Øygarden 18 July 2017 - Close but no cigar

Steaming in towards land (and Øygarden) I went on deck for a breath of fresh air to find a flock of six migrating Grey Heron gråhegre attempting to land on the helideck. Unusual behaviour which might have been explained by a Great Skua storjo that turned up at the same time. These birds were only just not in Øygarden....

Great Skua storjo checking out migrating Grey Herons gråhegre¨

Migrating Grey Herons gråhegre a long way out to sea and apparently scared of the skua

The skua checked the herons out but moved on. The herons continued to circle the vessel a few times making a few attempts to settle on the helideck before giving up and moving off to the south.

Nordøy, Øygarden

A few hours later we passed Øygarden.....so close yet so far from home.

Tjeldstø - Nordøy 18 January 2015 - Too close to home!

Cracking weather made it all the more frustrating to be so near yet so far from home.

Sture terminal (or at least part of it!) by night

At work and on nights I spent all night and most of the day in Hjeltefjord close to Sture. Nothing much in the way of birds here - just a few White-tailed Eagle havørn knocking about.

View of the islands in the extreme north of Øygarden including Hernar and Nordøy

Later in the afternoon we sailed past most of the best bits - tantalisingly close to Hernar and Nordøy - picking up a couple of Øygarden year ticks on the way in the form of a Little Auk alkekonge on the sea and an adult Gannet havsule passing by.