Wednesday 21 August 2013

SPITSBERGEN

 

 

July/August 13

 
Minke Whale
 
Around Spitsbergen on the Noorderlicht, 28 July - 12 August 2013
We left for Longyearbyen feeling excited and full of anticipation. Were we going to see polar bears? Fin whales? Or perhaps even a rare sighting of a blue whale? And what would sailing on the Noorderlicht be like?
Flying over Svalbard was already a treat, with magnificent pointed peaks showing through the clouds. After our first encounter with a polar bear (stuffed!) at the airport, we caught our first glimpse of the Noorderlicht, moored in front of a huge 2,000 passenger cruise ship. It only emphasized how privileged we were to experience Spitsbergen from a sailing ship with a small group of other people appreciating its nature and wildlife. For the next two weeks, we would be depending on the elements and Mother Nature.
We headed south, sailing around Spitsbergen anti-clockwise. The British birdwatchers were immediately in their element, as from day one the number of birds we saw was spectacular. During the trip, we must have seen tens of thousands of kittiwakes, 60,000 pairs of brunnich's guillemots on one cliff, thousands of blue phased fulmars, barnacle geese, common eiders, arctic and great skuas, sabine's gulls in their summer dress, little auks, purple sandpipers, snow buntings, some puffins, nesting arctic terns and the occasional ringed plover. We also spotted 13 ivory gulls, had 2 sightings of king eiders and saw one pair of long tailed skuas which made the bird watchers very happy.
On the second night the bell rang at 3 in the morning. A lot of sleepy people arrived on deck. White spots in the distance and water spouts. About 15 belugas were swimming under a golden sky. And these were not the only whales we saw during the trip. A minke whale toyed with us swimming from one side of the boat to the other, repeatedly catching us out on the wrong side of the boat. It came to the side of the boat, looked at us and swam graciously along the entire length of the ship. Humpback whales provided a spectacular display by fluking their unique white under tails. They too were having fun. A group of fin whales came to join the humpbacks' show and then.... our biggest surprise of the day, the biggest animal on earth, a blue whale, surfaced close by and stayed with us for a little while. Its blue freckled skin could clearly be seen through our binoculars. This made the cetacean people very happy.
After a long day and night of sailing we entered bear territory. A mother and her cub were leisurely strolling halfway up the mountain side. Later that day, another 4 bears were spotted in the distance. But then... a little further north we spotted a bear in the water. A string of kelp elegantly draped over its head, it swam within 10 meters of the ship and enabled at least one of us to shoot an image suitable for a Christmas card. At the end of the trip the bear count was 13. This made even the bird people very happy.
Almost every day, we did a landing with the zodiac to go on short or longer walks. We walked over the tundra, seeing many beautiful mosses, mushrooms and flowers. The reindeer liked these too. They did not seem to mind us walking through their dinner at all. The Arctic foxes were a bit more shy and had to be approached very carefully. We stood very still and on one occasion a very curious fox visited every member of the party. Some hikes took us through rocky valleys, making us all look very small in a majestic landscape. The funniest landing was a visit to a group of walrus. We approached them in a long line, covering the last meters in combat mode. At about 30 meters ‘distance, we watched them, took pictures and after about half an hour we all stood up and walked away. The walrus could not give a monkeys, which made the guide very happy.
Over the centuries many people tried to make a living from Svalbard's rich resources. The whaling and walrus hunting enterprises were very successful for man, but nearly wiped out the bowhead and blue whale and diminished the other species to only a fraction of their original population size. Mining operations for marble, iron and gypsum were completely unsuccessful. The remains of these operations are scattered all over the coast, adding human drama to the landscape. The only mining enterprise that has been carried out with some success is for coal. One day we visited Barentsburg, a Russian mining settlement. It was like being in a time warp from Soviet times gone by. It had a sad beauty about it, which made some photographers very happy.
The guide often read from a historical book which he carried in his backpack. Short passages about the history of Svalbard whilst in the field made the past more alive to us urbanites. Many stories involved hunting and the polar bear stories always engendered much interest. A bear encounter is a real risk during any landing. This is why the group always had to stay close together. The guide had a gleaming riffle and was always the first to land and the last to leave. We were due a landing at Smeerenburg, but the mist descended, the wind got up, the landing was cancelled and the bear turned up. This made us all very happy.
Life on board was very happy and the four nationalities mixed well. We all hoisted the sails and were involved in some of the daily running of the ship. The chef worked daily miracles from a tiny galley, the bar was well stocked at the beginning and the crew was second to none. We all had a great voyage and have memories that will live with us for ever more.
Nathalie Steins & John van der Dol

 
The Noorderlicht
 

Tuesday 23 July 2013

 
More images from Estonia
 
 
 
 Great Crested Grebes having a set to.
 

 
Slavonian Grebes

 
Spotted Flycatcher is a very common bird in Estonia


Wednesday 17 July 2013

 ORCHID TOURS
Some comments from our guests who joined our orchid tours. Many thanks to all for your company and your feed back.



