PUFFIN PARADISE

Waterfalls pour down in Seydisfjordur

The small town of Seydisfjordur in East Iceland lies at the head of a deep fjord with jagged snow capped peaks looking down somewhat menacingly on the town.  A familiar theme on our travels but Icelanders tend to take these things in stride.

Downtown Seydisfjordur

As with other small towns we’d visited, homes are brightly painted and well cared for.  Activity centres around fish processing, the acrid air around town palpable.  

Tourism is on the increase but this part of Iceland is remote and during the cold, dark winter months it must test the will with roads to the outside world often impassable.  A Danish ferry comes in weekly on its Denmark - Faroe Islands - Iceland run, but the atmosphere in this community defines isolation.

A four wheel drive contraption – a truck come bus – took us along a narrow gravel road that crossed river beds bubbling with icy water streaming down from the melting snow high above.  Passing Viking era excavations and deserted farmhouses, the long cultural history this area has seen was underscored.

Fancy digs for the eider duck

At Skalanes Farmhouse we had a close up view of nesting eider duck, their valuable down harvested from the nest lining.  Some ducks are so accustomed to their environment they allow the farmer to pick them up and replace them carefully back in the nest after part of the down lining has been removed, the farmer having created a series of smart looking nesting boxes along the shoreline. 

The sky was alive with action.  This particular area, Skalanes Nature Reserve, is home to fifty different bird species during summer and we enjoyed the sights and sounds of some of them.  The territorial Arctic Tern swoops down in irritation when anything invades its patch, amazing how a relatively small bird could look so threatening. 

Gulls and Puffin nesting on the cliff face

Busted!

The colourful puffin with its orange feet and facial markings and tiny black wings that seem far too small for its body felt a lot less intimidating.

Little darlings and so photogenic.

All manner of gull nest on the unwelcoming cliff sides that sweep down to the ocean, their choice to nest well placed as young birds often fall victim to marauding arctic fox and mink.  

There is a bounty on these predators and the farmhouse had an impressive display of skins adorning the walls. 

While the landscape was wild and unwelcoming to us, it positively teemed with life.  The howling wind merely providing the means for all manner of bird life to survey and thrive in their unique environment.