This afternoon I went to Viikki. It's the place I go to when... well, it's a place I go to. It's practically in the middle of Helsinki. And it's a paradise.

The feel of late autumn was evident. That cool smell I really can't describe. And the need for gloves and a hat. The busy, chattering Siskins in alders eating seeds in every position imaginable, mostly with their backs down. A lone Smew on one of the ponds in the middle of the reedbeds. Fairly good numbers of Wigeons and Teals still present. A flock of fifty Lapwings were standing in the shallow water. Any day now, all of them may be gone, it may be tomorrow already... It was pretty quiet. Even Grey Herons didn't disturb the peace with their yells. A flock of four juveniles and an adult came from the north and swooped down on the shore with their necks' stretched as they got over the bay.

After checking the bay I headed to the fields. It wasn't quiet there. The geese! Barnacle Geese that is. The ones we have nesting in and around Helsinki. Thousands of them. And they were all flying and making a hell of a noise. There were so much birds on the fields it didn't really feel like mid-October. Among the two thousand (a very VERY rough estimate) Barnacle Geese there was a juvenile Brent Goose, a true migrant from the far northeast (Siberia). Also hundreds of Starlings and even more Lapwings, over a hundred of them. A Hen Harrier patrolled tirelessly over the fields. Against the grey clouds there was a rainbow, but it ended high up in the sky. Out of reach - for a human.