Polar Bears on a frozen lake. It was a gloriously sunny day out on the tundra close to the shore of Hudson Bay near Churchill, Canada. As we made our way across the tundra we could see several bears in the distance wandering around on a very blue and frozen lake. It...
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Male Polar Bear chills amongst the willow – Churchill, Canada 2021
Male Polar Bear chills amongst the willow. Whilst waiting for Hudson Bay to freeze so they can hunt seals Polar Bears spend a lot of time conserving energy having not had a decent meal in months. This bear was taking it very easy, indeed. It stayed in this position...
Male Polar Bear patrols the shoreline – Churchill, Canada 2021
Male Polar Bear patrols the shoreline. As a light snow fall began, we came across this very impressive male Polar Bear as it wandered along the shore of Hudson Bay, Churchill. He made leisurely progress whilst keeping a careful eye on us. We watched in fascination as...
Polar Bear and cubs at the shore – Churchill, Canada 2021
Polar Bear and cubs at the shore. We had seen this Polar bear and her two cubs a few days earlier as they had crossed the icy tundra near Churchill, Canada. She had been heading for the shoreline when we lost track of them. Now we found then on a rocky outcrop at the...
Polar Bear has fun in the snow – Churchill, Canada 2021
Polar Bear has fun in the snow. The falling snow was creating a superb winter scene as we drove around the outskirts of Churchill looking for Polar Bears. This beautiful female was sitting on a small ridge with snow blowing around her. She then began to role around in...
Polar Bear and cubs cross the ice – Churchill, Canada 2021
Polar Bear and cubs cross the ice. Out on the tundra close to the shore of Hudson Bay, Churchill, male Polar Bears are seen frequently. The females with cubs are often found deeper in land to keep their cubs safe from the males. So it was a delight to see this mother...
Magnificent male Polar Bear – Churchill, Canada 2021
Magnificent male Polar Bear. The environment around Churchill, Canada is a fabulous place to view Polar Bears. The bears can be found on the tundra, amongst rocks and small trees and down at the shore line. We found this large magnificent male Polar Bear lying in the...
A lovely female Polar Bear – Churchill, Canada 2021
A lovely female Polar Bear. It was a beautifully sunny yet very chilly day in Churchill. As we drove along we spotted this gorgeous female Polar Bear sitting high on a ridge surveying the territory around her. Suddenly she stretched and slid down the bank of snow. She...
Sparring Polar Bears – Churchill, Canada 2021
Sparring Polar Bears. As a freezing wind blew across the tundra near Churchill, Canada these two male Polar Bears had a sparring match. Breath from their exertions condensed and was carried away on the breeze. Their actions kicked up the snow which was also picked up...
Arctic icon: Polar Bear deep in the ice – Svalbard 2019
Arctic icon: Polar Bear deep in the ice. In Svalbard, the sculpured ice made for a dramatic setting for this lovely polar bear. We followed it for quite a while as it disappeared and then re-appeared from behind the large blocks of ice. An icon of the arctic totally...
Arctic birds: Fulmars and Guillemots – Svalbard 2019
Arctic birds: Fulmars and Guillemots. In the Arctic, the temptation is to focus on the iconic species. But the birds are always fun to watch. Here Fulmars and Guillemots appear at one with the ice
Walrus – Svalbard 2019
The mighty icon of the Arctic. This Walrus haul out was on Amsterdamoya. The Walrus were not very active but the setting was lovely and various birds did fly bys.
Magnificent Polar Bears of Svalbard, 2019
The magnificent Polar Bear. On our recent expedition to Svalbard we had numerous encounters with Polar Bears. Most of these have already appeared on my website. Here is a compliation of some of the other encounters. They include a gorgeous bear walking on the ice...
Arctic Fox kit – Svalbard 2019
Arctic Fox kit. The perfect Arctic Fox encounter. At Alkhornet on Svabard, we found three Arctic Fox kits high up in the rocks. One of them ran off but whilst we were watching the remaining two the third appeared behind us and ran to join the others. It stopped en...
Polar bear on an aquatic hunt for a bearded seal – Svalbard 2019
Polar bear on an aquatic hunt for a bearded seal When we found her, this female polar bear was clearly hunting and in the distance we could see her prey: a beared seal. What followed was a perfect example of an aqautic hunt except she failed to catch her prey. She...
