18th Jun 2025

Spitsbergen and the Ice Edge interim report

The WildWings/Limosa trip to Spitsbergen and the Ice Edge concluded a couple of days ago and the voyage was a great success with the group seeing an impressive range of Arctic wildlife during the week spent aboard the comfortable expedition ship MV Plancius.

For many of the participants, the main highlight was a Polar Bear which was found during the two and a half days which were spent exploring along the edge of the Pack Ice to the north and west of Spitsbergen. The group were able to watch this for around an hour as it wandered around on the ice pausing at one point to eat the remains of an old seal carcass.

The tour started in the remote town of Lonyearbyen, the capital of Spitbergen, where many of the group went exploring seeing a rather bizarre looking hybrid King – Common Eider was seen. A Velvet Scoter was also found which was apparently only the ninth record for the archipelago and this resulted in a modest twitch by the birders who live nearby.

Before setting off for the Pack Ice, several landings and a zodiac cruise were made including a visit to the small island of Ytre Norskoya where there was the opportunity to enjoy some fantastic views of breeding Little Auks and Atlantic Puffins with the puffin colony apparently being the most northerly in the world for this species. An additional bonus here was some nice looks at a moulting Arctic Fox.

Prior to this, there had been a ship cruise at Smeerenburgfjorden where the undoubted highlight was a pod of Belugas which were feeding a short distance in front of the glacier front.

The following day’s landing had to be aborted when one of the WildWings group who had stayed aboard the ship spotted a Polar Bear swimming towards the shore only a few hundred metres from where the group were walking. Whilst this resulted in a rapid return to the ship, it did allow us to enjoy some prolonged views of this much wanted species as the bear wandered along the shoreline over the next 45 minutes.

A zodiac cruise at Liefdefjorden was another highlight where a Bearded Seal was found sleeping on a piece of sea ice along with Ptarmigan and some very obliging King Eiders.

Once out in the deeper water and tracking along the edge of the Pack Ice, a variety of different wildlife was found with 2+ Sperm Whales being a rather unexpected find, whilst the Fin Whales and White-beaked Dolphins which were seen later in the cruise were more expected in this region. Other species seen in the ice included hundreds of Harp Seals and several Ivory Gulls.

The final day included a visit to the famous Walrus haul out at Poolepynten where another Arctic Fox and a summer plumage Grey Phalarope were also found.

Although no Bowhead Whales were seen this year, the trip was still a great success and we plan to offer the voyage again in 2027 so if you are interested in participating, please contact the WildWings office to log your interest and we will contact you when dates and rates are confirmed.

WildWings are, however, offering a different itinerary in 2026, the North Atlantic Odyssey, and this should see many of the species listed above. For details of this trip. please click here.