Staff

Jari Peltomäki

Director, author, wildlife photographer, tour leader, photography mentor

My birdwatching started in Pori in 1977 and my interest has remained active and varied to this day. In the 1980s I spent long hours at ringing stations as a ringer, and for a few years also chased intensively after rarities. Bird photography has been 'in the picture' from the start, though for a while I changed my camera for a sketching pad.

While in Pori I was active in my local birdwatching society, and was a founding and long time member of the area's first Local Rarities Committee. My first trip to Liminka Bay was in 1988 as part of a volunteer group. In fact I never returned from that trip, remaining in Liminka as a WWF guide. Nature conservation has always been important to me; in Liminka I was for years the chairman of the local chapter of the Finnish Union for Nature Conservation. Around the same time I was also a board member of BirdLife Finland.

The secrets of bird identification have always been close to my heart, and I have been a member of Finnish Rarities Committee years 1994-2001. I have authored numerous articles in Finnish and international journals, mostly on various aspects of bird identification. I have been on the editorial board of Alula since 1998, and on the Finnish Hunters' Union journal Metsästäjä also since 1998. For BirdLife Finland's journal Linnut I was working 1993-2000.

My current Finnature work consists of guiding foreign groups on bird and photography tours in Finland, Estonia and northern Norway.I have also led tours of Finnish birdwatchers to the USA, Iceland, Israel, Romania, Hungary, Greece, and Britain. I spend my free time photographing birds and wildlife.

My top birdwatching moments include my own three additions to the Finnish list: Sardinian Warbler (actually, the first two records), Ring-necked Duck, and Manx Shearwater. Outside Finland I enjoyed finding Ireland's second Western Sandpiper and Romania's first ever Pectoral Sandpiper.

You can check out my personal blog at http://birdphotoblog.jaripeltomaki.com/

Leena Laitinen

Secretary