LATEST NEWS 17 May 2013
Green-winged are now in full flower albeit very late, bit they caught very quickly. Early Spider too is flowering although quite small specimens at the moment, Early Purple is fully out and some Fly Orchids are already in flower. Some Lady Orchids are also in flower but these last a long time so there will be plenty more later in the month. Some idiot has mown some of the rosettes of Lizard Orchid on the roadside but fortunately there are plenty more. I am looking forward to the full array of species at the end of the month.

It is now the 16th July and the Marsh Helleborines are in full flower. What a sight!
Henry was enjoying himself too.





01.06.2013
Good morning John,
Just to say thank you for such a great day on Thursday, I really enjoyed it. You were so knowledgeable and interesting to listen to, and it was thrilling to see so many orchids in one day.  I think my favourite site was the beech wood, in that I was so surprised by what we found there. An amazing sight to behold in the gloom of the wood. Thank you for sharing your love of orchids with me and making it such a memorable day.  I will return to the orchids with my tripod and take some considered macro shots.  When I have written my blog I will send you the link, hope your next tour is successful with the promised warm days I am sure you will find more wonderful specimens.
You may well hear from me again when we have checked our finances, and see which overseas tour appeals to us for next year.
Kind regards,
Melanie
   Melanie refers to a spectacular display of Birds Nest Orchids and White Helleborines on May 30th, although neither were flowering properly yet. Things really are very late this year due to the cold spring. Lady Orchids were tremendous and a few Monkey were flowering and many more in bud. Some nice Fly Orchids, and many Man Orchids mostly still in bud but beginning to open up. One Greater Butterfly in flower in a wood was a surprise as the ones in open country were still in bud.
 
Orchid tour
I did not have time to do a full days tour due to circumstances beyond my control. However John took me round to the (rare) species I wished to see. En Route he showed me meadows and woods full of Orchids of a large variety of species, many more than I have seen before. The highlight for me other than the rarities was a small wood full of Birdsnest orchids and the largest White Helleborines I have ever seen (I know size isn’t everything).  It was an amazing few hours, next year I shall do the full tour.
Jim fell 
04 July 2013
Hi John,
Just a few words of thanks for organising the orchid day trip.  Given that it has been the most extraordinarily topsey-turvey year for plants it was quite remarkable to see so many species in a single day out.  Particularly impressed with the birds nest orchid, perhaps not the most glamorous orchid but a very fickle plant that frequently fails to show up at known locations.  Having spent a season trying to locate a specimen in west Kent and failing dismally it was quite staggering to be taken into a wood and finding excellent specimens whichever way you turned.  The lady orchids were excellent and remarkable to see them in such huge numbers. It was my first visit to that site but will definitely be on my itinerary next year whilst Park Gate is always a joy regardless of when you visit.  It might have been a very long day but for me it was over all too soon.
Best regards
Chris  07 July 2013 
Dear John,
We now have a new computer so are once more in communication.
It has taken us a long time to come back to you, but we have been on our annual visit to the Swiss Alps to make sure that the Edelweiss still blooms. It does.
We greatly enjoyed our visit to Kent in June. We were most impressed by the way you looked after us, and your patience with three octogenarians who don’t find hopping over stiles as easy as it once was.
It was very exciting for us to see so many orchids in one very full day, and especially to be introduced to six which we have never seen before (we cannot, alas, in all honesty, count those which were merely in bud).
Thank you, too, for making the arrangements for us to stay at the Observatory, where we were very comfortable.
We would greatly encourage others who might be thinking of joining you to do so. Our day was never to be forgotten.
Yours sincerely,
Peter & Patricia Moore  12.07.13
 
Hi John,
"I went on an Orchid Safari with the Sandwich Bay Bird Tours at the beginning of June, which is the height of the orchid season in east Kent. John's knowledge ensured that we saw many different species, and during the tour he was able to give us all great additional information about the orchids and other plants we saw during the day.

Highlight is always going to see the Monkey Orchids, another superb year for them in Kent, but special mention should be made of the display of Lady Orchids, something I could have stayed and looked at all day. John's knowledge also allowed us to see the hard to find Fly Orchid in two locations, as well as two Greater Butterfly locations. All in all we saw: Early Spider, Man, Fly, Lady, Birdsnest, White Heleborine (but these were not out due to the late spring), Monkey, Lady and Lizard (also not out). A wonderful day, and one I would heartily recommend to anyone."
 Ian 15 July 2013

Thursday 11 July 2013

Estonia Spring 2013

Not long been back from Estonia where I did two back to back trips with clients. The trips were designed to search for orchids for three days followed by 4 days looking for mammals and birds. We put a lot effort in, often at night but then it does not really get dark at this time of year.
Both trips were amazing and some of the orchids that are either rare or don't occur in the UK, or at least Kent, can be found below. Also a few Brown Bear shots. I hope to repeat this tour in 2015 so if you are interested in this,  register your name early. Places will be limited and the flower window is short. They are one week tours covering the west including some of the islands, central and NE Estonia for bears.

