Photo: Common gull chick stands in driveway between vehicles, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 30, 2025. 19:28

You are being closely watched if you are on Lofoten at the moment. Not from people or any technology, but from the local birdlife. And if you walk in the wrong location, you are likely going to be made aware of the all seeing eyes in the sky as you are dive bombed and screeched at by angry parents.

Like every year, there has been an exponential increase in the already lively bird activity in my neighbourhood. And since it’s no longer spring and horny seagull season, we are onto the next stage of life in Lofoten’s short summer: new chick season. As I’m writing this now, I can see 3 young gull chicks occasionally make an appearance on the rock outside my office window – the same rock as the photo below with the curlew standing atop.

And it’s completely normal to see a pair of gull chicks walking along the edge of the parking lot in Henningsvær or an oyster catcher family in a round a bout in Leknes so you might be attacked just walking down a sidewalk or parking your car. Nature or village, it doesn’t matter to the ground nesting birds.

Growing up in southern California I only knew seagulls as birds that liked to eat trash, steal your food if you were near the beach, and try to poop on you when riding your bike. It was an adversarial relationship between a young me and the seagulls. Little did I know, there are actually many types of birds that I would just call a seagull. And only after moving to Norway, I discovered that the various gulls don’t like each other that much either. It turns out that the large gulls that would try and steal my french fries also like to eat the young chicks of the smaller gulls. Hence the noisy nights at this time of year.

It seems there is something of a peace between several of the birds in my neighbourhood, as the oystercatchers, Curlews, and common gulls don’t seem to predate on each other’s chicks. While the larger herring gulls and black-backed gulls, along with the ravens and crows will be quick to gobble up an unguarded chick should they get the chance.

In the photo below of the curlew on the rock, there are actually 3 common gull chicks at the base. One of the gull parents sits on my sauna, keeping a watchful eye, though doesn’t seem bothered at all by the curlew; whose chicks are also somewhere wandering around in the deep grasses. When the curlew eventually leaves, a parent gull will fly down and feed the 3 hungry chicks.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3
370mm
ISO 1100
f6
1/800 Second
WB Daylight

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3
600mm
ISO 1100
f6.3
1/800 Second
WB Daylight

Photo: Meadow of yellow buttercup – smørblomst flowers overlooking Nappstraumen, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 17, 2025. 22:53

The Summer Solstice is tomorrow here in Norway, and with that, the official start of Summer. Although realistically, I consider all of June to be Summer here on Lofoten – Basically once the fields are green and full of flowers. It is in these next couple weeks, from the 2nd half of June into the first weeks of July that Lofoten is at its most vibrant and colourful stage of the year – all underneath the 24 hour shine of the Midnight Sun.

Many are hoping for a repeat of last year’s incredibly warm and sunny summer, but so far the Lofoten’s is remaining on the cooler and greyer side of things, with many days of misty clouds over the past weeks and only a handful of days even reaching 15˚C. Although this is not abnormal, a coolish June. And in fact, June has basically the September, 9.7˚C and 9.4˚C, respectively. It is only the months of July and August where the islands reach an average higher than 10˚C. With the new travel trend of ‘coolcation,’ Lofoten will generally always be a good place to escape the burning sands of southern European beaches.

On the brighter side, it looks like the sun will make a nice appearance for tomorrow’s Solstice and might even stick around the rest of the weekend! Hopefully it’s enough to dry out my overgrown lawn, with is about a month overdue for it’s first mowing of the summer, as I spend the end of May and the first half of June down in Scotland, mostly on Shetland and Orkney photographing puffins and gannets.

I had not actually intended 2 photos this week – usually I save for when I’m trying to illustrate some change in conditions or something. The second photo (below) is what I planned to post, to show the nice misty clouds over the mountains of Himmeltindan, Mannen, and Veggen, as they rise in the distance from Vestvågøy. But as I just got back home this week, the field has already become a little overgrown as the grasses begin the grow higher than the flowers, making the foreground a little busy.

The above image caught my eye better once I sat at the computer to look for an image to edit. It doesn’t really show what I wanted to illustrate or write about for this week, but I think it’s a better image overall.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm F/4
75mm
ISO 500
f5.6
1/160 Second
WB Daylight

Photo: Misty clouds hang over distant mountains rising over Nappstraumen, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 17, 2025. 22:52

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 24-120mm F/4
70mm
ISO 500
f5.6
1/160 Second
WB Daylight

Photo: East face of Stjerntinden catches morning sunlight as it rises over Storvatn, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 7, 2020. 01:55

One of the difficult things about evening hikes during the midnight sun period is that by the time I get home a new day is often well underway. This is even more true with a cloudless blue sky such as on this evening, or, at this point, early morning.

This photo is from a (nearly) cloudless summer evening wandering around the strange, almost desert-like landscape of Nesheia, located on the southeastern corner of Flakstadøy. Already almost 02:00 in the morning, and having been out for several hours already, I had to stop for a couple more quick photos before I descended off the ridge and back into the forest below. Though the light was not very dramatic, the reflection of Stjerntinden (938m), the highest mountain of Flakstadøy, catching the morning light was a nice tranquil scene.

In full blue sky like this during the midnight sun period, I dare say the light can be a bit boring. With the sun never touching the horizon, there are no real sunsets or sunrises at this time of year. I generally prefer a bit of clouds for at least some hope of drama or interesting light.

A bit of clouds also help with sleep! It was another hour after this image that I finally got home, and by this, it basically felt like the middle of the day, not time to go to sleep…

Camera Info:
Nikon D850
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
28mm
ISO 100
f10
1/15 Second
WB Daylight