Wildlife And World Photographer

ICELAND

All images on this site are low quality images in an attempt to deter Copyright infringements, full TIFFs or large quality JPEGs are available on request.

Contact jon.atkinson@babelmedia.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     
   

ICELAND1 Skaftafell National Park

Skaftafell National Park is part of the Vatnajökull glacier which is the largest in iceland, covering 8% of the country (8,100 km²) and an average thickness of 400m

ICELAND2 Skogafoss Waterfall

Skogafoss Waterfall Skógafoss is one of the biggest waterfalls in Iceland with a width of 25 meters and a drop of 60 meters.

 

ICELAND3 Mountain Scenary, Borganes Region

Off the paved roads,where 4 wheel vehicals can only go the stillness of the mountain lakes produces amazing reflections of the sky.

     
   

ICELAND4 Arctic Tern

Arctic terns breed in Iceland before making the longest migration of any animal to the oceans of Antarctica and back (about 24,000 miles) each year.

ICELAND5 The Great Geysir, Haukadalur Valley

Erruptions are infrequent nowbut in its heyday after the 1896 Earthquake it would errupt several times a day, eachlasting up to an hour and causing spouts of up to 60 metres in height

 

ICELAND6 Gullfoss Falls

The Gullfoss, or “Golden Falls.” with a 105-foot double-cascade is by far Europe’s most powerful waterfall.
     
   

ICELAND7 Strokkur, Haukadalur Valley

Strokkur erupts very reliably every 5-10 minutes, hurling boiling water to heights of up to 20 metres (70ft) towards the sky

ICELAND8 Common Seal

The Common (Harbor) Seal is a true seal found along the coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. An adult can live to an age of 30-35 years and attain a length of 1.85 meters with a weight of 132 kilograms

 

ICELAND9 Skaftafell National Park

Skaftafell National Park is an oasis wedged between sand and Europe's largest glacier, the Vatnajökull ice cap, in southern Iceland. It was founded on September 15, 1967, and enlarged twice afterwards.

     
   

ICELAND10 Field of Red Flowers

Thousand of red flowers create a stiking image on the southern coast of the Reykjanes Peninsula in the western most part of Iceland.

 

ICELAND11 Lupins

Lupins are an introduced species from Canada and are part of a coordinated plan to revegetate the country and in due course re-introduce forests. Lupins are great at fertilising the soil by fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere into the soil allowing for other plants to grow in the future

 

ICELAND12 Reykjavík

Reykjavík is the largest city and Capital of Iceland. At a latitude of 64°08' N it is the world's most northern national capital with a population of 118,00 people.

     
   

ICELAND13 Minki whale

The minke whale is the smallest member of the  family Balaenopteridae or rorqual whales, a family of whales that have baleen and many throat grooves which distend when feeding. They are easily identified by the white band on the pectoral fin (clearly visible in the image above)

ICELAND14 Kittiwake

Kittiwakes nest in thier breeding grounds in colonies of thousands of birds especially in the south and west of iceland. These birds are photographed on the cliff faces of the Reykjanes Peninsula.

 

 

ICELAND15 Minki whale

The minke whale is named after a Norwegian Whaler "Miencke" who often harpooned  minke whales mistaking them for blue whales. The crew thereafter jokingly referred to these animals as “Meincke’s whales” and the name eventually caught on

     
   

ICELAND16 Field of White Flowers

In June each year, flields of white flowers as far as the eye can see, create a dramatic vision in the area around the base of the Skogafoss Waterfall

 

ICELAND17 Skogafoss Waterfall

According to legend, the first Viking settler in the area, Þrasi Þórólfsson, buried a treasure in a cave behind the waterfall

 

 

ICELAND18 Basalt Cliffs, Vik

Basalt is an extrusive igneous rock formed from the cooling of lava on the surface. Contraction of the lava as it cools leads to the geometry of the columns, which have either hexagonal or pentagonal cross-sections. Photographed at Myrdalur, near Vik, Iceland