Hasselnes Wind Shelter - Watching Auroras in Varanger

Aurora-watching from the new Hasselnes bird hide and wind shelter. To left in the distance is Hornøya bird cliff.

  

Hornøya bird cliff is one of the key attractions in Varanger. We are currently working on a project aiming at improving the fascilities on Hornøya, and to connect Hornøya more with Vardø island. At Hasselnes, northeasternmost Vardø island, you have great views of Hornøya bird cliff. Hasselnes used to be the town dump. With the new bird hide and windshelter we aim to make Hasselnes an attractive place to visit. It is already a key place for birders and all visitors to Vardø, but fasilities and information have been absent. During our recent bird festival Gullfest 2015 we opened the Hasselnes wind shelter.

Northern exposure 2012 - the Hornøya photo workshop, part 1

For the second year we are arranging a photo workshop on the magnificent Hornøya island, Varanger, in collaboration with nature photographers Bjarne Riesto and Knut Sverre Horn. On the menu we have three days of fantastic nature experiences, talks, boat trips and a spectacular bird cliff with thousands

Varanger in winter / early spring - info on birds, sites, accommodation

We get quite a lot of requests from birders that are planning trips to Varanger this winter / early spring. Varanger has been rated one of the top 100 birding destinations in the world - but locally no one has, until quite recently, paid any attention to these qualities, but this is improving rapidly! I very much appreciate emails and with both feedback and questions from birders, and I try to respond to all mails as best I can. To make your research a little easier, I have put together a short (or long - depending on your bird interest level..) article with some advice and on birds, sites, accommodation and more for a winter or early spring visit to Varanger (V-Fjord / Peninsula + Pasvik / South Varanger). It is based on mails I have written in reply to birder and bird photographers requests. 

New and updated ´Varanger winter birding article´ 
(with new photos, updated info, etc)

Above: -Steller´s Eiders - a Varanger winter / early spring speciality (digiscoped, by the way)

           - Northern lights (Aurora borealis) in february, over the high tundra, Varanger

With our website we aim to present our engagements as architects and birders living in Varanger (we work on pro nature projects all over Norway). To a large extent this includes