Our brief news item in March concerning golden plovers returning to Iceland didn’t foresee an important new record of their Icelandic distribution...

Golden plovers have bred on Surtsey for the first time reports the Icelandic Institute of Natural History. A recent expedition to the new volcanic island (Surtsey formed in an undersea volcanic eruption in 1963) discovered the plover’s nest. There are now 15 species of birds recorded breeding there.

Good news for plovers and it really is very interesting to see the continuing pattern of natural settlement occurring on the island.

Lóan er komin reports daily paper Morgunblaðið in a traditional news piece at this time of year when the first golden plovers return to Iceland following their winter migrations. It’s a sure sign that spring is not far away — though with the storm warning that’s in force it’s easy to think otherwise!

The first arrivals were seen in SE Iceland and it won’t be long before others start appearing all around the coasts. They have a lovely, though rather mournful, call which will be heard all over the country in the weeks ahead. The RSPB provides more information (including the chance to listen to the call) here.

These past few weeks have been something of a gyrfalcon bonanza with our bird watching groups reporting as many as four individuals on a single day’s birdwatching. The sightings have included a ‘white’ falcon, lots of hunting behaviours — including harassing fulmars prospecting nest sites — and several instances where the birds have been settled on the ground allowing wonderful telescope views.

There’s no doubt that travelling in wintertime Iceland can sometimes be a bit of a challenge but the rewards are often wonderful and well worth cold fingers and toes!

This question is often asked on our summer tours and now you’ve the chance to find out for yourself.



Iceland's wildlife has to struggle to survive the harsh winter conditions and often congregates around the coast or other sheltered areas. We expect to see several different species of wildfowl including harlequin ducks, perhaps surfing in the sea, and Barrow's goldeneye. There are lots of gulls including glaucous gull and the eponymous Iceland gull on the coasts and in harbours. Further inland we should encounter large flocks of snow buntings, ptarmigans in their white winter plumage, there's always the chance of a gyr falcon or even white-tailed eagle and, if we’re lucky, an arctic fox. Of course, all this is complemented by the dramatic landscapes and geology of Iceland and, if the skies are clear, displays of the aurora borealis.

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It's been a grand autumn for fungi and on our various forays we've discovered a fair few gems. Sifting through some photographs the other day we uncovered this one of fly agaric; a mushroom long held to have potent hallucinogenic properties. The fungus is just starting to unfold and in a little while will form a toadstool much loved by fairy tale authors. Further research led to the way the fungus was used by Sami people in northern Scandinavia — they fed it to reindeer and collected the urine to drink. Under its effects the reindeer appeared to 'fly' and this may be an explanation of Santa's method of transport at Christmas time.

And the link with Iceland? Well, the folklore is tenuous because Santa doesn't visit here instead the tradition is for children to be visited on the days leading up to Christmas by the Yule Lads. However, there's mention in many of the old tales of ‘berserkur', prized warriors of great strength who had a penchant for doing crazy things fuelled, perhaps, by fly agaric.

Ah, the things you learn on an autumn ramble in Iceland!

It's been a great year for gyrfalcon sightings. Always a favourite with our birdwatching groups this species seems to epitomise wild and rugged Iceland.

This year we've seen them regularly on our trips, sometimes at very close range and in great viewing conditions. The image here was taken in northern Iceland last month with a point and shoot camera — if only we'd had a decent telephoto!

The whale watching season is underway and we've just had an enjoyable trip with one of our wildlife groups. We sailed from Ólafsvík on the Snæfellsnes peninsula and had a wonderful encounter with a pod of killer whales and the glacier in the background.

Last week a full grown male polar bear was seen walking across farmland in northern Iceland. The bear was shot on the orders of the police as there was concern for the safety of people living nearby. Polar bears are occasional visitors to Iceland — the last one was seen in 1993 — when they drift across on pack ice. Here’s a summary of the story and you can see a film clip here.

Update 26 June 2008
Another bear, this time a female, was also discovered a little further north some days later. A rescue operation started but when the bear began to move away a decision was taken to shoot her. A subsequent examination showed that she was diseased. Since then there have been several reported sightings of more bears or their footprints all of which were disproved.

This northern bottlenose whale, Hyperoodon ampullatus, washed up on the south Iceland coastline at a favourite bird watching spot of ours near Stokkseyri the other day. Bottlenose whale sightings are fairly infrequent here and it was interesting to get a good view of this specimen. The whale was more than 8 metres in length and probably weighed in excess of 7 tons. Bottlenose whales (so called because when you see them from above the head and neck resemble a bottle, hence the ampullatus in the scientific name; incidentally, Hyperoodon means 'above tooth') belong to the rather mysterious family of beaked whales, Ziphiidae.

The lava rocks on which the carcass rests are of great interest as they comprise part of the enormous lava flow called Þjórsárhraun. This is thought to be the largest post glacial lava flow on the planet and is of great interest to geologists.

The Dutch National Museum of Natural History has an informative page on great auks accompanied by a 3D view of the specimen in its collection.
The provenance of the bird isn't known for certain but it is likely to have come from Eldey, a small island of the south west tip of Iceland, where the last two known great auks were killed in June 1844.

Perhaps this thought was in the mind of a very obliging common seal photographed in west Iceland last weekend!

