Norway / Svalbard – in the Realm of the Polar Bear (8th-21st July 2013) (1 Viewer)

dandsblair said:

...so hope this is ringed and previous (other) is Harp.

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These are also Harp - lack of black face being due to young age. Excellent photo showing their typical behaviour too - swimming on their back, and 'bottling' right out above the surface.

Cracking trip report, and some brilliant photos. I've just returned from Svalbard, though as part of a marine mammal survey. We only covered the western coast of Spitsbergen as far north as Magdalena Bay, but still came up trumps with Walrus and a single Polar Bear. We also cleaned up on pinnipeds, with a big male Hooded Seal near Ny-Alesund being the highlight. Your bear shots are truly gripping!

Some nice shots of Humpies too - I have a feeling the western shelf-edge off of Spitsbergen is under-covered for marine mammals - we had at least 18 Blue Whales, along with plenty of Fin, Sei, Minke, Humpback, Sperm and a few Beluga west of Ny-Alesund. Still lots to be explored up there! Now I'm wondering whether to start my own trip report, yours has been a little inspiring!

Seal clarification

KRS1 said:

These are also Harp - lack of black face being due to young age. Excellent photo showing their typical behaviour too - swimming on their back, and 'bottling' right out above the surface.

Cracking trip report, and some brilliant photos. I've just returned from Svalbard, though as part of a marine mammal survey. We only covered the western coast of Spitsbergen as far north as Magdalena Bay, but still came up trumps with Walrus and a single Polar Bear. We also cleaned up on pinnipeds, with a big male Hooded Seal near Ny-Alesund being the highlight. Your bear shots are truly gripping!

Some nice shots of Humpies too - I have a feeling the western shelf-edge off of Spitsbergen is under-covered for marine mammals - we had at least 18 Blue Whales, along with plenty of Fin, Sei, Minke, Humpback, Sperm and a few Beluga west of Ny-Alesund. Still lots to be explored up there! Now I'm wondering whether to start my own trip report, yours has been a little inspiring!

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Thanks, I thought it looked different to the ringed seals we had seen clearly earlier in the trip but had failed to photograph.
I would certainly welcome you report particularly any photos of whales

Finally some little auks close up

Smeerenburgfjord & Magdalenefjord

We awoke to overcast conditions and a strong wind that was gusting over 30 knots. Our planned Zodiac trip for Little Auks was not to be in such conditions. So we continued on our way, sailing down Smeerenburgfjord heading for our next destination Magdalenefjord. This is the second most visited place in Svalbard after Longyearbyen despite its relative remoteness. It is easy to see the attraction as we enter the picture postcard scene just after 9am. Fortunately it is almost completely calm in the fjord so we can get to a little auk colony (at last).

Large numbers of guillemots, gulls and terns are nesting on the rocky slopes and beaches of the fjord and we soon spot the thousands of dovekies as we approach the steep slopes. It is not possible to get out and walk on this side of the fjord but Guy did let me step out on to large rock at the water’s edge to at least allow me to get a few steady shots of the little auks, after that it was just a case of enjoying the huge number of birds coming and going..

After lunch we landed on the beach at Gravneset, an old whaler’s site, where men reduced the animals’ blubber to oil. Darkened patches and circles are all that remain today of the blubber ovens that were used. 100+ graves are on the low hummock just behind the beach and the area is now cordoned off to protect the gravesites, although the breeding arctic terns do a good job in keeping you away from the roped off area.

The weather this afternoon was near perfect and some passengers went for a polar plunge. We decided to go for a walk into the hills and found breeding Common Eider, Puffin, Arctic Skua and loads of Snow Bunting in family groupings.

In late afternoon /early evening the Captain brought the ship right up to the face of the Waggonwaybreen glacier for closer viewing of the ice and dinner was a barbecue on deck! A very nice way to end the day which started a little disappointingly, watching Kittiwakes and Fulmars on Ice with the toing and froing of Black Guillemots and Little Auks on to the hills.

Nearly there

The final full day of our voyage started under blue skies and an unseasonably warm temperature, with a really weird mist along the far side of the Isfjord. From the deck we were able to see a flock of eider with two King Eider amongst them albeit they were distant and heading towards eclipse plumage, we also saw Pink Foot and Barnacle Geese from the ship. The morning excursion took us to Alkhornet, a scenic mountain on the northern side of Isfjord. A noisy Kittiwake and Brünich’s Guillemots bird cliff set the stage for a nice walk through the rich tundra.
We were entertained by nice reindeer herd, a skulking Arctic fox and a pair of aggressive, dive-bombing Arctic Skuas who when not attacking passengers dive bombed the reindeer.

The final afternoon was a Zodiac cruise along the impressive Sveabreen glacier. Nearly 2 miles across the face, we viewed a number of significant calvings, one of which almost got some Kayakers. Arctic Terns and Kittiwakes resting on small bergy bits and a swimming Bearded Seal provided photographic opportunities as we soaked up the sun.

