Your Norwegian Nature

CAPERCAILLIE PHOTO HIDES

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When: from the 9th of April until the 1st of May. Between the 9th and 20th of April there will most likely be snow on the display area.  Please contact me to check for open dates..

Where: You will be staying in Deset, a small town surrounded by beautiful wilderness, about 25 km North from the city Rena in Hedmark county. 

Length: Optional, 3 mornings of photography advised for the best and diverse results.

Number of participants: 2-4

Price: 8.200,- NOK (+/- 875,- Euro) per person for 3 mornings of photography.

 

Included:

• Accommodation: You will have your own small apartment with bathroom,  small kitchen and Wi-Fi. Bed sheets will be provided.

• Transport: You will be picked up and dropped off at Rena train station. Transport for during your stay is included in the price. Groups of 4 or more persons will be picked up at the airport.

• Food: Food and drinks for during the day will be provided for you, including a fresh cooked dinner every evening.

• Tips for photographing grouse during display.

• Hides: Each photographer will have his / her own tent to photograph from. The tents are rather large (2.50mx1.60m) to provide you as much comfort as possible.

Excluded:

• Flight: It is the easiest to fly to Oslo Gardermoen.

• Train: From Oslo Gardermoen there is a direct train connection to Hamar.

• Pick up at Gardermoen: It is possible to be picked up at Oslo Gardermoen airport, for the extra price of 200,- euro.

• Alcohol: Alcohol is quite expensive in Norway. If you want to drink alcohol, I advise you to buy it at the airport before coming to Norway. 

• Travel insurance: All participants are responsible for their own travel insurance. 

 

Photographing the capercaillie:

The male capercaillie gather at the display area already in the evening. Here they sit in the trees and keep a close eye on the area. If the birds have not spotted any danger, they will start their display between +/- 03:00 and 04:00. The display normally lasts until around 10:00. The females arrive around 05:00 at the display area and gather in the territory of the most dominant male.

 

You will be brought to your photo hide between 18:00 and 19:00. Here you will spend the night until you get woken up by the males displaying on the ground. The display is for a large part a vocal play. This means that the males are constantly listening to the sounds coming from the surroundings. It is very important that you are quite! Also sudden movements with the camera can scare them off!  We work with tents, so that we can change the position of the tents between the different days, if needed. 

 

Other things to photograph:

Black grouse. Take a look here for more information regarding black grouse photography.

 

About 100meters from the accommodation there is a river with quite many whooper swans, golden eyes and some other duck species. On the fields right next to the accommodation there are often cranes and roe deer and sometimes moose. Photo tents are available to use on day time to photograph the wildlife around the accommodation. From 2015 there will be photo hides close to the accommodation with bird feeders, which can be used on day time. On special request and additional payment, we can visit other areas to look for owls, moose, roe deer, willow grouse and mountain hare. However, take into account that you make short nights with the black grouse, so you need to take it easy on day time. If you wish to photograph more species, please book a week tour. Find more information about the week tours here.

 

Camera equipment needed:

Usage of objectives of 300mm or more is advised, tripod is needed, enough memory cards and batteries! Batteries can be recharged in your accommodation.

 

Important things to bring:

High rubber boots, warm sleeping bag for in the hide (-10 / -5 comfort zone for mid-April, -5 / 0 comfort zone for May) and warm clothing. High quality winter sleeping bags can be rented for 10 euro per night. 

 

Important to know:

• To get to the hides, we need to walk 1.2 kilometer. The first 400 meter are on a forest road and the last 800 meter are through the forest. 

• These are wild animals, so there is no guarantee in succeeding. In 2015 8 out of the 9 guests succeeded in photographing capercaillie from these hides.

• It is possible to book black grouse photography in combination with capercaillie photography. A minimum of 2 photo sessions is advised for the capercaillie! 

 

 

 

Contact me for bookings