Beyond 66.5 Degrees North - Day 3: Battling the Elements

Before we made our trip to Norway, both and Adam and I both made a list of species we wished to see and try to photograph. Top of both our lists were probably the most magnificent of wading birds, the Ruff. This was followed on our lists by Dotterel, a personal bogey bird of mine in the UK, and third on my list was Bluethroat. However, top priority was Ruff and we would be disappointed if we didn't manage to get some in front of us and the camera. So this species deserved a concerted effort.

Our plan  for the third day, was to rise early and explore the nature reserve at eastern end of Vadsoya Island where the hotel was located, before hitting the road and winding our way eastward along the north shore of the fjord. Our final destination for the day was to be a reconnaissance visit of a known ruff lek site which we planned to check out for hopefully our first session with the birds the following day.

As the blackout roller blinds zipped upwards, after an early alarm, the view out the window of the shaking scrub bushes showed a strong wind was blowing in from the north. The sky a mix of clouds, with the occasional blue clear patch, being whisked along quickly overhead by the brisk wind. Temperature outside was about 3 degrees C before taking account of any wind chill. Stepping out the front door of the hotel, the strong wind's sharp icy edge that cut right in to you, became very apparent. Any small birds would definitely be lying low in these conditions. Fortunately the forecast, which to be frank is not too reliable, showed that the wind would ease down the next day. We would just have to try and make the best of the prevailing conditions.

We headed out on foot into the biting wind onto the Vadsoya Island nature reserve. We decided to head off in opposite directions and meet up later by the pond. My first stop was near the entrance with a Hooded Crow hanging on to the top of some scrub in the wind.

I headed off round the island in a clockwise direction. It seemed very quiet for birds and during my wander I came across a group of half a dozen of the island's resident mountain hares in a tight group. Creeping up on single mountain hares is difficult enough but the problem is multiplied when there are six pairs of eyes on look-out duty. Fortunately between me and the hares was a line of scrub that I could use as cover to get close and a few photos of them. They varied quite a bit in colour as a result of their change from winter to summer coat.

As you might know I do have a bit of a hare obsession so it was good to have some on the 'doorstep' of the hotel and I made a mental note to have another try for them later in the week.

As I came around to the pond, I was surprised to find very low numbers of Red-necked Phalarope with only half a dozen female birds present. During my last visit the island supported good numbers of birds across a range of species but this seemed not to be the case now. The Arctic Tern colony at the eastern end of the island was completely empty and few birds were present on the beaches.

As the sun was appearing intermittently I thought I would spend a bit of time with the Phalarope. Typically oblivious to my presence, the photography of these hyperactive birds was made tricky by the large waves rolling across the pond. It felt a bit like trying to photograph a cork being tossed around on a North Sea storm. One moment it was there and the next it had gone over the crest of the next wave and dropped into the trough.

Thought the photo below would give some impression of the size of the waves rolling across the pond.

Adam had picked up a few birds in his wander around the other side of the nature reserve including the odd Knot, Oystercatcher and Turnstone on the beach and a Red-throated pipit on  a fence line post. We decided to head back to the hotel for breakfast. Over breakfast we started chatting with a couple of birdwatchers who had been in the area for a while and commented on the general lack of birds from what they had found on previous trips. There were two theories proposed over the continental style breakfast, either birds were very late arriving or had started breeding early. We would have to try and work it out.

After a long, slow breakfast, we left the hotel and into the sabre-toothed wind once more. This time we got in the car crossed the bridge into Vadso and headed along the coast road eastward to see what we could find. The first birds we encountered that could be put in front of the camera were some Red Throated Pipit. These are attractive birds with their brick red throat patch.

This location  we subsequently nicknamed 'Pipit Bowl'. I often find when abroad that particularly productive places are given nicknames as it easy to refer to them when making plans than using the local place name. With that said the next place we stopped off at became known as 'Temmincks Dunes'. We decided to stop off for some DIY lunch from our Finnish food supplies in the car boot, where the coastal landscape suddenly changed to sand dunes adjacent to the river estuary at Skallelv. I spotted a small bird fluttering up and down like a giant butterfly, despite the strong winds, accompanied by a rapid, loud and high pitched trill and immediately knew it was a Temmnicks Stint. This was Adam's first encounter with one and I think he was impressed with the aerial antics of this tiny wader. We found a very confiding bird and it was lovely to watch both on the ground and in the air  at close quarters.  Down at ground level you appreciate how tiny these birds are.

Brace position against the wind.

