Three weeks today...

... we will be in Iceland and since I am posting this at 10pm, we will have had our first full day in Iceland. We will have seen our first mud puddles and lava flows, we will have crossed the bridge over the Mid Atlantic Ridge, had a 'wallow' in a geo-thermally heated pool and we willl by now be settled in to our accommodation and had our first evening meal which, hopefully, will not be puffin!

Iceland has one of the largest puffin populations in Europe and you will certainly have the chance to admire these comical birds at close quarters. Here is a photo taken on our last fieldtrip which shows how close we should be able to get....

The Icelanders, particularly those living on the Westmann islands, consider puffin to be a delicacy. They lower themselves down cliffs on ropes to catch the birds in nets. On Heimaey, however, there is an amusing mural which is called 'The Puffins'revenge'!This week, celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay who is well known for his colourful language in the kitchen, has been in Iceland to sample puffin and he flew out to the Westmann islands to catch one for himself. I'm not sure that I approve of hunting puffins but if you want to read the story, it's here.

One 'f' in puffin or two?!