Iceland: Land of Ice and Fire - Part 1

...... and a lot of water too.

In June I went on a nine day visit to Iceland to see it's stunning birds and other wildlife. This is my belated trip report.

For those that don't know Iceland it must be pretty unique in Europe being almost entirely volcanic. This is reflected in the scenery which in places is stark but also beautiful. Iceland is bigger than you think with its land area being about 80% that of England but with a population of only about 330 000 with a third of those living in the capital Reykjavik. The island straddles the Mid-Atlantic ridge where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet hence all the volcanic activity. These plates are slowly pulling apart and at Thingvellir there is a mini rift valley and large lake formed by this geological activity and many fissures in the earth's surface can be seen..

With such a sparse population and very little agriculture other than grazing, birds have plenty of habitat in which to breed relatively undisturbed. Although the range of bird species is not large what they have is rather special and often much more approachable than elsewhere in Europe.

Enough waffle, let's get on with the trip. I'll do this in three parts reflecting the three locations where we were based.

The South

For the first three nights were were based at Skálholt inland from the south coast. Here's the very pleasant hotel where we stayed.

And the view of .Skálholt Cathedral from the hotel.

Now for the culture. It so happened that a choir from the USA were visiting and I captured a little bit of video while they were rehearsing in the Cathedral..