SPITSBERGEN:  29th June – 7th July 2005

Trip Report by Tony Marr, Tour Leader

Summary

WildWings’ eighth consecutive expedition cruise to Spitsbergen was the most successful so far in its variety of wildlife, trouble-free travel, an outstanding ship’s expedition team and a very compatible group. The pack ice was well to the north of the Svalbard archipelago, allowing us to visit the beautiful snow-capped mountains, deep fjords, huge glaciers and many islands along the north coast of this remote high Arctic wilderness. In mostly sunny, settled weather, we encountered virtually all the mammals, cetaceans and birds we had hoped to see. Top of the wish-list is always Polar Bear, of which we found 12 and had very good views and photo-opportunities. Walruses totalled 104 with two large gatherings, and we saw two Arctic Foxes and 40 Svalbard Reindeer. We encountered 2-3 Minke Whales, but unusually few seals - just 3 Bearded and 4 Ringed.

Special Arctic birds included 2-3 drake King Eider, up to 14 Grey (Red) Phalaropes together, 4 adult summer-plumaged Sabine’s Gulls together, a total of 9 adult Ivory Gulls, breeding Purple Sandpipers (two nests found) and Long-tailed Skuas (one nest), and a vagrant Pectoral Sandpiper. Brunnich’s Guillemots and Little Auks were measured in thousands; Barnacle, Pinkfooted and Pale-bellied Brent Geese were found in several localities; and Snow Buntings were everywhere. All these, plus many other species such as Red-throated Divers, Arctic and Great Skuas, hundreds of Glaucous Gulls and thousands of Arctic Terns, were against a background of spectacular scenery. It was a very special and truly unforgettable trip.

Daily diary

Wednesday 29 June

Our group of 20 met up at London’s Heathrow Airport, from as far away as Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, for our early afternoon two-hour flight up to Oslo. Here we stayed in the comfortable, quiet and convenient airport hotel, literally a five-minute walk with our luggage trolleys from the terminal building. We were able to relax, enjoy a good (though expensive!) dinner and drinks, and obtain a full night’s sleep before our departure for the Arctic in the morning.

Thursday 30 June

After a leisurely breakfast and the short walk back into the terminal building of Oslo’s impressive airport, we joined our flight which departed punctually for Longyearbyen, the capital of Svalbard, which is only 600 miles from the North Pole. We stopped for an hour or so at Tromso in a journey which took in all just under four and a half hours. We came in from the south over Spitsbergen, which is the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago, with the pointed mountains (the literal meaning of the name Spitsbergen) peeping out of the cloud and mist below us. We landed five minutes early on a cool day with light winds, and were met by Rupert Krapp (from Germany), one of the team from our vessel, the M.V. Grigoriy Mikheev. A coach took us to the ship, where we dropped off our luggage, and then carried on into town where we indulged in some shopping and birding.

We walked down to the shore, seeing our first Snow Buntings in the centre of the main shopping area and Barnacle Geese and Purple Sandpipers in a nearby boggy area. We were mobbed by nesting Arctic Terns en route to the beach, where among the Glaucous Gulls and Common Eiders we found a distant drake King Eider and several Long-tailed Ducks. Two Long-tailed Skuas were on and around the beach, unusual here, and three Arctic Skuas were out in the fjord harrying the terns. We walked back along the shore road to the ship, where we were met by our Expedition Leader, Olle Carlsson from Sweden, who welcomed us aboard.

We found our luggage already in our cabins, settled in, looked around the vessel, and attended a welcome briefing where we were formally welcomed by Olle and Rupert, and met the third member of the expedition team, Delphine Aures from France, and Jan de Ceuster from Belgium, our all-important Purser, or Hotel Manager as they are now called. Soon we were called to a safety briefing  and participated in the mandatory lifeboat drill. At 6.45 pm we left our moorings and headed out into Isfjorden on our journey to the north. Northern Fulmars (here a dark grey colour), Glaucous Gulls, Black-legged Kittiwakes and Arctic Terns followed the ship, while across our bows passed small flocks of chunky Brunnich’s Guillemots and tiny Little Auks whirring by, with the occasional Black Guillemot and Atlantic Puffin on the water. After a good dinner, it was time for our first night aboard, thankfully in calm though rather foggy conditions. It was strange to go to bed in broad daylight as we travelled up the west coast of Prins Karls Forland en route for our first landing in the morning. We felt that our Arctic adventure had now really begun...