Time to move on, passing by some distant White-tailed Eagle loafing around the beach and a very long furred red fox heading over a ridge. By this time the sun has burst through the rushing clouds above. Its always good to have some sunlight for photography but in these cold climates it comes at a cost which it almost an instant development of heat haze. I have mentioned this before and the devastating effect it can on photography should not be underestimated.  Basically it makes it nearly impossible to get a sharp image and the only thing you can do is take a lot of photographs and minimise the wobbling air between the camera and subject. We suffered this problem with the next pair of birds we tried to photograph which was a pair of dark phase Arctic Skua. We spent a very brief time with them, as the red mist typically descended with these birds as we approached and they initiated their characteristic swooping attacks. This meant the female had got up off the two eggs on the ground and we were concerned the effect that the bitter wind may have on them if left uncovered for any period. We backed off rapidly and she quickly returned to incubation duties. Of the  photographs taken, I only kept one which was just about passable, with the rest ruined by heat haze.

Finally we reached the track that cuts in land leading to the ruff lek site. This is a 7.5km dirt track in poor condition and took quite a while to get the hire car along in one piece. The progress along the track was slowed by a couple of birds we encountered. By now the sun had departed and drizzle had started. Rapid changes in weather conditions are common at these latitudes but the one persistent feature that was constant was the driving cold wind. I decided for this solitary Skua to do the 'Skua crawl'. This is basically doing a commando crawl up to the bird which seems to work well with these birds. I was soon getting full frame images with the main problem being getting a decent composition which is always tricky for birds with long tails.

We continued our bumpy and uncomfortable journey along the track and soon came across a Golden Plover for which we stopped to take a few photographs. The short tundra vegetation always makes for a colourful and attractive setting.

Eventually we came to the end of the track and the ruff lek site next to a medium sized lake. There were ruff present but mainly as heads popping up through the vegetation of a marshy area at the southern end of the lake. Across the lake we could see a distant nesting Black-throated Diver with the male holding station in open water close by. Occasionally they would let out their wailing call which is one of my favourite bird sounds as it seems to encapsulate the essence of these remote places. It was difficult to say with any certainty where the ruff lek was going to be but a relatively flat area of short vegetation close to where we were parked looked like a strong possibility. We would find out when we returned the next morning.

We made our way back along the bumpy track and picked up a solitary Whimbrel to photograph before we reached the main road.

Time was moving on be now and we decided we would start to make tracks towards our hotel in Vadso. However, before heading there we thought we would check out another dirt track heading in-land from the coast.  We saw a few Golden Plover  along this track but all remained distant occasionally piping out their plaintive call note. The occasional Ruff was seen flying over. Just before we got back to the main road I spotted a solitary male Ruff. A fine looking male with a ginger orange collar. This was our first opportunity to put one in front of the camera and as this was the last bird of the day to be photographed, then hopefully its was a good omen for a successful Ruff session the following day.

We headed back to Vadso. We had worked hard that day in the the challenging icy wind and it had produced a good variety of interesting birds species but all in low numbers. There just strangely seemed to be relatively few birds around. Back at Vadso,  and with it being Sunday evening , we struggled to find any food and ended up having some weird kebab made with a folded nan bread stuffed with meat and sauce from a take away at the back of the Indian. More fuel than food really. This seemed to be the only place open in town that was selling food. Back at the hotel the daily battery charging, photo downloading and back up ritual was gone through before hitting bed relatively early. The alarm was set to stun mode at 3:30 am with the exciting prospect of attempting to photograph Ruff on a lek. This was the main objective of our trip but would we succeed?

Immersed in Iceland: Day 9 - Where's the Buntings?

An early alarm call found me out of the bed and minutes later creeping past a slumbering Steve at the far end of our long room in the hotel roof. I am well practice in this art of a quiet exit from early morning departures at home , the only difference was the loud spring loaded clunk of hotel door lock as I tried to ease it shut.

Once outside it was not long before I had a curious Redpoll in front of me once more and this time used the backdrop of the dark ash hillside behind as a backdrop.

I wandered around for a while in the birch scrub and down to a rocky beach but it was generally quiet except for the occasional Snipe whizzing around and Ringed Plover. I made my way back up from the beach along a wide but dry river bed of grey pebbles. You could imagine the torrent rushing over the stone bed after a heavy downpour as the water flowed down off the ash hills behind. I had not gone far when an Oystercatcher sprang forth into the air from behind a gravel ridge and started circling me with an alarm call.

I had seen this behaviour before and knew this meant there was a nest nearby but where was it in the expanse of pebbles? I very slowly walked away keeping a close eye on the ground and glad I did as I nearly stepped on the cryptic nest containing three eggs, leaving the birds to settle back down having seen off the intruder. The only other bird I photographed during my early morning start was a passing Greylag Goose that was nicely lit in the early low sun. Time for some breakfast.

