ICELAND

Trip With my Mum and Dad, therefore birding not the priority of the trip!

10th

Midday Flight from LDN Stanstead to Keflavik

First Birds were seen pretty much instantly on arrival with a Ringed Plover on the Runway and female snow bunting around the Airport Car park. Then Whooper Swan, Raven, Slavonian Grebe, Arctic Skua among the birds seen during the drive to the Hotel, overlooking the Harbour at Hafnarfjörður.

An evening tour of the Reykjavík area produced Large numbers of Breeding Arctic Terns, many with chicks, in the city centre! Also on lake Tjörnin in the city centre, Scaup (with young), 5 adult Whooper Swan and Eider! An Adult Glaucous Gull was at Bygggarðstangi aswell as a few summer plumaged Dunlins and Turnstones. Nr. Bakkatjörn & Suðournes Golf Course there were several summer plumage Purple Sandpipers, 3 male Red-necked Phalaropes, female Wigeon and several immature Glaucous Gulls. On the way back to the hotel we picked up several Icelandic Redpolls at öskjuhlið and a Whimbrel sat on a lamp post in Reykjavík!

11th
Went on a Whale watching pelagic out of Hafnarfjörður, Raven and Redwing showed well around the Harbour while waiting for the boat. Birds seen on the trip included lots of Fulmar, another immature Glauc, Puffin (apparently the commonest breeding bird in Iceland & on the menus of many local restaurants!), 2 Bonxie and several Storm Petrels. As far as cetaceans went the trip was quite disappointing with only 1 harbour Porpoise and a few quite distant Minkie Whale.

Back on the mainland and we went twitching!! We found the 1st summer Semipalmated Plover (2nd Icelandic record!) feeding on Sandgerði beach with ringed plovers! From here we carried on round the Rekaynes Peninsular, south-west of Reykjavík, seeing Snow Bunting, Arctic Skua, Wheatear, Golden Plovers, ad my highlight of the trip, a flock of 500+ Red-Necked Phalaropes!! These we found on a lake near Hafnaberg and included males, females and summer and winter plumaged birds, all feeding within an arms length without giving me a second glance!!

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12th
Today we visited Lake Þingvallavatn (the largest lake on Iceland) c25-30 miles west of Reykjavík. It was surprisingly quiet on the main lake with only a few whooper swans and Arctic terns seen. At the southend however there were c20 Barrow’s Goldeneyes (a selection of immatures and moulting adults) on the river Sog with Tuftys!

From here we headed up to Gullfoss Falls and the Stori Geysir, both very impressive but little in the way in bird life apart from a few Black-tailed godwits and high concentrations of Golden Plover! We also saw part of the Langjökull Glacier in the distance!

From here we headed south towards the Eyrarbakki area. Here there was no sign of the reported Little Egret!! But we did see huge numbers of eiders on the beach, 1 purple sandpiper, Black Guillemot (flew East), Arctic Skua and a Red-necked Phalarope on the sea. An adult Red-throated Diver was on marshes just inland with 2 well grown chicks.

On the way back we saw a female Ptarmigan by the road (1), when we stopped we could see she was with 4-5 young chicks!

13th
From Reykjavík we headed north to Stykkishólmur, on the way the only bird of note was a smart sum plum Gt Northern Diver. From here we took a wildlife cruise into Breiðafjörður. Here we saw lots of Puffins, Black Guillemot, 2 Red-Necked Phalarope, Snow Bunting, Red-throated diver and a pair of White Tailed Eagle by their nest with 1 well grown chick.

From here, we travelled west, round the Snǽfellsnes peninsular, seeing lots of Glaucous Gulls, several hundred Red-necked phalaropes near Rif + others scattered elsewhere, Snow Buntings, 3 Harlequin (1 moulting male, 1 female, 1 mostly out of sight!) distantly on rocks near övdrerðarnes.

14th
A trip to the Westman Islands today, just off the south coast, most of the morning was spent driving around deciding what to do! Then hopped on a charter flight and spent much of the afternoon on the islands! Very Interesting place, basically just a huge lava field with a few houses sticking out in places. Birding pretty quiet really, highlight however, was seeing 5 Auk species in the same scope view! Puffin, Razorbill, Common, Brunnich’s and Black Guillemot all in the Harbour!

15th

A look around the Keflavik area prior tour return flight produces, Bonxie, juvenile Wheatear, 2 slav grebe + chick (near Reykjavík), Arctic Skua, Red-necked Phalarope and Snow buntings around the airport!

15:00 flight back to LDN Stanstead

Total of 59 Species!! For more pics + a complete list click here!

Summary

Fantastic trip to an amazing country, much of the scenery was spectacular and very different to anywhere I’ve been before! the week we were there sunset was around 23:30 and sunrise was approx 02:00 so it didn’t ever get completely dark which was a bit difficult to get used to!! Missed a few species I would have liked to have seen (notably GYR!) but didn’t have the time to travel too far (and it wasn’t a birding trip!)! The highlight for me, without question, was the Red-necked Phalaropes near Hafnaberg. It was completely unexpected + helped boost RNPhal into pole position as my favourite bird!!!

LEFT - GOLDEN PLOVER - Westman Islands

RIGHT - Sunset at Hafnarfjörður harbour

ALL PICS taken with a SONY DCR PC9 camcorder + some using Opticron HR66 telescope