Day 8 and 9 - Borganes to Floi - the final chapter
Day 8 Borganes - Floi
Had it feeling this was going to be a great day more on that later......
Great-northern Diver, June 2022.
Early start around the guesthouse looking for the usual suspects. I headed away from the small wood where i had some success last night with the Redwings and headed into the small open hills looking for waders. Adrian was off looking for his nemesis the Black-tailed Godwit. I spent a bit of time watching a pair of Oystercatchers and Ringed Plover but i think they were just feeding around a small pool on a piece of waste land. I did however find a lovely set of Meadow Pipits eggs. Not something I was looking for but always nice to see. In fact apart from a small area of Daffodils still in flower and some more Icelandic Poppies that was all i found. I planned to go back to photograph them but soon run out of time. lt was fast approaching breakfast time and time to move onto our next stop Floi.
Meadow Pipit nest, Borganes, June 2022
En route to Floi we stopped for Brekkie at service station where there was a well stocked pastry counter. It was hit hard and we all filled up for the day ahead. Next stop was at Pingvallavatn which is the 2nd largest natural lake in Iceland. It was where parliament was held between 930 and 1799. We werent there to learn history though lol!!! So on with the birds. Next we stopped on a road over looking the lake where we heard an Icelandic rarity the Blackbird. Its a new colonist of Iceland and I understand their numbers are slowly growing. It was lovely to hear the Blackbird singing among the numerous Redwings.
Ricky diving into the Pastrys, Iceland June 2022
Road to Pingvallavatn, Iceland, June 2022
View across Pingvallavatn, Iceland, June 2022
Local fauna, Iceland June 2022
Next stop was a great place on the River Sog, the Sog is the river that feeds lake Pingvallavatn. Here in 2019 we had a river bank nesting Great-northern Diver so after our success with the 2019 Skuas we thought let’s stop and see. Amongst the millions of Black flies we found the Great-northern diver nesting in pretty much the same spot. A beautiful bird up close. She was sat tight so we didn’t disturb her for very long we took a few quick snaps before slowly moving on. The first pictures below are taken on my phone thats how close we were able to slowly move into. Im sure we could have touched her and she wouldn’t have moved. An incredible experience and why I love Iceland so much. It just keeps on giving. This was also a good spot for lunch i celebrated with a different sandwich we moved from beef to lamb. I might add that to buy these sandwiches I had to take out a small mortgage. Iceland is beautiful but bloody expensive.
Great-northern Diver, River Sog, Iceland, June 2022
Great-northern Diver, River Sog, Iceland, June 2022
Great-northern Diver, River Sog, Iceland, June 2022
Great-northern Diver, River Sog, Iceland, June 2022 (bit blurry but shows how stunning these eyes are)
Great-northern Diver, River Sog, Iceland; June 2022
Around the river where plenty of Alaskan Lupins these were all over Iceland and had been introduced to stop soil erosion and now had spread across the country. In the south they were in full bloom but in our recent travels to the far north they were still not out in flower. Also on the banks here were some Water Avens. A common plant throughout Iceland and also found in the UK but as with most plants in Iceland it was a new one for me.
Alaskan Lupins, River Sog, June 2022
Water Avens, River Sog, June 2022
Next stop was going to be one of the a highlights of the trip. No trip to Iceland is complete without a stop a Floi bird reserve. It’s full of Red-throated divers and lots of other species and hardly a sole in sight. This year we bumped into a fellow British bird photography Connor and it was great to hear his stories from his trip across Iceland. It was also good to see the R7 in action which Connor was using. The AI for focusing on the subjects eye is awesome, this helped with flight shots. My 5D was useless trying to capture the incoming divers but Connors R7 performed really well. There is an R series lens on my wish list now.
My attempt at an incoming Red-throated Diver, Floi, June 2022
Before entering Floi we like to have a drive along the lanes that lead into the bird reserve. Here there are lots of open fields great for waders. It’s also great for birds on fence posts. I even managed to add a new bird to my collection the Meadow pipit.