Friday 1 July

We awoke to a cold, foggy, drizzly morning, as the day’s Plan A moved quickly through Plan B to Plan C to find a fog-free landing. This proved to be at Blomstrand in Kongsfjorden, where the remains of a crackpot idea to mine marble, by a British entrepreneur of course, could be seen on the hillsides - abandoned  machinery and a railway line and wagons. A longish walk across the hills appealed to the birders, and was  rewarding, with a pair of Red-throated Divers, a Long-tailed Duck, five Barnacle Geese, Arctic Skuas sweeping across the hillside, and a Reindeer. Close to the deserted huts near the beach were a pair of Long-tailed Skuas in their regular breeding place, with one bird obviously on a nest and its mate standing guard nearby.

After the first of many good lunches on board, we made the short crossing over to Ny-Alesund, known as the northernmost town in the world. The lagoon close to the landing, always good for birds, excelled today. A beautiful female Grey (Red) Phalarope swam in the pool, around which fed some 20 Barnacle Geese, with three small goslings, and a number of small waders. These included about 20 Purple Sandpipers, a Ringed Plover and two Sanderling. Among the Purple Sands was a similar-sized bird, but paler, with an obvious breast-band sharply divided from pure white underparts. It was a Pectoral Sandpiper, the first on a WildWings tour here, an American species which is already on the list of vagrants recorded in Svalbard.

The dog compound on the other side of town, a regular haunt of Ivory Gulls, held none this year, and a closer inspection showed that there were none of the usual seal skins hanging up, which attract them. However, we found a delightful pair of Grey Phalaropes on a tiny pool right by the track, easily photographable, and a party of six Long-tailed Ducks flew in, calling noisily. Arctic Terns and Snow Buntings were numerous, the terns nesting on the ground and the buntings in cracks and holes in some of the buildings. As we left, a party of five Common Teal flew in to the main pool. We left as the passengers from a large cruise liner which had tied up at the main jetty were coming down the gangway. It was time to move on...

We turned out of Kongsfjorden and into the open sea, heading north again. After dinner, we navigated into a beautiful fjord named Magdalenefjord, also often visited by cruise liners, but this evening it contained only a yacht at anchor. We launched the Zodiacs for a cruise along the southern shore, where we encountered a swimming Bearded Seal and a number of tame Black Guillemots. Little Auks were laughing high up along the mountain ridges, and we watched two Reindeer on a high glacier edge above us. Suddenly a call rang out on the expedition team radios - ‘Attention all Zodiacs - Polar Bear - on a small island ahead of us!’

And suddenly there it was, as large as life, walking about, obviously looking for Eider Duck eggs just a few hundred metres ahead of us. Two Zodiacs approached very slowly and quietly, while the third returned to the ship for three passengers who had stayed behind at this fairly late hour. All three inflatables then shadowed the bear from a respectful and considerate distance as, having swum across from the island to the mainland , it proceeded slowly along the shore. It was a big animal, but looked thin and hungry. We had ample opportunity to watch it and to take photographs as it went about it’s business, the Polar Bear’s endless quest for food in this harsh and unforgiving environment.

After perhaps an hour, we dragged ourselves away and returned to the ship, from which we could still see the bear on shore (and some people added it to their cabin wildlife list). We felt very privileged to have seen a Polar Bear at such close quarters and for such an uninterrupted period, especially on only the second day in Spitsbergen. There was much jubilation and celebration in the bar until well after the midnight sun...

Saturday 2 July

Today was Polar Bear Day - a further 8 were seen, in Liefdefjorden and Woodfjorden which we reached from the north coast during the night. Against a background of spectacular mountains and glaciers, and on a lovely fresh morning, we were sailing towards the huge Monaco Glacier when we spotted our first one, on the shore. It was intently watching a series of splashes in the water which we had also noted from the bridge. Members of our group never saw these well enough to determine what was making them, although Delphine considered that they were probably Belugas. The Zodiacs were quickly launched, and we watched the Polar Bear in the water and then landing on an island. It steadily climbed up a slope and vanished over the top, not to be seen again. By then we were well on our way towards the Glacier, with four beautiful Ivory Gulls circling over nearby ice floes and close views of hundreds of Kittiwakes and dozens of Glaucous Gulls feeding under the huge wall of ice. Single Bearded and Ringed Seals were seen in the water.

We returned to the ship and headed back up the fjord towards the Andoyane, or Duck, Islands, a well-known haunt of Polar Bears. We were not disappointed, finding at least three individuals on land or in the water, doubtless searching for the eggs of Eiders and terns. In the absence of more seals, this often is their main food at this time of year - lean pickings for such big animals. Some of us had been lucky enough to see  a Minke Whale earlier, and what was probably the same one appeared again briefly and frustratingly on our return journey before vanishing altogether. There were Red-throated Divers, Arctic and Great Skuas around as we headed across Woodfjorden to land at Mushamna, an extensive area of tundra with a trapper’s large log cabin close to the shore.

