Iceland and Greenland Cruise

 My wife and I have always fancied going to Greenland - just because its one of those countries people don't really go for as a holiday destination - so, on the 21st June, we boarded Ambassador's Ambience for a 21 night cruise to Iceland and Greenland starting from Tilbury Docks in Essex. We were going to be at sea for 3 days before we landed at Reykjavik (smoky bay). Our sea days produced Kittewake, Guillemot, Fulmar and Herring Gull also Lesser-blacked Gull, Gannet but sadly, also lots of dead Gannets due to Avian Flu. We came across a few marine animals - Grey Seal, Harbour Porpoise, four Minke Whales and White-beaked Dolphin, sadly no images of any of them

Fulmar

Gannet

Great Shearwater

After 3 days at sea we arrived at Reykjavik. We have been here before a few years ago, but I had never seen their magnificent Church, so for  me and Sue that was our main aim but I made a school boy error in not taking my camera with me!(Doh!!) as in the centre of the town is a large lake (Tjornin) with breeding Arctic Terns; there were also Whooper Swans, Scaup coming to bread being given by the local children!  Widgeon, Tufted Duck, Greylag Goose and Ringed Plover were also there and other birds of  note were Redwing, Redpoll and Raven.

We had another two sea days before we would arrive at our first port of call in Greenland which gave me ample opportunity for some more sea watching. The only interesting sightings at sea were Great Shearwater, a distant Fin Whale and three Minke Whales - and our first 'growlers' and icebergs (in the Cape of Farewell)

 

Growler

One of many icebergs we encountered on our cruise

Great Shearwater resting on the sea

Great Shearwaters

Our first stop in Greenland was Qaqortoq - a town in Southern Greenland. There wasn't much on the birding front , with the only birds of note being Redpoll, Wheatear, flyover of a Red-breasted Merganser and our first gull in the shape of a Glaucous Gull. 

Heliport at Qaqortoq

Redpoll (heavily cropped image)

Northern Wheatear

Glaucous Gull in flight

Glaucous Gull  feeding in the harbour

The following day found us at Narsarsuaq - a very small hamlet but very interesting as it was originally built as an American airbase called Blue West One which played an important part in World War II. The only birds of note here were Lapland Bunting and Arctic Skua - but we managed to lose ourselves for a few hours in the Narsarsuaq Museum - absolutely amazing place, and so interesting! 

Another sea day which produced my first Blue Fulmar along with Iceland Gull, Pomerine Skua along with the usual suspects - and also a distant Sperm Whale.

Blue Fulmars flying by The Ambience

Our next port of call was Sisimuit - a much larger town than we had been to so far in Greenland. Sue was lucky enough to find a Snow Bunting's nest (which was on a rocky bank below the most beautiful rustic little church.) and both male and female were returning every couple of minutes with food for their young. It's amazing to see birds that I normally only get to see in winter plumage as migratory birds in their full summer plumage, and I had my best view of a male Lapland Bunting here.

Sisimuit

Femail Snow Bunting at nest entrance

Male Snow Bunting 

Summer plumage Lapland Buntings

Ilulissat was our next stop and we had an overnight hers so that people could take advantage of the midnight sun tours to the iceberg alley. Bird-wise, just the usual suspects again but quite a few Iceland Gulls in the harbour - and a Fin Whale blow from off the ship on the first day and the next day we had Humpback Whale blows in the distance .

The edge of iceberg alley

Ilulissat as seen from the ship

Glaucous Gull

Iceland Gull

Fin Whale blow

It's now July 4th and we are at sea on our way to Nuuk - the capital of Greenland. No new birds at sea but a couple of marine animals - a new tick for me with many sightings of Harp Seal and also a Minke Whale

Great Black-backed and Glaucous Gulls

Harp Seal

Minke Whale

Our final destination of Nuuk produced just the usual with no new birds but we enjoyed visiting the old harbour with it's museums and a spot of retail therapy in the shopping centre.

Nuuk from the ship

A beautiful blue iceberg as we were leaving Nuuk

We left Greenland behind and travelled through the Labrador Sea into the North Atlantic as we headed towards Kirkwall in the Orkney Isles for our final stop - a sea journey of four days. Added to our list were Manx and Sooty Shearwater, Leach's Petrel and also Puffin along with a few more Blue Fulmar.

