Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Wildlife and the environment
Iceland's first settlers found a land whose coastal fringe, compared with
today, was relatively well wooded; there were virtually no land mammals, but
birdlife and fish stocks were abundant and the volcanic soil was reasonably
fertile. Over a thousand years of farming has brought great changes: big
trees are a rare sight, fish stocks have plummeted, and introduced mammals
have contributed to erosion and other problems, but a growing regard for
Iceland's natural heritage is beginning to redress the imbalance, and the
country's natural history remains very much alive.
Flora
Though fossils indicate that around twelve million years ago Iceland had stands of
maples and other broad-leaved trees, dawn redwood and even giant sequoias,
subsequent ice ages had wiped these out long before humans ever landed here. It's
likely that the Vikings found woods mostly comprising
dwarf birch
and
willow
that you
still see here today. Both can grow up to 10m or so in height, but generally form
shrub-like thickets - original forests, however, would have been fairly extensive,
reaching from the coast up into highland valleys. Clearances for timber and pasture
have reduced Iceland's tree cover to just one percent of the land, though since 1994
over four million trees - including commercial stands of
pine
- have been planted in
an attempt to restore levels to pre-Settlement estimates.
The most widespread flora -
mosses
and
lichens
- tend to get overlooked, but they
cover almost every lava flow and cliff in the country and provide a colourful mosaic of
greens, greys and oranges, especially after rain has darkened the surrounding rocks.
Flowering plants
are most obvious in midsummer, and include the very common, blue
vertical spikes of
arctic lupins
, introduced from North America to help reduce erosion;
the tiny magenta flowers and spongy green clumps of
arctic river beauty
and
thyme
(which you can also identify from its smell); fluffy
cottongrass
growing in boggy areas;
the cauliflower-shaped, yellow-green flower heads of
angelica
, often covered in flies;
blue
harebells
; and yellow
kingcups
and
dandelions
. In early autumn,
berries
are also
plentiful, and many people collect them to eat.
Mammals
he
arctic fox
, which feeds almost exclusively on birds, was the only land mammal in
Iceland when the first settlers arrived. Common throughout Iceland, they're chubbier
than European foxes, with short, rounded ears, bushy tail, and a coat that turns white
in winter.
Polar bears
have never flourished here, though every decade one or two float
over on ice floes from Greenland (which is probably how foxes first arrived too), only
to be shot as a dangerous pest by the first person who sees them.
Domestic animals arrived with the Vikings. The
Icelandic horse
is a unique breed
descended from medieval Norwegian stock, as none have been imported since the
tenth century. Cattle numbers are fairly low, but
sheep
outnumber the human
population by four to one.
Reindeer
were introduced from Norway and Finland in the
late seventeenth century for hunting purposes - today they're restricted to eastern
Iceland, where they stick to high-altitude pasture in summer, descending to coastal
areas in winter. Iceland's cold climate has limited the spread of smaller vermin such as
rats
and
mice
, which were unintentionally brought in on boats and only occur around
