Immersed in Iceland: Day 8 - Blast Frozen

It was a relatively leisurely start on our eighth day in Iceland and after breakfast had a quick nose around the birch scrub surrounding the hotel. A few photographs of an unusually inquisitive and well coloured Redpoll resulted, a pleasant way to start the day.

It was time to get the 'campervan' back on the road and today the plan was to head slightly north from Borgarnes and west along the Snæfellsnes peninsula. We had no particular destination in mind and just thought we would drive around and see what we would encounter. The forecast looked reasonable and proved correct with some sun and occasional light shower of rain. Unfortunately the forecast was also correct in terms of the wind which particularly strong in the morning and whipped in off the sea in punishingly relentless and icy gusts.  One of those days when getting out the 'campervan'  was a bit like steeping out of a warm bed and straight into a ice cold shower.

Our first stop off was on the south side of the peninsula at a place called Ytri Tunga as there was a sign post that indicated it was a place to see some seals. Of course we were mainly on the look out for birds and we passed a couple of Whimbrel going up to car park by the farm at the end of the track next to the beach. When we picked up the 'campervan' we were warned to be careful with the doors and the strong winds as apparently it is common for the hinges to be damaged by an open door being caught in a gust. As we were parked at the crest of the beach the actual problem was proving to be getting the doors open against the fierce onshore wind.

We were met with a rocky beach interspersed with areas of sand and quickly spotted a few waders dotted about and headed off in our separate directions, enveloped in the arctic blast of wind coming in off the sea. The waders were proving typically evasive as they had the whole trip and after getting a few photographs of a Purple Sandpiper and a Knot, I spotted half dozen summer coloured Sanderling scurrying around a small patch of sand.

I decided the best approach was to work my way round to the sea side of this patch of sand and onto a rock outcrop next to a narrow channel filled with bladderwrack. Here I would tuck myself into the rocks and wait for the Sanderling to appear along the edge of the sand, giving the unusal perspective of looking back towards shore. This also had a slight advantage in that it would offer a small amount of shelter from the wind. The Sanderling plan never really worked out but as I sat there a small flotilla of Eider worked its way inshore up the channel. These generally nervous ducks were unaware of my presence in among the rocks. At this point I actually became grateful for the strong wind and the rough water it was creating. When photographing birds on water my preferred conditions are flat reflective calm or the dynamic atmosphere created by rough water and spray. The Eider worked their way all the way up the channel, right past where I was crouched, and then all the way back again allowing plenty of time to get some photographs.

With the Eider encounter over I thought I should go an try and find some Grey Seals. A short walk along the beach and scramble over some rocks found me face to face with four inquisitive seals bobbing in the water in front of me. However, A grey seal on grey water under grey skies is never going to make a particularly attractive image.

With the tide advancing quickly and the risk of getting cut off at my position, I decided to beat a hasty retreat. Meeting up again with Steve we decided that being blast frozen was not much fun and we would carry on continue exploring the peninsula. On the track from the farm out to the main road we stopped briefly to photograph another Black-tailed Godwit.

We decided to take a road that cut across the mountainous spine of the peninsula as the north coast would likely be more sheltered from the wind and work our way slowly towards the tip.  As we approached a small town, on the outskirts was a tiny pool with a small island. Driving past a elongated shape caught my eye sticking out of one end of the island.

Given the tiny size of the pond this looked like a good photo opportunity. However, before trying and to give time for the light to improve,  we decided to head to the other side of the road where there were some low cliffs above the sea with good numbers of white winged gulls and Fulmars. Importantly our move to get out of the worst of the wind by heading north seemed to have worked. As we walked to the cliff edge the gulls typically moved off a small distance. It was an attractive place with a river tumbling down through the cliff and onto the black sand and pebble beach.

We started off photographing Fulmars which were incredibly close at times landing on the cliff and scything their way through the updrafts. It seemed we spent quite a while their and I think it was nice just to be out of the blasting wind and enjoying a bit of 'warmth' as the sun started breaking through. One Fulmar even landed on the cliff right in front of allowing opportunity for some full frame head photos. I love the structure and colour of the beaks in these tube nose petrels.

 As we stood there on the cliff edge there was a steady trickle of passing gulls. Tending to ignoring the Herring Gulls (which I can photograph any day at the bottom of my street), we concentrated on the adult Glaucous Gulls, mottled juvenile Iceland Gulls and occasional menacing Greater Black Backed Gull.