Kirkwall

I've never been fortunate enough to visit the Orkney's before but I hope to go back if I can; Kirkwall is a lovely town with a beautiful cathedral , great shopping area and fantastic people! A few birds were added - Rock Pipit, Eider, Redshank, a Great Skua terrorising the local gulls and a very northern Sand Martin!  This was also the only place I saw Black Guillemot 

A raft of Common Eider

Fulmar with reflection

Great Skua (Bonxie)

Rock Pipit

Rock Dove flying around the ship a couple of miles out from Kirkwall 

Redshank in Kirkwall harbour

Oystercatcher

Northern Fulmar

On leaving Kirkwall we had a band of pipers for our sail-away which was a great end to our amazing cruise!

On our last full day at sea before returning to Tilbury dock, we were once again sad to see so many bird corpses - lots more Gannets and Auks - mainly Guillemot. I personally didn't see any dead Puffin though.

All in all, a great trip despite not getting closer views of cetaceans, which was a bit disappointing. 

As always, thanks for stopping by and I hope you have enjoyed reading about our adventure!

Next up - Shetland 2022!!

Mostly Local

Well, it's been a while again - don't know why I leave its so long!.... probably time and laziness (the latter being more probable). Anyway, a couple of mates David Gray and John Hague and I decided to try the 10k challenge (this is how many birds you can see within 10 kilometers of our homes within a twelve month period); this will be the very first time I have compiled a year list. There is a £20 bet on this challenge on who will see the most species, and the winner will donate the £60 to the charity of their choice. I must admit it does take you to places that you don't go to very often. So apart from a couple of twitches for the Belted Kingfisher [no images] up in Lancashire, and the Eleonora's Falcon down in Kent, I have mostly been fairly local, checking out local reserves, reservoirs and any 'birdy' places to try and see as many species as possible within a 10k radius. Wish me luck!

The Brambling above was one of several hundred found at Barton in the Beans (not by me) last winter. The flock also included Greenfinch, Linnet and Chaffinch and was quite an impressive sight!

Grey Wagtail at Thornton Reservoir with his lunch.

The images above and below are of a very confiding Cetti's Warbler at Wanlip Meadows

Again, above and below, images of Bittern at Cossington Meadows

Little Ringed Plover feeding at the outflow at Thornton Reservoir

Chiffchaff , again at the Thornton Reservoir outflow

Lesser Black-backed Gull at Thornton Reservoir

Grey Wagtail - one of a pair that were also feeding at the outflow of Thornton Reservoir

Gadwall at Groby Pool

Tufted Duck snoozing at Thornton Reservoir

Reed Bunting at Groby Pool

If you want really good views of Nuthatch, the feeding rock at Groby Pool is the place to visit

 

Can't beat a Grey Wagtail, can you? ..... wherever they pop up!

Coal Tit in my back garden

Ruddy Shellduck which was found with a pair of Egyptian Geese in late February at Cossington Lakes

This Mute Swan at Thornton wasn't a happy bunny if any other bird came into the 

vicinity - especially the Canada Geese!

The Resident Mandarin Duck at Thornton Reservoir which always takes

 a fancy to the female Mallards

Mallard drake at Swithland Reservoir

Common Gulls having a bit of a chat at Thornton Reservoir

Male Blackcap in the garden, seen mid February and visited our garden for at least

 42 days, feeding on sunflower hearts

Moorhen checking out it's reflection at Bagworth Heath

This was the twitch for the Eleonora's Falcon at the end of May at Worth Marsh 

in Kent - and what a great reserve this is!

This is just a general catch-up of my exploits in the UK - but I will be doing a post next of our recent trip to Iceland and Greenland..... as soon as I've downloaded the rest of the images  (getting a bit lazy in my old age)

As always, thanks for stopping by and I hope you are all keeping well 

Shetland 2021

 Sitting here on my backside thinking of Shetland, and realised that I hadn't posted a bit on the blog about our trip to the Northern Isles in October last year! Our group comprised of  Dave Gray, Andy Smith (a none birder but loves the outdoors) and me . We arrived on Shetland on the 29th September and would be there for 10 days, staying on the west side of the mainland at Aith, in a rented 3 bedroom house - which was excellent! We had decided to explore the west side of the mainland as it's not that well birded, and if either of us needed a new bird we would go for it. Our first morning started off really well with a juvenile Woodchat Shrike in our garden, and it was actually in residence during the whole of our stay.

