Finland and wildlife, is this what comes to your mind first? Guess not and as a wildlife photographer you need a lot of luck and patience to get the perfect shot, but with a bit of planning it is not that bad at all.
When you are after some excellent European brown bear picture, visit a place like Wild Brown Bear and book yourself in for a couple of nights. Results will be most likely fantastic and you will be happy.
With a bit of luck, especially if there is still some snow, you might even spot one of the extremely rare Wolverines. Okay, the attached is an archive picture we took in the Polar Zoo in Northern Norway some years back, but some low-light Wolverine picture from Finland are also available from our previous blog.
In a way it is strange, but it is easier to plan for a great bear photo then for other kind of wildlife. As usual in the Nordics, there is a lot of wildlife, but you need to be there in time with a large portion of luck. Like with the snake in the following picture, we saw that kind already before, but it was warmed up by the sun and therefore too fast, but next morning we were lucky. It was still chilli from the night and therefore not that fast, so absolutely happy with the result of a Vipera Berus.
And also for other animals spring had started already.
Another good example are Reindeers, not too difficult to spot, but usually the surrounding landscape is not that nice, or they are too shy, or… For some reason they were absolutely relaxed when we found them close to the road in the forest.
The birdlife surely is not that kind of a big deal, usually rather relaxed and with a bit of luck you get them in nice morning or evening light.
So what did we miss? Ones again no chance to catch a moose on a photo, they are surely out there if you believe the road warning signs, but for some reason they are not showing up.
What remains open is the answer to the initial question. Is it a wildlife photographers’ paradise? Hard to say, there are many great places on this planet, but taking into account that you are stil in Europe and compare it with other European countries, it is still an excellent place for wildlife photography.
