Special feature: Svalbard

One of the highlights of 2008 was a cruise to the North Cape of Norway and Svalbard (Spitsbergen), as guest lectures for Fred Olsen Cruise Lines on board their ship Boudicca.

The weather was not wonderful, with almost continuous rain, sleet or snow while we were in Ny Alesund in the north-west of Spitsbergen, and low cloud when we cruised in Magdalene Fjord, making photography difficult.  Only one passenger saw a polar bear, but several of us saw a walrus, and many of the passengers were treated to wonderful views of an arctic fox, with 7 cubs, which had a den under one of the houses in Ny Alesund.

The photographs below are some of the highlights from the cruise, which I promised to post for some of the passengers.

Click on the photos to see a larger version.

Common gull One of several common gulls that posed superbly for passengers on the deck of the Boudicca off Tromso in Norway.	Snow bunting Nordkapp, the North Cape of Norway, was blanketed in mist when we were there (not untypical), making it look very dramatic. This snow bunting was feeding in the mist on the clifftop heathland there.
Glaucous gull The glaucous gull is a real Arctic speciality, and one of the main hunters on Svalbard where there are no true birds-of-prey. This one was photographed off Bjornoya (Bear Island), the southernmost of the Svalbard islands.	Svalbard Poppy (Papaver dahlianum) Often called the national flower of Spitsbergen, this beautiful poppy is also found in north Greenland and the Russian Arctic ~ photographed here above Longyearbyen.
Little auks On what was described as a 'valley hike' (actually a stiff climb) above Longyearbyen, a small group of us were treated to close views of a large colony of little auks ~ relatives of puffins but the size of a starling.	Arctic fox with little auk As we watched the auk colony above Longyearbyen, an arctic fox appeared in their midst, carrying a little auk which it had obviously just caught. It stopped on a cliff ledge to begin eating its prey.
Minke whale Sightings of cetaceans were in disappointingly short supply on the cruise, but as we approached Ny Alesund in the snow this minke whale appeared alongside the ship, showing its characteristically hooked dorsal fin.	Brunnich's Guillemot Brunnich's guillemots are widespread in the Arctic, with about 850,000 breeding pairs on Svalbard. They have a shorter, thicker beak than the more southern common guillemot, with a white stripe along the length of their beaks.
King Eiders As "Boudicca" was docking in Ny Alesund ~ the northernmost village in the world ~ we had a lucky sighting of a group of king eiders (ducks) flying past. They are generally rather shy, so we were lucky to see them at all.	Barnacle geese and chicks Much easier to see were the barnacle geese around the village. Most passengers who went ashore were treated to lovely views of adults with their chicks, although the wet spring meant that many had fewer chicks than normal (they lay 4 or 5 eggs).
Ivory gull One of the 'birders' birds' on Svalbard is the ivory gull, very much a species of the high Arctic with a world population estimated at around 5,000 birds, mainly in the Russian arctic. This one was a regular beside the husky dog kennel, feeding on seal meat hung up there to dry.	Arctic fox and cubs But the highlight for most passengers at Ny Alesund was the sighting of an arctic fox with some of her cubs (a few lucky passengers saw all 7 of them!). She had made her den beneath one of the houses, with nearby barnacle geese chicks providing a ready source of food.

Using my photographs

I am happy for passengers on the Boudicca trip to download any of the photographs above if they want to copy them for their own personal use only.  Note that they are very low resolution copies.  If you click on the gallery photograph, a larger version will appear on your screen. Right-clicking to save this is not possible, but you can right-click, hold, then drag the photograph onto your desktop and save it that way.

If passengers would prefer a slightly higher-resolution copy, please send me a message here, let me know your email address and the photograph(s) you'd like and I will email them to you. Anyone wishing high-resolution versions for commercial purposes can also contact me here.