Svalbard July 2002, Svalbard July 2002

Svalbard July 2002

Poland May 2002

Finland August 2002

Here are some pictures taken on a cruise on the Russian ship, Professor Multanovskiy, during July 5th to 12th 2002. We booked through Wildwings and were ably lead by Tony Marr and David Rosair.

The overall expedition leader, Martin Gray, was exceptionally good and I am sure that one of the reasons our expectations were greatly exceeded was largely down to Martin's leadership. combined with a captain, Vladimir Uzolin who understood exactly where he needed to get his ship in order to afford the best opportunities. This is not to diminish the valuable contributions from Rolf Stange, who looked after the dead stuff (= geology etc.) and Ian Stone who covered the dead people (= history etc.). In fact, the whole crew was brilliant.

Apart from what's here, other things of note included amazing flowers, Sabine's Gulls, Ptarmigan and a Meadow Pipit at 79°N!

Although, Svalbard belongs to Norway, zoogeographically it is closer to Greenland, and so the Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Eider, Brent Goose, Barnacle Goose, Puffin and possibly Long-tailed skua are all forms that derive from Greenland, rather than Norway.

To me, the spectacle of seeing all of these creatures surviving and flourishing on the brink was something I will not forget - and I'll probably be back!