Auk and Guillemot cliffs

Just a few shots of Little Auks, Skua and Brunich's Guillemot

Superb trip, certainly sounds my cup of tea ...albeit a rather expensive one I presume

cost

Jos Stratford said:

Superb trip, certainly sounds my cup of tea ...albeit a rather expensive one I presume

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Flights from Manchester and nights in Oslo and Longyearbyen was approx. £600pp but as you say cruise element even with early booking isn't cheap, although some singles who did late or very early booking got it for around £1900, we paid a bit more but compared to trying to do Svalbard with camping and dedicated guides we still thought it was best value for us.

Off the Boat

One last zodiac ride across to Longyearbyen early on Friday 19th as the ship had to give up the dock to another cruise ship. Still it was all done very efficiently without anyone getting wet, good job as this was the first zodiac ride without wellingtons and waterproof trousers.
20 minutes later we had dropped off our luggage at the Radisson SAS and donated our bright red parkas to a Greenland charity run by Gadventures, (who knows in a few years time we might see two Explorer Antarctica coats being worn by locals in Greenland) but for us two trips was enough wear for us.

Plan was to spend 4 or 5 hours doing last walk around Longyearbyen before catching our flight to Oslo mid afternoon.
Birds seen were pretty similar to first time hear, we had the still cranky Arctic Terns and Arctic Skuas both attacking anything in the vicinity, the loads of eiders and Barnacle Geese with chicks including one White (leucustic goose), Glaucous Gulls, Purple Sandpipers, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and a new one for the trip Grey Plover . Snow Buntings were also still numerous.

The plane journey was not uneventful with a guy fainting in the aisle and hitting his head on the drinks trolley where he seemed to hang for a second or two and I just about managed to catch him and help him gently into the aisle and a recovery position, fortunately some medical personal were on the flight and they established that it was probably a diabetic faint and after some chocolate and drinks he was able to get off the plane at Tromso, clear customs with the rest of us then continue with no major ill effects to Oslo.

Getting train into Sentral Station was easy once we realized S was was for Central not South at the auto ticket booth; we went for cheaper option of normal train which takes about 5 minutes longer than Flytoget but is closer to the exit we wanted for our hotel, which we found without any hiccups despite me forgetting the address as I had fortunately remembered roughly where it was on the map and we walked directly to it.

We had one full day for Birdwatching / sightseeing and with apologies to Rixy who recommended Maridalen, we went for Vigeland Sculpture Park which had a few ponds and some reasonable woods and shrubs at the margins and the Norwegian Folk Museum and surrounds in Bygdoy.
Birding was OK for a city and we got quite a few trip ticks.

In Vigeland Park we got a fly over White Stork, Fieldfare Grey Heron, GreyLag Geese, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Greenfinch, Goldfinch and at the far extreme by a little stream with some reeds an unexpected Thrush Nightingale, Blackbird and Spotted Flycatcher.

Whilst at Bygdoy we had a first Nuthatch, Treecreeper and Herring, Black-headed and Common Gulls.

The end

Trip back to Manchester the next day was without incident, so all in all a highly successful trip with the key mammals of Polar Bear, Walrus, Reindeer, Arctic Fox and quite a few seals and whales all seen well.
Birds were never the focus of this trip but we were really pleased with the Nutcracker which was a complete surprise although in looking at the field guide and habitat description probably isn’t that unexpected.

I attach a map so people can look at the route we eventually took around Svalbard, although up until a few days before we passed some areas round Nordaustlandet it still had fast ice, so it probably isn't certain that you could get round any earlier in the year.

dandsblair said:

We were just off the bus, fortunately with our bins around our necks when two birds flew up from near the bins, they were Nutcrackers – I couldn’t believe that these birds which we had never seen before and which I believe are usual secretive were so openly viewed.

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Just a comment on your day one. You are fortunate to have been travelling in late summer - Nutcrackers are generally rather secretive for much of the year (but still not wary of humans when found), but in the late summer period, especially middle August to early September, but to a degree in July too, they are dispersing/seeking out hazel crops/migrating and become very visible. As an example, I routinely see a Nutcracker perhaps every two or three months outside this period, but in this concentrated period, I see them daily on my land and in a good year, ten to twenty a day is not that unusual. Three yesterday in my hazel groves.

thanks David and Sarah,
very nice report,
James

What a fantastic report. My foreign birding trips tend to be to hot climes, although a short trip to Iceland last year was fantastic. Your report certainly inspires me to put the
arctic on the list.

Thanks for sharing.

Roberta

A terrific report - wonderful shots of the Barnacle Geese, Dovekies and Purple Sandpiper along with all the mammals.

Cheers
Mike

Thanks - and Ivory Gull photo as requested

Thanks for the feedback.

And with thanks to John Gordon who was taking photos rather than just watching and enjoying an Ivory Gull - photo attached.

Also fairly short list of sightings.

"Ask and it shall be given unto you!"

Terrific - thanks for posting this

Cheers
Mike