We travelled on the MS Braemar to Iceland leaving Dover on the 31st July. We arrived in the Faroe Islands 2 days later. During the journey to the Faroes’ we were followed by Great Skua, Gannets, Kittiwake and Fulmars. We saw lots of Puffin and Guillemots. The port of arrival was Torshavn. We walked around the dock area away from the town and followed the coast till we cut inland into the top part of the town where we found a small park with streams and wooded areas. On the way to the park we saw the first of many Eider Duck, a pair of Common Scoter and Tufted Ducks. In gardens we saw Wheatear and a Meadow Pipit. There were loads of Artic Terns flying overhead.
When we entered the park we saw our first Redwing. We also saw Hooded Crows, Sparrows, Blackbirds, a Robin and some Rock Doves.
In the afternoon we went on a ship organised coach trip to the villages of Saksun and Kollafjordur where we saw some Whooper Swans and our first Artic Skua.
The ship then travelled to Iceland. We docked in Reykjavik for 2 nights. We had brought a copy of David Lindo’s two bird trip reports based in Iceland. We followed his suggestion and took a taxi to Bakkatjorn Lake on the Seltjarnarnes peninsular west of the city. The driver charged 5000 ISK which is about £30 for an hour. You can get there by bus but it was a bank holiday and the buses were not running in the morning.
Unfortunately it was blowing a gale and whilst we knew we were looking at Red-necked Phalaropes the view was very distorted. We spent the rest of the day walking around the town. There is a largish lake in the centre of town which had some Greater Scaup, Ravens, Whooper Swans and gulls various. We went to the Botanical Gardens and saw Golden Plover, Blackbirds and White Wagtails.
As a consequence of the strong winds we decided to hire a car the following day. It was delivered at 9am. We chose a company called Route 1 and with petrol the car cost about £100.
In hindsight we should have booked it from the evening before so that we could have left earlier as we had to be back on board by 16.30.
It was a beautiful day weather wise and we revisited Bakkatjorn lake. This is a small lake on the other side of a coastal strip. It was full of Red necked Phalaropes, Dunlin, Greylag geese, Whooper Swans and ducks various. We also saw Snipe.
The coastal strip side had Red shanks, Golden Plover and Ring Plover.
We then drove to Ellidavtn Lake south of Reykjavik. This is a large lake formed when they built a dam. To get there we followed the A1 towards Vik and then took the A408. There are various stopping/viewing points around the lake. One of the first birds that we saw was a Great Northern Diver in pristine condition. The sound of the ‘Loons’ calling to each other was quite stunning. We also saw a Slovenian Grebe, Red-breasted Merganser, Tufted and Eider ducks.
On the way back to the ship we stopped off in the Botanical Gardens again and saw a flock of newly fledged Redpoll. These are somewhat bigger than the ones we get in the UK.
The next day we docked in Isjafjordin. We had booked a trip via the ship to visit Vigor Island. This involved a 30 minute journey in a small boat. The island is a breeding ground for Puffin. They have about 80,000 in the spring. It was also full of Artic Tern and Black Guillemots. You had to look where you were going to avoid standing on the young of the tern. To our delight the many small waders which were moving like large mice about the stones on the shore turned out to be Purple Sandpipers. We also saw Snow Buntings. There were many Glaucous Gulls, Ravens, Black-headed Gulls and the ubiquitous Eider Ducks.
The following day we sailed into Husavik. Unfortunately we had an early departure so could only book a morning bird watching trip. I had made contact with Harald Johannesson of Wildlife Iceland
[email protected] and he arranged for Gaukar Hjartarson to be our guide.
Gaukar was waiting for us at Husavik Harbour and drove us around the local area for about 4 hours. Laxa River, Kaldbakur Ponds, Bakki and Kape Lynghofoi.
He asked for our wish list which was Harlequin Duck, Long-tailed Duck, Barrows Goldeneye and Ptarmigan and anything else he could show us. Within minutes we had seen our first Harlequin Duck, sadly because of the time of year not a male in breeding plumage but still a great find.
We saw Artic Tern, Merlin, Glaucous, Herring and Black- Headed Gulls, Fulmar and Kittiwake. Eider, Long- tailed Duck, Wigeon and Tufted Duck. Meadow Pipit, Redwing, Raven and Golden Plover. Whimbrel, Black-tailed Godwit, Redpoll and Slovenian Grebe. Barrows Golden Eye, Greater Scaup, Great Northern Diver and Red-necked Phalarope.
We also saw Wren. Gaukar believes that they will split the Wren from the European one because it has subtle differences and has been genetically in Iceland for thousands of years.
He was an excellent guide and he also showed us some geological features such as the fault line between the European plate and the American plate that lies very close to Husavik and a geyser. He is going to be at the Bird Fair and if you are planning a visit is the man to speak to.
We had a great time in Iceland and saw 4 new birds to add to our list.
