Svalbard Part 18

Svalbard part 18

12 Juli 2003:
At one o'clock this morning our boat reached Ny Alesund. Together with Ruben I went on shore to have a look before we went to bed. There was absolutely no one on the streets. At one point we discovered something small scurrying around that we didn't recognize at first, but we quickly realized that it was a young Arctic Fox! There were actually 7 in total! It was heavily clouded so we decided to go to sleep and wait till the next morning to take pictures.

Train Ny Alesund

That morning we went to Ny Alesund right after breakfast. First I quickly took a picture of the train. This is the most northern track of railroad in the world. In the past the train was used to get to the mine.

Baby Arctic fox

After that we walked back to the young foxes we had seen earlier. Their den was under a house. At first we couldn't find them but after a short while waiting they came out again. They were really small and cute.

Baby Arctic foxes

They were out scampering around, curious of everything around them and when they would stray too far from the den the mother would grab them by the neck and bring them back. It was wonderful to see the baby foxes play with each other. In the mean time a huge cruise ship had arrived with 600 tourists on board who all came into Ny Alesund. The small village was completely crowded within a few minutes. The young foxes went back in their den again because there were just too many people. We went back to the boat since we had to leave for a new fieldwork location.

Kongsfjorden

Today's location was Ossian sars. A truly magnificent area. The weather was great! Lots of sunshine with no wind making it feel very warm. The sea was full of pieces of ice from a nearby glacier. We were really enjoying ourselves again.

Birdcliff Ossian sars

At Ossian sars there was also a birdcliff. The main residents were kittiwakes and Brunnish's Guilemots. There were also a few Glaucous Gulls. The gulls don't breed there, they try to steal chicks and eggs of the other birds.

Ms Stockholm

Above is a picture of our boat used for this cruise. It was named "Ms. Stockholm". The crew was Swedish and normally it is a tourist boat.

Long-tailed Skua

During the fieldwork another student (Kristine) told me that there was a Long-tailed Skua behind the small hill. We quickly took our cameras and ran to the area. Kristine was correct, there was a magnificent Long-Tailed Skua sitting in the sun. These birds are very rare on Svalbard. It is known that there are always a few breeding pairs at this location. Because it was so warm some of the students decided to go for a swim in the ice-cold sea. In all, 3 students went into the water (and just as quickly came right back out). For the record the 3 were: Ruben (Holland), Martin (Denmark) and Eirin (Norway). The "swimming" amounted to nothing more than running into the water and right back out again. It's not possible to really swim for very long with water temperatures around the freezing point!

Cassiope tetragone

After the fieldwork we returned to the boat for another delicious meal. We decided to go for an excursion to an area some miles away. When I looked out of my cabin window I saw two Bearded Seals lying on a piece of ice less then 20 meters away from our boat. Of course we couldn't wait to get into the zodiac. We passed within a few feet of the two seals! Once on land we took a short hike. Above you can see a picture of Cassiope tetragona. This is a common species on Svalbard.

Polar Willow (female)

The Polar Willow was also there, of course. The females of this tree had made impressive fruits. The Polar Willow is a truly arctic plant: really tiny! The one in the picture is at most 2 centimeters high. We climbed the mountain and from there we had a good view of the "tre kroner" (three very famous mountain peaks).

Bearded seal

After the excursion we returned to the boat on the zodiac. With our binoculars we discovered that there were at least 6 Bearded Seals on the ice in the fjord. We just had to ask our guide if we could pass by one with the zodiac.

Bearded seal

This time it was a younger seal. Bearded Seals can have a variety of colors. This one had a nice warm orange shade to its face! I am always amazed by how wonderful it is to get so close to such a big animal as this!

Glacier Kongsfjorden

When everybody was on board again we started the motor and headed back to Isjforden. We stayed on deck for a long time enjoying the view. I would have to say that this was the absolute best day of my three months on Svalbard!