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Norway Winter …..

In late January I spent a week in Flatanger, Norway running a trip for Natures Images. I have been to this part of Norway many times over the years and always use Ole Martin Dahl for our trips as he has some of the best locations for photographing both White-tailed and Golden Eagles in Northern Europe. The plan for this trip was to concentrate on both by either working from a permanent hide and a small boat. Ole has been feeding the local Eagles in Flatanger for over twenty years and his knowledge of these impressive raptors is second to none. So we were in good hands.I have photographed White-tailed Eagles many times from Ole’s boat but it has always been during the summer months. We spoke about the possibility in trying during the winter and so we arranged this trip. The weather was always going to be the deciding factor and so this was the big risk in being able to go out in a small boat in the fjords looking for the birds. Out of the week we only managed to go out twice in the boat but the weather was fantastic on both days.

I wanted to capture this beautiful bird set against the stunning background of this part of Norway. It’s not easy during the summer so you can imagine how difficult it was during winter. The Eagles played there part and we had a good number of dives which was a good job because many opportunities were missed as we bobbed around in the sea. When we organise a trip like this it is very difficult to have a back-up plan. Ole had a good one though because he has a hide positioned in a forest setting which you are then able to photograph the phantom of the forest, the Goshawk. It really is a privilege and so exciting to see this beautiful and elusive bird.

Our second chance to go out on the boat was a bonus for this trip as you are more prepared. I have always enjoyed photographing White-tailed Eagles and now that I have managed to do so during the winter I itching to head back.

On this second boat trip we also caught up with the elusive Roe Deer. We saw four feeding close to the shore and so turned of the engine and let the current drift the boat closer. This is such a difficult animal to approach by land but they seemed very relaxed from our seaward stalking. During the trip we also got the chance to go into a hide in the mountains. Ole has been feeding a resident pair of Golden Eagles during the winter for past 10 years. Again it is such a privilege to see this iconic raptor at close quarters.

So that was my second trip of the year and it was great to see Ole again, thanks for all your help mate. I really enjoyed this trip and I have already planned a return visit. I only had a couple of days at home to recharge my batteries before I was off to Finland. I will put a blog up soon on that trip. Just to finish here are a couple more White-tailed Eagles taken from the boat.

Danny