Out goes the snow, in come the birds! It seems more and more geese, ducks, gulls and other varieties arrive daily at the moment. I am not much of a bird watcher, but wildlife here seems especially interesting, partly because it is different from home, but also because although it is relatively sparse in comparison, there is a lot more of it than one might expect from an ‘arctic desert’ environment. I wake up to bird song from what I think is the ‘snow bunting’, the only song bird of Svalbard. It really is amazing how much has changed over the last two weeks: gone are the snow-packed scooter tracks and ice-laded paths in town, replaced in part by tundra and meltwater – ideal for ducks and geese it seems! So a great discovery today, it’s not only a handful of researchers, students and tourists that make the journey from West Wales to Svalbard …
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