The sun was now out and it was time to head across the road to try the Red Throated Divers. Lying in the sun by the edge of this still pond, with half dozen Red-necked Phalarope paddling around in front of us, it felt like we were on a different planet from the conditions we faced on the beach in the morning.

The pair of divers slowly drifted up and down the small pond which provided a great location for photographing the birds. The tranquility of the scene was slightly interrupted by occasional passing cars on the main road and the clattering and banging of a car repair garage behind us.

We left the pond and headed a couple of hundred metres down the road and in to the town to grab some food. Heading out of town there was a high waterfall tumbling off the hill side and we stopped briefly to take a couple of photographs. Obviously I was trying to photograph more fulmars here ;)

With no real destination in mind we naturally followed the north coast along to the tip of the peninsula and where a quick internet search suggested there was a small sea bird colony. Small would be a good description with a few Kittiwake and Fulmar having taken up residence on the low volcanic cliffs.

These ended up being the last bird photographs we took that day. Time was pushing on and we had quite a long drive now to get back to Borgarnes. Also as soon as we rounded the end of the peninsula we were back in the full force of the blast freezer wind which created some reluctance to leave the warm comfort of the 'campervan'. On our journey back to Borganes we occasionally stopped to take a few landscape photos as our respective other halves always like to have a few photos to gain an impression of the places we have visited.

One of the many lava fields

Arriving back in Borgarnes it was quite late and we stopped for a bite to eat before heading back to the hotel. It had been an interesting day exploring the peninsula and it had produced quite a good variety of birds even though our route was made up on the move. The next day it would be time to move on again as we would head back down into the south-west corner of Iceland. Going to bed I set my alarm clock to 'your going to feel like a zombie in the early afternoon setting' as I thought I would go out for a very early morning wander round the birch scrub surrounding around the hotel again before we headed south.....

Immersed in Iceland: Day 2 - Geothermic Restoration

It was probably around 6 am when I eventually gave up on trying to sleep. I slid open the 'campervan' door to see  the sun had already ascended quite high in a cloudless sky having risen from the horizon at around 2:30am.  The air and campsite were still and filled with the sounds of calling Dunlin, together with Redwing and Redpoll singing from the surrounding conifers. I managed to extract myself from the mummy style sleeping bag and slither off the suspended mattress. Having been constricted inside the sleeping bag, I had felt like I had been to bed with my arms tied behind my back. I remember standing outside the 'camper' feeling very tired, aching and generally lacking in life.  I made my way across to the shower block.

Turning on the shower was like opening the flood gates of hell as a torrent of scolding water blasted from the showerhead. High pressure volcanic water, with a distinct odour of sulphur, drawn from deep below the ground poured down on me. I must have stood under this torrent for about 15 minutes and let the water wash my tiredness and sleeping bag aches down the plug hole. I stepped out feeling like a new person, restored back to the life by the geothermic deluge.

Back at the 'campervan', I completely emptied, dismantled the bed and stowed everything away on the basis that it would not be getting used again, before grabbing the laptop, camera batteries and memory cards from the previous day and set up shop in a lounge area to download and recharge. Steve eventually emerged from the nylon cocoon of his tent reporting that he had zero sleep through the night. I was raring to get going, having been restored back to action by the super shower, and we grabbed a quick breakfast from the campsite cafe before hitting the road. We decided to head back to the Red-throated Diver site as Steve had some unfinished business there. Travelling once more along the long gravel track to the car park, we had our first encounter with a Black-tailed Godwit in breeding colours. The bird was in a bit of awkward location and seemed fairly oblivious to us and went back to roost position at very close range.

We also came across a dozing Snipe.

Once we reached the pools I suggested Steve try the accommodating pair of divers I had photographed the previous day and I would follow the footpath to see if I could find some others. I didn't have to go too far and spent a short while with a pair on the small still pool.

I moved on to another pool where I found some more friendly birds that were lazily drifting around. With the air cold and the sun beaming, heat haze was developing and it was easy to see the wobbling air spreading across the extensive dry brown grassland. Under these conditions all you can do is put as little distance between you and your subject. Fortunately the divers I were photographing were close and gently milling around under the late morning sun.

I decided to leave them and headed back to the van for a mug of Yorkshire Tea (have teabags will travel!). Given the conditions the only option left now was to try and find some really close subjects and the perfect candidates were. Red-necked Phalaropes that are generally completely oblivious to people and I had one pecking my finger at one stage. I found a small group of half a dozen birds working their way along one of the pool margins picking off the midges as they emerged from the surface film.

