An Arctic Adventure 19th - 24th March (Day 6)

We awoke on our last morning to a gloriously sunny day, with no wind, but there was a bank of cloud lingering to the north that gave an indication of what was to come. We only had an hour or so drive back to Kirkenes Airport and so the plan was to slowly head north birding along the way. If we had time we intended to hunt out the flock of Waxwings we had seen when were arrived and get some more photos.

The view from our accommodation at BIRK Husky across to Russia on our last morning

By the time we had loaded up our car, light snow had started and the conditions deteriorated further as we continued north. By the time we reached Kirkenes the conditions had deteriorated further and so we decided to head for the airport and call an end to our trip.

In the six days we had seen 70 species (see list below), although I didn't see the Lesser Spot (in italics, below). Our tally included two new birds for Simon (Steller's Eider and Pine Grosbeak) and one (Ivory Gull) for me. We had some very variable weather with temperatures in the north ranging from -3 to -15, fortunately that did not hamper our birding. The highlight for me was undoubtedly the Ivory Gull, as it was a bird I had wanted to see for a long time, but did not fancy twitching one in the UK. Seeing one in the snow at Svartnes was for me the perfect setting for me.

Whooper Swan

Greylag Goose

Bean Goose (Taiga)

Long-tailed Duck

King Eider

Common Eider

Steller's Eider

Common Goldeneye

Red-breasted Merganser

Mallard

Rock Dove (Feral Pigeon)

Common Woodpigeon

Common Crane

European Shag

Great Cormorant

Northern Lapwing

Purple Sandpiper

Ivory Gull

Black-legged Kittiwake

Black-headed Gull

Mew Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

European Herring Gull

Iceland Gull

Glaucous Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

Atlantic Puffin

Black Guillemot

Razorbill

Thick-billed Murre (Brunnich's Guillemot)

Common Murre (Common Guillemot)

Northern Hawk-owl

Northern Goshawk

White-tailed Sea-eagle

Eurasian Green Woodpecker

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Gyrfalcon

Meadow Pipit

Rock Pipit

Bohemian Waxwing

White-throated Dipper

Mistle Thrush

Redwing

Fieldfare

Common Blackbird

Willow Tit

Siberian Tit

Coal Tit

Great Tit

Common Blue Tit

Eurasian Nuthatch

Great Grey Shrike

Eurasian Jay

Siberian Jay

Common Magpie

Eurasian Jackdaw

Hooded Crow

Common Raven

House Sparrow

Common Chaffinch

European Greenfinch

European Goldfinch

Common Redpoll

Arctic Redpoll

Twite

Pine Grosbeak

Eurasian Bullfinch

Snow Bunting

Yellowhammer