Bird photography holidays

On the shore of Mývatn, a volcanic lake in northern Iceland, stands a small, award-winning museum dedicated to a local man by the name of Sigurgeir Stefánsson. A passionate collector of stuffed birds and eggs, Sigurgeir tragically drowned in an accident on the lake in 1999, before he could realise his ambition of displaying his acquisitions to a wider audience. Today the museum is frequently a waypoint on trips organised by our partner Wild Photography Holidays. Founder Geraldine Westrupp lived in the country for a long time and can easily reel off a list of where to photograph birds in Iceland.

But it is around Mývatn that Geraldine and her partner Martin have traditionally focused their efforts. And now they are looking a little further north, to tiny Grímsey Island, inside the Arctic Circle, and one of the best places in Iceland for puffin photography.

“Photographing birds is actually my passion,” enthuses Geraldine, who has led a thrilling career both as photographer and expert guide. “In Iceland especially, where my partner, Martin, and I lived for years, the good locations are second nature for us, we lived and breathed them. With photography you always want to have back-up locations in case you need them, but in Iceland we have at least twelve. We never get stuck.”

In the evenings, and on the occasional day, should bad weather prevent you from getting out and about, guides arrange practical workshops which mean that you’ll return home with some definite progression. This continual development, as well as the easy way groups form friendships, is key, Geraldine believes, to why Wild Photography Holidays see many of their travellers coming back for trip after trip.

Every photographer, from the amateur to the pro, has their own preferred kit. There are no set equipment requirements for a bird photography holiday – tutors are as happy to work with someone wielding a smartphone as they are someone with an expensive camera rig. Before departure you’ll be given a list of must-packs, often clothing-related, as well as suggested kit you might want to consider.

Norway’s remote Varanger Peninsula, bordering Russia and Finland, is another exceptional place for puffin photography. Groups will often stay in the Arctic town of Vardø, whose main cliff, Fugleflåget, is home to raucous colonies of kittiwakes, black guillemots, razorbills and cormorants. You’ll often see Atlantic puffins here too along with European shags and Brünnich’s guillemots.

Offshore lies the island of Hornøya with its historic wooden lighthouse. Up to 150,000 seabirds including herring and black-backed gulls can be found here, and as you can imagine it’s a riot of movement, noise and smell that will prove highly memorable. Expect to capture numerous interactions framed against a snowy Arctic landscape – photography tours on the Varanger Peninsula typically take place in February, and subzero temperatures are likely, so hand warmers are a useful item to pack.

Besides exploring the moodily atmospheric Vardø and taking a thrilling snowmobile ride, other bird photography opportunities in the area can be had in the picturesque fishing village of Båtsfjord. Here you’ll spend some time occupying floating hides built on rafts in the harbour for fantastic low-level photography, and take boat trips around the coast in the hope of catching birds in flight.

Photography trips to the Lofoten Islands, off Norway’s northwest coast and within the Arctic Circle, usually depart during May and June, when your images will be bathed in gorgeous summer light. It’s not just stunning colours in the landscapes that you can expect here though, but a sensational breadth of birdlife – not to mention the occasional whale off the coast.

Daily excursions take you to reliable locations including Lake Solbjørnvatnet, where black-throated divers are often seen; the delightfully named Trollfjorden where you can photograph sea eagles at close quarters, and the pretty fishing village of Hamnøy. Here the nasal calls of kittiwakes can be heard echoing deafeningly from a split in the cliff. Depending on sea conditions you might also take a RIB (rigid inflatable boat) around the archipelago’s southern tip to enjoy sterling views of a gannet colony.

“We focus on the bird in the landscape as they’re intrinsically linked,” says Geraldine. “The scenery is fantastic of course, so landscape photographers are perfectly happy, but our priority is birds. When we’re in Lofoten we get sea eagles, gannets, cormorants, and the beauty is that we don’t need to try too hard. It all happens organically.”