Svalbard

A bit different posting this time as I have just returned from a fantastic trip to the Arctic. It was a visit planned some time ago but a combination of the pandemic, flight cancellations and a late Covid testing scare meant I never really believed it would happen until we actually landed in Longyearbyen.

Here is my son breaking the law as you are not allowed to pass these signs on the edge of the town without an armed guard!

The town itself gave a chance for early contact with the typical birds of the archipelago with Snow Buntings everywhere…

And Arctic Skua…

And Eider nesting right next to the paths…

Incidentally these are of the ‘borealis’ race, a rare, but probably overlooked, visitor to the UK with yellow tones in the bill and little ‘sails’ on the males back…

It was then on to our boat, the Sea Spirit, for a trip up to northern Spitsbergen. I won’t bore everyone with all the details but a fantastic combination of amazing landscapes…

Some great birds including all four skuas, groups of King Eider, both Ivory and Sabine’s Gull (none of which I managed a good photo of!!)...

Arctic Terns

Brunnich's Guillemot

'Blue' Fulmars

Glaucous Gull

Ptarmigan

Purple Sandpiper

Iconic mammals, with four Polar Bears (including a well fed mother with two cubs)...

Walrus

Bearded Seal

Svalbard Reindeer (shorter legged than the mainland form as they don't have to outrun wolves!) 

The only disappointment is that we were a little too early for whales with multiple sightings of Minke (including my son spotting a full breaching animal) the only cetacean records.

There were even a few flowers…

A great selection of Moss Campion, Whitlow Grass and saxifrages in a tiny sheltered rock cleft

Mountain Avens in Isfjorden

A genuine once in a lifetime experience…

5th June 2022

Another quiet period in what has been a very poor spring locally. Numbers of even common migrants remain low. Swallows are missing from a number of regular nesting spots…

I haven’t found a single House Martin in Ainderby and only one or two pairs in Morton. Swift numbers are much lower and most warblers seem particularly scarce. This is particularly marked with Lesser Whitethroat. There are usually six to eight pairs in the parish but I have had only a single singing bird this year. The only species bucking this trend is Garden Warbler with the species outnumbering Blackcap this year…

One notable sighting was this Goosander with seven young. This is the first ducklings I have seen this far down the Swale…

On the plant front I found this very strange Dandelion (literally a spring plant!)…

It’s not clear what caused this but I suspect it is agricultural herbicide which doesn’t exactly fill you with confidence!

There is also this superb area of Kidney Vetch restricted to just one small site…

This is the only place I ever see Burnet Moths and it is alive with bees like this Common Carder…

I’ll also mention an excellent weekend away in Suffolk, a bit of culture, a bit of good food and a few new species including White Helleborine…

Pasqueflower…

And Adonis Blue…