Fishing Terns at Jökulsárlón

Today we stopped at Jökulsárlón  the famous glacier lake, where icebergs calve off a valley glacier flowing off the massive Vatnajökull icecap. Since we were last here 15 years ago the lake has emptied of much of its ice and the glacier is now over 500m further back from where it was. The ice that is calving off into the lagoon makes its way across the lagoon and gets stuck in the short outlet river to the sea. Here the water boils and roars and Arctic Terns form busy fishing flocks over the turbulent water. It was wonderful just sitting in the evening sun, watching their precision as they dropped into the water or just skimmed it to catch a fish and then head off to their nests on the ground next to the car park. However, we then noticed a sinister element on the riverbank, watching the spectacle much as we were. Only when they saw a Tern lift a fish, they would be off on a high-speed chase. The Terns would scream and take off at full speed with the ghoulish black Arctic Skuas in hot pursuit, flying round in tight circles skimming across the water, around the other terns and over our heads. Occasionally the Skua would time it right and grab the fish from the Tern, but more often it would give up after a few tight circuits and the Tern would slip off to the nesting area. Of course, the Skuas got enough to make it worth their while and it made for some very exciting acrobatic flying for us spectators. Tricky stuff for the camera gear too with most shots mis-focused or poorly framed.

Jökulsárlón glacier lake is not just popular with the tourists who flock there for the amphibious tours. It is also very popular with masses of nesting birds: Arctic Terns, Snow Buntings (extra), Eider ducks (extra), Harlequin ducks (extra), Kittiwakes and Black-headed Gulls.