2.23am and 2.30am and about one hour later it could be heard once more. It was a cold night. At home when recording the album, ‘Aubade’ I was interested in the way this same species would come over the woods before any bird had begun to sing and make a frog-like call followed by a high pitched sound, in the evenings it would be the last bird to be heard. So the pattern was the same here but the times later and earlier, due to being further north. Friday 23rd May 1997 Woke at about 8.30am to the sound of a Woodpecker, Willow and Wood Warblers, a Robin and some other birds. The weather had been good for the holiday so far. The children and their perents begun to go home. One by one they could be seen going away, carrying their large backpacks, through the trees, After breakfast I prepared to go and explore one of the many nature trails in the park. The less valuable items not needed for the morning were left behind in the tent, it was a chance to take, though reasonable in the circumstances, surprising the weight of gear that was left behind, a hike is more enjoyable with a lighter backpack. The trail went around the end of the lake, up very steeply to the other camping place to another smaller lake and a wooden bridge, the supports were also made of wood, the corners dove-tailed together, the path-way went up and up, to where the ground was rocky and Lichen covered, small trees grew where cracks occurred in the ground rock. On coming to a road I examined a map on an information board there, then continuing on I came to a larger, though quiet road, then I turned right, further on, right again, till I entered the park once more, a sign there had the name of a place on both pointers, on I went till another sign pointed to a named place on the map, but again it pointed to it in both directions, nearby was a lake, I went down towards it, nearby were some wooden houses, seemed to be private, so turning back, I studied the small map, little made sense, I had hoped to return to the tent by another way, but in the end I had to return the way I came, back at the proper information board, I still couldn’t make sense of it, there was a red dot in the symbol section meaning - you are here, however there was none on the map. Back at the lichen covered rocky place I sat down for lunch, I caught a glimpse of a lizard. I Had a lovely huge red Grapefruit to eat. On the rock next to me were green lichens, impressive, as if green copper nails were sticking in to the stone. Back at the tent had lunch proper. I relaxed and slept for the awhile. Later in the afternoon some people came and erected a large army tent on the higher ground above me. I slept for a while more because I felt a headache starting, near teatime I heard some people outside coming over to my tent, without thinking and not even fully awake I positioned myself to look out through the tent door quickly, outside were two boys, they appeared puzzled and went away slowly. Later they came over again, I was feeling better, I peered out, they came over, and said something. Not having much Finnish, I said ‘hello’ they looked at each other, as if to say ‘he’s a foreigner,’ for a moment they weren’t sure what to do or say, we talked for a minute. They had surprisingly good English, It seems they simply wanted to say hello, apparently it is the done thing in Finland. Later I noted that the Woodcock came over the trees calling at these times, 10.14,pm 10.16, 10.17, 10.20, 10.25, 10.35 and 10.40pm. The Cuckoo was heard earlier. Lay down to sleep at 10.10pm. Saturday 24th May 1997 Woke when the Woodcock flew over the tree-tops, it called at 2.16am, 2.20 and 2.23am, at this time there was only a small amount of light in the sky, soon I was on my way to do further exploration and very importantly, to see what sounds there was to record. I took the path that went around by the other camping place, and on by the wooden bridge, a near full-moon shone brightly. I walked on up a hill and on by a pathway, I thought was going southwards, however this was not the case, instead I was going northwards. The dawn chorus had begun; weak compared to at home, still pleasant though, it was quite cold, set up the equipment, then found that one of the microphone leads had been left behind at the tent. So packing up the gear again I went further on. Looking at the map I wondered where the path led. It was colder than it appeared, in a pool was some ice, the slight chorus of birds had died away, after quite awhile I came to a field, in the distance was a house, next to me was a hut built into a small hill, very snug. Another look at the map, before turning back. Dawn at 4.40am. The soft orange light filled the woods, all was calm and quiet, though too cold to really stop and look, indeed part of the reason of the early morning stroll was to keep warm. Got back to the tent at about 6am. Relaxed for the morning and caught up with some sleep. After lunch I decided to explore another forest path, the one that goes in a circle around the nearby lake and back again to camp. A few people were to be seen out walking the nature trails, the park being next to the capital, and it being the weekend, this was to be expected. Amazing that the place wasn’t crowded. When I arrived back near camp I saw two Red Squirrels in a pine tree, remarkable how they can grip on to such smooth bark, I was too tired to stay for long and watch, so back at camp I rested till teatime, after which I relaxed till bedtime at about 9.30pm. Sunday 25th May 1997 Got up at 2.52am and left at 3.10am for an area called Katala, which is in the north of the park. It was more cloudy then the previous morning, but still cold enough, I got lost for awhile, a lot of the paths look very much the same, on finding the stream I climbed the hill and found the correct path again. The distance didn’t seem to be as far as the last time, sure enough their were some good sounds in the area when I arrived, though these bird songs and calls were not as loud as at home, the sound was also not as dense. The first recording that morning was of distant Black Grouse display calls with a nearby Chaffinch in song. Before that recording begun the leg of the tripod gave way and the dish clattered to the ground and the Robin that had begun to sing flew away. So without that bird to add its voice to the chorus, the recording was a bit unbalanced, however I decided to move