View From The Shed by Shaun Finnie - ICE, ICE, BABY

ICE, ICE, BABY

...or “What I Did On My Holidays by Volunteer Shaun, aged 57 and 3/4”

At the time of writing I'm waiting for a flight home from Iceland. My holiday has been absolutely wonderful although I could have lived without the ridiculous 65mph winds. Even the local people, who are used to high winds coming straight down from the Arctic, admitted that this was a little blustery. I struggled to walk forwards against the wind. My wife (who is much smaller and lighter than me) had a job on to even remain upright. We saw other people fail to maintain even that basic human requirement. I'm sure that the Icelanders tie a string to their children's ankles, just in case. “Fly me like a kite, Papa!”

These somewhat blowy conditions had just a small bearing on my enjoyment of our trip, but a massive bearing on the number of birds that we saw while we were away. I found a book while I was over there. It was in English, it looked like I'd enjoy it immensely and, like everything on that island, it was ridiculously expensive. It was simply titled 'Birds of Iceland' and I was sorely tempted to buy it. In the end, I'm glad I didn't. If it really had been a book of birds that I had a chance of seeing then almost every single page would have been totally blank.

We saw Ravens. Of course we saw Ravens, they're part of Iceland's national identity. And we saw Whooper Swans aplenty on a pond in downtown Reykjavik. They were as numerous as Mallards in an English park pond and just as hungry. But the Gyrfalcons? The rare ducks? The Puffins and other seabirds? All missing, all gone, all in hiding. There were hardly any birds to be seen in the capitol city and once we were out into the barren centre of the island the situation was even bleaker. There were absolutely no birds at all. Nothing. No gulls, no songbirds, no pigeons; the skies were empty.

Of course, at home things have been different. If I'd stayed at home and looked for birds on the RSPB sites along my home Dearne Valley then the chances are that I'd have seen some of the following birds... Garganey, Sand Martin, Wheatear, Ring-Necked Duck, Green Sandpiper, Pink-Footed Geese, Whooper Swans, Water Pipits, Little Gull, an Osprey and our valley's first Spoonbill of the year. People who have stayed close to Old Moor, Wombwell Ings and Adwick Washlands could have seen some of these. Me on my travels, not so much. And, to rub salt into the metaphorical wound, the views of the Northern Lights were apparently much better back in Yorkshire too. I don't know why I bothered.

Regular readers may remember that I had similar results when I went to Bavaria last month. I travelled in hope but came home having seen none of the area's 'signature' bird species. In both these holidays I had a lovely time but saw hardly any birds that I couldn't see at some point of the year back home. So what lessons have I learned from these bird-less holidays?

1 – Do your homework. Don't just find out what birds can be seen in your destination but pinpoint exactly where, and how likely is it that they'll be there? We've had Glossy Ibis and Little Bittern visit Old Moor in years past but if you expect to see them every time you come then you'll be frequently disappointed, just like I was by expecting to see Barrow's Goldeneye and King Eider ducks. Yes these birds can be seen in Iceland but not in the particular areas that I visited.

2 – Check your calendar. This might actually be a subset of lesson 1 but it benefits from being said separately. I'd hoped to see Merlin while I was there. These little hunters are one of the island's few raptors. Sadly, if I'd done more research I'd have found that most of them find the Icelandic winters too harsh and from October to April they migrate southwards... to Britain.

3 – Manage your expectations. If you travel with a list of a dozen birds that you hope to see, be happy if you actually spot three or four of them. Just because they live in a particular place doesn't mean that you'll see them all. I volunteer at Old Moor's welcome shed, but that doesn't mean that I'll be there at the very moment that you pop by.

4 – Love what you see and don't fume about what you missed. Yes, I'd have liked to have seen some more of Iceland's birds but I still had an absolutely magnificent time. How could I not when there were Northern Lights, geysers, frozen waterfalls, Humpback Whales and a land of stunningly beautiful desolation to see? Iceland, you were wonderful. I plan on going back to see more of you, but could you hold off on the wind a bit next time please?

So back home at RSPB Dearne Valley, maybe some of those birds that I missed are still around? If so, they'll be on the sightings board. I hope you have better luck than me. And much less wind.