Garth Peacock
Iceland - Day 6 - Saturday 10th June 2017

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Friday 4th October - North Norfolk

Monday 7th October 2024

Tanzania Day 8 - The Serengeti

Saturday 5th October 2024

Two trips out with little to show.

Wednesday 25th September 2024

Tanzania Day 7 - The Serengeti

Monday 23rd September 2024

Abberton Reservoir - again

Thursday 19th September 2024

Abberton Essex

Wednesday 11th September 2024

A morning at Grafham Water

Thursday 29th August 2024

After holiday blues

Thursday 22nd August 2024

Trying out a new lens

Monday 5th August 2024

Tanzania Day 5 - Ngorogoro Crater

Saturday 27th July 2024

Kevin Robson's Tawny Owl hide

Thursday 25th July 2024

Local stuff

Saturday 20th July 2024

More local stuff

Saturday 29th June 2024

Catching up with a local rarity

Friday 14th June 2024

Tanzania - Day 1 - Arusha

Monday 13th May 2024

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Saturday 2nd September 2017

At last, I have been able to process some more of the images from my Iceland trip. It has been a month since my last posting with a further family holiday, this time with the grandchildren to Tenerife - no possibility of wildlife photos, just too busy trying to keep up with the four of them.

Anyway, back to Iceland. Day 6 was spent at the glacial lagoon of Jokulsarlon, our final day there, starting early because of the tourists. We left the hotel at 06.00 for a spell before breakfast, still cloudy weather and some light drizzle but the light from the icebergs helped the camera exposure. Some icebergs were white, some with very dark streaking and some were blue, making a very attractive backdrop.

audemars piguet royal oak offshore replica

This time the Sabine's Gull had been joined by second bird but they still kept their distance.

This time, I wandered away from the parking area, further up the lagoon and noticed a group of Razorbills on the water and they eventually came just within range before flying off.

We returned in the afternoon and this time, I crossed the road away from the crowds and found a group of Barnacle Geese with goslings.

I followed them for a time as they made their way over the hill towards the lagoon but took a wrong turn that left me high on a ridge with no possibility of getting to the water while the geese family went for a swim - shots on the blue water missed!!!

Crossing the road towards the beach, I caught up with some of our group settled down watching a Ringed Plover. This species is well known for it's distraction act when the nest is in danger from predators so I just sat close and waited and was treated to a sustained performance.

Paul Hobson had this vision of a male Snow Bunting on ice and went to great lengths to get a block from the beach and transport it in the bus to the nesting area and set it up - quite on effort - that eventually paid off.

It was also singing from the nearby rocks, totally unconcerned by the ring of photographers.

As the afternoon progressed, I revisited the Arctic Tern colony for some flight shots and something different. Flight shots were not easy - white bird - grey sky - so I concentrated on catching them with the distant mountains in the backround.

and something different.

The previous day, we had noticed a group of Harlequin Duck on the far side of the lagoon. This was my first sighting of the species but they were too distant on that occasion. As I returned to the lagoon, I found them right next to the bank and, with patience, they eventually moved to an area where I could shoot from close to the water to avoid those horrible shots looking down on the subject.

After dinner, we returned for another session and this time found an Iceland Gull sittin on an iceberg - very appropriate. It took a short time for me to realise that the 'berg was slowly moving and that explained why the bird kept disappearing from my lens although not moving

and the 'berg, although large, even started to turn over as it approached the channel to the sea, causing some remedial action from the bird.

By this time, is was getting late but there was another showing of feeding Arctic Terns in the fast flowing water in the channel with a backdrop of blue ice.

Eventually, it thinned out leaving just a few still feeding.

This shot was taken just after midnight. By now I was feeling rather weary after 18 hours of activity. Time to hit the sack but what a finale for my last day at Jokulsarlon.