closer to the Grouse by putting the cloth dish cover on a low bush, I moved in further, deeper into the forest, deposited another item on a low branch, and done the same again and again till I ran out of things to leave as markers, it would be very easy to get lost in such a place, by then the sound appeared to be closer, though it was strange how I could not tell for sure where the sound was coming from, the soft babbling seemed to be coming from everywhere at once, no doubt the sound was being reverberated about the forest by all the tree trunks, a low hill separated me from the birds, the recording begun. It is amazing how quiet one has to be then, as even the slightest sound registers, you even have to breath quietly, if you have an itch, it is best wait till the recording is over. I aim at ten minutes for each recording, depending on the subject, this time however after about five minutes I felt faint and had to stop and sit down, pity as the birdsound was beautiful, and this is one of the tracks used for an album of Finnish birds and it would have been good to have a bit more duration on that particular record-ing, but that’s the way it goes. Another good recording made was of some distant and nearby songbirds and some very distant Black Grouse. On the way back to camp I attempted to record a Songthrush in song, but the bird flew away as soon as the record key was pressed. The man-made noise had begun, strangely at a higher level than on other days, even though it was a Sunday. Back within a few minutes of camp, I heard what I though might be Red Breasted or a Pied Flycatcher in song, so I had a go at recording it, a Great Tit sang also. Back at camp again, the Wood Warbler was still singing, quite loudly, the microphone was still in the dish, so I put the reflector on the ground and went inside the tent and begun to record the birds, I knew that none of them would be picked up correctly, on-axis, the Warbler moved about such a lot and also I was too tired and a bit hungry to really mind too much about it, and it might not turn out anyway, but it did. I was starting to feel the need for more substantial grub than strange tasting bread with odd cheese and cold water, the grapefruit and orange juice had been used up the day before. The northerly drift of cold air was still persisting, however I managed a little sleep till about eight am when it was time to pack-up and head for town. I wasn’t looking forward to the walk out to the road because of the heavy weight to be carried. I made the journey surprisingly quickly and soon arrived at the bus stop. A lad came along, I forget who started the conversion but he was an American who had married a Finnish woman and who had by then lived 12 years in Helsinki. I knew what I knew, so I let him do most of the talking and so for the journey, he spoke about Finland and enlightened me about various things that had been puzzling me about the country and the way they do things. In Lappavarra, I got the electric train in to the centre of Helsinki, a drunk was on board, however he was good humoured just like it said in the book. In town I hauled the backpack over to the Eurohostel, stopping about three times along the way to rest, a suitable wall or seat back provided a good place to put the backpack on to, while I got relief from its heaviness. The hostel was bright and clean, though I wondered why they had painted the walls and doors light grey, why such a cold colour in a cold country? The whole building was painted that way. My room had two beds, separated by a shelf unit, my bed faced away from the window. I couldn’t find the small bottle of shampoo in the bag, so assumed it must have been left in the other accommo-dation, pity, it ment a whole new bottle would have to be got—at Helsinki prices, the bit I had would have been enough till I got home, but that’s life. I knew of a Mac Donnells not too far away, so I set of to look for a big Mac and chips with cola, and ice, this I was soon eating, food rarely tasted so good as then! Monday 26th May 1997 There was a kitchen in the Euro, but no pots or pans and no delph or cutlery, so it looked like another big Mac and chips with a cola, I didn’t really mind. This was my last full day in Finland and I was looking forward to it, now I could spend spend spend! First the backpack was left in the lock room while I went down town to look for another place to stay for the coming night. After getting a burger etc for breakfast I booked in to the cheap hotel I had been in before and then really began to enjoy the day of shopping and looking about the town as well as taking pictures. In the tourist office I asked where the best music shops were. One was called Fazer, pronounced Fat-ser. The selection was quite good, their was a disc of Nightingale song, though it said nothing about whether it had music mixed in with the birds song, as often is the case with these sort of discs, however they had a C.D. player on the counter with a small clock which was set by the staff, a note next to it said not to use the player more than ten minutes. One minute of playing time was all I needed to discover that there was indeed music with the Nightingale, so I put the disc back. I found it amazing that the public could use the player, at home you have to ask them to put on a certain disc and track number. Down the other end of the store was a tester disc of the sort which I had been looking for, as I had to make do with bits of test tones taken from the radio after a station closed down, or a bit of 1,000 cycle tone, left on a tape after getting a mechine back from servicing. These steady tones are used at the start of master tapes to set the level on a copy. So that was one disc bought. A good start to the day. In another shop in a department store there was a reasonable selection of albums, but no birdsong discs. Not as good a selection as they said in the tourist office. However there were a lot of Naxos discs, I hadn’t seen before, they appeared more full and colourful than the ones at home. The composer Sibelius was well represented in the classical section. There was a lot of spoken word discs, they even had the bible on a set of six? C.Ds. In the book shops there were good English sections. Outside I looked about to decide where to go next, I was puzzled how I could be where I was, yes, the shops were under the road but when I went back inside I