Baard wasn’t having a good day in his search for polar bears. Bitter winds, snowstorms and heavy clouds on Svalbard, an Arctic island north of Norway, made the going tough. ‘When we got off the snow-scooters for a rest’, says Baard, ‘I spotted a seal breathing hole and saw stirrings. I waited motionlessly right next to it – a bit like a polar bear might do – until a head popped up.’