Do you wanna build a snowman?

January sixth was James and I's first full day in Iceland. Having crashed out at 10 the previous night, I was up at 4am, about the same time James came home from clubbing! I got up, wrote a blogpost, surfed the web for a while and then decided to use some free time to practice a bit of meditation, which probably got me a few odd looks as people woke up and went to the toilet. I eventually fell asleep again at about 7, getting up for good at 9.30am, just before it started getting light. 

James and I then went for a wander around the city to do some birding. The further north you go, the less species you see, but there are some pretty good ones! Redwings, an attractive thrush with a bright red patch on their flank, were everywhere, and extremely tame. Our regular British crows don't occur in Iceland, and so in even the most urban spaces Ravens have taken their place. Snow Bunting, a hardy species rarely seen in Britain away from windswept beaches and remote mountain tops, are a garden bird, and flocks numbering dozens would intermittently fly overhead calling. 

an Icelandic Redwing

We wandered around, totally failing to find our way to the harbour for about an hour, until at last a map of the city was found! The harbour looked excellent, with Glaucous, Iceland and Kumliens Gulls, Purple Sandpipers, Black Guillemots and Eiders all seen. Unfortunately, several blizzards interrupted the birding, reducing visibility to merely a few feet! 

Reykjavik Harbour in a Blizzard

We then stumbled across a crowd of 200 or so people watching a stuntman in Reykjavik Harbour, who leapt from a burning jetty moments before an enormous fireball exploded, and then swum to shore! It was one of the most surreal moments I have ever experienced, and until I heard applause and a voice shouting through a megaphone, and noticed the film crew, I genuinely thought the man was in terrible danger.  

After this excitement, we found a bakery where I ate an enormous bread-like thing covered in chocolate, for the very reasonably price of 290Kr (about £1.75). James was, however, feeling a bit worse for wear after his night out, and so we got a taxi back to the hostel and he slept for a few hours. 

As I was sitting chatting with Diego, the Manager, and Marcia, a guest from Brazil, fellow backpacker (forgotten her name!) from Southampton suggested we go outside and build a snowman, to which all enthusiastically agreed! It took a while before people were ready, in which time we'd woken James up, and made friends with Ben and Reece, two Australians who had just arrived. James then went with Marcia to pick up some groceries, and the remaining four of us spent about 45 minutes in the parking lot outside creating our masterpiece! 

(above) a Masterpiece of human endeavour, (below) myself posing next to said endeavour... I was too damn lazy to rotate the photo, just tilt your screen or bend your neck sideways!

After this I met Daisey and Mustafah, from Boston and New York, and James and I wandered around Reykjavik with them in ridiculous weather looking for a place to eat. I'd been somewhat spontaenous and neglected some essentials, nothing serious. Just a hat. My ears may have turned black and need amputation, but its all good. We did have a nice meal, though I was economical and went for a soup. We then tried to find some decent places to drink, but Reykjavik on a Tuesday is quiet! Nowhere was open for dancing, which was a bummer. They were lovely company for the night out though, which they'd have to be, given I was losing all my extremities to frostbite. I now write to you one-eared, three-toed, six fingered and without a nose, which will make the rest of the trip complicated. 

I'm somewhat plastered as I type the write up for 7 Jan, so I apologise for any typos! James and I woke at about 10:00, headed down to the harbour and, despite atrocious weather for the morning/early afternoon, had a fun times birding! A horrendous duck (probably an abnormally pigmentated Long-tailed Duck, but resembling a weirdly pigmentated and far rarer Harlequin Duck) was seen in the Harbour, alongside regular species like Eider, Black Guillemot, Shag and Red-breasted Merganser. We then saw a spectacular Gyr Falcon (the largest and most impressive falcon in the world) and a Green-winged Teal (a rare vagrant from North America) later in the day. 

an incredibly dodyg, abnormally pigmented bird that's probably a Long-tailed Duck (above), and a Green-winged Teal, which is at least a bonafide rarity (below), (C) James Common

After debating long and hard the ID of the ugly duckling, we spent the evening with Mustafah, a friend from the hostel who was enjoying his last evening in Iceland. We drank lots of Viking Beer (theres a bar near the Haebour where it is very economically priced), and when went to Bravo, where we made friends with some delightful Dutch and Australians, whose technically excellent dancing put to shame my bold but extravagant attempts to match them. Over the course of the day, I also had many interesting conversations with various Ozzies about healthcare, Gay Rights and the man-demon that is Tony Abbott, and I feel like generally we put the world to right. The dancing was, of course, off the charts, but words simply can't describe such extravagance! 

Bless to you all, and I'll faithfully write with my next update as soon as possible, Liam xD