appeared to be at the entrance of the store across the road, perhaps it was built and decorated the same, there seemed to be half floors, with some levels opposite and in-between others, strange, .I gave up trying to work it all out and went of to explore the town further. At lunch I went in to Mac Donnells, for chips, burger and coke, my favourite. There was a television hanging up, near the ceiling with the volume turned down. Now and again I would look up to see what was going on, on screen, was it an add or a serious program? However each time I looked up, someone different was pouring oil in to the engine of a car and was, it appeared very pleased with themselves and the product, then cut to a car motoring along the road, then cut again to people talking and smiling, on looking up again I saw another bonnet wide open and oil being poured in, then close up of same. The burger was delicious. Looking up again I saw a rusty old wreck pulling in to a service garage, happy faces talking then someone spraying water in to the works. People busy at the job, next thing another bonnet open, more of the wonder oil poured in. Perhaps I missed some-thing but the shiny new car that pulled out of the service bay was not the wreck that went in, surely the oil was not so good that it could transform the whole bodywork, it was hard not to laugh out loud, after all, where had the banger gone? Being Finland they were concerned about engines being able to start on a nippy morning, another part of the program featured engines encased in ice, crowds of people all about, their breaths like a fog, all that could be seen was something rotating in the middle of each block of ice, it appeared some of the engines gave up and stopped, one engine seemed to be the winner, I went outside at that point and continued looking about the town. In a small supermarket I saw a palette load of coffee, in block form, this was for coffee makers not the instant type, the Finnish people like their coffee a lot, I could imagine the main street paved in these blocks, they even had a chamfer around the top edge just like the bricks the counsil uses for paving, they were even the same size. Soon I went over to the Euro hostel to carry the backpack over to the hotel for that coming night. I found a record shop I hadn’t seen before so I went in to see if they would have any birdsong C.Ds, I asked for Linnunlaulu, which means birdsong, he had two bird C.Ds, I already had both of them. The lad there had some English and showed me on my map where to go to get the discs. Along the way I got a photo of the large brick building with the serious looking black domed roof, an amazing piece of work. Trams seemed to run everywhere, even up past the end of the street where the hostel was. After installing the pack in the hotel I hurried over to where the jass shop was, apparently there were lots of bird C.Ds there, I hoped the place would still be open. Happily they were, I explained that I was looking for Linnunlaulu, he didn’t understand, when I asked for it in English he said ‘Birdsong, ah, birdsong’ and showed me quite a good choice of both tapes and C.Ds, never before had I seen so many, such a good selection. Thirty to forty discs and about twenty tapes does not seem like a lot, but it is really impressive, after all birdsong and nature sounds are gener-ally considered to be very much a specialist subject and only appeal to a tiny minority. I bought two discs that I knew couldn’t be bought at home, perhaps not even from England, the first was a disc called ‘autumnal walks’, the other was called, ‘Suomen Pollot’ (Owls of Finland). That evening I prepared for the flight home. I met the lad from Ethiopia again, we talked awhile. There was a surprising amount of work to do, the drunk didn’t turn up till much later, sometime during the night. Tuesday 27th May 1997 There was a strange set up in the hotel, one could make breakfast in the kitchen, but you had to eat it out in the hall on a little round table, perhaps it is not so odd, though it felt so at the time. I had a reasonable amount of time so I wasn’t hurried and was able to sit in the city square in the sun. I remember thinking,...’So this is Helsinki, very ornate, clean and tidy, so far north, in spring and summer, much light, never saw any of these sinks or flames’........ After taking one last look, I got the heavy weight on to my back again and walked slowly the short distance around the front of the railway station to the airport bus-stop at the other side. The announcements on the bus were in four languages. There were many clean streets, wide roads and flyovers on the way to the airport. It was a good day for the flight home. I found it very interesting to sit by the window and watch as the little islands to the west of Finland became fewer and fewer till there was nothing but sea, only for a short time though, soon tiny islands off the east coast of Sweden were to be seen, more and more till the mainland came in to view. A short stop in Stockholm, then off again, over Norway and out over the north sea, after awhile, sure enough Scotland came in to view, I remember seeing a large town built at the mouth of a river, it appeared so small from that height, especially when one saw the earth stretching out to the far distance. I love the landing as much as the take-off, slowly the plane descends, there is that slight uneasy feeling, the green fields come in to view, oh how green, compared with Scandinavia, now I know what they mean when they talk about the emerald isle! I could see cars on the main road and the odd farmhouse, we seemed to be descending rapidly, with a feeling bordering on weightlessness, the aircraft was slowing too, then the scary-thrilling bit, the vibrations, the noise, hardly anybody speaks, the flaps are up, one wonders sometimes how the wings can take the forces involved, finally the edge of the runway can be seen, then relative silence for a few moments, we seem to plop down on a set of flat tyres, vibrations followed by the roar of the engines the aircraft slows, soon we are making our way slowly towards the airport buildings, we have arrived safely. Even in the south of Finland the leaves had only begun to grow, at home it was near high summer, every leaf was out fully, the sunlight seemed to be brighter, the grass long, swaying in the breeze, everywhere more colourful or so it appeared.