Date:
30th December 2019 - 4th January 20202
30th December 2019 - 4th January 20202
Location:
Iceland
Iceland
Weather:
Mostly overcast, Snow, Rain, 4 hours of daylight
Mostly overcast, Snow, Rain, 4 hours of daylight
Species Highlights:
Glaucous Gull, Iceland Gull, Fulmar, Eider.
Glaucous Gull, Iceland Gull, Fulmar, Eider.
Observation:
Booked as a surprised from my wife our 25th anniversary present, plan was to fly from Luton Airport to Reykjavik, Iceland and pick up Hire Car, all went to plan, weather was dry but overcast, a bit of site seeing through Thingvellir/ Pingvellir National Park, this view from Oxarafoss not many birds to be seen but Raven is the most common bird here.
A stop off at a volcanic crater called Kerid /Kerið
After arriving at our Appartment, Inni - Boutique Apartments at
That evening we drove into Reykjavik along highway 1, not a nice drive as snow, blizzard conditions made it tricky but the Rav4 all wheel drive coped well and not one incident on the 40 minute journey. That night we were heading to the Perlan it overlooked the city so a good place to watch the New Year in.
The locals said if you imagine as many fireworks as you can then times it by a 1000 that's how many firework you could expect. They were not kidding the whole of Iceland exploded!!
We sat watching for almost 2 hours, Iceland law dictates fireworks are only on sell for one week of the year and all profits go to search and rescue! Excellent ideal eh!
After a search for the Northern Lights which proved not to be successful.
Next morning and 2020 we drove that highway 1 again into Reykjavik to add a few birds to our New Year list, around the Harper Center and Harbour is always a good start with Glaucous gulls a plenty.
Iceland/ Glaucous Gulls size difference.
Rafts of Eider float around the harbour.
2CY Iceland Gull
Black guillemot also seen here.
Next we walked into the local duck pond, Lake Tjörnin the weather was on the change and sleet/rain started and didn't improve, Whooper Swan, Greylag, and lots of Black Headed Gulls here.
Common gull, Wigeon, Mallard made up the rest.
That night we drove to Blue Lagoon, pitch black but boiling hot,a outside bath of hot Springs , weird. a search for Northern Lights again, nothing seen.
The transport Rav4, great car.
Always birding we spotted this Snow Bunting in the Snow where else!
The Landscape was stunning.The mountain stand at 463m Kirkjufell or Church Mountain.
The road homeward, i think!
Miles and miles of barren landscapes.
Lots of Icelandic Ponies along the route , not minding the -8 temperatures.
Ice crystal cloud formation.
This the view from a petrol station, the petrol station have everything a real meeting place for all the locals.
The last night we drove through heavy snow into Thingvellir/ Pingvellir National Park, to search again for the Northern Lights but none spotted pulling over to look near the apartment Lauren manged this , we set up camera but by the time we were ready.....
It had gone!
A real shame but a excellent trip if not challenging driving would recommend Iceland anytime of year, easy to drive and fabulous places to see, the right time of year great birds too.
Booked as a surprised from my wife our 25th anniversary present, plan was to fly from Luton Airport to Reykjavik, Iceland and pick up Hire Car, all went to plan, weather was dry but overcast, a bit of site seeing through Thingvellir/ Pingvellir National Park, this view from Oxarafoss not many birds to be seen but Raven is the most common bird here.
A stop off at a volcanic crater called Kerid /Kerið
After arriving at our Appartment, Inni - Boutique Apartments at
Hveragerði. I can recommend it was perfect with steam room and hot tub, much cheaper than staying at Reykjavik. The next morning we did the waterfalls Fulmar in large numbers buzzing around the falls. Then drove to Vik, the famous black beach, unfortunately the weather was not playing ball with heavy wind and rain. We carried on to Vik but weather just got worse, by the time we got to Vik we could hardly see the coast let along the beach!.
Seljalandsfoss
That evening we drove into Reykjavik along highway 1, not a nice drive as snow, blizzard conditions made it tricky but the Rav4 all wheel drive coped well and not one incident on the 40 minute journey. That night we were heading to the Perlan it overlooked the city so a good place to watch the New Year in.
The locals said if you imagine as many fireworks as you can then times it by a 1000 that's how many firework you could expect. They were not kidding the whole of Iceland exploded!!
We sat watching for almost 2 hours, Iceland law dictates fireworks are only on sell for one week of the year and all profits go to search and rescue! Excellent ideal eh!
After a search for the Northern Lights which proved not to be successful.
Next morning and 2020 we drove that highway 1 again into Reykjavik to add a few birds to our New Year list, around the Harper Center and Harbour is always a good start with Glaucous gulls a plenty.
Rafts of Eider float around the harbour.
2CY Iceland Gull
Black guillemot also seen here.
Next we walked into the local duck pond, Lake Tjörnin the weather was on the change and sleet/rain started and didn't improve, Whooper Swan, Greylag, and lots of Black Headed Gulls here.
Common gull, Wigeon, Mallard made up the rest.
That night we drove to Blue Lagoon, pitch black but boiling hot,a outside bath of hot Springs , weird. a search for Northern Lights again, nothing seen.
Next day we drove to Kirkjufell Mountain, we'd been to Iceland twice before but never to Kirkjufell the most iconic landmark in Iceland. The drive was long and weather was snowy and wind swept, but after 3 hours we arrived
The transport Rav4, great car.
Always birding we spotted this Snow Bunting in the Snow where else!
The Landscape was stunning.The mountain stand at 463m Kirkjufell or Church Mountain.
The road homeward, i think!
Miles and miles of barren landscapes.
Lots of Icelandic Ponies along the route , not minding the -8 temperatures.
Ice crystal cloud formation.
This the view from a petrol station, the petrol station have everything a real meeting place for all the locals.
The last night we drove through heavy snow into Thingvellir/ Pingvellir National Park, to search again for the Northern Lights but none spotted pulling over to look near the apartment Lauren manged this , we set up camera but by the time we were ready.....
It had gone!
A real shame but a excellent trip if not challenging driving would recommend Iceland anytime of year, easy to drive and fabulous places to see, the right time of year great birds too.
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Enjoyed reading about your trip, Wayne.
ReplyDeleteThe fireworks looked fantastic and really nice to see, unusually, a picture with people in it !
I went to Iceland in 2006 for 5 nights, in November, to try and see the Northern Lights and failed !
They had the coldest Temperatures on record whilst we were there ! We did swim in the Blue
Lagoon though !
Best regards, Carol ( Rushton ) . ��
Thanks Carol, for some reason i'm not seeing comments, Iceland is a great place isn't it. Glad you have enjoyed blog
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