Lynx in Estonia

Estonia has an estimated population of more than five hundred Lynx and they are increasing alongside a substantive increase in their main prey, the Roe Deer.

Estonia is a small country, but not that small! So finding even one of these creatures would require a lot of luck unless one has the help of researchers who have been studying these fabulous animals for many years in a rather special national park, Lahemaa. Lahemaa’s atmospheric landscape of bogs, forests and unspoilt bays with still traditional fishing villages has been spared the ravages of the past century by dint of being the first national park designated in the former Soviet Union.

We’ll find the weather perhaps rather cool but the Lynx won’t be noticing as spring is definitely in the air for them – it’s the mating season and for a week or two at the end of March and at the start of April they are out and about far more than is usual. Excessively secretive for much of the year, they now take to the open, at least more than the rest of the year, in search of a mate. These Lynx are amongst the largest of the breed and so an adult male is quite an impressive beast. We can’t guarantee sightings but we’ll not want for trying and we’ll hope for more than one sighting too. The researchers and your guides have a network of trap cameras watching the movements of the Lynx as well as helpful technology such as thermal imaging scopes and LED lamps to aid in our search. We’ll concentrate much of searching effort at night but also early morning and evening too.

Our other main target for this tour will be the Siberian Flying Squirrel. Now this little beauty is extremely rare, only found in one small area in the north-eastern part of the country. Coupled with its rarity, its secretive nocturnal nature would make it extremely difficult to find it unless one had the help of someone who has been studying these delightful little squirrels for over thirty years.

During our search for these two species we’ll undoubtedly come across some of the commoner mammals that inhabit Estonia’s mix of forest and bogs. Roe Deer as mentioned are common nowadays and we’ll likely see Moose more than once. Pine Martens are very active at this season and Brown Bears will have recently woken and be wandering round forests where they are, like the Lynx, easier to spot at this time of year. Snow Hares are common and we’ll also likely see the strange Raccoon Dog. Though mammals will be very much our aim, we’ll no doubt have sightings of Black Grouse and Hazelhen as we search the forests and Woodpeckers are easy to spot at this season, notably Three-toed and White-backed Woodpeckers. Evening excursions will yield various owls as well – Ural Owl and Pygmy Owl among them.