Svalbard June 23rd - July 1st 2025
A trip of a lifetime hopefully communicated here with a fraction of the 20,000+ images I took in the eight days but it nearly started with a distaster as the metal connector on my Black Rapid strap actually sheared off on the first morning I was on the deck of the ship and the R6II and 100-500 hit the metal deck with a rather heart wrenching noise. Fortunately when I retrieved them all seemed to function with just the odd dent and even more fortunately I had lost my Black Rapid strap a few weeks previously and bought a new one which I had with me, only to re find the old one at a later date. The story starts here :
Reflected in the most northerly Co-op in the world a feature repeated in the most Northerly Toyota garage and Pub the latter a source of excellent food.
It all started when I was chatting to Roger over a typical Lincolnshire seawatch, not a lot happening and he mentioned a trip to Svalbard that was low in bird diversity but high in Arctic experience and with some very nice birds thrown in plus the chance of the elusive white bear. The price though seemed somewhat beyond our means. Fast forward to January 2025 and thinking about another trip to Cyprus or Canada and the Svalbard idea reappeared. Checking Roger’s source company we came to https://www.aqua-firma.com/ based in Cornwall and highly recommended by Roger. I looked online and casually showed the Svalbard Realm of the Polar Bear cruise to Mrs C who I thoroughly expected to say I am not going on any cruise and it looks cold but to my surprise she said that looks good and even the price tag was met with you only live once. A couple of phone calls later and we are booked on the https://www.aqua-firma.com/experiences/polar-bear-search-north-spitsbergen tour June 24th - July 1st. But then it hit home – boats and me are in general not a pleasant mix but it’s done now and Roger confirms they had no mosquitoes. A bit of research leads me to Stugeron-15 which are duly purchased. AQUA-FIRMA book the necessary flights and hotels and Julia’s brother agrees to a professional taxi service to Heathrow and back.
Coming in to Svalbard on the plane the views were amazing with crystal blue water and lots of snow - the new iPhone 15+ produced some really nice images through the plane window and the whole week it was all I used for landscape shots leaviong my 50mm and 24-105 kit lens redundant.
Glacier and landscape from the plane before landing in Longyearbyen
Approaching the airport there was less snow and the rugged terrain with stunning geographical features any glaciologist would be proud of
Part of the old mining infrastructure above Longyearbyen
An immediate reminder that you are in the far north outside the airport
The main street of Longyearbyen, well to be fair the only street
At the end of the main street you are out into wet tundra - marsh and the odd sight of skidoos just left all over - the main road, and there is not a lot of it, is mid image with people walking
It is immediately obvious that Barnacle Geese are everywhere feeding and nesting amongst the skidoos right on the edge of town
Barnacle Geese on the marsh on the edge of town taken with the wide angle iPhone
While many of the geese were sitting on nests built seemingly anywhere others had broods of small young that were being targeted by Glaucous Gulls
Solway in a few months time
A walk down the only road reveals a lot of breeding Arctic Terns plus Purple Sandpipers displaying everywhere and a few other waders including Dunlin, Tundra Ringed Plovers and one far too distant Grey / Red Phalarope
Not sure if it was thinking of a novel nest site
The light was very variable with low cloud making things a bit flat but when the sun poked through the refection off the snow was amazing
Many Arctic Tern nests were not exactly well hidden
Odd Arctic Skuas were patrolling the edge of the town marsh
In Svalbard terms this Black-headed Gull was probably the rarest bird I saw all week -
Several pairs of Glaucous Gulls and the odd immature were loafing around looking for an easy meal of duckling or gosling
Spot the King Eider - never saw any close in fact only saw a couple of males and female all week
Long-tailed Duck - pairs were only starting to occupy nesting pools in a late spring thaw
In the afternoon we wandered west to the harbour where there was a small flock of Mandt’s Black Guillemots but the light was a bit dire
We were to see several 100 during the trip and I have a variety of wing patterns
Two birds in dispute
There were some decent creches of Northern Eider ducklings but the concentration by the Husky Dog kennels were getting predated by the Glaucous Gulls
a classic drake Northern Eider borealis
Subtle differences in bill colour between drakes
Getting close to them was not a problem and they often wandered about in the road
The Polar Bear sign is as far as you are allowed to walk without an armed guard but as someone commented what tells the bears they cannot come inside the sign?
A sitting female on her valuable nest
These birds were literally feet from the side of the road
considerable variation in plumage tones amongst the females
a very different world to the nature distanced UK
a nice bright billed drake
In January 2024 a Purple Sandpiper wearing an orange colour ring and a Green tag with the inscription 9LA was wintering on the Lincolnshire coast at Mablethorpe; I noted in this blog post https://www.grahamcatley.com/blog-1/a-rather-special-purple-sandpiper that this was likely the nearest I would come to its ringing place of Longyearbyen Svalbard — well times move on and this year there we were on its breeding grounds watching displaying Purple Sandpipers right on the edge of town all the way up to the highest tundra and most northerly land we visited. I even saw a couple of birds with Orange colour rings and Green Flags from the same scheme including VMC shown here displaying to a female just outside Longyearbyen: it really can be a small world
Male VMC displaying to a female June 23rd 2025
Male Purple Sandpiper in display flight - beautiful song given in flight was a characteristic sound of the marshes and tundra
Human junk was no deterrent to Purple Sandpipers intent on breeding
A rather smart wader in summer plumage
Sharing its habitat with breeding Barnacle Geese
And what a Red Phalarope looks like at a long long range and you cannot get any closer due to the terrain and the bird then flies away! Frustrating
A more obliging Red-throated Diver nesting close to the road but it was impossible to get low angles due to the height of the road and the risk of disturbing the birds
The male Red-throated Diver but in pretty poor light
The only passerine in Svalbard is the Snow Bunting and they occur in most habitats though they are thinly spread - these birds were breeding on the edge of the town with birds singing from the roof tops and performing display flights over the buildings as well as the nearby tundra
A female feeding along the main street just like a House Sparrow in the days of olden Britain
A fine adult male nivalis over the beach
Feeding along the tide wrack just like a winter beach in Lincolnshire
It was interesting to see Ringed Plovers in their tundra habitats but none looked like the very small dark backed birds we see occasionally in spring locally so where do those birds breed?
Tundra Ringed Plover amonst the permafrost with an Arctic Tern - two well travelled birds
The 24th we had the day up to 16:00 when we were due to board the boat fopr our eight day cruise - so it was more of the same walking up and down the only bit of road and getting soem nice food in the hotel and at the Barentz GastroPub