Your Norwegian Nature

BLACK GROUSE 

IN WINTER CONDITIONS

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Reserved for 2020

 

When: 8th - 12th of April 

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: 5 days

Number of participants: 2-4

Price:  12.000,- NOK (+/- 1.250,- Euro) per person

Tour guide: Floris Smeets

            

 

Included:

• Accommodation: Small apartment with twin bedroom, bathroom,  small kitchen and Wifi. Bed sheets will be provided.

• Transport: You will be picked up and dropped off at Hamar 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.

• Usage of hides for 4 photo sessions.

• The tours as described below.

 

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 150,- 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. 

 

How does the tour look like:

Day 1: Morning / noon, arrival at Oslo Gardermoen. From the airport you will take a direct train to Hamar. Here you will be picked up by your guide. From Hamar it is about a 75 minute drive to the accommodation. Here you will get some tips for photographing on the display areas, while enjoying a warm meal. Either in the evening or early morning you will be brought to the hides. 

 

Day 2:  The black grouse start their display somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30. The birds will display in front of the tents until somewhere between 8:00 and 10:00. When the birds finish the display, you will be picked up and brought back to the accommodation where you will have a nice breakfast and a warm cup of coffee or tea. We will go through the pictures and discus if you want to have the photo hides in a different position in order to photograph the birds from a different distance or with backlight. You will need to sleep some hours at the accommodation to be able to photograph also on the last day of the tour. In the evening or early next morning, you will be brought back to the photo tents.

 

Day 3 and 4: The same program as day 5. If you are awake in the afternoon, you can use one of the photo hides with bird feeders to photograph small singing birds and woodpeckers, or you can choose for a moose safari with the car. 

 

Day 5: You will have your last early morning photo session with the grouse species you picked. Sadly this is the last day of the tour and it is time to pack your bags for the journey back home. You will be brought back to Oslo Gardermoen airport.

 

Photographing black grouse:

You can choose to be brought to your photo tent in the late evening or early morning (03:30). If you are in the tent from the late evening, you will sleep in the tent until you get woken up by the black grouse arriving on the display area (somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30). The birds will stay in front of the photo tents until somewhere between 8:00 and 10:00. We work with tents, so that we can change the position of the tents between the different days. In this way you can have different distances, positions or angle of light. In order to get to the hides, we have to walk 1.1km on snow shoes through flat terrain. 

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Camera equipment needed:

Usage of objectives of 300mm on a crop body or 500mm on a full frame body is advised, tripod is needed, enough memory cards and batteries! Batteries can be recharged in the accommodation.

 

Important things to bring:

Warm clothing: The temperature will probably not rize above 0 degree Celsius. We will have contact before the tour starts to give an indication how the weather will be like. Thick woolen socks, gloves, warm cap, scarf, thick sweater, thermo underwear and a winter jacket are essential!

 

Winter sleeping bag: At night the temperature will drop to between -15 and -10. So a winter sleeping bag with a comfort zone between -15 and -10 is an absolute must! It is possible to rent high quality winter sleeping bags at location. These have a comfort zone of -15. The rent is 10,- euro per night. Please let me know prior the tour if you want to rent a sleeping bag.

 

Shoes: Bring waterproof mountain boots or solid snow shoes. We will be walking through snow, so it is important to keep you feed warm and dry. 

 

Camera bag: To get to the black grouse hides, we have to walk 1.1 km, which can take about half an hour due to the snow. It is important that you bring a bag which will fit your camera equipment. 

 

Patience and love for nature photography. 

 

 

Contact me for bookings