Early Marsh Orchid

Lesser Butterfly Orchid

 Lady's Slipper Orchid


Ruthe Orchid

Fen Orchid

 Sword-leaved Helleborine

Dark Red Helleborine

Red Helleborine
 
Baltic Orchid
 
These are just a few. The complete list seen comprises of the following:
Lady's Slipper, Marsh,  Dark Red, Red, Small-flowered, Sword-leaved and Broad-leaved Helleborines, Bird'd Nest, Twayblade, Lesser Twayblade, Greater and Lesser Butterfly, Fragrant, Southern Marsh, Baltic, Early Marsh, Flecked Marsh (cruenta), Ruthe, Common and Heath Spotted, Early Purple, Military, Fly, and Fen Orchid. 24 species in 3 days. Quite a list and of most species plenty of specimens. It really is a great country for orchid lovers.
 
Raccoon Dog

Brown Bears





A four year old male and two cubs were seen on the second tour and a female on the first visit. Unfortunately the light had gone to make photography possible for the latter. Other major mammals included Elk (Moose), Pine Marten , Eurasian Beaver and Siberian Flying Squirrel.
 

Thursday 4 July 2013

Namibia tour late availability








Namibia birding tour with Sandwich Bird tours -21 october to 3 November 2013

This stunning 14-day safari takes you to some of the incredible highlights of Namibia, and more! If you love wildlife and wide open spaces, look no further. This tour is definitely for you! We’ll visit the panoramic Sossusvlei, the haunting Skeleton Coast and fascinating Damaraland, before we head off to see some majestic wildlife at Etosha National Park and finally Erindi Game Reserve……See close to 300 bird species! Join Neil MacLeod and John van der Dol and tick off the Namibian endemics whilst having a great African safari!

Highlights on this tour include:

Sossusvlei – Skeleton Coast – Damaraland – Etosha National Park –Erindi Game Reserve

Please follow the link to view the detailed programme: http://safariwise.com.na/archives/2013-namibia-birding-safari-with-sandwich-bird-tours


Tuesday 2 July 2013

More Orchids

Went out this morning to get some shots of colour variants of Southern Marsh Orchid. Found them from almost pure white to deep purple and everything in between
Below is a collage of some of the orchids. The top left part of the image is a Leopard Marsh, a form of the Southern Marsh. The green moth is a Forester moth which is quite a rarity in these parts.


 
 
 
 
 
Some of the other orchids in Kent. Lady, Pyramidal, Bee, Lizard, Late Spider, Southern Marsh and Marsh Helleborine.
 
 
 




Monday 1 July 2013

Namibia October 2013

We are still looking for some more people to join us on our birds and mammal tour of Namibia for this coming October. Details can be found on Sandwich Bird Tours website.
Come and join us, it is one of the most amazing destinations going. Tour report from last year can also be found on the website.
John

Saturday 29 June 2013

BACK TO ORCHIDS
After a very successful tour of Estonia looking at orchids and mammals and a few birds too, it was back to reality, well almost.
Estonia news will follow soon.
Quite surprisingly I found myself doing an orchid tour at this late date. Very successful it was too with 15 species recorded and I could have found another three had I bothered. So 18 at the end of June was unexpected to say the least.
Below are some pictures of what we saw today.
 Late Spider Orchid, notice the difference in colour and pattern.

 Albino Fragrant Orchid. Many of these about this year.

 This diminutive  orchid can be hard to find but this year some were several inches high. A good crop of more than 20 plants were found.
 Spotted Orchid in many shades and shapes
 A very dark Fragrant Orchid
 Spotted Orchid
 Lizard Orchid
Other species found today were Bee, Man, Pyramidal, Lady, Fly (gone over now), Monkey, Greater Butterfly, Twayblade, Broad-leaved Helleborine (just in bud only) and White Helleborine.
Other possibles today could have been Marsh Helleborine (in bud), Southern Marsh and Birds Nest Orchid, had we had more time.
Butterflies included Speckled Wood, Common and Adonis Blue, Painter Lady and Red Admiral, Large White, Ringlet, Large Skipper and Heath Fritillary (about 20).
A fantastic day out.

Thursday 6 June 2013

 
KENT ORCHIDS
 
A  tour of East Kent produced a number of species of orchids. Some examples are shown here. Others seen were Spotted Orchid, Southern Marsh Orchid, Lizard Orchid, Broad-leaved Helleborine, White Helleborine, Marsh Helleborine, and Twayblade. Most of these were not yet in flower. Flowering period has been delayed by two to three weeks due to the cold spring, particularly the plants on the coast.
However we had a great day out. The highlight being a magnificent display of Lady Orchids in all variety of colours.
Butterflies seen on the day included Duke of Burgundy Fritillary, Green Hairstreak, Dingy Skipper, Orange tip, Brimstone, Large and Small White
 
 
 
Greater Butterfly Orchid

 
Lady Orchid


 
Lady Orchid

 
Man Orchid

 
Birds Nest Orchid

 
Monkey Orchid

 
Green-veined Orchid

 
Early Spider

 
Early Purple



Fly Orchid