Inside the Circle Day 7 Part 1 - Puffin Fever

As I made the two hour drive north, I started to repeat the mantra 'ignore the puffins, ignore the puffins'. I wasn't suffering from to much northern daylight but was traveling to catch the 9am boat from Vardo to the sea bird colonies on Hornoya Island. The mantra repeating continued,to try ward off 'Puffin Fever' on landing, as I took the ten minute inflatable boat journey across a calm but dark sea. 'Puffin Fever' is a common affliction of photographers visiting sea bird colonies and has the main symptom of becoming completely absorbed in photographing these charismatic and colourful birds. The danger of the 'fever' is that it is painless and enjoyable and results in an absence of photos of the other wonderful seabirds present. All my target species were decidedly non-puffin.

On landing I took the path to the south which skirts round and upwards to the lighthouse. It turned in to a bit of hike. On reaching the top there were a few puffins on ledges just over the cliff edge. Razorbill were the only other species on offer and I resisted the pull of the 'fever' and took a few photographs.

It was at this point I made the mistake of thinking it would do no harm and may ward off the 'fever' just to take a couple of puffin photographs before I went off around the other side of the island to search for my target species.

As I made my way back around the island fully loaded with camera kit I came to a long flight of wooden stairs. I stepped on to the first step at the top only to see my legs suddenly appear from underneath me and horizontally in front of me. I am not sure how but I manage to stop the fall about three steps further down. If I hadn't it would of been messy, a lucky escape from serious injury.

When I reached the far side of the island and to the base of a high vertical it became quickly obvious that my target species were high up on the cliff face and out of camera range. Meanwhile hundreds of puffins were streaming in around me from the sea and the 'fever' took hold. I thought I would try something I had want to do for a while which was take a couple of photographs using a wide angle lens to get images of birds in the landscape. I had forgotten how close you have to get to your subject with a 24-70mm lens as I crawled up the side of an enormous boulder to a bird perched on the top. The bird standing proud over its offshore domain.

As the sun broke through the overcast sky all I could see everywhere was puffins as the 'fever' had firmly taken its grip. I thought I would take some flight photos given the sun was showing but the skies were still a grey-white which was not going to make for an attractive background. So as an alternative I thought I would use the vertical cliff as a backdrop to the passing puffins. The side lighting from the sun was not ideal and made for some difficult camera exposure settings but had the benefit of adding a bit of drama to the images and a dark background from the cliff-face.

Before walking away to see what else I could find, I noticed some back-lit puffins which deserved some attention as their beaks appeared to be really glowing.

It then started to rain and the back-lighting through the falling water created a magical scene.

Fortunately the falling rain extinguished the 'fever' and it was now time to see what else the island had to offer but that will have to wait until the next blog post.

Inside the Circle Day 6 - Arctics in the Arctic

Encouraged by my previous success from checking out one of the side tracks off the main coast road, I decided I would take some time on the morning of day 6 to investigate some more. From the map there looked to be a promising track that lead up to two upland lakes and before I knew the trusty hire car was bumping along an unmade road. As I pulled up next to the lakes the sun but in a rare appearance. The lake looked fairly devoid of bird life with the exception of a pair of Long-tailed duck circling around in the center and way out of camera range.

A unfamiliar bird song drift up the track from a silhouette of a bird sat of an overhead wire. It took a while to work out what it was but finally I caught a brief better view of a Bluethroat. I spent a long time to get a photograph of the bird but complete failed in my mission. The bird was covering a wide area, occasionally singing from the top of a low bush but nowhere regularly of close to where I was expectantly waiting. Instead I consoled myself with a very obliging Willow Warbler in some low scrub.

It is odd how some years you seem to end up with lots of photos of a particular species which you have struggled with previously. This year I seem to have end up with a large number of photos of Willow Warbler.
The morning quickly passed in to afternoon as I explored another track but with no success. By this time I was close to Vadso and remembered the Arctic Tern colony I had found on the first day out in Norway. It seemed appropriate that I should photograph some Arctics in the Arctic. As I walked along to the tern colony, a Red Throated Pipit with a beak full of insects for its hidden brood, appeared on the fence post. It was good to get another new species on to the camera.

Typically the sun disappeared and the light took a turn for the worse as I reached the edge of the tern colony, carefully watching my step for any eggs or young on the ground. I love Arctic Terns which are such graceful birds and great fun to photograph.

I decided I would do some flight photos despite the light not being ideal.

This was my favourite photo of this mini session.

On the way back to the car I decided to check out some Red-necked Phalarope at a pond. It seems that a day was not going to pass without the daily phalarope photo.

While sat in a reed bed photographing the spinning waders there wa a rustling to my left side and a Wood Sandpiper popped in to view at close range.

This was a welcome bonus, as its a species I have not photographed before, at the end of a relatively unproductive day. However, a quieter day and more relaxing day was needed in advance of what was likely to be a hectic following day which was to start with a trip out to the seabird colonies on the Island of Hornoya.

Inside the Circle Day 5 - End of the Road

The long days, continuous light and 'night' singing Willow Warber outside of the window were beginning to take their toll on my energy levels. Another overcast day. Plan of the day was to follow the remainder of the road around the north coast of Varangerfjord. This would give me opportunity to call in at Vardo and check out to the trips across to the sea bird colonies on the island of Hornoya.

Somewhere between Vadso and Vardo the light improved and I pulled off the road having spotted an Arctic Skua. Time for another long crawl which again allowed me to get close to the bird.