After breakfast we checked out the hotel and continued our journey south and west towards the Reykjavik area. We decided to head for  Heiðmörk which is the place we had skillfully managed to fail to navigate to earlier in the week. This is supposed to be a good area to see Ptarmigan.
As we entered the area we decided to stop in the parking area by the channel that connects the Elliðavatn and Helluvatn lakes as there seemed to be quite a few birds in this area.

By now the sun was shining and haze was starting to develop. We needed some close subjects to photograph and were obliged by a few Red-necked Phalaropes and a very confiding Golden Plover which I probably spend too long photographing rather than looking around to see what other birds could be found. This was confirmed as we left as a Great Northern Diver came gliding across the relatively small Helluvatn and was literally just round the corner out of sight all the time.

After a quick brew we decided to take a tour around the tracks of Heiðmörk to see what birds could be found. There are numerous picnic sites dotted over this large expanse of coniferous forest and upland larva areas and as we pulled up to what seemed a very remote one, we spotted a male Ptarmigan on some short grass underneath a swing in a play area. This looked like a good opportunity but as we drew closer in the car, two young children who didn't seem to be with anyone, stepped out of the forest and made straight towards the swing resulting in a rapidly departing white bird. One of those moments that obviously was just not meant to be. On our slow drive around the tracks, bird life was surprisingly absent and our fairly long circuit only produced one Ptarmigan.

It was time to try elsewhere and we headed towards Keflavik and found ourselves back by the lake which first stumbled upon when we arrived. The heat haze was in full force by now and trying to get sharp images through the wobbly air was proving a challenge. We stayed there a while and this produced some bathing Ringed Plover photographs and I went to check the beach where the was a stone causeway with a some Eider.

Time to hit Google on the phone to decide where to head to next and it was indicate there was a small sea bird colony at Keflavik which we went to check but only found some low empty cliffs. What was interesting though was how much more advanced the Lupins were down in this warmer south-west corner with the first starting to come in to flower. In the north they had only just started poking their first leaves up through the soil.

Coming away from there we did find a pair of Golden Plover which we stopped to photograph for a while in the softening light.

Following the coast road along we ended up at the northern end of the mosy south-western peninsula in Iceland at Garðskagi Lighthouse. Stepping out of the 'campervan' we found a large board information with photographs showing the species that could be found. It stated something like 'Snow bunting are a common breeding species along the seawall' This raised our expectations as Snow Bunting, despite being a relatively common bird in Iceland,  had completely eluded us for nine days except for a possible sighting of one flying across the road several days earlier. Well we separated and walked and walked up and down that sea wall and the beach for ages and over a long distance trying to fine any signs of Snow Buntings but there were none to be found. Not even the chirp of a bunting was heard in our searching.

With nothing else there to photograph we decided to move in as it was starting to get late and we still had to find some accommodation for the night. The last bird of the day was a lone Whimbrel feeding along a grass verge on the edge of a car park.

Driving back into Keflavik we booked into the Hotel Keilir for the last two nights. A nice tidy twin room with a great view. After sorting out the days photographs and kit, we popped over the road to a Chinese Restaurant. We were quite late arriving given the standard 9pm kitchen closing time and it was a strange experience as they started packing up the place as we ate. Chairs went up on the surrounding tables and the floor mopped around us. Following my early start I was more than ready for bed by the point and was asleep within minutes of hitting the pillow. Tomorrow I would be waking to the final day of our trip.

Immersed in Iceland: Day 5 - Myvatn Circuits

We had another early start on our second day in the area around Lake Myvatn. The weather forecast the night before looked promising by drawing back the bedroom curtains revealed bright but overcast skies overhead. Hopefully it would brighten later as I was keen to try and get some Harlequins in better light on the River Laxa. We intended to follow a similar routine to the day before with a circuit of the lake before breakfast followed by looking round to see what we could find and of course a return visit at some point to the rapids of the River Laxa.

Once more we had not gone too far in the 'campervan' before we came across our first bird, stood in the road, a Ptarmigan. It moved to the verge and crouched low in amongst the multi-coloured short vegetation. These birds must feel fairly vulnerable when they are are still in their winter whites with no snow to conceal them from the watchful eyes of Gyr Falcon.

We traveled on our clockwise circuit seeing several more Ptarmigan but too distant for photographs, the birds standing out very obviously against the dark volcanic rocks. Around the north-west side of the lake we came across another bird close to the road. This one was perched relatively high up and to avoid photographing against a flat white sky we both ended up standing on the door sills to give some elevation and get the angle for a better coloured background of a volcanic mound behind.

Our next encounter was a Snipe on a post which eventually left us with a shrill call before speeding off in whirring display flight.

