Compare Iceland: Autumn Migration by Limosa Holidays

Day 1: To Keflavik & Hveragerði

Our autumn birdwatching tour to Iceland begins with a scheduled Icelandair flight from London to Keflavík, where Trausti will be waiting to welcome us. We head east across the autumn landscapes of the Reykjanes Peninsula, to Hveragerði, where we stay tonight. There should be time to enjoy a little birding along the way - and we could see our first Harlequin Ducks.

In autumn, waders are present around Iceland's southern shores - both rocky and sandy - and our first port of call will be Garðskagi, at the very tip of the Reykjanes Peninsula. It’s jutting position means we could get close views of many of the commoner migrating shorebirds, such as Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Whimbrel, Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Purple Sandpiper and Dunlin - and there is always the chance of stumbling across something more unusual. The Reykjanes Peninsula makes a great spot to start our tour and, in addition to shorebirds, we may see Gannets and divers offshore.

After dinner this evening, and on all other evenings if weather conditions allow, we’ll be ready to head out to see the Northern Lights. *1 Night Hveragerði

Days 2 – 3: Landeyjahöfn, Heimaey & Westman Islands

We begin by exploring the valleys and rivers of southern Iceland, searching for Barrow’s Goldeneye, one of Iceland's special birds, which frequent the pools and lakes. We’ll also visit the world famous hot springs at Geysir. Later, we travel southeast to Landeyjahöfn in time to catch our midafternoon ferry to the Westman Islands. Though it is only a short crossing (ca. 35 minutes), there should still be some auks - including Black Guillemot - about and we’ve a good chance of seeing Manx Shearwater and Minke Whale from the boat.

Having deposited our bags at the hotel, located in the main town of Heimaey, we will be able to explore the harbour area before dinner. Iceland and Glaucous Gulls should be about, attracted by the fleet of fishing boats - the waters around the Westman Islands contain some of the North Atlantic's richest fishing grounds.

Heimaey is the largest of the Westman Islands and, next day, we have a full day to explore it, visiting key sites for landscapes, seaviews and birds. All of the islands are formed by geologically recent volcanic activity and Heimaey is well known for the eruption that took place on the island in 1973.

There should still be some Puffins and other auks offshore and we’ll also look for cetaceans from the land. Autumn passerines could include Greenland and Northern Wheatears, White Wagtail and Snow Bunting. Given the right weather conditions... and a lot of luck, the Westman Islands are well positioned to pick up the odd vagrant coming out of North America; in recent years, a small number of American thrushes (including Hermit and Swainson’s) have turned up here, and warblers have included Yellow-rumped and Blackpoll.

We’ll see the new volcano of Eldfell, which erupted in 1973 and led to the evacuation of the island. In the distance, out to the southwest, beyond some smaller islands, we’ll see the new island of Surtsey, which famously grew from an undersea eruption in 1963. For those that want, there will be the chance to take a late afternoon boat trip round the island of Heimaey; this takes about 1.5 hours, but is entirely weather dependent at this time of year and so not included in our tour price (allow ca. £35 per person, payable locally). Two nights Heimaey

Days 4 – 5: Eyjafjallajökull, Dyrhólaey & Vatnajökull National Park

We take the morning ferry back to the mainland, then spend a very pleasant day travelling east across the magnificent scenery of southernmost Iceland. We’ll search for ‘Iceland Wren’, a subspecies that is most closely related to the form on St Kilda and numbers between 3000-5000 birds in total.

Our two days in the southeast could well be days of wild geese and glaciers. We should get good looks at flocks of Pink-footed Geese as they congregate before their migration, and visit the snout of a splendid glacier - this is the area of Eyjafjallajökull, the volcano that erupted in 2010 and caused so much chaos to air travel in Europe! We’ll do some seawatching from the spectacular south-pointing promontory of natural arches and stacks at Dyrhólaey, watching for Manx Shearwaters, Gannets and Great Skuas. Further east, we cross the plains of lava and volcanic sand to reach Skaftafell, in the immensely scenic Vatnajökull National Park, where we’ll spend the next two nights.

Vatnajökull is Iceland’s largest icecap and our movements along its southern edge will be set against its magnificent backdrop. The south side of Vatnajökull is characterised by lofty, majestic mountain ridges, with outlet glaciers descending between them onto the lowlands. At this time of year, in the relatively sheltered valleys at the southern edges of the glaciers, wind-blown vagrants from Europe can turn up and we’ll keep our eyes open for these as we travel. The scenery is superb and we’ll visit the glacial lake at Jökulsárlón, situated at the head of the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier, and admire the varied sculptural icebergs floating on it or stranded on the shore. We’ll do some coastal birding here too, seeing flocks of geese and Whooper Swans gathering to migrate south and with a good chance of Red-throated and Great Northern Divers. We could encounter Ptarmigan, Raven, Common (Mealy) Redpoll and Icelandic Redwing just about anywhere, as well as Merlin and Gyr Falcon, too.

Our hotel at Skaftafell is located under the Vatnajökull ice cap and we can enjoy an evening stroll to the nearby glacier. Two nights Skaftafell

Day 6: Kirkjubæjarklaustur, Vík, Stokkseyri

Departing the National Park, we retrace our steps westwards today, making a number of short birding stops along the way. We’ll call in at several waterfalls and take time to explore the dramatic canyon at Fjadrargljufur, near Kirkjubæjarklaustur, where the hexagonal tops of basaltic columns form dramatic paving.

The south Iceland coastline produces many good birds in autumn and we should enjoy good views of groups of migrating Pink-footed Geese as well as waders including large flocks of Golden Plover, sometimes containing thousands of birds. We’ll see Harlequins on the rocky shores and Gyrfalcons frequently make an appearance to prey upon the waders. Although we’re a little late for phalaropes, there’s a chance of Red-necked and Grey Phalaropes passing offshore during a seawatch at Vik.

Returning full circle, we arrive back at our first our hotel in Hveragerði this evening. Night Hveragerði

Day 7: reykjanes peninsula, fly london

We head west about an hour to the capital Reyjavik and spend our final morning on the Reykjanes Peninsula, looking out for Great Northern Divers, Harlequin Ducks and Long-tailed Ducks offshore. This area regularly picks up the odd vagrant, especially shorebirds and duck, and we will visit 'hot spots' such as the promontories at Seltjarnarnes and Garðskagi, hoping for something special to round off our trip in style! Knot, Turnstone and Sanderling are likely amongst the more familiar wader species, but in late September there's a chance of coming across more unusual visitors such as White-rumped, Baird’s and Buff-breasted Sandpipers from North America. Cetaceans are occasionally present offshore along with Gannets, Eiders, divers, auks and gulls. It’s a great way to end the trip!

All too soon we will find ourselves back at Keflavík Airport for farewells to Trausti and our flight home. Evening arrival in London, where our autumn birdwatching tour to Iceland concludes.

*1  Northern Lights: Please note that aurorae occur intermittently and can’t of course be reliably predicted. Chance plays a large part, and there may well be no aurora activity during your short stay in Iceland.