We nearly trod on a female Eider on her nest, and were vigorously attacked by the nesting Arctic Terns, as we climbed up the beach to the cabin, where Olle gave us an interesting account of its history. As he did so, three Pink-footed Geese swept by, and we could see a pair of Red-throated Divers on a nearby lochan, one on a nest seen well through telescopes. Most of us went on a longish trek across the tundra, finding it warm work with all our layers on in the sunshine and light winds. There were however many rewards, from the beautiful flowers to the variety of birds. A pair of Arctic Skuas obviously had a nest in the vicinity, and distracted us by feigning broken wings and by their wild calls as they swooped down at us, so we moved quickly on. Similar ‘broken wing’ diversions were used by Purple Sandpipers when we happened upon two  nests which each contained four beautiful eggs, their colours matching the surrounding vegetation and making them really hard to see.

We crested a ridge, where we took a rest overlooking a large lagoon and a wild landscape of valleys and snow-covered hills. Some 14 Pale-bellied Brent Geese were feeding in groups nearby, and we watched them through our ‘scopes. Suddenly someone called ‘Polar Bear - in the distance, on an area of snow...’ It took some finding, but ‘scopes were lined up and we could see it. But it was not alone - there were two lumps in the snow next to it which moved - they were cubs! Despite the distance, about a kilometre away, conditions were clear, and the views were sufficient to see them convincingly. An Ivory Gull briefly settled on the snow near them, the species’ role as a scavenger often leading to birds following Polar Bears in the hope of easy pickings. This one was probably just checking out the possibility of a meal, and was unlucky.

Inspired and thrilled by this encounter, albeit distant, we trekked down to the beach, where the Zodiacs whisked us back to the ship. The Polar Bear total was now eight, and we had been treated to a day of exciting wildlife experiences in perfect weather. What we didn’t know at this point was that the best was yet to come!

From Woodfjorden we sailed north and after dinner arrived close to the atoll-shaped island of Moffen, about 25 km off the coast. The first wildlife we saw was a huge heap of Walruses asleep near the southern end of this strange flat island, a favourite haul-out for them. We estimated about 60 in the pile, all packed in tightly together, like a group of Hippos or Elephant Seals. We then began to scan round, and very quickly found a Polar Bear slowly working its way down the west side of the island towards us. The ship was stationed 500 metres offshore, the required distance from this very important nature reserve where landing is prohibited - for very obvious reasons - but in the bright evening sunshine we had a marvellous view of the bear. It was very large, probably a male, and looked very well fed. It was hoovering the ground for eggs, and had yellow-stained front paws as evidence of its success. We could see at one point that it was eating a large dark brown bird - probably a duck Eider.

Among the numerous birds flying about above the island, many mobbing the bear, were four delightful Sabine’s Gulls, which are usually seen here and probably breed. They swooped back and forth above the Walruses, often settling on the beach nearby, and through the ‘scopes we could see their black heads and flashing black, white and grey wing patches. With some 40 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, two Arctic and two Great Skuas, two Grey Phalaropes in flight and hundreds of Arctic Terns, the numbers of ground-nesting birds at risk from predation by the Polar Bear were very high, and loss of their eggs would be a major setback. It’s a harsh life in the Arctic - the survival of the fittest, or in this case, of the largest.

Another ship appeared (the small expedition cruise ship Nordstjernen) so we deemed that it was time to leave. We had enjoyed a spectacular hour and a half close to the island, with a galaxy of the special wildlife particular to Spitsbergen. We sailed away under the midnight sun in high spirits - but asking how could our  expedition leader keep up this very high standard day after day? We were to find that he would, right up to the last day of our wonderful expedition.

Sunday 3 July

Another great day, and more wildlife adventures. We awoke to find the ship anchored in a very icy Hinlopen Strait off the bird cliffs at Alkefjellet, dramatic and steep with Tolkienesque pinnacles and stacks reaching high up into the sky. Our way to the shore was apparently blocked by the ice, but after breakfast the Captain took the ship in closer, and we could see that there was a way through for the Zodiacs, so into the water they went. We spent an hour and a half cruising along below this veritable Bird City, watching the thousands of noisy Brunnich’s Guillemots and Kittiwakes above us on the ledges, and alongside us down on the water. Some of the Brunnich’s, and several Black Guillemots, stood upright on ice floes, looking just like penguins. It was all action and sound, with guano smell thrown in. Glaucous Gulls patrolled the cliffs, with their nests at intervals from where they could survey their domain. One adult was seen tearing apart a dead Kittiwake at the foot of the cliffs. High above us we espied a nervous-looking pair of Barnacle Geese. Their anxiety was justified, as shortly afterwards we watched a very scruffy Arctic Fox running along below their cliff, searching for food in the grass - eggs sometimes roll off ledges and fall down below. 

