B1RDER: The birding blog of Eco-Vista

Sunday, 17 June 2012

Norway scenes

Well we are in Oslo now, having completed a really nice land-based tour of the southern part of Norway, between Bergen and Oslo. The weather overall has been pretty good, with only a bit of rain, and mostly when it didn't matter too much. Today in Oslo is raining pretty well, and this afternoons tour of the local sights could be a little damp. We then have a welcome cocktail party with all the guests for the ship and fly to Svalbard early in the morning.

There has only been fourteen of us, plus Vivian our local guide, on this part of the trip, so a nice small group, and good fun bunch. We had two nights in Bergen, with a lovely sunny day up Mt Floyen and around the city, before then heading through the next day to Lofthus on the Hardanger Fjord. On the way we did the famous Flam Railway, and a nice cruise on a ferry from Flamsbana to Gudvangen through Aurlandsfjord and Naeroyfjorden. Some lovely scenery that really reminded me of New Zealand, but with small houses and farms, orchards, etc scattered around the place. We had two nights at a lovely hotel right on the shore of the Fjord – Ullensvang Hotel – a place where Edvard Greig used to come and stay. Visited a few local sights and I led a hike up to some beautiful waterfalls through some forest. We haven’t seen a huge number of bird species, but did get a long-yeared owl on the hike which was nice (of course I had left my 400mm lens at the hotel!), and have seen a few other nice things – spotted flycatcher, fieldfare, etc. Also got a lifer in the form of a pair of common cranes in a field on the drive across to Oslo yesterday. We made some stops along the way and again passed through some stunning scenery.

So looking forward to getting to Svalbard tomorrow, but of course not necessarily looking forward to the 5:00am wakeup! Let’s hope the people at the airport checkin are nice tomorrow and don’t want to weigh my hand luggage!!!

Edvard Greig's house just out of Bergen

Inside the rebuilt Stave church just outside Bergen

The 'Leper' listening post in the Stave church

Impressive viking dragonson the Stave church

Bergen from Mt Floyen

Sunny days

Common gull in the Fjords

Small towns along the coast of the Fjords

Stunning scenery and ferries abound

More waterfalls than you can poke a stick at!

And little shacks on the shoreline

Waterfall....yawn!

Waterfall reflection...are you serious!?

Old style rooves grass and massive stone tiles, note the traditional flagstone with rock on top chimney cap.

Where's the goat?

Norwegian weaving

Even the oystercatchers think the rooves are fine places to nest on

Waiting for the tourists to bugger off before I go back to my nest!

Alchemilla...the alchemists plant

Water droplets on the leaf of Alchemilla

The waterfall we walked to

The morning view, beaut!

Another waterfall...

Stunning glacial valleys

A stave church in Torpo, with the replacement beside it, the Stave church was mostly torn down, but luckily this part saved.

Wednesday, 6 June 2012

Bye Bye MV Island Sky

Well hard to believe another three weeks have passed, and my time aboard the MV Island Sky has ended. Just on the train south from Edinburgh, heading for Chester to stay with Sue Flood to catch up for a night.

The last cruise was incredible, with fantastic weather almost throughout. Sunshine and more sunshine in Scotland, and although we missed Fair Isle due to strong winds and not being sure we would be able to land, we did everything else we planned. St Kilda was outstanding, with it being (I think) my seventh visit there, and I’ve managed to land everytime...a pretty good record considering. It is a very weather dependent landing, and so I have been lucky to date. We had beautiful sunshine the whole day, and landed in the morning and then zodiac cruised around Dun in the afternoon. Managed to snap some nice fulmar shots in the morning, as well as a St Kilda wren, and perhaps the highlight of the day for me was showing a gentleman whose father had written the first modern scientific paper on the wren, one of the birds in question. Very cool.

During the zodiac cruise there were thousands of puffins along the island and on the water, and so we had great views of them, plus all the other regulars including guillemots and kittiwakes. Some superb cruising through caves and arches, and stunning colours in the water. A great afternoon and then finished with a cruise past the stacks and Boreray with 60,000 breeding pairs of gannets.

Next day was Inverewe Gardens in the morning and the Summer Isles in the afternoon, with another glorious day of sunshine. Great views from the top of Tanera Mor. The following day in Shetland was again sunny, but breezy (hence missing Fair Isle) and so we made the usual stops in the morning and then some time in Lerwick in the afternoon. Lots of Shetland ponies around and starlings were feeding chicks in the stonewalls around Jarlshof. Sumburgh Head had a few puffins coming out of their burrows, so managed a couple of snaps, but nothing to rival some of my shots from last year.

Yesterday was on Orkney, with the odd shower of rain, and quite cold, but the sun shone every now and then. We had spectacular views of two short-eared owls from the bus, which was great. The afternoon was at sea as we headed down to Leith...arriving early this morning.

So now I have a night with Sue, then four nights with Mum and Dad, before flying to Norway for the next adventure! Some photos below, and a lot more on my Eco-Vista facebook page.