Amongst the long, green grass...

So now that summer has eventually found us and we have managed to get several days of consecutive sunshine, it appears that all the flowers on the reserve have decided it is probably worth a short demonstration of their beauty.

With this in mind we have been carrying out some basic vegetation surveys on the reserve to try and establish a base line that can then be further investigated by students with more botanical knowledge than we have.

Izzy and I have also managed a trip away again (at Oli´s insistence so that we do not "burn out") and have visited Husey a couple of hours drive north of Skálanes. Husey is an HI Youth Hostel set in the middle of the flood plain of one of the Icelandic glaciers. It is an amazing place with some beautiful wildlife. Seals, Great Skua, Arctic Skua, Arctic Tern and more Red-throated Divers than you can shake a stick at!

Seal at Husey

Great Skua

Chantel & I looking at Insects

Izzy working on a vegetation transect

You gotta roll with it...

...you really should take your time...

Oops!

So today we had had five young Spanish guys in a Mitsubishi roll their 4x4 on a corner of our track. Just because you have a 4x4 you should not drive fast on loose gravel on a road you do not know!

We also encountered a French gentleman in a Suzuki Vitara who was driving too fast downhill and seemed a bit bemused when I would not drive into a ditch with a full trailer just so he could continue on his merry way. The appearance of a large Nissan Patrol in the middle of the track caused him to lose any common sense that he did possess as he reversed backwards up the road and off the side of the track onto a slope. He looked slightly sheepish as we passed, and looking into my wing-mirror I watched him wheel-spin the car in a particularly ineffective manner without moving very far.

Now I had two choices. I could have continued driving and left him there, however after 30 seconds of laughing at him Izzy and I got out and gave him some polite pointers that helped him get back on the road again. It probably did not help that the road tyres he had on his vehicle did not have much grip and that the French do not appear to understand the phrase "just give it a little power and go SLOW!"

Change of the Guard!

Well that is week 14 been and gone, and with it the first group of Glasgow University students.  In their place we received another 5 Glasgow Uni students and 5 students/volunteers on the EU funded Desire placement.  This is the placement that I was on in 2009 and that originally introduced me to Skálanes and Iceland.

So now there are 12 of us living at Skálanes, along with any guests, 4 pigs, chickens, ducks, the dog and the 4 cows who have been allowed out of Stalag Skálanes now that the tern colony has left.  Unfortunately despite producing both eggs and chicks it appears that the Tern colony has again failed to get any birds to the fledging stage. It looks like there is a lack of sand-eels and that the majority of chicks were not getting enough food. Unfortunately this is not something that we can manage. It may be that the colony is just too large now to be sustainable with the current food availability.  Over time it may fragment and a smaller colony may be able to produce fledglings and survive on the current population of sand-eels.

As well as the students we had 20 ish Portuguese motorcyclists for dinner and 11 of them staying over night. We also had another cruise group into the reserve, with a couple more still to visit us over the next couple of weeks.  This week is also the Lunga arts festival in town, with lots of workshops and events. We even had some art students at Skálanes painting a mural on one of our walls based on Icelandic runes. See what you think in the photos below:

Arts students and our runic mural

Work in progress

Runic mural

66°NORTH (plus a wee bit more!)

After working at Skalanes for over twelve weeks, Oli decided that it was about time we saw a bit more of Iceland and had a bit of a rest. So Izzy and myself, along with our friend Ross Watson (who is staying at Skalanes for two weeks), set off on a road trip to the north of Iceland.

Our trip took us from Seydisfjordur across the mountains to Egilsstadir and northwards on the Icelandic ring-road route 1.  Two hours driving brought us to a junction onto a dusty gravel track that would lead us towards the massive waterfall at Dettifoss and then to our campsite for the night at As.

The second day started in beautiful sunshine and we jumped in the pickup and drove almost as far north as we could get in Iceland. We were not very far from the Arctic circle and despite the sunshine the wind reminded us just how far north we really were. Back on the road we travelled west to the town of Husavik via the waterfall at Godafoss and set up camp for the night in the town. We spent the evening sampling the food in a restaurant in the town and wandering around the port before we stopped back at the campsite for our second night under canvas.

Day three saw us heading south west to Lake Myvatn where we visited the Bird Museum, pseudocraters, lava flows, the volcano at and finally the hot geothermal nature baths. The bird life (of the feathered kind) was just amazing around the lake with rednecked phalaropes, slavonian grebes and various species of ducks all living in this amazing landscape. We camped in a beautiful campsite down by the river and despite the first rain of the trip enjoyed a lovely meal at a local pub.

Day four started VERY windy as we headed back south down route 1 again, passing geothermal springs, the volcano at Krafla and lunching at Husey where we watched Icelandic horses, seals and a red throated diver.

An amazing couple of days in a beautiful and dramatic country. We all had a great time and I hope that some of the following photos give an idea of just how amazing it has been.

So, now back to work....

Our trusty pickup and the long road...

Mountain views from "Route 1"

Slightly scruffy looking male Snow Bunting in the Dettifoss carpark

Male Ptarmigan

Blue skies and fantastic views

Black-tailed Godwitt on the road behind the car!

Dunlin

Waterfall at Godafoss

Me / Izzy / Ross

As far north as we could drive and not far off the Arctic Circle!

Male & Female Slavonian Grebes at Myvatn

Red-throated Diver at Husay