Black sand
Icelandic sands are usually black lending the scenery a dark desolate appearance. Black sands are not so common in other places.
The Icelandic sands are composed of volcanic minerals and lava. These sands can be found on the coasts of volcanic islands such as Hawai, the Canary Islands, the Aleutians, to name a few.
Black sands are nice backgrounds for photographing people. Here is Aldís who loves the barren interior of Iceland. It’s raining and the wind is blowing but that only makes the experience more worthwhile.
The sand is black because many volcanic minerals and rocks are dark-coloured. Common rock types of volcanic islands are basalt, andesite and volcanic glass. Minerals such as pyroxene, amphibole and iron oxide also lend the sand its black colour.
Blazing sunset
Casting orange and pink colours over the now calm river and the night sky makes you want time to stand still. The nights are no longer bright, sunset being at around 9.30 by now, just after the middle of August. Soon we will be saying goodbye to summer but hopefully we will get a few good days before autumn is here. The forecast is promising warm weather for the next week although perhaps a bit wet during the weekend.
Purple Sandpiper with chicks
The Purple Sandpiper is a breeding bird in the Icelandic highlands but during the winter time it resides along the coast.
In the beginning of August I came across this Purple Sandpiper with its two chicks in Veiðivötn (Fishing Lakes) in the southern interior. They move down to the sea once frost and snow make it impossible for them to get to their feed.
Glacier lagoon fireworks show
Jökulsárlón, Glacier Lagoon, is in the southeast of Iceland. It is one of the most famous tourist attractions here. Around 200 to 300 thousand people come there every year and several thousand come to see the annual fireworks show.
Yesterday was the 16th time this event took place. The fireworks are lit up from the icebergs in the lagoon and light up the the ice and the water, – a beautiful spectacle. It’s well worth the trip there when the weather is favourable.
These photoes are from the event in August 2012.
Two eggs but only one chick
The Great Northern Diver raises its chicks on trout fry and therefore resides on lakes that offer such food. This Diver has one chick which is most common although the eggs are two. The parents can seldom find enough food for two chicks to survive, thus only one lives to become an adult. This bird with its chick was in Veiðivötn Lakes in the southern highlands.
Barrow’s Goldeneye with recently hatched ducklings
I photographed this Barrow’s Goldeneye with 7 recently hatched ducklings at Veiðivötn /Hraunvötn, southern highlands in the week – a very late date for such young birds. In Iceland Barrow’s Goldeneye is more or less restricted to the north-east although some pairs do breed in the southern highlands.
Leaving soon for the South
The Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea) has now left the mountain lakes in the Icelandic interior. On August 7 they were flying above the lakes in flocks, catching sticklebacks to feed to their young ones. Three days later they had disappeared with their chicks that were by then ready for flight. In all probability they are now in the sea around the country and will soon take flight in a southward direction. After about two months flight they will reach the sea around the South Pole (Antartica) where they will stay until spring arrives again.
The photoes are taken in Veiðivötn, Fishing Lakes, in the Icelandic Southern Interior.
Fishing in mountain lakes
Veiðivötn, Fishing Lakes in translation, is a cluster of lakes in the southern interior. In total there are 50 lakes and ponds in the area.
Three species of fish are found in the area: trout (Salmo trutta), char (Salvelinus alpinus) and stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus).
From ancient times trout could be found in the lakes and today it is still in most of them. This trout is unique. Trout of this size and this fat can only be found in a few places today.
According to genetic research the trout in Veiðivötn lived in isolation after the end of the Ice Age. It is rare to find Ice Age trout as little evolved at this one. The trout in Þingvallavatn Lake is of the same species. This trout is very fast-growing and puberty starts later than in trout species that live in lakes in lowlands and in seagoing trout.
Char was first noticed in Snjóölduvatn Lake in 1972 and today char can be found in 11 lakes in the area. Sticklebacks can probably be found in all the lakes in the area.
Trout fishing has most likely been practiced from the beginning of settlement in Iceland. In 1965 fishing permits were first sold in the lakes, for two months every summer, from the end of June to the latter part of August. Today fishing permits are sold for the period of June 18 to August 19. In 1965-1980 the number was limited to 20 rods but today the number has been limited to 80 rods. In the last 10 years 20 – 35 thousand fish have been caught every summer.
Arrive late and leave early
The Red-necked Phalarope is one of the latest migratory birds to arrive in Iceland, in the middle of May. They also leave early. They merely come here to mate and only stay long enough for their young ones to grow old enough to travel.
Now they are getting into their winter plumage that is much lighter than the summer plumage. Most of them have already left lakes and ponds for the sea. There they put on some weight for their long journey to the Pacific coast of Peru where they stay on the open sea while winter rages in the northern hemisphere.
