Day 3 - 14th June 2026 - Svalbard - Spitzbergen & the pack ice with Bird's Wildlife & Nature

Overnight we continued around the very top of Spitzbergen and then headed into Liefdefjorden for the day.  Auks whizzed to and fro and close in there were more Black Guillemots close inshore while Kittiwakes streamed towards the wall of the Monacobreen.

Our land trip was first today and after a short ride in the zodiacs we were on the beach at Texas Bar – another 1920’s trapping hut and refuge which was built by the Nois brothers after failing to get to the New World to create the real thing.  Although never a real bar it now hosts a fine selection of beverages from around the world.

Landing point - Jim Willett

Texas Bar - Jim Willett

Bill and Roger at the Texas Bar

Texas Bar - Jim Willett

The slow walk took us with Pippa along the shore and up towards the bottom of the cliffs where Brunnich’s Guillemot and Kittiwakes were noisily nesting and pair of Arctic Skuas were breeding on the flatter areas that we walked across.  They were not bothered by us and we did not even get dive bombed but if a Kit flew through with food it was ‘action stations’ and off they went in pursuit.

Arctic Skua - so well hidden in the tundra

Arctic Skua

Arctic Skua

It was florally rich once again, no doubt fertilised by run off from the colony above and Pink-feet and Barnacles grazing below.  The delightful song of Snow Buntings rebounded across the boulder fields and displaying males seemed to blow by like oversized snowflakes.

Pink-footed Goose - Jim Willett

Pink-feet on nesting slopes

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting - a very smart female

The was a fair chance of Arctic Fox here and Marco found one sleeping amongst the rocks.  It knew we were there but just raised its head, yawned and stuck its nose back under its tail.  The other groups converged and after a while it got up and stretched and began to circle around us giving everyone the chance to enjoy it.  Its front half was still in fluffy winter coat but the hind end was already a sleek chocolate summer pelt and it was no wonder that it was scratching so much.

Itchy and scratchy Arctic Fox

Arctic Fox - what a delightful little canid

Arctic Fox - Jim Willett

Arctic Fox - Cindy Nickerton

And a historical testament to the fur trade - a dead weight drop trap designed for despatching Foxes without damaging the pelt.

All too soon we were making our way back to the zodiacs where Eider and a pair of Long-tailed Ducks paddled offshore.

Purple Saxifrage

Pippa in full flow - rapt audience

The Ortelius moved us all further into the fjord while we were lunching in mid-afternoon we once again left the ship for our proper visit to the over four mile long wall of Monacobreen and its neighbour Seligerbreen which in places towers almost 200 feet high.

Seligerbreen

Monacobreen - vast - 4.4km wide and almost 60m high in places

Woof...

It was a breath-taking experience and not being distracted by immediate thoughts of Polar Bears made for a more memorable experience this time.  Marco was in charge of our zodiac so we had plenty of glacier evolution input as we bumped through the brash ice, into grumbling growlers and avoided substantial bergybits while the ice wall groaned and creaked and occasionally cracked like a clap of thunder.

Rise of the Seligerbreen Ice Giant

We even saw a couple of calving episodes when large pieces of the front wall simply collapsed into the sea before rising back up and turning until they found their happy floating point.  One such piece collapsed into the outflow area where hundreds of Kittiwakes were frantically picking at morsels causing a sudden dread if birds in all directions but try as we might we could not pick out any Ivory Gulls and just the odd Glaucous Gull and Arctic Terns.

A second Iceberg Giant disturbed by our passing

Mostly Kittiwakes around the submarine glacial upwelling

The most magnificent piece of ice was what Marco informed us was a shooter – a submarine area of ice that had broken free and rockets out from underneath.  Being at such pressure gave it amazing colours and translucency as well as striations of debris that had been trapped within it.  A Glaucous Gull posed rather nicely on the top.  

Kittiwakes

Kittiwake

Kittiwake

The Shooter

Glaucous Gull 

The Shooter

The Shooter

The Shooter

The Shooter

We got incredibly close to the Black Guillemots and Arctic Terns and even a huge Bearded Seal that seemed quite cool about us and surfaced alongside showing off those amazing whiskers that to uses to feel along the sea floor for prey.

Black Guillemot

Black Guillemot

Bearded Seal - one of my favourite encounters of the whole adventure

Bearded Seal

Arctic Terns

Arctic Terns

Arctic Tern

Black Guillemot - Jim Willett

Black Guillemot - Jim Willett

The ice colours and sculptures were a wonder to see and our minds managed to find The Cat in the Hat and a fine Shoebill as we made our way back to the Ortelius.  

The Shoebill

It had been another amazing day in the Arctic.