Cuties!

I found these cuties while I was editing some video from Thursdays trip to Breivika.

And, I just came back from a trip to Børra and Skogvoll. At Skogvoll I counted 49 seals and a wholde bunch on a skerry. It was so far from shore that the seals could not be counted. I estimate it to be 30-40 seals there.

In Børra I counted 24 seals, on both skerries. They seem to have taken more of the bay into use. For the very first time I spotted one seal close to shore. And some other lay on stones out in the bay.

A Sealsational Day!

Who am I lecturing?

Lots and lots and lots of seals at the island these days. First thing first!

The seal colony at Børra has grown! It now occupies two skerries in the bay. I counted around 24 at the usual skerries, one laid alone on a stone, and a whole group of ten occupied a new skerry!

This is totally new for this place.

The most sensational sight were at the RAMSAR reserve Skogvoll. I counted like 48 seals on the usual places. But out in the sea I suddenly became aware of a skerry that looked like it was packed with seals. No way! I thought. It's just some thing I want to sea. Peeking through my binocular I really saw a pack of seals here. It was not easy to count them. I would estimate it to be around 25-30 - or more! Then I saw another skerry , packed with seals. 10 or 15 maybe. Or more? I was not at all sure if this really was seals, but when I moved to another spotting places I was reassured they were not stones. They moved! Stones don't move! At least they didn't used to.

I usually try to count the seals from two or three places. An different angel often reveal more seals on one places. They can lay really hard packed together, or upon each other, what looks like one seal, can really be three animals. Counting them from different places often reveal new seals. This time I choosed to watch from four places. Glad I did. Suddenly the stones on another skerry moved! And there were no less animals there than on the other two.

So, how many seals did I see at Skogvoll today? No one knows. They were to far out in the sea for my binoculars. But I know for sure that I have seen more than I have ever seen before on this place. I have also seen them on new places. I will be fun to follow them during the autumn and winter.

Seals in the sun

Nice, cold an sunny day on Andøya. Me and Tony drove off to Breivika to get some pictures on he seals. Tony took this nice picture of the seals. Me, I taped some video. It should show up here - sooner or later.

A day out in the open shooting seals

Went to Breivika to shoot some video of the seals. Brought with me my trusty old Canon XL1 DV camera and a tripod, to make sure I got some good footage.


Some 40 seals laid there in the cold sun this early morning. Well, not so early really. I had to wait for enough daylight. It's getting darker here every day now that winter is closing in on us. The days are getting shorter.

So the clock turned 10 am before I could start. The tide was wery low. I could walk out on the sand and got pretty close upon them.

Well done, I payed a visit to Skogvoll and Børra. In Børra there where five seals floating in the sea. That surprised me a bit, because the seals have usually left the bay at high tide. It's the first time I have seen any one left there.

In Skogvoll, they were at the usual places.

(PS: Jeg har plassert min blogg i Andenes på norske bloggkart!)

Finally publishing panoramas

Here is a sneak peak only for you.

There are more pictures lingering on my hard drive waiting for panoramasationing ;-) but I need to spend some time redesigning the templates. Making it easier to navigate the site, read the texts and watch the pictures.

Have a look at: www.andenes.info

In my viewfinder

I see them. There are 16 gray seals (Halichoerus grypus). Laying on the stones in Børrvågen. Got some pretty nice shots of them on tape.

Some are pups, I think. They are white. Five of them.

I was in a hurry when I passed the reserve. Didn't have time to count. Saw more than seven. I regret that now. I really ought to have stopped for ten minutes. Just to make shore these are not the same seals.

Stped in the reserve on mye way back. I counted one in south and two in north, but it was high tide, så it was no more than expected. These were common harbour seals (pocha vitulina).

Drove across the island, to Breivika. counted close to 20 seals here. They all seemd to be harbour seal.

Seals in Børra!

28! Gray seals (Halichoerus grypus). Low tide and midday. Came back in the afternoon to study them closer, but they were gone.

Never seen seals here before. Mayby an occasinally seal far out in the see, but never a whole flock laying so close to shore.

Verdens korteste padletur

Tilbake til bilen. Pakket og klar til å dra hjem igjen før tolv.

Moralen er: dra på padletur med folk som har mer lyst til å padle enn å sitte i ei varm hytte og fortelle padlehistorier!

Guvåghytta

Padlesamling på Guvåghytta. Bare jeg og Einar som kom i kajakk! Det lover ikke bra for ei padlehelg.

Fin hytte, med naust og badstu. Naustet har seks sengeplasser på loftet, gasskjøkken og spisebord med havutsikt. Her skal jeg ligge neste gang! Det er Vesterålen Turlag som eier Guvåghytta.

Out in the blue

Icy padle in finnbukta and tranesvågen. Break at Nygård. Ready to make my way back to Risøyhamn and visit Øygarden on my way.

My personal panorama

Blue sky sparkles only for me. I'm alone here. Out on the blue. Paddling towards Tranesvågen. Looking for seals. Wery soon a snout pops out of the water. A pair of eyes starring at me. Watching me. Sliding down in to the blue again.

I expect this little buddy to come up behind me, at my left or right side. Not straight behind me.

Sure enough. Here it comes. Soon other snouts pops up - and dives again.

Eagles and crows gathered for a fiesta on the beach. I paddle towards the stony shore. They want move. It's a real gathering. Something worth risking human company for. An otter flee. Runs into the algas in the shore line and disappear.

I land on the beach. Eagles and crows fly away. Not far. Sitting on the stones watching me. I walk up among the stones, search for the fiesta remains. There, in the dark, undersome big stnes it lay. A lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus).

Back in the kayak. I padle to the bottom of Tranesvågen. Here are no seals, I conclude, and make my way to Kobbøya (litteraly translated: Seals Island) and have a break and something to drink and eat. And as I stand here, talking to a small bird, I become aware of someone running over the stony beach. Some one noisy. En elk! It eyes me up. I am no threat for this bull. He passes me with a few meters and throws himself at the sea. Swimming over the bay. What a sight!
I grab my binocular and watch this beatiful animal swimming in the cold water. Then I turn around and focus on the road above the moors. And quite right. There they are. The hunters. Elk hunters. It is hunting time now. But this elk got away. This time.

Endelig på havet!

Finnvika og Tranesvågen. Se om kobbekolonien fremdeles er her.

Now, it's getting interesting!

Counted 36 seals in the reserve - and 34 in Breivika! So it may be a new colony, or one on the move. From where? Full moon. Low tide.