Slightly chilled by then, in the shadow of the cliffs, we returned to the ship and headed back out into the Hinlopen Strait ‘to see what we can see’, as Olle often told us. The pack ice was well broken, but held plenty of Fulmars, Kittiwakes and auks as we crunched through it with our ice-strengthened hull. As we turned northwards and lunchtime approached, so did a solitary Walrus, stretched out asleep on a small icefloe. We crept up very quietly to watch and photograph it at close range from the ship, before going down for lunch. Two more were seen after lunch as we approached our afternoon destination at the mouth of Murchinsonfjorden near the top of Hinlopen Strait.

 Olle planned a landing at Krossoya (Cross Island), one of the numerous Russoyane or Russian Islands, but delayed this when a Polar Bear was seen briefly walking out of sight over the ridged top of the island. We Zodiaced along the shore but could not find the bear - but did see an Arctic Fox running away. Eventually we landed, and slowly and very carefully made our way up towards the cross at the top of the island. We saw a  pair of Red-throated Divers and a pair of Grey Phalaropes flew past; a pair of Arctic Skuas were mobbing something (maybe the fox); and we examined and handled the remarkably warm down in an empty Eider nest. Near the top of the island something pale caught our attention. It was obviously the Polar Bear, asleep in a hollow out of the bitterly cold wind which swept the island. Olle directed us to leave immediately, which we did without further ado, and were soon back on the ship. And as we sailed away, looking back we could see through a ‘scope that the Polar Bear, which was watching us leave, had a cub in the hollow with it! Olle’s decision had been exactly the right one, to avoid any disturbance to the animal or risk to ourselves.

We crossed the top of the Hinlopen Strait and entered a lovely and peaceful fjord called Sorgfjorden, where two Walruses were sleeping on a nearby beach. Before dinner we had a short Zodiac cruise to see them at closer quarters, which showed that they were an old and a young male. We returned to the ship, from which we could see some 20 Reindeer grazing on some distant tundra. And then a surprise - dinner, on this still, warm and sunny evening, was a barbecue on the aft deck. What perfect timing! With great food, free drinks and a party atmosphere with music and even a belly dancer who bore a striking resemblance to one of our Russian stewardesses, it made a marvellous ending to another unforgettable day.

Monday 4 July

We awoke to find that we were anchored off Sjuoyane, or Seven Islands, the northernmost group in the Svalbard Archipelago. We Zodiaced ashore to land on Phippsoya, the most northerly accessible one, where a group of about 30 Walruses were asleep on the beach. It was a lovely still, sunny day, with some foggy patches around the islands, as we stepped ashore. We spent about half an hour close to the Walruses, which were belching and grunting, but only a couple woke up to peer at us. We left them slumbering and walked across the island to a point where we could look out to sea to the north. Arctic Skuas were wailing, Little Auks laughing and Snow Buntings singing all round us as Rupert called for a ten-minute silence. The resulting sound of the silence was very evocative, and helped us to appreciate just what a peaceful wilderness we were in.

Fog began to roll in as we returned to the ship, and as we sailed south-westwards it enveloped us completely. We were heading towards Lagoya (which means ‘low island’) and as we arrived, miraculously the fog began to lift. We Zodiaced along the north-eastern shore for about a mile and landed in warm sunshine and no wind beside a smallish pool, full of birds. We counted at least 14 Grey Phalaropes, delightfully confiding and approachable; a pair of Red-throated Divers flew off and joined three more on the sea nearby; a Sanderling was feeding with Purple Sandpipers; and a Snow Bunting feeding young in a nest in a nearby cairn. Several Reindeer were grazing on distant tundra and there were four Walruses in the sea. It was a very peaceful scene, from which we had to tear ourselves away and return all too soon to the ship and sail away towards our next destination.