A pale phase bird flew past, and the skua took flight but not before gliding close-by for the now familiar inspection.

The rest of road to Vardo provided some interesting wildlife with white-tail eagles, skua and reindeer but all at distance. To reach Vardo, you have to travel through a tunnel. If you imagine driving through an oversized pipe with dim lighting that almost creates a strobe effect, you will appreciate how this felt like being in a computer game.

The office at the Harbour gave me all the information for the trips out to Hornoya with the first departure at 9am. I decided to make the trip in a couple of days when hopefully the weather would follow the forecast. Back through the tunnel of fun I came to a junction and a sign to Hamningberg, an abandoned fishing village at the end of the road.

The drive to Hamningberg is an experience as you travel through an almost lunar landscape. The bird life was sparse except for the occasional Wheatear disappearing behind a boulder and the unfamilar sound of a singing Redwing in some willow scrub. In fact this part of day involved very little bird photography and turned in to a bit of a road trip through an endless rock-scape. A brief stop was made for a Golden Plover in the drizzle.



The day was passing quickly and it was time to follow the coast road back south. A stop off en route at 'Ruff Bay' was needed to put some more photos on the memory card. The ruff were in elusive mood and my attention was drawn to the more familiar Ringed Plover.

A small group of Red-necked Phalarope came feeding along the seaweed at the water's edge. They kept me amused with their hyperactive feeding behaviour which saw them spinning across the surface, at a distance that was too close for the lens.

The highlight of the day came on the last part of my journey back to the accommodation. I passed a Short-eared Owl on a fence post at the side of the road. So I drove on for a short distance, pulled over, adjusted the camera settings, turned the car round and returned. I pulled up slowly to the post and the owl stayed put. The bird seemed to be distracted by a skua above.

When the skua had passed, the owl sat for a few moments looking straight at me with those amazing penetrating eyes. A wonderful way to end a fairly unproductive day.

Inside the Circle Day 4 - Heading to the Hills

Grey skies and a light drizzle began the fourth day. I was starting to wonder if the sun would ever show or if a week of persistant gloom was on the cards. Don't ask me how or whose it was but I managed to pick up a WIFI signal in the accommodation on the Netbook and online local forecast indicated an improvement in weather was due. I thought it was time to head up to the upland tundra to see what was on offer, following the River Tana valley and then heading upwards on the road to Batsfjord. The River Tana offers some wonderful scenery but as the journey progressed upwards the weather deteriorated to horizontal sleet and the amounts of laying snow deepened.

I pulled over where two smalls lakes were on either side of the road a few birds were present. I decided to come back for those later and headed out straight through the sleet across the tundra. Having walked for quite a while the only bird I encountered was a distant male Lapland Bunting but I was not surprised how quiet it was given the grim conditions and circled back towards the car and the partly frozen ponds. It looked as if Spring was slightly delayed here as it seemed to be in the UK this year and the expected abundant fly life was absent. On each pond there was a pair of wary Long-tailed Duck, in their summer colours. After a bit of careful stalking I managed to get a couple of photos.

By the side of the road there was a small number of Temminck's Stint which was one species I was hoping to photograph on my trip.

This tiny wader kept fluttering up like a large moth with its trilling song in display flight which was a real delight to watch. One bird was working its way across alarge area of snow so I decided to lay down and see if the bird would pass close. Whilst lying on the large sheet of snow, I realised that the woodland camoflague clothing was not really offering much benefit. The bird slowly made its way directly towards me up the white slope, pausing breifly on occasions. It is such a great feeling when you have a bird getting larger and larger in the camera viewfinder.

It was time to try a different area and as I headed off along the road, I noticed that the fuel was fairly low in the car. The Sat Nav had identified the nearest petrol station to be a Batsfjord so I made that my next destination of the day which would also give the opportunity to see what else the rest of the tundra road had to offer. The short answer to that was not a great deal, except some distant Shorelark, Snow Bunting and acrobatic Skuas. Mind you spotting birds in this habitat from a moving car is not that easy and the birds tend to be only revealed when you stop and start looking. After refuelling both car and myself at Batsfjord, it was time to start making tracks back. On leaving the town a bird was spotted speeding low and hawk-like along the side of the road before alighting on a bush. It turned out to be a cuckoo, not a bird I was expecting to find this far north and a welcome bonus.

The long journey back to Varangerflord was fairly uneventful with only a brief stop at the well known Gyr Falcon nest but no sign of life on the cliff face. The weather seemed to be improving with the sun occasionally breaking through. I decided a return trip to 'Ruff Bay' was needed but spotted a pair of Arctic Skua (both dark and pale phase birds). Time for some skua stalking to stretch the legs after the drive. The birds were at distance so a long commando crawl was required which eventually got me in close to the pale phase bird.

After a while the bird took off and in typical skua style undertook an inquisitive close fly-by. Great looking birds and a pleasure to see up close.

I finally reached 'Ruff Bay' which immediately looked like it was going to be less productive as the tide had already ebbed. As I checked some areas of rock platform a calling Oystercatcher took to the sky, a good warning indication of a nearby nest and the need to watch my step. The bird circled around and landed close by and then went in to a walking distraction display, feigning injury, to draw me away from the nest area.

The Ruff proved, as suspected, to be more elusive but I eventually after some patience managed a couple of photographs.

Well it had been a long but interesting day with three new species photographed and time to return to the accommodation where a hot shower and food awaited and think where my wanderings the next day might take me.