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Graham Brace travelled on our 'Finland - Just Brown Bears!' tour and submitted this entry to our writing competition.
Brown Bear by Pierluigi Cullino
Late afternoon, and our leader Jarkki was looking a little nervous. Sixteen of us were walking the 1.5km or so into a bear hide for the night, and he was keen to make sure we got there before the bears!
The single width path wound through open pine forest, amongst cloudberry, cowberry and twinflower on the forest floor, the trail rising and then falling to cross several bog systems, bridged by boardwalks of split logs.
Subdued excitement radiated from the group - heightened by Jarkki showing us bear signs: a deeply scored tree at chest height, made whilst sharpening claws and bear tracks the size of saucers!
After about thirty minutes’ walking, we reached our objective. The Naturetrek party went into the main hide, some other photographers to other smaller hides. The hide was comfortable - chairs with viewing windows and sleeved vents for cameras; bunks behind and a composting loo, and good supplies of tea, coffee and sandwiches! Reassuring when we were going to be there till 7am the next morning.
The hide looked out through an open stand of pines, with short turf and rock outcrops. Waste from salmon processing and dog biscuit had been provided to attract the bears. And soon we had our first sighting of a young male, the size of a small desk!
Next was a larger female, who both surprised and delighted us by shinning 15m or so up a pine tree, only 10m from the hide. It soon became clear as to why - she called down her three cubs who had been sheltering in the top of the tree! We learnt that the cubs were born in January and cared for in a snowbound den before emerging with the spring. Now, six months on, they had reached 20-40kg in weight, and were definitely at the cute 'teddy' bear stage!
We were guests of the Martinselkolen Wilds Centre on the Finnish-Russian border. Their operation has been in place for a decade. It is the only site in Finland that attracts family groups of bears. Although the bears are obviously coming into close proximity of each other, we saw little outwardly aggressive behaviour. The bears range round a traditional route from den to rearing areas. Later they disperse and range more widely as berries become available. Through the season, they may follow a circuit of over 100km. The Martinselkonen feeding site is understandably popular with the bears, as in June-July food is relatively scarce before berries come into season.
More bears wandered in to feed: a beautiful golden-haired female with three golden cubs charmed. A couple of very big males - one, its face recently scarred from fighting, had us pausing and thinking, now what would I do if I met him on a walk? The answer from Jarkki was, not much: bears are normally far more worried about humans and will leave a situation quickly. There have only been a handful of incidents in recent decades, all involving females and cubs.
Gradually, we got to know some of the individual bears: four females with cubs (one with four cubs, one with three and two with two), several ‘teenage’ bears – first and second year bears that had left their mother but were not yet mature, several other relatively submissive males and, conversely, males who clearly counted in the bear hierarchy – mostly with visible scars of past and recent fights. In all, we saw over 30 individuals.
Most entertaining were the young cubs. A major cause of cub mortality is being killed by mature male bears. It’s not surprising that a male bear need only glance at a cub, for it to shin up the nearest tree for safety. Often, a female would then wander away with one or two cubs, leaving the tree-climbing cub stranded. Then the drama: do I shin back down and join mum, or stay high and safe ... or just scramble up and down, up and down, racked by indecision!
Time flew by. Bear activity quietened down after 7 hours’ watching at around 11pm. We retreated to our bunks delighted, accompanied by three cubs high in the trees immediately around us.
Recommended! And that’s without mentioning the red squirrels and common rosefinch at the feeders during breakfast. Siberian jay and tit, cranberry blue and moorland clouded yellow butterflies near the Centre. Whimbrel, greenshank and wood sandpiper in the bog areas. Rustic bunting and three-toed woodpecker in the old-growth woodland. Black-throated diver and goldeneye with ducklings on the lakes. Oh, and reindeer. And I could have sworn that one had a red nose!!
Read more about our Finland - Just Brown Bears! holiday.