Another day, another Duck. Barrow's Goldeneye was a major Iceland target, and after a really long drive to Myvatn from Snaefellsnes of approximately six hours we were pleased to find a small group of them in a sheltered bay. We had previously tried a lone male just over the road on a smaller pool, but with no cover for our approach, he was understandably having none of it. Happily I spotted a group the other side, and there was the usual long grass etc in which to wriggle our way up to the water. This crawling approach was certainly quite dirty, but made the difference on a number of occasions. Once at the water's edge, lenses poked out and away we went, once again nice and low. For once the sun was out, and this of course made it difficult to control highlights and shadows - I've had to do a lot in pp to get these up, hopefully a few are worth it.

Back in 2013 I twitched the long-staying Harlequin Duck on North Uist. Although I managed to get relatively close to it, and close enough to get one into "Scottish Birds" as a rarity photo, really they weren't what I had in mind - for starters the bird wasn't a full adult. Of course back then I didn't care, it was mega, I'd never seen one, and I was over the moon that such a long distance twitch had gone so well. And of course I discovered that I loved North Uist, so all good. But I had a hankering to have another crack at Harlequins, and so this was one of the top reasons for going over to Iceland. 

We stumbled upon a three birds purely by luck as we were investigating some small pools for Phalaropes. The road crossed a small river that became a shallow pool before emptying into the sea. Initially seen on this pool, one bird flew under the narrow bridge and up the river to join another two. Small waders were forgotten as we set up by the side of the pool, hidden from the river by the bridge. We felt that the birds, making steady progress downstream, might shoot the rapids under the bridge and before they knew it would be in front our lenses. Sure enough, our luck was in! First the pair zoomed through and found themselves right in front of us, and while they hurried to the far side and became too distant, the lone drake followed under the bridge and stayed a lot closer. Boy oh boy did we have fun! Lenses to the water, necks bent awkwardly to try and get down - oh for an angle-finder, could be my next purchase!

As was the case 90% of the time in Iceland, the light was complete crap (technical term) for most of this session, but I still managed some pleasing images. Pleasing to me at any rate. Less pleasing was fluffing all flight opportunities, I just don't get it. I blew a female Wigeon away the very next day with some aplomb, but was unable to nail the smartest of all ducks in relatively easy circumstances. C'est la vie I guess! Nonetheless a great encounter, and these were pretty much the only Harlequins we saw other than some in a fast-flowing river near Myvatn, and that were completely unphotographable. So, another "most-wanted" in the bag - I love it when a plan comes together!

Another species high up the wish list, but as with their slimmer cousins very few opportunities. When they did come, the light was dull and flat and awful. First up was a family of birds on the southern side of the Snaefellsnes pensinula. Reverting to stealth yet again, we dropped and commando crawled to the edge. But I wasn't quick enough, as still several yards from the edge I started hearing the shutters whirring, and so did the birds. Only a couple of images before they had drifted too far out and right, so I retreated the way I had come.

The second chance came after our long day at Myvatn. As we climbed out we noticed three birds sheltering in the lee of the wind, really close to the edge of the lake. Although the boys would have liked me to ditch the car in the middle of the road, I insisted we leave it somewhere safe, and unfortunately by the time we had walked back the birds had drifted out a little farther. In crappy light we decided to give it a go anyway, and the Divers surprised us by not swimming several kilometers away. Do they perhaps have poor eyesight? Or perhaps they felt perfectly comfortable at that range? We made the most of what was probably going to be our last chance at this species, but it was a struggle to get low enough, and it was getting dimmer by the minute. Still, an adult summer GND in any light is immense, and having only really seen winter plumage birds before, to be able to get one of these beasts in the frame at all was a huge result. But I still need to go to Maine or somewhere I feel. Here's the best from this encounter, some of the images show a small amount of the neck sheen, but on the whole dull light makes for dull images. Indeed shortly after we left here the rain started to come down. Nonetheless I am happy with what I came away with, best (only!) I've taken so far!