The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) holds a biennial meeting to review and develop its research plans, with the meetings being held during the Boreal summer when fewer scientists are in the Antarctic. I attended the 2018 meeting, which was held in Davos, Switzerland, with the scientific sessions taking place in the Davos Congress Centre.
We travelled to Davos via the BA flight from Heathrow to Zurich and then took the Glacier Express train to Davos. A number of carriages have a glass roof so you get spectacular views as it rises up the Landwasser valley into The Alps. In Davos we stayed at the Hilton Hotel, which was very convenient for the conference centre.
It was a busy week in Davos with meetings to attend and presentations to give, but we found time to take the cable car up the Schatzalp (click the map below for a high resolution version) and then walk up to the Strela Pass.
The alpine flowers were beautiful as we started our walk up from the cablecar station.
As we neared the Strela Pass the flower-filled pastures gave way to treeless conditions with patched of snow remaining in the hollows. Even though there was snow around it was surprisingly warm considering the pass is at an elevation of 2,353 m. Luckily, at the highest point of the pass there was a restaurant where we could get some lunch.
There were few birds near the top of the Strela Pass, but luckily two we did see were lifers, although they were quite distant. The White-winged Snowfinch is found in treeless mountain areas from Europe to China and is fairly common in the Swiss Alps. While near the pass we also saw a Ring Ouzel, although like the snowfinch, is was distant.
On the forested slopes above Davos there were more birds, and we saw a Crested Tit, which is also found in the UK, although only in northern Scotland. Another new bird for us was the Spotted Nutcracker. Other more common birds we saw around Davos included Goldcrest, Coal Tit, Great Tit and Eurasian Wren.
