Day 5 - Back towards Reykjavik

We decided on a reasonably early start, so after a cup of tea and a last visit to the 'patch' we began the journey back towards Reykjavik. A huge flock of at least 500 snow buntings were perched on some house roofs and dropping into a garden where some grain had been put out for them. They were singing from the roof tops and zipping past us into the garden. The overnight snowfall made driving tricky and just before the layby overlooking Kolgrafjordur, moving over to let a lorry go by, the car slid off the road and down the bank. We had frequent offers of help from passers by, one who offered to tell the police in Grundarfjordur, and a call the emergency services had us pulled out and on our way in about an hour.
We drove back across the pass where the snowstorms of the past couple of days had covered the landscape in a blanket of white and turned left towards Laugervartn. The roads were reasonbly clear but the views were more expanses of snow. More snow started falling as we drove into Laugarvatn and we parked up in the car park of the visitors centre, walked across and sheltered under the roof to scan across the bit of lake that was ice free. Dotted across the lake were 22 Barrow's Goldeneye plus a few Mallard.
The drive back to Reykjavik and navigated our way to the harbour, hoping for the Glaucous-winged gull. we drove round as before but didn't see anything very hopful. A German birder came towards us and passed on the fact that there was a Brunich's Guillemot in the harbour so we parked up and walked over to the harbour wall. After a bit of scanning we found it feeding just outside the harbour and over the next few dives it covered quite large areas. We returned to the quayside and tossed some bread in themhope of attracting some gulls but they didn't really respond. However, the Eider flock scrambled for the bread and then an odd gull was spotted which looked a possible Glaucous-winged gull. We spent some time photographing it as well as a couple of Black Guillemots and some of the other gulls before it flew off.
It was getting quite dark so we decided to head for the Bed aand Breakfast Hotel, near the airport. The expected level 4 aurora activity had been downgraded to a level 1so we turned in but decided to get up reasonably early, have breakfast and then try for the King Eiders in Holguvik harbour. The harbour gates were closed and there were signs saying no entrty but we had a chat with the friendly guard, who explained that this was a 'Nato' port and there was a foreign ship in port so we couldn't go through the gates, however, if we parked round the side and walked through the tall containers we could walk round to the quay side. There were thousands of Fulmars and Eiders so we scanned through and eventually found a King Eider near the far bank. Among the Fulmars were at least 2 blue morphs, one of which came very close to the harbour wall. Time went fast and we had to leave for the airport and our flight home. After sorting out the complicated return of the car we dropped off our bags and made our way to the departure lounge before our flight home.


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Day 4 - Snow? More snow?

We got up and had breakfast, sorted out the lunch sandwiches and set off for the 'patch'. It took a while to clear the car from the snow falls of last night. The hybrid eider was back in the flock and in amongst the many gulls and eider were a small group of Harlequin ducks. We walked swiftly round the bay until we were about opposite and managed a few photos before they drifted further out. Our plan for today was to drive up to Stykkisholmur as a Gyr falcon had been reported hunting there recently and it was somewhere we hadn't been before. We stopped in the layby above Kolgrafjordur and watched a White-tailed Eagle as it flew down the valley and across the fjord. It headed for a group of gulls and appeared to take something from the surface before flying off over the hill.
The road to Stykkisholmur led through some amazing lava fields looking like a low, black forest before we drove down into the harbour. The weather was lovely with a blue sky and the sun shining as we parked up and scanned the cliffs which were covered in two different lichen, one orange on one face and one grey on the other faces. We then drove through the town and parked up where we could scan across the fjord to some islands. There were several gulls and eider in the water. A disturbance in the gulls alerted us to the presence of a gyr falcon flying along the cliffs opposite until it disappeared behind the buildings to our left. It began to snow so we decided on a hot chocolate but had to drive out to the petrol station as all the restaurants appeared closed. They didn't have chocolate so we settled for tea and coffee. While here we  filled up with fuel before returning to the look out where the gyr was spotted again briefly.
As the snow had got considerably heavier we decided it would be best to start the return journey. The visibility was so poor that we pulled into a parking area to wait for it to subside but as it didn't improve it seemed a good idea to get going before it got dark. The conditions back to Grundarfjordur were grim with near blizzard gusts although the road surface was generally fairly clear or just packed snow, but the icelandic roads all have fairly closely spaced yellow posts on the side of the road and we managed to follow these, other than a couple of times when they disappeared. Just before the Kolgrafjordur there was a line of stationary traffic where the police were trying to get a car out of the drifts. Eventually they pulled it back into the clearer area on the left and the traffic got moving again. In front of us was a car and a lorry which we thought would be good to follow through. As it set off it strugged a little but was soon moving and although we were quite happy to stay behind it it signalled us to pass so we did and continued into Grundarfjordur, very happy to be safely back at the hostel.
Later in the afternoon it cleared so the boys went back to the 'patch' until near dark as the skies had cleared.
We cooked up Carbonara in two huge pans and sorted photographs and chatted while checking the skies for aurora. We gave up about 11.30 but luckily MC checked the skies around 12.30 and woke us all up as there were some lovely aurora curtains over the Kirkjufell which flickered and came and went for about half an hour. They faded for a while but seemed to be returning so we got dressed up, sorted out the cameras and went out. The curtains didn't return but there were several ribbons which came and went for quite some time which we managed to photograph in a fashion and were still exciting to watch. We eventually came back in around 3.00 after a great experience.