Meadow Pipit, Floi, June 2022
Meadow pipit, Floi, June 2022
Redshank, Floi, June 2022
Redshank, Floi, June 2022
Snipe, Floi, June 2022
Starling, Floi, June 2022
We walked around the reserve first to take it all in. The real beauty of this place isnt the landscape or the wet boggy smell its the noise. 100s of Divers calling alongside the drumming snipe and the odd Red-necked Phalarope amongst others it really is amazing. It was one of my favourite stops in 2019 and I wasn’t to be disappointed again this year. We started off with a C1 Red-throated Diver just off the main path followed by a C2. I love the shot of the nest looking over the water and you can clearly see the run off the diver uses to slip into the water when danger approaches.
C1 Red-throated Diver, Floi, June 2022
C2 Red-throated Diver, Floi, June 2022
C1 Red-throated Diver, Floi, June 2022
C2 Red-throated Diver, Floi, June 2022
C2 Red-throated Diver, Floi, June 2022
It was now pretty late in the day and the light wasn’t great for togging birds on water there was however a Red-throated Diver sat on its nest adjacent to the footpath. You could just see it’s head and long neck through the long grass.
Red-throated Diver, Floi, June 2022
Red-throated Diver, Floi, June 2022
Tonight’s teas was yet another Pizza. It was pretty good and well worth the wait all the restaurants in Iceland were busy tonight some kind of public holiday.
Day 9 - The final day
Whilst walking around yesterday i spotted a family of Divers. 2 adults and 2 chicks these were going to be my subjects for the next few hours. I careful approached the small pool they were on and laid on the waters edge once they seemed happy with my presence i started to photograph them. It was amazing to watch these amazing bird interact with each other. The adults would fly off and bring back in small fish for the chicks when one was off feeding the other would keep a watchful eye on the chicks. They were so chilled that at points they were all asleep.
Red-throated Diver and chick, Floi, June 2022
Red-throated Diver and chick, Floi, June 2022
Red-throated Diver and chicks, Floi, June 2022
Red-throated Diver chick, Floi, June 2022
Red-throated Diver chick, Floi, June 2022
Red-throated Diver chick, Floi, June 2022
After spending a few hours watching the Parents feed and interact with the chicks I thought it best to spend some time with the stunning adult birds that would drift past on the small pool. I felt incredibly lucky to spent a few hours watching this family. At times i would slowly move my camera away and just watch these birds feed, preen and sleep. It was when they slept that I knew i was no threat to them and it felt like i was part of their world. I also felt incredibly wet and stinky. To keep disturbance to a minimum i was laid down on the edge of the pool which was a very damp and boggy area. My lens was hovering just above the surface of the water. I didn’t use a tripod and went hand held to try and get those low across the water profile shots. It was challenging at times as a 500mm lens isn’t light but i loved every minute. That light was always challenging due to the time of day and the ever changing cloud conditions but i managed a few keepers. Nearly a year on i still haven’t fully been through all my pictures as i took so many.
Red-throated Diver, Floi, June 2022
Red-throated Diver, Floi, June 2022
Red-throated Diver, Floi, June 2022
Excuse the loud autofocus on my lens in the below video but if you listen carefully you can hear the wonderful background noise of Floi
Hand held video of the Red-throated Divers.
Whilst I was laid in the dirty water Adrian and Ricky had been off looking for Flois other breeding birds and had some success. No Black-tailed Godwit again but they did find. Golden Plover, Whimbrel and a Red-necked Phalarope. The Phalarope wasn’t to far from where I was with the divers So after i had taken my fill of pictures I had a look at the Phalarope nest. What a beauty and so tiny.
Red-necked Phalarope nest, Floi, June 2022
Red-necked Phalarope nest, Floi, June 2022
I then spent about an hour on a feeding pool watching and photographing Red-necked Phalaropes as they came and went.
Red-necked Phalarope, Floi, June 2022
Red-necked Phalarope, Floi, June 2022
Red-necked Phalarope, Floi, June 2022
Red-necked Phalarope, Floi, June 2022
Red-necked Phalarope, Floi, June 2022
Red-necked Phalarope, Floi, June 2022
Red-necked Phalarope, Floi, June 2022
Red-necked Phalarope, Floi, June 2022
Hand held video of the Red-necked Phalaropes
A pair of Whooper Swans gave good views as well. They walk straight past where I was sat. Another nice bird to photograph.
