A rare middle-spotted woodpecker, which was engaged in a noisy and sometimes violent dispute with a pair of great-spotteds. (Pictures by Antero Topp, 0976344)

PANDEMONIUM is not a word normally associated with cemeteries but one we visited in Estonia was certainly a place of ‘wild and noisy disorder’.

It was not just my party of birdwatchers, walking quietly under the trees shading Tartu’s main churchyard, who were aware of the racket.

Folk tending the graves looked up in amazement as three or four woodpeckers chased each other around trees and over people’s heads, calling loudly.

The main antagonist was a middle-spotted woodpecker, an uncommon bird throughout its range, which was attacking a pair of its great-spotted cousins.

Bigger birds, the male great-spotted woodpecker in particular, looked embarrassed or even guilty as the middle-spotted screamed at and dive- bombed it. A lesser-spotted woodpecker was drawn down to watch the confrontation.

This was amazing. Four birds representing three species of ‘spotted’ woodpeckers, all a few feet from each other.

We could not work out what was happening. Had the great-spotted woodpeckers robbed the middle-spotted’s nest, taken over its territory or threatened the screaming bird in some way?

The answer was never forthcoming. Indeed, worried that local folk may have blamed us for the extraordinary behaviour, we walked off to look for other birds in that normally peaceful place.

Woodpeckers feature on my regular tour of Estonia. The country’s ancient woodlands are good for this entertaining and colourful group of birds.

White-backed, three-toed and middle-spotted are the prize species to find, but people also get good chances of seeing the huge (crow-sized) black woodpecker and wryneck.

The latter has a call like a kestrel, which makes identifying it easy.

I was driving along a narrow lane near Haapsalu when one of my group said she had just seen a strange bird in a leafless bush.

Reversing to get a view of it, I heard the call of wryneck and amazed the woman by identifying the bird before reaching the bush in which it posed beautifully for several minutes.

Later that morning, we happened to be passing the same bush when we spotted a species popular with my groups – hawfinch.

There were nine of these extraordinary and beautiful birds in and around the bush. They have huge beaks capable of cracking cherry stones, although this flock were feeding on more manageable seeds in the grass.

Estonia is far enough north to have very few birds which over-winter. Almost every bird we saw or heard had migrated there – that includes robins, wrens, bullfinches, jays and magpies.

It is the northernmost of three Baltic states (Latvia and Lithuania being the others) and attracts huge numbers of birds on their way to Arctic breeding grounds.

There were thousands of geese – white-fronted, bean and barnacle in the main – ducks and wading birds to watch.

These attracted predators, of which white-tailed eagles were the most numerous.

We saw up to 19 each day, huge creatures which spread panic and pandemonium among the geese flocks every time they took to the air – the sight of thousands of geese taking off simultaneously and wheeling around like vast clouds of leaves in a gale is one of the ‘Attenborough moments’ our trips like to provide.

A little gull swoops onto a passing insect while on its migration through Estonia. (0976343)

A few of the geese are rare but regular visitors. Our encounter with the wryneck and hawfinches was during a wild goose chase in search of lesser white-fronted geese.

A small but increasing flock (now up to 29 birds) comes through the Haapsalu area every spring.

They are studied by a group of Finnish ornithologists who catch the Helsinki-Tallinn ferry each spring to wait for ‘their birds’ to reappear.

Finding the Finns is a clue to seeing lesser white-fronts.

They are fractionally smaller than white-fronted geese, their more common cousins (of which we see many flocks of thousands). Lessers have a bigger ‘white front’, the patch of white above the beak, and a yellow ring around each eye.

Because they are so rare, finding and watching them is a highlight of the trip. Once again my group were not disappointed.

Gulls are dismissed by most people as noisy, aggressive birds with dubious habits.

Not all fall into that category, least of all the little gull. They are the most charming and attractive of gulls – their under-wings are black with a white trailing edge, heads are completely jet-black and when settled on the ground, many display a beautiful, pink wash.

Lots were migrating through Estonia this spring, often forcing us to make difficult choices as to what we should watch.

On one flooded field there was a flock of little gulls, a group of displaying ruffs in their colourful and varied breeding plumage, an osprey hovering over one corner and several pairs of garganey, one of the most handsome ducks.

It’s a tough life with decisions like that to make.