Iceland - Whale watching

On our first morning in Iceland (24th July) we joined a whale watching boat out which was sailing out of Reykjavik for a few hours. The weather was perfect - completely flat water and bright but cloudy. For once we got lucky as it proved there were above average numbers of cetaceans in Faxaflói Bay that day...

 We had been on the water for just half an hour when a pod of 4 White-beaked Dolphins swam past the boat. Our next two cetacean sightings were also of White-beaked Dolpins with another 2 to our west and another very distant pod of 4 to our north.

My Dad then picked up our first Minke Whale of the trip however we kept of sailing as the guides had spotted a Humpback Whale in the distance. At least another two Minkes were seen during our boat trip. We also passed a couple of Harbour Porpoises on our way to the whale. We were treated to some great views of the Humpback Whale at very close quarters and were able to see another three Humpbacks as the boat did a big loop around Faxaflói Bay and a fifth individual was to the west of Reykjavik on the way back. This last whale had very limited amounts of white on its flukes.

At one stage we had two Humpback Whales feeding right alongside each other, one of which was slamming its pectoral flippers into the water to stun fish as well as lunge-feeding. Here's our full totals...

5 Humpback Whales
3 Minke Whales
10 White-beaked Dolphin
2 Harbour Porpoise

Not only this but we also had our first ever 'Blue' Fulmar fly past the boat - photos of this on tomorrow's blog post. It was certainty a very memorable trip and a great start to our Iceland holiday!

Humpback Whales - photos ordered to roughly show from surfacing to a deep dive.

Some photos of unusual Humpback behaviour...

Using its flippers to stun fish

Lunge-feeding - swimming fast towards the surface with its mouth open and breaking the surface to catch fish. Record shot as was very unexpected!

Minke Whale

White-beaked Dolphin record shots

Icelandic landscapes...

I've just returned from a family holiday to Iceland and on this post I'll upload some of my favourite photos I took of the impressive landscapes...

Pingvellir National Park

Famous for being the site of the world's first parliament as well as being where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet, we visited the park as part of the Golden Circle tour.

Gullfoss Waterfall

Our next stop on the Golden Circle was the huge and very impressive Gullfoss Waterfall. The sunny weather meant a rainbow was visible in the spray...

Geysir Geothermal Area

Something I'd always wanted to see was a geyser erupting and here I was able to do that when Strokkur shot water into the air every few minutes. Also in the area were a number of hot springs and fumaroles along with a distict smell of sulphur.

Kerið Volcanic Crater Lake

Another place we stopped at was the Kerið crater. It was formed when the magma chamber of the volcano collapsed during an eruption. 

Reykjavik

We spent a number of evenings as well as our final morning exploring Iceland's capital. The highlight was probably the view from the top of the Hallgrímskirkja church looking over the city.

Sólfar (Sun Voyager)

Fríkirkjan í Reykjavík church behind Tjörnin

The town lake - known in Icelandic as Tjörnin

Volcanoes

A number of vocanoes were seen during our trip including...

Eyjafjallajökull - famous for its 2010 eruption which halted air travel in most of Europe

Hekla

A few random photos of Iceland (last two taken from the plane window on the way back)...

One of Iceland's many fault lines created as the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates pull apart.

Volcanic crater

Local birding...

Spent the morning on the patch where there is signs of autumn migration getting underway...

The vegetation at Druridge Pools is starting to get quite tall and it was difficult to determine just how many Greenshank were present. Eventually we confirmed five different birds. These were new for the patch year list, as was a flyover Common Sandpiper.Other waders here included 2 Ruff (adult and juvenile) and a Black-tailed Godwit. 2 Little Egrets were also on the Budge Fields and 2 Goosanders were on the north pool, it seems to have been a good year for these on the patch. An adult Mediterranean Gull was with the Black-headed Gulls in the field to the west.

East Chevington was quieter with a singing Grasshopper Warbler and an Arctic Skua offshore along with 4 Little Terns.

The water levels at Cresswell Pond were looking great today and were proving very attractive to waders: 12 Black-tailed Godwits, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Ruff, 1 Knot, 3 Common Sandpiper, 2 Avocets (including a colour-ringed immature) and lots of Dunlin and Curlew. 2 adult Mediterranean Gulls were sat on the west spit along with 3 Little Egrets and 2 Yellow Wagtail were near the causeway.

PWC 2016
Species: 148
Points: 193

Staying quiet...

Had a morning to spare so headed out to the patch today. Once again it was quiet with no additions for Patchwork Challenge though a few common birds kept us entertained.

First up was Druridge Pools where we managed our first good views of Yellow Wagtail this year with a pair of adults with 3 juveniles. There were also at least 15 Black-tailed Godwit, a fly over Whimbrel and Little Egret. A juvenile Wheatear was sowing nicely in front of the south-facing hide. The male Marsh Harrier flew over Druridge Pools and we saw two of the juveniles at Chevington later in the day.

10 more Black-tailed Godwit were at Cresswell Pond including a colour-ringed bird. Other waders here included a Ruff, Whimbrel and 2 Common Sandpiper. Pairs of Little Egrets and Water Rail were also on the pond and I picked up a Hobby flying north through the dunes.

Wheatear at Druridge Pools

Druridge Seawatching

On the way to the patch this morning we stopped on the River Wansbeck to have another look at the long-staying first-summer Bonaparte's Gull which was once again showing well.

Once we reached Druridge Pools the Budge Fields were once again quiet with 10 Black-tailed Godwits the only birds of note. We then headed to the dunes to do some seawatching. Roseate Tern was soon added to the year list and we picked up a pod of at least 8 Bottlenose Dolphins moving north quite a long way offshore. 5 Manx Shearwater flew north including two of the closest birds we've ever seen. 6 Golden Plover also flew south and 2 more Black-tailed Godwits came 'in off', perhaps a sign that the wader passage is starting to pick up..?

Chevington was also quiet apart from the burn mouth where I picked up 2 unexpected Great Northern Divers on the sea. They were in a winter type plumage so we guess they were non-breeding first-summers. A lone Bar-tailed Godwit flew north over the beach and my dad picked up a pod of 3 Harbour Porpoise off the beach.

We suspect there may be large numbers of fish in the bay with large numbers of terns and gannets seen today especially a long way out and there were more cetaceans than normal!

PWC 2016
Species: 144
Points: 190

Bonaparte's Gull