Blue Eyed Birder

We awoke to an unchanging day of open sea to the port side and rugged coastal Spitzbergen cliffs and glaciers to starboard. Fatheads and Little Auks streamed by and the odd Puffin appeared. Jim and I were the only ones up on deck pre breakfast and Pippa had mentioned to us that it was potentially a good Walrus bit coming up and within just a few minutes three surfaced alongside us, blew nosily, turned to look at us and wave shortish tusk, waggled bristles and dived once more!

Fatheads - Brunnich's Guillemots

Atlantic Walruses

Atlantic Walrus

Atlantic Puffin

On we went and had a wonderful morning watching glaciers reaching the sea and epic waterfalls cascading down from the highest peaks. The Fulmars seemed to be getting even darker as we moved north and Kittiwakes moved in to towering cliffs were they and the auks swirled like dust. A couple of Arctic Skuas were seen and an adult Long-tailed Skua was bobbing around on the sea but at long range.

Glaucous Gull

Please not judge me for the number of landscape images. It was truly epic and I may never get the chance to visit again.

I think we were just finishing breakfast when the quietly controlled tones of Ali the Expedition Leader announced that there was a Polar Bear on the starboard side. Everyone made a dash for the side and upper deck and after a tense minute or two we could all see this large male mayonnaise bear ambling along the rock shoreline. I suspect he was best part of a mile away but it really did not matter. The crew Swaro was on deck and we were soon getting rather better views. I reckon only a quarter of the 108 guests had binoculars and most were trying to find it with phones or the occasional camera. A Polar Bear on day one! Who would have thought it. There was always a chance of us seeing zero PBs on this trip.

Our very first Polar Bear - unforgetable

Polar Bear

The Polar Bear was on that distant shoreline

Happy Bill

Not long afterwards we turned into the Fuglefjorden with the imposing Svitjodbreen (breen means glacier) at its head and made our way to the zodiacs for our first adventure on water. It was calm and bright now with clear waters and a blue sky. Our crew was with Sacha and we manoeuvred in for close views of a pair of Great Skua (a rare bird up this far), Barnacle Geese, Common Eiders and even displaying Snow Buntings before we converged on a young Harbour Seal bananaing on a small rock and posing for shots.

Harbour Seal

Great Skua - Jim Willett

A radio call about a Polar Bear on an island had all eyes up and all the boats slowly moved that way. There are very strict protocols about how close you can get to any PB in Norwegian territory (500m this time of year) and when the bear simply appeared over the closest ridge and started to walk to the shore a measured retreat was called for. Saying that, this magnificent female had not read the rule book and got into the water opposite our zodiac and swum towards us as we backed off, before passing well behind the boat and clambering out onto the shore of the next island where, after a quick shake she resumed her search amongst the boulders for a snack.

Jim Willett

Alexis Bodycomb

So chilled that she snorkelled as she swam across the channel

I have just noticed that she has an ear tag although from the front on shots it looks like a button on the inside too so I wonder if it is a tracker?

From our new vantage point we watched her return to the edge of the island and perform some quality bouldering skills before climbing back into the water and heading straight out across the bay.

Off she swam once again while Little Auks whizzed above her

The beach stroll - Cindy Nickerton

All the zodiacs left her to it and we headed up fjord to the glacier beyond. The Ortelius watched her swim the not inconsiderable distance across and clamber up onto the mainland. What a remarkable encounter. Day one – two Polar Bears. Could anything surpass this encounter?

Svitjodbreen towered up at the end with her blue ice gleaming and the normally white Kittiwakes looked dark blue grey in the reflected light. Black Guillemots paddled around us in the brash ice and waggled red legs when the decided to take flight.

Black Guillemot - Jim Willett

To be honest, I am not sure how much we took at our first glacier experience as I think we were all still reeling from having seen a Polar Bear so amazingly well. Onwards we went.

A vast island of Little Auks

Little Auks - more here than in all my 50 years of UK birding

The ever changing weather

Brunnich's Guillemot

Brunnich's Guillemots

You can only begin to imagine the number of auks whirling across this entire view to and from and over the top of these towering sea cliffs

Northern Fulmar - Jim Willett

Lunch was a very happy affair as we moved on and around the coast to conduct our first zodiac landing – it was a very full first day! We made our way into Raudfjorden and zoomed ashore at Alicehamna (which is named after the yacht of Prince Albert I of Monaco!). Ortelius landings comprise three or four walking opportunities – leisurely, medium, sometimes photography and long hike.

We chose leisurely as we quite correctly though that the pace would give us more time to look around us, take snaps and study the amazing dwarf botany at our feet. The old trapping hut of Swedish Sven was still standing having been left in 1927 and the door and windows had been firmly shut before we arrived otherwise the landing party would not have known whether a PB was sleeping inside or not!

The views were spectacular and it did not matter that the only birds were a pairs of Snow Buntings and Arctic Skuas as the flowers were delightful. Some I had already seen in Longyearbyen but there were others here too.

Arctic Skua - Steve Bielamowicz

Snow Bunting - Steve Bielamowicz

Arctic Avens - Dryas octopetala

Arctic Sorrel - Oxyria digyna

Arctic Whitlow-Grass - Draba fladnizensis

Polar Willow - Salix polaris

Purple saxifrage - Saxifraga oppositifolia

Pygmy Buttercup - Ranunculus pygmaeus

Svalbard Poppy - Oreomecon dahliana

Tufted Saxifrage - Saxifraga cespitosa

It was a great introduction to life above 79° North compared to 78° for Longyearbyen where the grass is quite lush in places and there are large boggy areas. Here it is bare rock with plants scrabbling for a foothold amongst the debris in cracks and the lee of stones or in the mossy rivulets that run along fault lines and bigger fissures. Lichens in many hues covered every rock and I can only imagine how old some of those must have been.