About Me

Welcome to my blog! Join me on my journey of exploring Finland and its culture. I moved from the Czech republic to Finland and  I write about my life here. Also about nature, because it is an endless source of inspiration and I´m an enthusiastic "berry and mushroom picker".



You´re very welcomed to visit also my Youtube channel: Youtube channel Basketful of Finland 































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Cooperative feeding of Common Mergansers

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 September 2022 Common mergansers ( Mergus merganser ), also known as Goosanders are diving ducks who mainly eat small fishes. Their daily requirement of fishes is around 400 g. Mergansers have different strategies of hunting them. They fish individually, but also cooperatively in small or large flocks. Fishing in flocks is a very impressive strategy. Their aim is to target a fish, or better a fish school, and push it together to shallow shore water where fishes can be easily caught. Mergansers are usually firstly moving slowly in loose formation, looking in short intervals under water surface for prey. When the fishes are located, the chase begins: birds rush rapidly on the water and drive fishes to the shore. In short distance runs, Mergansers have wings folded, but in distances more than few meters, they run with the aid of their wings. During this chasing run, Mergansers pack into a dense formation. When the fishes are pushed to the shallow water, some Mergansers dive repea...
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Mushrooming and berry picking in Finland II: Porcini, Boletes, Slippery Jack, Milkcaps and Lingonberry

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 October 2022 I have never seen anywhere else such big Boletus mushrooms as in Finland. It almost feels like being in a magical forest in a fairy tale. But one must wait for this extreme harvest usually till the beginning of Fall as during summer Boletus are most often small sized and scarce. Below are listed the most common species of Boletus of Finnish forests. On the way you can have a look on some of the milkcap mushrooms but consider it well if you have the courage to add them into your basket. I personally trust Finns and their knowledge about nature, but still, it is not advisable to eat some of the milkcap species on regular basis. See the reasons below in the text. Porcini ( Boletus edulis ) Boletus Things you need to know when picking big size Boletus mushrooms Mushrooms of the genus Boletus tend to be wormy. The best method how to deal with this unpleasant situation is to remove tubes and pores which are from the other side of the cap. This part often holds water, ...
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My bird observations around wetlands

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Season has started and I´m spending time around lakes and ponds watching birds. I´m wondering if there has been some study about positive effect of observing ducklings on human psychological well-being. I think it would have to bring clear results because I always feel so good when watching ducklings. How they are cutely searching for food, following the hen and other siblings.  I succeeded to take some nice photos of birds which I would like to share. Some of the photos are taken in Nuuksio and some in Helsinki.  Let´s start with some large herbivores which are increasing worldwide, Finland being no exception. Specifically swans and geese. Whooper swan  Whooper swan ( Cygnus cygnus ) is the national bird of Finland. Last decades its population has been increasing and expanding. But it hasn´t been always like that. Whooper swans were near to extinction in Baltic region during 19th and the beginning of 20th century because of hunting. After conservation activities, sp...
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