Skalanes Nature Reserve, Iceland
My very first time on Icelandic soil was a huge success! Skalanes Nature Reserve and Seydisfjordur were chock full of the wildlife & beauty that make this country so popular, and quickly whet my appetite for more exploration.
The morning of June 27, 2023 started by pulling into the dock at Seydisfjordur, Iceland. Though a town of only around 600 people, they have a beautiful dock, and we were quickly greeted by buses to take us on our day’s adventure.
Now, I say buses, and you probably think of your standard tour bus. Maybe even a school bus. Well, this is an Icelandic bus! The bus was up on 4 huge wheels, raised like a 4x4… perhaps we should have known this was an indication of what was to come.
Our wonderful guide Oddny showing off Þórarinsstaðir.
As we head out of town, the road dropped down to one lane, and lost its pavement. We saw sheep, eider ducks, and a few arctic terns out the window as we bumped along. After about 20 minutes, we made our first stop at an archaeological site, Þórarinsstaðir (don’t ask me how to pronounce that). The site itself was pretty tiny, but interesting to learn about as it was once one of the first churches in Iceland!
Eventually, we made our way back to the bus, and the real adventurous drive began. Our driver warned us that we had three stream crossings to do and I assumed they would be small creeks… not so much! Each stream was deep and fast-flowing (and, we later learned, notoriously bad for getting stuck!). Luckily, our driver handled each creek with ease, but we certainly understood why the bus wasn’t your “typical” tour bus.
After about 30 more minutes, we pulled up to Skalanes Nature Reserve. This land was once a farm, but it was purchased in the 70s to become a summer home, and again in 2005 to become a nature reserve. Nowadays, students from around the world come every summer to stay and research on the property, and it holds breeding grounds for arctic terns and fulmars.
Speaking of arctic terns… They are my favorite birds, and I was absolutely blown away by the sheer number of them at the reserve! They were exhibiting their territorial behavior (screeching and divebombing) as we walked through their territory, so many of us held sticks above our heads as we passed through. Believe it or not, this is actually the proper way to handle safety around terns if you have to pass through their breeding area; though they are small birds, they have sharp beaks, and a peck to the head can draw blood! Luckily, we all stayed safe, and I so enjoyed seeing such high numbers of the birds. They have the longest migration of any animal on earth, flying 22,000 miles one way, twice a year, between the arctic and Antarctic. I sometimes feel I relate to the arctic tern, because I migrate from the arctic to the Antarctic too!
Another thing that stood out on the reserve were the incredible numbers of lupine. These purple flowers are another one of my favorites, and they were absolutely everywhere. I’ve never seen them in such high concentration. We were so lucky to come at this time. The lupine has a short blooming window of only a few weeks, so this was a real treat.
We had a nice walk through the fields of lupine to a cliffside area with breeding fulmars, and a few surprise puffins! We soaked in the views for as long as we could, and then head back in our Icelandic bus to town.
I spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the small town of Seydisfjordur, enjoying some local beer and picking up a few souvenirs (including a pair of earrings made from ramshorn, made right there in town). The town is famous for its Blue Church, which is not only blue on the outside, but the inside too! I enjoyed getting a feel for local life, and took a nice long walk around the outskirts of town to soak up the classic Icelandic nature as well.
Before I knew it, it was time to re-board the boat and sail on, but Seydisfjordur and the Skalanes Nature Reserve will always hold a special place in my heart as the first place I experienced the wildlife, culture, and rugged beauty of this special country.
