Selasetur Íslands

The North West Birding Trail is now available in a map. The trail guides you through some of the richest birding areas in the Nort West of Iceland. It highlights birding locations and areas which are accessible for most bird enthusiasts travelling on their own. The sites reccommended in this first version of the map are 17, ranging from Borðeyri in the west to Þórðarhöfði in the east.

The project is a cooperation between tourism associations in the area as well as Hólar university and the Icelandic Seal Center. The Seal Center was responsible for project management. The project was funded by Vaxtarsamningur Norðurlands Vestra and done with support from the North East Birding Trail.

The map was designed by Blokkin in Húsavík and printed at Nýprent in Sauðárkrókur. 

 

Recently a bearded Seal has been spotted in Borgarfjorður East. It has been in the shore for around three weeks but Bearded Seals are quite rare in the area. This is the second sighting that has been reported to the Seal Center in a short peroid of time. See here.  

The bearded seal is bigger then the harbour seal, but smaller than a fully grown grey seal. His primary distinctive features are very long whiskers. More information on bearded seals can be found here.

We thank the people that reported this sighting. It is imporant for our specialists to get reports on sightings of rare seal speicies at the coast of Iceland. 

 

Photo: Hafþór Snjólfur

On may 13th travellers on a skitrip with  Aurora Arktika spotted a Bearded Seal at the shore of fjord Veiðileysa in the Westfjords. Bearded Seals are rare visitors in Iceland and can be recognized by the beard they are named after. Further information on Bearded Seals can be found here. 

We thank our friends at Aurora Arktika for notifying us but it is very important for our specialists to get notifications on sightings of rare seal speicies at the coast of Iceland. 

Photo: Roland Tomascko

In the latest edition of Feykir, a local newspaper, is an article on a harpseal pup being found at the shore close to Sauðárkrókur. The article contains a short interview with Sandra Granquist the head of biology research department at the Seal Center. She was contacted in order to get information regarding the pup when it was found.

It is important for our specialists to get information like this, especially regarding species that normally do not breed here. 

More information on Harp Seals can be found here.

 

 

The Article in Feykir newspaper.

Last year Sarah Marschall worked on her research on tourist behaviour at Illugastaðir on the Vatnsnes Peninsula. 

Today, April 28, at 2pm, Sarah will present and defend her master’s thesis, titled: Interpretation in Wildlife Tourism: Assessing the effectiveness of signage to modify visitor’s behaviour at a seal watching site in Iceland.

Sarah’s thesis advisors are Sandra M. Granquist, a PhD candidate at Stockholm University and Head of Seal Research Department at the Icelandic Seal Centre, and Dr. Georgette Leah Burns, Head of Rural Tourism Department at Hólar University. The reader is Rodrigo Menafra, a visiting instructor at the University Centre of the Westfjords.

More information and an abstract can be found here.

Sarah Marschall in the field.