Juvenile Woodchat Shrike

Juvenile Woodchat Shrike

A visit to The Dale of Walls produced a female Hen Harrier hunting low over the hillside but nothing else of note - although we did have our first otter at The Bridge of Walls which was good to see!  

During our stay, Dave and I noticed how many Chaffinch flocks there were - a lot more than we'd encountered on previous visits to Shetland! Every flock we saw had Brambling mixed in among them.

Male Brambling

As I have already said, we had decided to focus on the west side of the mainland which took us to places we had never been to before e.g. Lock of North House, where Dave picked up a Jack Snipe in his bins; other birds of note around this area :- Red Breasted Merganser; Black Guillemot; Wheatear; Twite and again, Brambling.  Dave asked me if I needed Semipalmated Sandpiper as one had been reported at the Pool of Virkie. Forty minutes later, with light fading, we arrived only to be told by James Shergold that said bird had flown - but had been lost in flight; however, a return visit the following morning produced my first 'tick' of the trip!

Twite

Wheatear

Hooded Crow

We continued birding in the same area for a while, when news broke of a Bonelli's Warbler at Easter Quarf, so off we went again, despite the bird not having been confirmed as Eastern or Western; Dave and I both needed the Eastern species.  It was confirmed as Western the following morning, having been identified on call.

Golden Plover

Out and about locally on our fourth day we saw Merlin; Blackcap; Richard'sPipit (which is a good bird for Shetland) and quite a few flocks of Golden Plover. Strangely noticeable by their absence were Yellow-browed Warbler; although we heard a few, Dave only saw one, whereas in previous years, they were viewed most days in good numbers. I didn't have a sighting at all. 

Around lunchtime a Red-eyed Vireo was reported at Brae. On arriving at Brae, we joined the many birders already there but the bird was being very elusive; it was a coulpe of hours before I was able to get my second tick of the trip.

Red-eyed Vireo

Meadow Pipit

October 5th and again, just general birding, seeing what we could find when news came up on the 'Shetland App'  to say James Shergold and crew had found a Radde's Warbler at Sullom. This was a bird I definitely needed for my list after dipping on it several times in the past, so we hot-footed it to the site. It was residing in a patch of nettles, and after a controlled flush, it landed in full view on a wire fence. I was really pleased to finally see one! After a short while, the bird returned to it's patch of nettles

Radde's Warbler

The next day we decided to go to Housabister in hope of seeing the White-billed Diver which had been seen in the bay. We were lucky enough to see our target bird along with Red-throated Diver.

While we were still at Housabister, an unusual  message came up on the App of a Monarch Butterfly in the sunken garden at The Sumburgh Hotel. Since Dave and I are also into butterflies, we headed off  in the hopes of seeing it - especially as I've never seen this species in the UK. Qiute a few birders turned up to see this small insect which had travelled thousands of miles from North America

Monarch Butterfly

Monarch Butterfly

The image below is a Common Pheasant - again, not a common sighting for Shetland; we bumped into this individual at Flawton looking very bedraggled in the heavy rain. we were also lucky enough to have another sighting of an Otter at Gott

Common Pheasant

Our final full day of our trip.......

We decided to stay local again and managed to pick up a Tundra Bean Goose which had been found the previous day in among a flock of Pink Footed Goose. We found three Slavonian Grebe at Whiteness Voe along with Redshank; Ringed Plover and Kittiwake. Also had Merlin again, sightings of Harbour Porpoise off Lunna Ness and two Otters at Levaneap. 

Pink Footed Geese

Redshank

Ringed Plover

Snipe

Whooper Swan

 We covered 850 miles in our 9 days on Shetland. I didn't expect to pick up three more British ticks - four if you include the Monarch Butterfly. 

It was also great to explore parts of the mainland which we've never visited before - even if we did run in to a few dead-ends from time to time!! 

All in all, a really good trip - and much needed after the couple of years we've all endured!

Many thanks to Dave and Andy for being great company (we did have some laughs - as always!!)

As always, thanks for dropping by - hope you enjoyed this snapshot of my trip to Shetland in October 2021. Here's to the next one!