June 05 - Svalbard

 June 05 - Svalbard  

Despite the ice flows best attempts overnight, our ship managed to make its way around the top and then down the east side of Svalbard to reach our destination Alkefjellet.  This is a fjord, surrounded by dramatic looking dolerite and sandstone cliffs, and home to 60,000 pairs of breeding Brunnich Guillemots.


It was a bit of an interesting start to our excursion this morning, with 25 knot winds and a temperature of only 0°C, it all made for a bit of a damp, blustery, and cold zodiac ride. However, weather aside, sailing along the coastline was great, and it was interesting to see thousands of Guillemots all trying to find a spot of ledge to nest on. These Guillemots have a couple of quite interesting quirks that make them different to most other birds. First off their eggs are a slightly different shape to the norm, a bit like a spinning top, and being wider at one end than the other stops them rolling off the ledge. Secondly, and about 21 days after birth, and before they can fly, the father pushes the chick off the nesting site and into the sea.  From here they then both migrate to Greenland by swimming!  Being at sea enables the father to easily feed the chicks and at the same time keeps them away from land based predators. 

As an added bonus we spotted an Arctic Fox on the prowl. We were also lucky enough to see it catch its lunch, a poor unsuspecting Guillemot. 

This afternoon’s excursion was for a hike up into the surrounding hills. At times it was a bit a struggle, hiking through soft and boggy soil and shale certainly raised a sweat. Wearing gumboots didn’t help either, still nevertheless it was a nice walk and there were plenty of stops to check out the local flora, geology, and even fauna.  We saw our first Ptarmigan, aka the ‘Svalbard Chicken’, a real local bird as it can barely fly and hence doesn’t migrate.  We also saw another reindeer.  I don’t know why but until now I never knew these animals changed the colour of their fur, from white to brown and back again, and all depending on the season.  Just another thing to add to the long list of things I didn’t know!    



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