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Gullfest is an annual arctic bird festival in Varanger / Arctic Norway, produced and organised by Biotope and is a great blend of international bird experts meeting local people during three to five days of talks, exhibitions, trips, bird ringing and much much more.

Gullfest's aim is to help  Varanger achieve international recognition as a premium birding destination. Locally we aim to promote birds and nature, and to build care and appreciation for the regions unique bird life and nature. 

During this 3-5 day event in Varanger we invite inspirational people from the international birding community and spend these days celebrating the rich and unique bird life of Varanger, while maintaining a focus on global conservation, bird identification, bird art, seminars and workshops. 
 

Read more about Gullfest on www.biotope.no

Gullfest and Art 

A key feature of Gullfest is the combination of great art and great birding. Over the years we have invited a number of internationally renowned bird artists including James McCallum, Jonnie Fisk, Lars Jonsson, Ian Lewington, Hans Larsson and Darren Woodhead. Each Artist employing their own style to depict Varanger's birdlife in very different ways. Darren has become one of the main fixtures at Gullfest and has now been returning for several years, in the last three years he has also run bird-themed art and craft sessions for local school classes. 

Gullfest video-blogs

This was the 7th Gullfest in Vardø. A bit scaled down version this year. Its busy times at the office, but we still wanted to make an event that involved people in Vardø. Great having amazing artist Darren Woodhead joining us. Lots of niceness around :) Biotope © 2018
The Arctic birding festival Gullfest was recently arranged in northeast Iceland. Based in Husavik we invited our good friend and amzing bird artist Darren Woodhead, in addition to Tom Lowe from the top UK bird news service Rare Bird Alert (with its 40k followers on twitter!)
Videoblogg form the 6th annual arctic birding festival in Varanger, Arctic Norway. March 2017 © www.biotope.no
The Vardø days of the arctic bird festvial Gullfest 2016. The fith annual festival in Varanger, Arctic Norway. Produced by www.biotope.no
Birding the taiga forest of Øvre Pasvik during the arctic bird festival Gullfest, March 2016. Produced by www.biotope.no © Biotope
Wildlife artist Darren Woodhead was an invited guest at the arctic bird festival Gullfest in Vardø, Varanger, in Arctic Norway. This video was shot during a visit to the bird cliff island Hornøya, situated in the Barents Sea.
Gullfest is an art, architecture & science event dedicated to the rich and unique birdlife of Varanger, Arctic Norway. For Gullfest 2015 we invited artists Lars Jonsson and James McCallum and more birding friends from UK to make great ´birding-to-the-people-event´ More at www.biotope.no
The ringing scheme was at the centre of the gullfest base camp. Huge thanks to ringers Morten Helberg and Arild Breistøl for contributing. Gullfest: ringing, birding, gulls: Birding to the people! by www.biotope.no
Arctic Adventures at Vestre Jakobselv, Varanger. Another highlight of Gullfest 2012 with great views of Tengmalm´s Owl, Hawk Owl, Arctic Redpoll, Siberian Tit and more.
Gullfest 2012 was Arctic Norways first bird festival (13-17th of April). Arranged by Biotope in collaboration with the good people of Vardø (Varanger), Birding Frontiers and many more. This is the first of a series of short web-docu´s from the event. More info on www.biotope.no Thanks to all contributors and participants!
The Hornøya bird cliff is Varangers densest inhabitet place - a seabird spectacle, and a highlight for many birders / visitors on the Gullfest Arctic bird festival. More Hornøya bird cliff info to be found on www.biotope.no
Birding the Arctic coast for the northern type of Fulmar. Gullfest 2012 was produced by www.biotope.no Film+edit by Kevin By.