Essence of the Arctic: Pushing through the ice floes – Svalbard 2019
Essence of the Arctic: Pushing through the ice floes. On the M/S Malmo we spent a lot of time pushing through the ice around Svalbard. The colours in the sky, reflections in the sea and the patterns in the ice made for a wonderful experience. The wonders of the Arctic!
Close encounter with a polar bear – Svalbard 2019
Close encounter with a polar bear. Near Wahlenbergfjoden in Svalbard, this lovely looking female was spotted asleep on the ice in the distance. As we approached very slowly, she woke, rolled over and made her way towards us. The ice was wonderful and the reflections...
The mighty Walrus on ice – Svalbard 2019
The mighty Walrus on ice. It is always special to see Walrus hauled out on ice floes. It was comical to see the youngster rubbing itself on the ice. In the second clip blood can be seen running down the tusk of the mother. It was unclear what had caused the damage but...
Two polar bears vie for a seal carcass – Svalbard 2019
Two polar bears vie for a seal carcass. Getting food is tough in the Arctic! On the ice near Svalbard, this large male polar bear had killed a beared seal and you can see from the state he is in that he had been feasting on the kill for some time. The younger male...
Polar bear on a seal kill – Svalbard 2016
This male polar bear looked well fed after consuming most of the seal kill. It is interesting to seeing the bear eat blood-soaked ice. The digestive after effects of eating seal meat becomes obvious.
Huge male polar bear defends his seal kill from an interested female – Svalbard 2016
Raw power! Huge male polar bear defends his seal kill from an interested female. There was only one winner!This huge male polar bear had been dragging the seal kill around the pack ice for some time. The female bear had been watching but keeping her distance. He...
Polar Bear and two cubs feast on a Walrus carcass – Wrangel Island 2018
I was able to film this from a zodiac which was moving constantly. Challenging filming and editing! The Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) is the iconic species of the Arctic. They are normally found near the floe edge where they hunt seals most notably Ringed Seals. On...
Polar Bear on pack ice – Wrangel Island 2018
The Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) is the iconic species of the Arctic. They are normally found near the floe edge where they hunt seals most notably Ringed Seals. On this trip we found several bears on Walrus kills and saw very few seals. Polar Bears will also take...
Two young Polar Bears play in the sea – Wrangel Island 2018
It seems likely that these young bears had only recently left the protection of their mother and would be soon going their separate ways. The Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) is the iconic species of the Arctic. They are normally found near the floe edge where they hunt...
Three Polar Bears near a Walrus Carcass – Wrangel Island 2018
Close to Wrangel island, we came upon three Polar Bears near a Walrus Carcass. This was the third Walrus kill we had seen. Surprisingly we had seen few seals so the bears had had to resort to taking young Walrus. The Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) is the iconic species...
Inquisitive Polar Bear – Wrangel Island 2018
Just south of Wrangel Island in the Russian Far East we came across two young Polar Bear siblings. This one was curious and came to check us out before heading off to play with his sib. A wonderful encounter. The Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) is the iconic species of...
Playful Polar Bears – Wrangel Island 2018
Just south of Wrangel Island, these two Polar Bears entertained us with their playful antics. It seems likely that these young bears had only recently left the protection of their mother and would be soon going their separate ways. The Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) is...
Polar Bear on a large ice floe – Wrangel Island 2018
South of Wrangel Island we found this beautiful Polar Bear on a very large ice floe. The Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) is the iconic species of the Arctic. They are normally found near the floe edge where they hunt seals most notably Ringed Seals. On this trip we found...
Polar Bear and two cubs on a Walrus kill – Wrangel Island 2018
The bears looked healthy and well fed. They were completely unconcerned by our presence and we were able to stay with them for more than an hour. The Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) is the iconic species of the Arctic. They are normally found near the floe edge where...
Walrus in the mist – Wrangel 2018
These animals were very relaxed. The Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) is the largest of all the Arctic pinnipeds and the the only larger pinnipeds are the Elephant Seals. Here in the Bering sea, the Pacific subspecies O.r.divergens have longer tusks, up to 100cm (in males),...