We are so lucky to have a lot of excellent birding spots around Húsavík and Botnsvatn is one of these places. Especially if you are interested in waterfowl. This year there has been an amazing amount of red-breasted merganser and Botnsvatn wasn't an exception. There were at least 4 mothers with a huge amount of youngsters, 2 of them with around 15 chicks. 
We saw a lot of other different birds on our walk around the lake, e.g. a great northern diver, redwings and arctic terns.

 

 

 

 

Kiddi asked us if we could drive him to the east where he was going to help Halldór with this weeks horsetrip.
Difficult to say no, isn't it? Especially if it is such a nice opportunity to take pics of a lot of horses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingólfur has been helping our friend Halldór with one of this horsetrips the last days as Kiddi had a little accident and wasn't fit to go. Today I used the chance to take pics along and especially when the group went over river Laxá, which is always a special moment. 
Unfortunately I had to take Ingólfur's horses straight away back home with the trailer as Magnús was cornered by some other horses and just jumped over a lava wall in Hraunsrétt and injured himself a bit. Fortunately not as bad as it could have been.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time with my mum had just been flying and today it was time to say goodbye. But first we visited the youngsters in Hagi and it was fun how much they liked the attention and being clapped. Nobody shy ;)
It was great to have my mum and we are looking forward to getting her back as soon as possible!

 

 

 

 

is always worth a trip, eventhough you should be aware of the possibility of midgets in huge swarms around. We were lucky, good weather, no flies and great company. First stop were the cracks with hot water, where people used to go for a bath a few years ago, interesting place, but full of people. Well, nevertheless we managed to get a good look and Ingólfur explained for Mengia and my mum how things were made in the area.
Next stop at Dimmuborgir, where we did the "Churchring", a slightly larger walk through the impressive area, where we saw a lot of different vegetation, including different orchids. And of course the stoneformations are spectacular.
Last stop before heading home was Vogarfjós, the cowshed café, where we had some coffe or hot chocolate. Great trip!

 

 

 

 

 

When we have a look out of our livingroom window, we see the mountains on the other side of the bay (Kinnafjöll), which give the bay a very majestic look and are never the same. But it is even nicer to take a trip to the beach there and have a closer look. 
My mum has never been there, so we took a drive to show her the beauty closeby. We passed a few farms with their horses and cows outside, saw a few sheep, a waterfall and then finally the beach, where we took a very nice walk. Always impressive to feel and see the forces of nature so closely.
On our way back, we decided to take a drive to the forest and have a look at Þingey (the island in the middle of Skjálfandafljót). And first we were already on the track uphill to the ridge it was easy to just follow it all the way to Einarsstaðir. In fact a very nice drive, eventhough the black sheep wasn't happy about meeting us in it's kingdom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As it was rather late when we brought Þrá to the fiel yesterday, we decided to check the group today and see if everything was ok. Additionally we had to bring a saltstone there. Afterwards we went for coffee to Hólmavað where we were greeted by Lukka and her toy, which we had to throw numberous times for her. 

 

 

 

 

Landsvirkjun is finishing the new steam power plant at Þeistareykir and invited people to come, have a guided tour and some coffee. We grabbed Jón and my mum and went there. It was very impressing to see the huge turbins which will produce electricity in the not so far future. It was nearly crowded there and people still arriving when we were already on our way back home. There was even a camerateam and a professional photographer to document everything. We'll probably show up in an ad...
Then it was time to bring Hjördís to the airport and afterwards fetch Þrá and drive her to the field at Hagi. We hope she's in foal with Bósi frá Húsavík, but the ultrasound scan will reveal it in a few weeks. So keep your fingers crossed!