Tuesday 5 July

We arrived the next morning at the north-western corner of Spitsbergen to find near-gale force winds and a rough sea. We found a sheltered anchorage close to the island of Fuglesongen, and Zodiaced ashore to visit the low-lying colony of Little Auks. The wind was gusting Force 7-8 over the rocks, on to which some Little Auks clung tenaciously, but it was too windy for many to stay for long. So instead we returned to the landing beach, above which is a small colony, and were able to watch through ‘scopes and take photographs of several sitting on the rocks there. As the first empty Zodiac returned to collect us, the wind got under its bow and flipped it over, the Russian driver ending up in the sea.  He clung on to the upturned hull and was quickly rescued. No such fate befell us as the weight of passengers keeps the craft firmly in the water, but it showed the force of the wind. One witty member of the group suggested that this qualified as a wildlife sighting as the Zodiac had turned turtle...

In lovely warm afternoon sunshine after lunch, we drew into Raudfjord, the Red Fjord, and took a Zodiac cruise into the sheltered Hamiltonbukta. Above us were bird-cliffs teeming with life; four Reindeer, one being a young one, grazed near the shore; an Ivory Gull was out on the ice (and later photographed flying around); and a young Polar Bear was also asleep there. About three years old, it got up and made its way along the ice to the rocky shore, before walking past us only about 25 metres away as we watched and photographed it. Later we saw it swim across to some islands and start looking for nests and eggs, mobbed by terns and skuas. It was our twelfth and last bear, and in many ways our best.

Wednesday 6 July

On our last full day, which started cool and dull, we arrived early at the Fourteenth of July Glacier in Krossfjorden and after breakfast visited some low cliffs before landing on the beach below the ‘Hanging Gardens’, a wonderful place for flowering plants. On the cliffs were Brunnich’s Guillemots and a small number of Puffins, and two Razorbills, extremely rare in Svalbard but nearly always to be seen here. Some of the Barnacle and Pinkfooted Geese on the clifftops and slopes above had goslings, while about 15 Barnacles seen later out on the water had started to moult and could not fly. A pair of Snow Buntings were feeding five hungry young in a picturesque nesting site among the flowers in a little gully. Two Red-throated Divers, some eight Long-tailed Ducks, a party of Eider with about 30 small ducklings (three riding on their mother’s back), two Great Skuas and a colony of Arctic Terns were found later on the far side of the fjord, when the sun came out and the mountain peaks became visible. Most of the group had gathered on the beach in front of the glacier where two Ivory Gulls were flying about, and had an unexpected excitement when a huge chunk of ice fell from the ‘snout’ of the glacier with a loud cracking noise. A miniature tsunami surged across the bay and before anyone could appreciate just how fast it was moving, it came up the beach at them. A few suffered wet feet and one or two experienced wet backs as they raced up the shore to dry land. A salutary experience! It was suggested that this could qualify in the ‘Other Wildlife’ category in our trip checklist as the glacier was calving...

After our last excellent lunch on board, we sailed across into Lilliehookfjorden, where the Captain took our little white ship right up to the face of the glacier there, which is five kilometres across.  There were more than two thousand Kittiwakes present and a Ringed Seal, but no more Ivory Gulls or Polar Bears! We sailed away on a lovely sunny afternoon, back down Krossfjorden and out towards the open sea where fog closed in as we went down for dinner. Later we were back in sunshine as we headed southwards for our 100+ mile voyage back to Longyearbyen and the end of the trip.

Thursday 7 July

The ship anchored off the pier in Longyearbyen early in the morning while we were all asleep, and after breakfast we were taken ashore by Zodiac (a large cruise ship was due in at the pier). We said goodbye to our Hotel Manager/Purser Jan and to Olle, our expedition leader, who had both done such an excellent job for us. A coach took us into town for the morning, where people visited the well-laid-out museum, did some shopping and birding, and had lunch. The birders found two drake King Eiders this time, but even further away than the one seen on our arrival a week ago. We all agreed that we had done so much and seen such a lot in that time that this one week seemed more like two.

Rupert and Delphine joined the coach to the airport to see us off and say goodbye. Everything went smoothly on the flights back to London, where we landed on time in the evening and our luggage was waiting for us on the carousel. Goodbyes were made to existing and new friends as everyone went their separate ways homeward.

Conclusion

A trip which could scarcely have been bettered had sadly come to an end. I travelled home by road to Norfolk and was in bed by 2.00 am - exactly twelve hours after the flight home took off from Longyearbyen. It is quite remarkable that one can be just 600 miles from the North Pole in the morning, in the magnificent Arctic mountains and glaciers, and half a day later be back in one’s home in England. We had covered 902 nautical miles on the Grigoriy Mikheev in one week, seen a wealth of wildlife, and enjoyed good weather, good company and good food.  One couldn’t ask for more. Well, perhaps a Ross’s Gull, but that has eluded the writer for the past eight years in Spitsbergen. Maybe one day...