Region covered by this guide
This guide covers the entire Finnish province of Lapland plus the adjacent region of Kuusamo, near the Russian border. There are many large National Parks and wilderness areas within this region. Some of the most important ones that feature in this guide are:
- Oulanka National Park
- Riisitunturi National Park
- Pyhä-Luosto National Park
- Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park
- Kilpisjärvi
- Uhro Kekkonen National Park
- Lemmenjoki National Park
- Inari Lapland
- Kevo Strict Nature Reserve
The Crossbill Guide is a thorough and practical guide for naturalists and nature lovers. It offers background information and detailed routes and site descriptions, plus tips on finding and watching all kinds of wildlife. Each route offers descriptions of where to find birds, wildlife and wildflowers and shows you the characteristics of the landscape and geology. The book offers a mix of walking routes and car itineraries with stops and short walks. Although some are challenging, all the walks in this book are designed to explore the landscape and find birds and wildlife rather than simply covering ground.
About Finnish Lapland
Lapland’s landscape consists of a mosaic of coniferous forests, mires and lakes. This woodland tapestry, punctuated by open water and peat, is called taiga. Towards the north and west, the barren rounded hills (fells, tunturi in Finnish) become increasingly frequent.
Finnish Lapland has a superb birdlife. The birds of this northern land include Parrot Crossbill, Pine Grosbeak, Waxwing, Siberian Jay and Siberian Tit, to name a few.
About the author
Dirk Hilbers (NL, 1976), set up the Crossbill Guides Foundation and travels Europe to research the guidebooks. This is the is the 9th guide on which he has worked. As a biologist, when not in the field, Dirk Hilbers is a free-lance writer and lecturer in the field of environmental ethics.
Alwin Hardenbol –
I simply love this guide. I bought it in order to help me find several bird species that I really wanted to find in Finnish Lapland and this book has certainly helped me with that. I am a graduated ecologist and I learned a lot from reading this book in regard to the ecology of Lapland, in what kind of habitat many of the bird species reside and of course where to find them. However, it is written in a very understandable format for non-ecologists as well and I am sure that many people are interested in the knowledge present in this book. Apart from birds there is also a strong focus on plant species, butterflies and sometimes dragonflies. I highly believe that this book is a must read for any naturalist that wants to visit Finnish Lapland, even if their focal species do not include birds. Finally, the routes are also very nicely described and will help you find some of your target species. I would recommend it to any naturalist to go to Finnish Lapland with this book in their bag!
Erik Schothorst –
Met erg veel plezier heb ik gebruik gemaakt van deze gids. Hij is helder geschreven en zeer begrijpelijk, ook als je zoals ik geen bioloog of ecoloog bent. De foto’s zijn prachtig, de anekdotes leuk en herkenbaar, bijvoorbeeld over de Taigagaai. Het boek nodigt uit om er telkens weer in te bladeren en stukken in te lezen. Zo heb ik geleidelijk een steeds beter beeld gekregen van het ecosysteem van dit gebied. En dan heb ik het nog niet eens gehad over de duidelijke routebeschrijvingen, die ook goed aangeven welke soorten je waar kunt verwachten. Het gebied is zo groot en uitgestrekt dat ik zonder deze routebeschrijvingen niet had geweten waar ik het beste had kunnen gaan wandelen. Kortom: een absolute aanrader voor iedereen die dit land wil bezoeken, in de natuur is geïnteresseerd, en mooie wandelingen wil maken.