Marry Christmas

I know you all are coverd in snow, mybe it's cold as well.

Have got e-mails from Spain , London and other plases and you have the same weather as Flatanger.

I like it, and we hope we will have a normal winter in 2010 as well.

From me and my fam, Wenche, Odin, Vetle and Ole we hope you all will have a peaceful Christmas time, come down and find the good feeling. All the best for 2010 and thank you to all who have been here during 2009.

See you back and you are welcome!!

Ole M

2 hours in the hide

This was the day when nature changed from something between autum and spring in few hours.

But Sunday morning, the advent Sunday , was just fabulous!! Meant to take a mountain walk with the boys and the dog,but it was to much snow, and it was still snowing!!

I let the boys sleep, I am heading to the small bird hide, could be nice to get small birds in snow.

Into the forest, dark realy, but good enough for me:-) This is always fun, fast small birds, asking for more speed but this is the light i have., take it or leave it.

Hade a nice sesion with Coal Tit, Eurasian Jay, Great Tit, Willow and Crested.

Heard from the lad sitting with the Golden eagles, four GE in the snow!! Bastard!! :-)

But when I whent out the light was very dramatic, and when you want to do everything you are just doing everything wrong!! And i am not good at this.

Forecast say more snow!!

I need some more pictures for my blog. I'll try to get some more landscaps.Take care!

Ole m

Crazy photographers

- "I'll sleep in the hide tonight," crazy photographers. Kjartan called me 2300.

- "Ok, I will see you tomorrow morning, Stian and I will be there about 0700. Say hallo to Bjørn Oddvar".

I am not using the hides a lot, 2-3 times every winter, have no time. So I took my 30D and 300mm 4.0 and a thermos of coffee. Look like it would be a nice day, not snow but spakling star above us.

0700 we arrived the hide, Stian Holmen and I. On the floor Kjartan and Bjørn O. still sleeping.

Good to sit like this, have a joke and some coffe. Good to have this crazy photographers as friends.

See the light as the night disappears, feel the morning, hear the first Eurasian Jay, its just great!

After 2.5 hour, a sound of big wings and something landing at the bait, that's what we where waiting for, adult Golden Eagle, this beauty of a bird, power, beauty and the EYES!!! Looking around for a few minuts, than a pice of the food. Cameras start to play, and this is just rock'n roll. A few hundred pictures, Golden Eagles had enough after 70 min. Ohh!!

Now we can have a break!! A few hundred shots of the Eurasina jays and THAN, a new juv Golden Eagle appear on the scene. We were to slow to get the great inflight! Shit!!

But now we have this Beauty of a juv. Golden Eagle, and it stayes for 2 hours.

What a day! Good laughs, good friends and real Golden Eagles outside.

Hmm - Maybe I should be a photographer:-)

Ole M

Redwing

Not the 16.Nov. You should not be here litle beauty, you should be south, prepairing for next years comeback!! My car could not stop on this ice coverd roads before it was to late. In the mirror I could see something lying on the road.

I stoped the car and walked back. I could see the last convulsions from this litle Redwing and feel the heat of a litle dying bird. I feel sad, you had no chance litle Redwing. YOUR song will not be heard anymore. That's because of me.

Is it only a bird?

Ole M

Walking around

After a successful workshop, with my good friend Brutus Øsling and 7 Swedish photographers, I had Monday 9-11 off.

I told my wife Wenche that I should use that day for some backup fishing.

But as you all know, if they know you have a day of, they want to make a plan!! :-)

She did not ask for cleaning the house!!!! She said: - "shouldn't we have a day together, let's have a mountain walk".

Plan was made for Monday. Beautiful morning when we started, minus 4 , sun and some mist, I do not take a lot of pictures but today I couldn't let it be.

In the shadow there was ice, lots of subjects, 7 Willow Ptarmigans was pushed out from some trees by our dog Troj.

Tracks of Moose everywhere. It feels so good to walk when the temperature is low, air is clean and you could walk for days, and a big man like me , I can tell you, was drenched in sweat!!!

After 4 hours walk we made a good fire, made our food over open fire, also this way of making cofe is the best way. It tasted great.

A day like this makes you feel VERY happy to be a part of this beautiful nature, I am normaly a happy "young" lad but this day was just what I needed with my wife.

Thank you Wenche and Troj, a great day togetter with you two. Boys was at School.

New group today and the Golden Eagles, Goshawk and Sea Eagles are as good as last year. Mybe we should make a 7 days workshop , just walking around:-)

With my new ice-filter

Ole Martin Dahle, www.norway-nature.com

Fanstantic week

Again I had a good week in Norway with Ole Martin, I stayed with three other photographers; Marton Karsai, Philip Newman and Mark Hamblin, thank you for the good week we had !!

My goal at this trip was the White-Tailed Eagle, and we had lots of dives and the weather worked well, but there is more then only the Eagles in Flatanger. Lots of Gulls, beautiful scenery with the big clouds and the orange sunsets.

