Wednesday 30 July 2014

Huffin and Puffin!

Just finished two excellent Circumnavigation of Iceland trips onboard the National Geographic Explorer with Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic.  Just at Keflavik Airport in Iceland, and heading to London.  Will be based in the UK for a couple of weeks, visiting my folks, catching up with Sue Flood before heading to the British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water (15-17 Aug).

We had pretty good weather for much of the Iceland trips, calling in at Scoresby Sound in East Greenland on the way, and also a brief stop at Jan Mayen where we were able to land.  Probably the highlight of the last two trips around Iceland were the Atlantic puffins, which as always were stunning.  We had a couple of after dinner landings on Grimsey, where the second time we had a spectacular sunset, so managed some nice photos.  Also as always, Vigur Island was stunning and very lucky to see puffins that had been collected by the islanders and shown how they process them for their breasts, which are then eaten in restaurants around Iceland.

Looking forward to a few days off, a chance to catch up on some photo editing, and get my talk together for a talk I am giving at Drybridge House in Monmouthshire on the evening of Monday 4 Aug.  Check out this website for the flyer...and let your friends know about it!  Will have copies of my book Birds of New Zealand: A photographic guide available, and signed.

A puffin at sunset on Grimsey Island, just on the Arctic Circle.