It’s the time of year when harlequin ducks move away from the coast to inland streams and rivers to breed. The drakes, resplendent in their extraordinary vivid plumage, are now starting to show off and add a wonderful touch of colour to some very remote landscapes. Harlequins are a great favourite with our groups and we have had some very good views during these past days. You’ll often find them in the turbulent water at the bottom of a waterfall, surfing the crests of the fast-flowing water. The picture of these three males and a female was taken in west Iceland a couple of days ago.

are arriving in Iceland at the moment. They're a symbol of summer and it's lovely to see and hear them once again. We've been out and about rather a lot in southern Iceland these past few days and have noted many flocks of these birds returning to Iceland to breed.


The UK's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has a web page with more information about this delightful small wader including a link which allows you to listen to its plaintive call.

We’ve seen quite a few gyr falcons these past weeks. There’s been a falcon flying around the town of Hveragerði and just a couple of days ago one of our groups travelling with the UK based Heatherlea saw this young female at very close range — an unforgettable experience.

Gyr falcons have an almost mythical status for many birdwatchers and a recently published book about the species by Sale and Potopov is a must read if you want to learn more about this incredible raptor

We've recently returned from a trip to the north of Norway where we've been looking for the killer whales which come very close to shore at this time of year. They feed on the herring which shelter in the fjords and provide naturalists with a real wildlife treat. Additionally, white-tailed eagles occur in the area and feed on the fish left behind by the whales — spectacular. The trip was organised by The Travelling Naturalist and will be repeated in 2007. Woolly hats and warm clothes are necessary!

Whale watching has been spectacular this summer. We reported in July about the sperm whales that were visible from the coast of Snæfellsnes in west Iceland. Now comes news from the Husavík based company North Sailing of some recent, amazing sightings of humpback whales, including the individual in the photograph that reportedly breached 300 times in two hours of observations. You can see more of North Sailing's photographs here.

Arctic terns are a familiar sight over much of Iceland in the summertime. They are graceful fliers but surprisingly difficult to photograph well. This splendid shot was captured on one of our recent tours in west Iceland by Houston Chandler from Georgia, USA. We’re very grateful to him for his permission to allow us to reproduce it here.

You'll recall the oystercatcher nesting in the busy car park at a waterfall in southern Iceland ...

Well, sad to say but the nest was unsuccessful. Better luck next year and we hope they choose a better site.

We have had some wonderful sightings of sperm whales off the west coast of Iceland these past few weeks. Our groups have reported seeing them from land as well as on regular whale-watching boat trips. Last week's group also saw humpback whales, minke whales, orcas, white-beaked dolphins and harbour porpoises. Still no signs of any blue whales though but we're off to sea again in a couple of days and hopes are high. The picture is of sperm whale photographed last week.

Summer is icumen in. How do we know? Well, there have been lots of unusual migrant birds sighted these past few days and warm, easterly airflows seem to be the cause. Large numbers (perhaps 400 or so) of barn swallows have been recorded, chiffchaffs and willow warblers have popped up in quite a few places, and, wonder of wonders, a common crane has been sighted near Eyrabakki in the south of Iceland, whilst a black-crowned night heron delighted observers at Neskaupstaðir in eastern Iceland.

The regular migrants have just about all arrived, whimbrels, black-tailed godwits and redshanks are all rather noisy at the moment, whilst the first of the red-necked phalaropes turned up a few days ago.

We'll be out and about at the weekend and are hopeful that several of these ornithological curiosities will still be present ...

Last week's post about örninn, the eagle, prompted some of our readers to mention the similarities between Ari Eggertsson's photograph and Tennyson's poem, The Eagle. To remind you:

The Eagle

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Sadly now extinct great auks were flightless seabirds related to puffins, razorbills and guillemots. The last known breeding site for the great auk was the island of Eldey off the coast of south west Iceland and perhaps the last two birds were killed there in early June 1844.

We run a splendid birdwatching tour for the Travelling Naturalist which pays homage to this magnificent bird and visits the sites inhabited by great auks and which are still home to countless numbers of seabirds. There are still some places on this year's tour which starts on the 28 May.

There's been a white-tailed eagle around us in southern Iceland these past few weeks and local teacher and wildlife enthusiast, Ari Eggertsson, managed to snap a dramatic profile of the bird perched on a lava block. Eagles are rather rare breeding birds in Iceland with perhaps just 37 breeding pairs and are usually found in the north west part of the country. You can learn more about these magnificent raptors and other threatened birds in Iceland at the Icelandic Society for the Protection of Birds' website. The title of this post by the way is simply, 'The Eagle'.

It's Sumardagurinn fyrsti, the first day of summer and a public holiday in Iceland. Always falling on a Thursday between April 19 and 25 its origins can be traced back to the earliest Icelandic records.

Whilst the weather has been distinctly winterish these last few days the birds at least seem to be celebrating Sumardagurinn fyrsti. Migrant waders are arriving in good numbers -- oystercatchers have been with us for some weeks, more and more golden plovers are evident and redshanks (like the bird in the photo) are just beginning to show up.

We know that summer is just around the corner ...

Large flocks of these attractive finches are around us at the moment. The weather at this time of year can be awful -- heavy snow and strong winds -- yet the birds seem undaunted and even in the worst conditions can be seen looking for food.

More harlequins from bird artist Mike Langman.

He's painted a wonderful picture of Iceland for the Travelling Naturalist 2006 brochure.

... is the title of an incredible new painting from talented bird artist and Iceland enthusiast, Mike Langman.

Each year non-breeding male harlequin ducks congregate together and are a magnificent sight for visiting birders. Mike has caught the mood in a very distinctive way in this portrayal of a group he saw on a visit last year. Prints are available and you can see more of Mike's work here