They appear as very buoyant birds and tend to sit high on the water rather than in it and for the first time  noticed they have very coarse breast feather which probably contributes to this. From a distance their movements often seem to have the appearance of leaves or feathers being blown across the surface.

These birds are always fun to photograph and fortunately were not showing their usual spinning feeding behaviour which can make them a headache to photograph but were typically hyperactive. I managed to catch a pair of these tiny waders mating with the more colourful female almost becoming fully submerged in the efforts.

During this Phalarope session disaster nearly struck, as I was adjusting my laying down position at the edge of the pond, I knocked my camera that I had put down next to me and it rolled towards the pond. It was a close call and I just managed to grab it in time before my 1dx with 600mm fell in. That would have been a nightmare so early on in the trip.

It was time to move on. Our loose plan for the rest of the day was to work our way along the south coast before starting to head northward to find somewhere overnight about an hour or so north of Reykjavik. The forecast for the following day looked generally poor so we decided that time would be well used as a travel day for the long drive up to the north-east and our next key destination, Lake Myvatn (which translates to Midge Lake).

Our first stop off point along the south-west coast was at the small fishing town þorlákshöfn. The air was heavy with the smell of fish as we checked the small harbour for bird life. It was fairly quiet with a couple of Black Guilliemots, Long-tailed Duck and some juvenile Glaucous and Iceland Gulls but nothing really offered any photo opportunities as there seemed no easy way to get to water level except by a very treacherous looking route down a very slippery looking harbour wall built from boulders. We decided to see if we could find a beach nearby to look for some waders. We eventually found a 'beach' area of large boulders covered in seaweed with quite a good number of waders. Steve's eye was caught by a small flock of Knot in their summer red plumage. It was tricky progress over the boulders as we headed off in different directions with Steve targeting the Knot and me looking for Purple Sandpiper in their summer plumage.

Both of us have a lot of experience photographing waders back at home and the approach is usually get in to position and let the birds come to you. We were both surprised how shy and twitchy these birds were even the species that are generally less bothered by people such as Turnstone. Here is Steve doing his best to look like a seaweed boulder.

Eventually I managed to get quite a few Purple Sandpiper in front of me, feeding on the rocks in the rising tide, together with the occasional photo opportunity for a couple of other species.

A summer coloured Knot landed reasonably close.

I spotted a Purple Sandpiper, Turnstone and Knot all sat on the same rock. A nice comparison of the three species in their summer colours, although I was never going to ever get enough depth of field to get them all sharp with the long lens.

A solitary Redshank also put in an appearance.

The afternoon was pushing on and we decided to carry on our journey along the coast with the next stop being the harbour at Grindavik. Large numbers of Fulmar were present and some white-winged gulls including young Iceland Gulls. We found out that afternoon that unlike the UK the gulls are generally very wary of people in Iceland.

We managed a few photographs here before hitting the road again and starting our journey northward.  We decided to make a small detour into an area east of Rekyavik which was supposed to be a Ptarmigan stronghold but due to poor navigational skills actually ended up driving around the wrong area! The tracks we drove around seemed to be a popular horse riding area and there was a lot of laughter watching what appeared to be over-sized people on the fairly small, slight wild and sturdy Icelandic horses galloping along and looking slight out of control.

As we drove along, far in the distance, something white caught my eye as it dropped off a rock. We decided to stop and go and investigate to see if it was a Ptarmigan. It was but we had no chance of getting close to this pair of birds on the edge of some birch scrub, as the ground was covered with the crunchy dried dead stems of thousands of Lupins which seem to swathe large parts of the Iceland. They must be a beautiful sight when in blue-purple flower but the unusually cold spring had reduced them to their first green shoots. However, an important lesson was learnt that in Iceland forget all you knew of where you might expect to find Ptarmigan.

We continued northwards and having cleared Rekyavik by some distance, we put the SatNav into find accommodation mode.  We came across a road side motel but the only life we could find was a dog outside and carried on. On our approach to Borgarnes, we found the Hotel Bru and booked in there for the night. The cost was good for our elongated but slightly warm room in the roof. It had been a long day and we grabbed a quick bite to eat in the town over the causeway. On return to the hotel we went through the evening photo download and back up ritual before crashing and recharging our own batteries before continuing our journey north and eastward the next day.