July 10, 2006: Snowed in

Tony has just phoned via the wonders of satellite technology no doubt, from ‘the field’. After many delays, 3 days in Longyrbyen, Svalbard and 3 days in Station Nord, NE Greenland plus an abortive attempt by helicopter in the middle of the night last night, the group of 4 are finally in the field.

There is much more snow this year than there usually is and this is making conditions treacherous as well as probably being the reason why there are no geese in the area. Since the main objective of the trip is to ring the geese this poses somewhat of a problem. Since arrival this morning they have set up camp and also gone on a reccie. It is the latter which has shown them that there is a distinct lack of geese.

So… what now? Well they will remain and wait to see if the weather gets better and the geese arrive. Plus this experience raises questions about their return and how much to schedule it will be since it has taken them 7 days to get out to their target area.