It was turning into a bit of a Ptarmigan morning as we encountered another bird perched up on some lichen clad lava and another on a grass verge, together with a bonus Whimbrel in the road. That was a total of around 8 Ptarmigan we had seen in one lap of the lake before heading back to the hotel for breakfast.

While I was in Iceland and as soon as I got back, I had a few people contact me saying they were visiting within the next week or so and asking for pointers as to where to find birds. As you can see it would pointless giving any suggestions in the Myvatn area as it just seems to change from one day to the next.

After a good breakfast including Steve topping up his cod liver oil levels, we headed back out but didn't get far. About 20m to be precise as there was a Snipe feeding along the top of a grass embankment on the edge of the hotel car park. Its raised position giving the appearance of photographing the bird at ground level. The overhead cloud was starting to break up.

Off down the road once more, for another Myvatn circuit. Crossing a small swift flowing river we spotted a couple of Harlequin Ducks lurking in the quieter flowing margins and so stopped for a short while to try and get some photographs.

Back on the road with our noisy studded snow tyres, we decided to head right round the other side of the lake and back to the area around the Bird Museum, picking up a dozing Snipe en route.

Driving up the Museum track we found a very vocal Black-tailed Godwit calling from a grass mound with a Whimbrel stalking around about 2 metres away. We parked up and once again headed off in separate directions.

It was all to much so I decided to have a lay down round the back of the Museum building, although with good reason as there were a pair of Slavonian Grebes drifting slowly on the still water. I managed to position myself so that the reflection of a volcano in the background created some nice dark water to show off the colours of the birds against.

I wandered back round and found Steve down the bottom of an embankment having some fun with a group of hyperactive Red-necked Phalaropes. This was turning into a busy morning! A few more Phalarope photos were consigned to the memory card.

Behind me the noisy Godwit was still strutting its stuff on the grass mound, so I left Steve with the tiny waders and spent some time creeping up on what turned out to be a very accommodating bird. This allowed me to get a range of photos with different background just be slightly shifting my position up and down the mound.

Not bad for morning's work as it was close to midday now. The warm still air had encouraged a small explosion of non-biting midges from the lake. A hint of what could happen if the conditions had not been so cold. I can imagine 'Midge Lake' thoroughly deserves its name at certain times of year. 

I think this is one of the days when we forgot to have lunch as we were so absorbed in the photography. This had a few times over the trip and we would suddenly realise we were starving around 5pm.  Once again we hit the Myvatn circuit. We stopped off by a lake at a small nature reserve area on the east bank. As we made our way down to the lake, clouds of flies erupted from the grass. The dense swarms producing an audible humming in the air. We didn't stop there long and carried on to the River Laxa bridge. It was clouding up again and I was starting to wonder if I would actually ever get some Harlequin Duck in some sunlight. We stopped a while and took some photos before moving on once more with a view to returning when the distant blue sky had made its way over.

 

We headed back towards the Hotel and decided to try a large slightly raised isolated lake immediately to the west known as Stakholstjorn. This place had a very strange landscape of mini volcanic pseudocraters. An Arctic Tern on a post posed for us at the start of the footpath. These terns were very common in Iceland but strangely this is one of the very few photographs I took of them during the whole trip. 

We went our separate ways once more with Steve heading off to a small pool at the very far end and I decided to hang back for a Long-tailed Duck.

 

Moving on around the lake, I saw two large black birds at distance and then heard that eerie haunting wail of the Great Northern Diver which echoed around the weird landscape. Such a beautiful evocative sound. One of the birds only appeared close momentarily before diving and resurfacing a long way away. 

Walking past numerous Phalarope, a pair of whistling Wigeon caught my eye and ear next as I continued my walk around this large lake. 

While nearby several Whooper Swans were chasing each other about. The heads and bodies dis-coloured orange by the iron rich waters.

The bird above had a Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust ring and it is ironic to think that this swan may appear back in England in the winter at Martin Mere which is fairly close to my home. Meanwhile at the other end of the lake Steve was getting some stunning images of Slavonian Grebe on the small pool. I decided to spend some time with a pair of these birds on the main lake that were hunting sticklebacks in the margins. 

As you can see by this point the sun had finally reappeared, it was time to return to the River Laxa where we would finish our day by its rushing waters in some wonderful evening sunlight. Yes, finally some Harlequin Ducks in the sun.

It felt like we had squeezed a day and half into one but a very memorable one with a great variety of beautiful birds in such a stunning location. Myvatn had revealed its avian treasures. 

That night we went for Pizza and the forecast was not looking good for another day at Myvatn so we would be departing in the morning and heading northwards to try and keep with some better weather.