The job was an Geotechnical sampling campaign around the Shtokman gas field in the Russian sector of the Barent's Sea. A profusion of seabirds was the main highlight but there were a surprising number of passerines to be seen too - some of which were quite remarkable occurrences.

The Shtokman Field is a long way north in the Barent's Sea, somewhat west of Novaya Zemlya


For more about birding in the Barent's Sea click on this linkbarents.php.



The commonest birds were Fulmars (many of which were of the northern "blue" phase) and Black-legged Kittiwakes. Glaucous Gulls and Brunniche's Guillemots were also daily but in rather smaller numbers. Pomarine Skuas were numerous during late September and in smaller numbers until mid October. Surprisingly only a small number of Little Auk were seen - on one occasion feeding under the vessel during the hours of darkness (as Brunniche's also did sometimes).




As with many other places overcast weather at night often produced a fall of passerines on deck. Snow Buntings were seen most days - often being chased by Kittiwakes - and on one occasion two Pomarine Skuas had a go at one. The next most numerous passerine was, as expected, Lapland Bunting. Mealy Redpoll, another unsurprising species were also seen in small numbers. Highlight of the trip from my point of view was a cracking Arctic Redpoll which spent a hour or two on deck one morning. Much more unexpected were species such as Blackcap, Robin, Barred Warbler, Song Thrush and Turtle dove.









This trip gave not just some fantastic birds but some insights into behaviour and migration patterns. One such thing was Pomarine Skuas attacking everything from Snow Buntings to Glaucous Gulls.





Very many, but far from all, of the Northern Fulmars seen were "blue" phase birds - probably the commonest bird seen during this trip. These birds often congregated on the sea around the vessel during the hours of darkness.

Survey vessel Akademik mstislav keldysh - just about the only other vessel we saw in the area