On my way to the Muskox i found some dippers in the river near the road, I had the luck to find a cleaning dipper.

I also wanted to try the muskox on my way back, I started in Kongsvoll and was very happy to find them quick and easy. A group of 11 animals, 9 adults and 2 calfs, and I was able to spend many hours with them, so this trip was also successful.

Thank you for the good week Ole Martin and see you next spring, for another session.

Zenno Bloemendal

The Netherlands

The best skipper!

Norway was as breathtakingly beautiful as I had imagined it would be. Ole was the best skipper and host you could hope for and to share a small part of his incredible relationship with such magnificent birds was a true privilege.

I had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back.

Samantha, UK

For more of Samantha Durrants photos see: http://www.samazooki.co.uk

Lasting imprint

Dear Ole Martin

You are not only providing excellent photo opportunities to professional photographers and keen amateurs, you bring about experiences that will make a lasting imprint on peoples' minds.

Photos and text from Anders Todal Jenssen, Trondeim.

Andy loves Flatanger

Having sampled the wonder of Winter Eagles with Ole Martin I just couldn’t wait to get back to Flatanger for some summer photography.

I arrived in Lauvsnes at around 3-30pm – within 4 hours I was photographing my first summer eagle from Ole’s boat; and the action never stopped to be honest.

Over the course of the nest few days I obtained hundreds of images of eagles, their aerobatics, their dives for fish and their summer environment. Some of these eagles were most probably those I had photographed on my previous trip, in the winter, and I found it fascinating to see them in their element.

During the winter when they have to resort to scavenging inland they appear to be ‘pushed about’ by the Golden Eagles – being treated with little or no respect even by Ravens.

But here on the summer coastal margins they rule their kingdom from on high; and to have the opportunity to photograph these apex predators doing what they do best, and at such close quarters, really is a privilege.

The other real thrill for me was Arctic Skua – having never so much as clapped eyes on one before this little bird just left me speechless with its’ speed and agility.

Of course, like every other bit of wildlife in the area, they love Ole – they came so close they were nearly in the boat – not an easy shot to make with a 200-400mm f4, but we got there in the end!

After only two trips to Ole Martin Dahles’ I feel as if Flatanger is my second home and I would challenge anyone who experiences the place under Oles’ expert guidance not to feel some sort of deep connection with it.

“Det er noe helt med Ole's Flatanger opplevelser - takk min venn.!”

Thanks again Ole..

spesielt

Andy Astbury

Wildlife in Pixels

http://wildlifeinpixels.com

The Otter

It’s early morning, 6 o’clock, mid of June, the sun is shining bright in the blue sky. Ole starts the engine of his boat, we are moving slowly out of the harbour with the opportunity to take photos in backlight situations of eagles and gulls. That’s the idea.

Suddenly he stops the motor before the bridge of Lauvsnes – OTTER: he is whispering.

Everyone stops the moving in the boat and looks into the direction, Ole pointed out. Beside the pylon of the bridge in the dark water, the head of an otter is visible for one, two seconds. Then he dives – nothing to see. We are sitting in the boat, quietly, observing the area meter by meter – then again Ole is whispers: OTTER!: At the bank between rough stones.

The otter’s head is looking curious at 40 meters distance between the stones to our boat. Ole starts the engine for two, three seconds, smoothly we are approach the bank – he stops the motor and we are drifting slowly between the pylons of the bridge directly to the place where the otter is…. 30 meters, 25 meters, 20 meters, 15 meters, 10 meters… the otter is observing us permanently, he moves slowly and curious between the stones in the bright sun and looks always to us… one, two, three minutes, it seems never-ending, the camera with the 300 mm lens is clicking, it seems that this noise is not interesting for the otter - then it’s enough for him, he takes a half fish out of his hide and disappears slowly between the stones into the dark water for a undisturbed otter breakfast.

A unique experience! Awesome!! These are challenges which happens only one in life. That’s Norway-nature from Ole.

Thanks for that and for many other photographic adventures, like the eagle owls, Ole!! See you next year for more.

Cheers,

Peer von Wahl, Germany

Wonderful stay

Dear Ole Martin

Thank you for a wonderful stay. I have now visited you four times, and every visit has offered new experiences.

This time the capercaillier and the black grouse were the main topics, apart from, of course, your sea eagles, that resulted in photos where light and situations are close to perfection.

– also I should of course not forget the sea gulls.

Thanks again.

Karl Ravn

Denmark

www.ravnfoto.dk

Thank you Ole Martin!

The wildlife, especially the spectacular White Tailed Sea Eagle, have for me never bean better than this spring of 2009. 

Mid May and perfect weather conditions gave us a lot of photography possibilities. The first evening we had about 30 eagle dives. That is overwhelming! 

We had almost the same number of dives the second evening. The only limit to success under such conditions is the photographer's skills and willingness to work hard to get the special images. 

Svein Wik, Norway

www.norfoto.no