17 Jul 2019

First visit to Cape Serdtse-Kamen

Today's lectures consisted of an entertaining talk on Russian culture and traditions by Elena, and another concerning the threatened Spoon-billed Sandpiper by Christoph. A series of tours of Kaptian Khlebnikov's engine room were offered for those keen to get a behind-the-scenes perspective of the ship. The massive scale and complexity of the system propelling and controlling the vessel astounded everyone.

The afternoon brought us to Cape Serdtse-Kamen, a new landing site for Heritage Expeditions. A hunting cabin sat at the far end of the beach near the river mouth in which our guide Samuel discovered an old arrowhead and harpoon among other primitive tools, estimated to be one to two thousand years old! The group scattered for a wander in search of birds, plants, or a hike to the top of the ridge. Several walrus carcasses littered the beach. The guides described this area to be a giant walrus 'haul-out' in September when thousands congregate on shore to rest. Due to their large number, there are inevitable casualties from getting trampled. The landscape here was quite different from previous landings with braids of lichen-covered rocks, bright green mosses and swaths of tundra vegetation. Snow Bunting pairs fluttered about, several Ground Squirrels called after us while scurrying over the rocky clusters, and a vocal Pika (close relation of the rabbit) made an appearance.

Images (c) A.Tockston