I’ve recently returned from Arctic Norway where I joined a team monitoring and trying to catch migratory Red Knot fattening up before they fly to their breeding grounds in Canada & Greenland. The journey involve4 three flights from Manchester with stops in Oslo & Tromso before arriving in Lakselv in daylight at midnight! Steve kindly picked me up and drove me the hours journey to our accommodation in Brenna. On the way I saw my 1st Mountain Hares, Elk and Reindeer of the trip. All three would become a daily sighting over the next two weeks.
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| Reindeer |
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| Elk |
A sleepless night ensued as the sun didn’t really set and kept me awake. I soon sorted the sleeping arrangements by clearing a windowless storage cupboard that was just big enough to lay my mattress down and let me sleep in darkness!
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| My bedroom! |
Introduced to the rest of the team at breakfast the days plans were discussed with potential catching sites being surveyed and Knot flocks counted and legs checked for colour rings or flags. Incredibly we picked up birds from the Wirral that were flagged at Hoylake in 2024 as well as birds from Lancashire, the Wash and further afield from Dutch & Polish schemes.
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| 37C at time of ringing in Hoylake in Feb 2024 |
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| 37C in Borselve, Arctic Norway May 2026 |
Of course there were opportunities for observing other wildlife and White-tailed Eagles, Willow Grouse and Rough-legged Buzzard were seen daily. Lekking Ruff were seen at several sites - a real treat as full summer plunged male Ruff are incredible looking birds and rarely seen in the UK. The same plied to summer plumages Temminck’s Stints that were seen in good numbers. Displaying Wood Sandpipers was also a new experience for me. Bluethroats sang from every suitable habitat and Willow Warblers were seemingly everywhere. Willow Tits were relatively common and we’re quite different to the birds we see in the UK being very monochrome with very little buff / brown in the plumage. They are a different race than UK birds and very distinctive.
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| Willow Grouse |
Later in the trip we started seeing the first migrating Long-tailed Skuas and Arctic Skuas .
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| Arctic Skua |
We only managed one small catch of 33 Knot as they really weren’t playing ball. A roost site one day held no birds the following day. They seemed to be moving around at random unlike our winter catches in the UK where the high tide roosts are regularly in the same places.
These birds were fuelling up ready for their transatlantic migration with the heaviest birds being 200g. Around 30-40% heavier than wintering birds in the UK.
Canon netting involves lots of lying around waiting for the birds to come into the catching area. A very uncomfortable experience in the low temperatures and on rocky shorelines! The trick is to wrap up in as many layers as you can.
White-tailed Eagles were seen daily and were often perched up on rocks viewable from our accommodation. One of the birds photographed was ringed and it'll be interesting to see its history. These magnificent birds of prey are slowly colonising the UK after their reintroduction taking young from the Norwegian population. Their appearance caused panic in the waders and gulls and quite often the first sign of an eagles presence was the alarm calls of gulls or Oystercatchers.
One day was particularly memorable for me not because of the birds but because of a close encounter with an Otter. I'd decided to walk the shoreline in either direction from our accommodation to check all the bays that we couldn't reach by car. I saw an Otter fishing but it couldn't smell me as I was down wind. It could see me but didn't seem to be to concerned apart from the snorting and tail slapping. I managed to get within a few metres of it whilst it fished and then hauled out on a rock to eat its prey and have a snooze.
The scenery was stunning with the mountains still having a snow on the highest passes. With almost 24 hour daylight there weren't any sunsets effects of the sun through the clouds and the cloud formations made up for it.
With the snow melt came the small alpine plants. Dwarf willows and birch were every where. Small alpine flowers such as s Rock Campion, Mountain Avens and Birdseye Primrose were beginning to flower and I learnt a lot from Steve and Rachel as they hunted in roadside ditches or rock screes for new plants!
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| Dwarf Willow |
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| Birds-eye Primrose |
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| Rock Campion |
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| Alpine Azalea |
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| Mountain Avens |
In total I recorded 94 species of bird in the two weeks I was there,. An amazing number considering how far north we were. The total included two new birds not recorded in the area before - Green Sandpiper and Hen Harrier. A fabulous place and a great experience working with a dedicated team studying Red Knot.
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| Bar-tailed Godwits |
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| Short-eared Owl |
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Waxwing
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