Halten - on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean

Arvid Bredesen
25. mars 2016
2 min lesing

Every year in September I travel with some birding friends to the islands of Halten. Halten is a very small group of islands in the Norwegian Sea locaded in the middle of Norway. Next stop further west is the Atlantic Ocean and Iceland!

This is an exciting area for birdwatching. In the autumn with good weather and eastern winds some rare birds end up at Halten and the surrounding islands. With no place to go further west they can be trapped there for a long period of time.

The ocean outside Halten is also a known for hosting several seabirds and you might see species like Storm-petrel, Sooty Shearwater, Manx Shearwater, Fulmar, Gannet, Great Skua og Pomarine Skua. Some rare gulls and terns are also seen in the area. On the Halten islands there are breeding colonies of Black-legged Kittiwakes, Shags, Puffins and Black Guillemots.

For the last two years we´ve used the school ship Fru Inger for the trip. This is a solid and steady boat that carries up to 10 people who can sleep and eat together. Even in very good conditions at sea some of us sometimes can get a bit seasick and have to deliver their latest meal to fish and crabs...

The best way to attract petrels is to put a lot of frozen cod liver in a net and tow it in a rope from the boat. Petrels have extremly good olfaction and call smell this from long distances. Herring oil can also be very effective.