This tower at Pohjanranta is one of many good bird towers in the area. This one is particularly good for passage waders such as Broad-billed Sandpiper

All the sites in this section are treated, in detail and with precise maps and directions, in my book ‘Finding Birds in South Finland’

If you have any information which you feel would help to update the book, please email me at dave@easybirder.co.uk and I’ll add your observations to these pages

To view more sites in South Finland click here

Parikkala area

Wednesday, 24 August 2011

The reserve at Siikalahti (page 16) is undoubtedly the jewel in the crown of South Karelia but the region is also on the flyway for the Arctic migration (in both spring and autumn), has forested areas with key species (including Nutcracker, Siberian Jay, Three-toed Woodpecker and most of the owls) and is possibly the best area of Finland for night singers (eg 30 Bittern, 25 Spotted Crake, 250 Corncrake, 20 River Warbler and hundreds of Thrush Nightingale and Blyth’s Reed Warbler). In recent years there have also been regular reports of Booted Warbler, Lanceolated Warbler and lekking Great Snipe.

The bushes around this car park had singing Blyth’s Reed Warblers even during the day. There’s a map of how to find this car park here.

The lake visible from Parikkala village is good for passage waterfowl, including divers, and breeding Red-necked Grebes

The nearby children’s playground seemed an unlikely place for Common Gulls to be nesting