Whooper Swans, Floi, June 2022
Next stop was the coast in search of more waders and maybe some Gull colonies. We parked up near Eyrarbakki and we walked the strip of land in between the road and the coast. We had had some success nesting here last time so we were all hopeful of finding some good stuff. First stop was a small pocket of Lupins time on this trip was running out and I wanted to take some better photos of these beautiful plants.
Alaskan Lupins, Iceland, June 2022
Alaskan Lupins, Iceland, June 2022
Alaskan Lupins, Iceland, June 2022
I then spend a bit of time with a Golden Plover it looked to be nesting in the area as wasnt feeding and was pretty faithful to a small area. We had a look around but didnt find a nest. A 2nd bird was in the area so we were pretty confident there was a nest or chicks nearby.
Golden plover, Eyrarbakki, June 2022
Golden plover, Eyrarbakki, June 2022
Golden plover, Eyrarbakki, June 2022
Next we headed in the direction of a small black-headed gull colony we found in 2019. It wasn’t so small this year and as we approached 100s of Gulls took flight. It wasn’t just Black-headed Gulls but Lesser back-backed Gulls and Arctic Terns. It was quite a site we moved our way through pretty swiftly checking out a few nests as we went. Lesser have been known to lay some pretty special eggs and we did come across one nest that had 1 pale blue egg amongst the usual colour.
Lesser black-backed Gull nest, June 2022
Lesser black-backed Gull nest, June 2022
Lesser black-backed Gull nest, June 2022
Lesser black-backed Gull nest, June 2022
Lesser black-backed Gull nest, June 2022
Lesser black-backed Gull nest, June 2022
Lesser black-backed Gull nest, June 2022
The Black-headed Gulls has a mix of Chick and eggs way to many nest to count but probably into the 100s and clearly a lot. bigger than 3 years ago.
Black-headed Gull nest, Eyrarbakk, June 2022
Black-headed Gull nest, Eyrarbakk, June 2022
Black-headed Gull chick, Eyrarbakk, June 2022
Arctic Tern nest, Eyrarball, June 2022
Arctic Tern nest, Eyrarbakk June 2022
Also in the area were a slection of waders a last chance to add to the growing list of photos i needed to edit on my return. Nothing particular good but a few more records of our trip.
Redshank, Eyrarbakki, June 2022
Black-tailed Godwit, Eyrarbakki, June 2022
Whimbrel, Eyrarbakki, June 2022
Whimbrel, Eyrarbakki, June 2022
Dunlin, Eyrarbakki, June 2022
Last stop was a trip down the lanes around Floi to have a final look for nesting Black-tailed Godwits, No luck but we did find some of the impressive Icelandic Horses. Tried to get a bit arty with these and they werent brillant photos. Almost a but of an after thought after another long trip.
Icelandic Horses, Iceland, June 2022
Icelandic Horses, Iceland, June 2022
Icelandic Horses, Iceland, June 2022
Icelandic Horses, Iceland, June 2022
After several hours out and about we headed to our digs for the last night. A wooden house in Gljufurbustadir it was set in a beautiful location just outside the city of Selfoss. It even had a hot tub. Not my cuppa of tea. After a long shower to wash away the stinky bog water of floi we headed into Selfoss for a burger at Tommys burger bar and to pick up some beers to drink at our digs. If you are in Iceland and you see a Tommys burger Joint stop and have one they are bloody amazing. A good way to finish of another superb day in Iceland.
Gljufurbustadir hoilday homes, Iceland, June 2022
Gljufurbustadir hoilday homes, Iceland, June 2022
Gljufurbustadir hoilday homes, Iceland, June 2022
Gljufurbustadir hoilday homes, Iceland, June 2022 - my room give the tallest the small roof space lol
Gljufurbustadir hoilday homes, Iceland, June 2022
Gljufurbustadir hoilday homes, Iceland, June 2022
Gljufurbustadir hoilday homes, Iceland, June 2022
Gljufurbustadir hoilday homes, Iceland, June 2022
Tea yes another burger.
1.30am out of the bedroom window and its still pretty light
Flight home tomorrow and the end of another amazing trip to Iceland…… next stop Lapland 2023
Comments
Definitely going next year!