Another amazing night just gone. clients were in other hides and as the Wolverine hadnt been seen for a few days/week they decided to stay in the other hides and wait for Wolves and Bears to which they saw many going by the smiles I saw as we returned to basecamp this morning, and yes they did. Stuart Hill and Gill Hill decided to chance our luck and head to the hides that overlook the woods in which the Wolverine lives. There are around 150 of these animals in the whole of Finland, they are very rare, hunted alongside the Wolf and Bear through a fear by man that they will kill us all. In theroy its because man doesnt want to have anything in the counrtyside that is more pwerful or a threat to themselves and so with their big guns and small penises they go off into the counrtyside and pretend they are men and shoot these animals alongside the Wolves and Bears which is sad and shocking. But there are good people like Lassi Rautiainen that over nearly three decades have helped all three of these animals in this area and tired to educate people that these animals wont drag you from your beds and kill you for no reason. We can live alongside them and learn from them as after all they were here before us and are native to this area and country. He and his family have helped and brought a better understanding of these three animals and for that reason I respect him greatly and thats why Im here and thats why I brought my clients and will carry on doing next year. This simply is not a site where someone has put in a perch, thrown out some food and charged the public to photography what turns up. This man has protected these animals through his images, work and facilities and hides he offers and this is to be commended in my view. 200 plus Wolves, 5 Wolverines and a handful of Brown bears live in this area known as no mans land and thats down to Lassi. He knows of their names, their family trees and everything about them from watching them. Tonight is the last night and even though we are all tired and Im covered in bites from the relentless attack from mosquitos I will miss this place and I havent even left yet. I will be putting more thoughts on my blog which Im doing in between the 14 hour shifts, sorting everything for clients and eating and then sleeping which i should finish before we leave here tomorrow afternoon. These images are from the Wolverine hide last night, he hadnt been seen for a while and last night two turned up and three bears. These images are testament to Lassi for the hard work, graft and understanding of a very shy animal. Secretly I have always wanted to see these animals because they are different, i dont like normal. They are powerful, strong and when you first see them youre puzzled because they are like nothing you have ever seen before. Part of the Weasel family and related to our badgers. Strong bodies, small heads, massive hands and crawls and built for business. Fearless hunter, tackling many animals twice their sizes. We got into place at around 5.30pm those two in one hide and my by myself again which was tough as when youre alone and had very little sleep all week the quite of the night takes hold and soon your head is bobbing all over and you can miss something. Because of the nature of the Wolverine and the fact it hadnt shown in a while I drink lots of coffee and Stuart had brought me three chocolate bars from the small shop here (Id only found yesterday)which was so kind of him. Within an hour in the hide all 3 were gone alone with 3 strong coffees and i was ready. 11pm and along one Wolverine came, he stayed for a few moments before a massive bear appeared and the Wolverine moved of the food and went. An hour or so later another bigger Wolverine turned up and stayed for a while. Bouncing in like he owned the place, stopped, pausing and listening before eating some of the food Lassi puts out for these rare animals. Then he scent marked a high vantage point and vanished into the thick forests. leaving me speechless and nervous to see what images I had captured as the light was poor. Attached to this massive speech (sorry lol ) are a few of that amazing encounters with a few more on my blog later. What a night and what a week so far. Time for fifty winks but ive given up on sleep now so looks like another coffee and thinking of Ibiza and a much needed holiday :0) bye all and hope you like this beautiful and strange Wolverine because I think theyre mint.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 08:58:23 +0000
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