Day 3 - Auks and Gulls

Following a slightly earlier breakfast we made our first stop at the patch where there were a lot less gulls than yesterday but still a good selection of different ages and species. We then drove west along the north coast of Snaefellsness visiting the harbours of Olafsvik, Rif and Hellisandur where there were a good selection of gulls to look at as well as Eiders to check through and work on the identity of common vs borealis. We also saw a Black Guillemot, a few Long-tailed ducks and a Red-throated and a Great Northern Diver.

Along the road there were some amazing ice columns and on most of the cliffs there were prospecting Fulmars. Although the weather wasn't great there were several dry spells between the snow showers and even some sunny spells so we decided to drive out to the cliffs at Ondverdanes to see if we could see any auks, especially Brunich's Guillemot. The road wound it's way across a huge black lava field until a T junction where we turned left and drove on across the stark landscape until we parked up where we could easily see the cliffs. A short, careful walk across the grassy tussocks and rough rocks and we reached a sheltered area where we could scan the sea and the cliffs.

We then drove on until we reached the lighthouse with two names as it can be seen from two directions, the sea and the land at Skalasnaga/Svortuloft Scanning through the telescopes found thousands of auks spread across the sea in long lines and we spent some time trying to identify Brunnich's. Although we were somewhat confident we had found some, the distance, light and sea spray meant that we couldn't be 100% certain so we finally gave up and returned to the hostel, via a second visit to Rif harbour, where they were busy loading and unloading fish and some of the gulls were taking advantage of the free fish guts for a meal.

We decided to eat out this evening  and as there is only a choice of Hotel, expensive, or Italian restaurant, we went for the restaurant and enjoyed a really nice meal.

Day 2 - A new 'Patch'

After the long day yesterday, not much light till well after 8 and with the weather fairly grotty we didn't get out until about 9. From the window we could see flocks of Eider, a few Mallard and several Harlequin ducks and in the strong winds there were 1000s of Fulmars flying past and wheeling up over the shoulders of the mountains. Our first stop was the fish factory outfall, or Patch, where there were thousands of birds feeding including Eider, Fulmar and both Iceland and Glaucous Gulls. An Oystercatcher picked about among the pink detritus on the shoreline, a single Black Guillemot dived among the Eider and we found last year's hybrid King Eider in amongst the other birds.

Our next stop was the harbour and a stream outlet along the bay where there were more loafing gulls, eider and some Oystercatchers and then hit the supermarket to stock up for meals for the next few days. As it was 11.30 we decided to have a burger and chips brunch which was very nice. We returned to the hostel, had a cup of tea and sorted out the shopping and then drove east to Kolgrafjordur, checking for Orca and then exploring down a track and driving out to Setberg until the track deteriorated. We then returned to the Grundarfjordur patch for a second look at the birds before going back to the hostel for a chicken and noodle supper.




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Iceland 2015 - Day 1 - Harbours and our hostel

A very early departure from home for a 7.45 flight from Luton meant we arrived in Iceland by midday and after collecting the car we headed for Keflavik harbour and the American White-winged Scoter. We managed to get quite close views opposite the rock sculptures before moving on to Helguvik harbour for King Eider.

 An abortive drive to the harbour and a chat with a very friendly guard who explained that the harbour was closed because a foreign ship was in, from Singapore, but it might be open tomorrow after the boat had sailed. We backtracked and found our way to the other side where we could look down into the harbour and were totally amazed by the numbers of Eider and white-winged gulls.Thousands and thousands!

 We eventually found a King Eider and then moved on to Reykjavik harbour to look for the Glaucous-winged Gull. We spent some time driving round looking at gulls and eider. Across the water we could see the Grimmskirka, the spectacular Reykjavik Cathedral.

On one quay there was a flock of about 50 Purple Sandpipers sitting around but we had no luck with the gull so we eventually decided to head for Grundarfjordur.

The roads outside Reykjavik were not too bad. We stopped at an N1 station and bought some milk, sausages and biscuits and carried on in the dark. The drive over Snaefellsness was quite snowy but we made it to reception just before 9.00pm, collected the keys and settled into the hostel. As nowhere was open for food we cooked up pasta and sausages before falling into bed after a very long day.

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