South Georgia has been described by many visiting explorers over the years as the island of ice. It is clear to see why when you look at a map and see just how much of the island is made up of glaciers.
Our rib ‘Mollie’ heading to the Neumayer
In the last few weeks I have been out on the boats a few times, not only to resupply the glacial ice on base to make the perfect G&T, but also for boat training and in order to get readings of how far the glaciers have receded.
Neumayer glacier is receding at an incredible rate
When you hear figures of how quickly these majestic landmarks are receding, it’s easy to breeze over the figures and not fully comprehend the scale of withdrawal. Well to give you an idea, since I arrived in South Georgia nine months ago, the spectacular Neumayer glacier has receded by over a mile. It wasn’t until I looked at the navigation screen (still hundreds of metres from the face) and saw that I was apparently navigating several miles inland that the severity of this change struck me.
GPS clearly locating the boat to be on top of the glacier
All along the face, it was clear to see more fragilities and cracks appearing and the moraine was full of titanic slabs of glacial debris that dwarfed both the boats.
Crack appearing in the face of the NeumayerA slab of glacial ice from the face of the Neumayer
It has been joked by geologists that this withdrawal of a glacier that runs the entire width of the island could result in the formation of North and South South Georgia islands. Realistically, there is most probably land lying beneath the glacier but it’s not inconceivable that these glaciers could be gone in the not too distant future.
Sun trying to push through the cloud on South GeorgiaMolly looking small in front of the Neumayer
A day later and we were back out on the boats, this time in Cumberland East to drop the boss off on his holidays. This gave us a great excuse to check out the Nordenskjold glacier, named after the expedition that identified Grytviken as a suitable location for South Georgia’s first whaling station in 1902.
More boating and more glaciers – Nordenskjold Glacier out of the cloud
Nordenskjold face spans greater than 4km
There must be good quantities of small prey items in this area of the bay as large numbers of fur seals were lingering in the bay, not to mention South Georgia Shags and Antarctic Terns (see below).
It would be nice to think that all this will be preserved for future generations.
South Georgia Shags rafting on some ice in front of the Nordenskjold
A very tired me, clambering down towards Penguin River from Brown Mountain
Just a quick blog to say thank you to everyone who sponsored me to run the South Georgia Mountain Half Marathon for The World Wildlife Foundation. We set off a few days early because of a break in the bad weather, so if you haven’t donated yet, it’s still not too late to do so! (please click here).
Simon and Tim against the stunning South Georgia landcape
All your donations and kind words definitely helped me break through the pain barrier and complete the course in a time of 2 hours 6 mins and 42 seconds. If you need convincing, then hopefully these amazing images, taken by Matthew Phillips, of the course and the run, will persuade you that it wasn’t just a walk in the park for me!
Me trying to navigate through the scree and rock covered slopesEventual winners, Simon and Tim, making the steep descent to the flats
As you can see, the course is anything but simple. Whilst scrambling up Brown Mountain on my hands and knees, I cursed every single one of you who donated or wished me luck, because you made it impossible for me to quit! Although my knees and muscles may not agree yet, I’m delighted that I persisted and that I’ve been able to make this contribution to such a great cause.
Me coming down from Deadman’s PassMore pain and more scree slopes – if you haven’t done so yet, please please please donate!
There are a few broken athletes walking around base today but it was worth it. The sauna and and the cold South Georgian Seas (1’C) – Nature’s own Nurofen – definitely helped numb the pain temporarily!
Myself and Tim, waiting for the last athletes and planning an afternoon dip and sauna
The race itself passed without incident or injury, thankfully. However, I did get lost at one point and was aggrieved to reach the finish line and find out that I’d run 0.8 km further than the rest of the field!
On my way down Bore Valley in to the home straight
Thank you again to all of you for your generosity and to Matthew Phillips for his incredible images from a day that I’m not likely to forget for a long time.
Deadmans pass – Part of the South Georgia Half Marathon
On Tuesday 15th March, I will be competing in the South Georgia Half Marathon. It’s my first attempt at this distance and to make it a bigger challenge, I will be running across the mountainous South Georgian terrain.
Since conservation and science is the reason that I’m in this amazing place, I have decided to raise money for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
The route takes me along this sun-kissed 330m ridge
To many, the distance may not seem that far. However, when you consider the terrain, the state of my knees, the lack of training and that there is a good chance it will be gale force wind and snow, I can easily see the event breaking me!
To give you an idea of the challenge ahead, last year’s winner is a seasoned half marathon pro who frequently completes road ½ marathons in under 1hour 20. He managed an incredible time of 1hour 50, beating an ex-Commonwealth Games athlete. So for me, I would be incredibly chuffed to finish in one piece with a time of 2hr 30!
Down and around the hut on the far side of the lake
The marathon is predominantly run on loose scree slopes and boulders with small sections of upland bog, which doesn’t make for easy running. Further to this, there is an increase of height of over 800m throughout the distance.
Scree slopes of South Georgia
The WWF is a charity which all of you will have heard of. They fund research and conservation worldwide aimed at promoting sustainable living between people and nature. They aim to achieve this in a number of different ways: restoring wildlife; sustaining habitats; maintaining the world’s great rivers; promoting sustainable timber and seafood, and reducing carbon emissions. They are a huge charity with world wide support, which enables them to influence political and economic decision-making.
Donate and help save the glaciers and the penguins!!!
I can only apologise about my late warning but I didn’t realise I was running until now! It would be amazing if you could make a contribution, no matter how small! Just follow this link
As life continues at King Edward Point, South Georgia, it seems some thing’s never change. The workload is still huge, it keeps on snowing and life is still awesome. We have had a few noteworthy and out of the ordinary sightings though. The first came in the form of a Weddels Seal. Although these do breed on the very south of the island, this is the north of their range so they are rare visitors to the station. As is often the case with rare animals turning up in the wrong place, this individual was a youngster.
Suprise visitor – A Weddels Seal with a snotty nose!
On top of this we had visits from two lost penguin species. First of all was a chinstrap penguin which spent the best part of 48 hours zipping around our jet boats in Cumberland Bay. The closest colonies for these are located on The South Sandwich Islands.
The second was found during the chick count of the Gentoo Penguins. Before we managed to start with the scientific work, we noticed a Macaroni penguin trying his best to blend in with the crowd. The Gentoo colony is located roughly 12km from the closest Macaroni so it was not that lost but more impressive is that the colony is located 2km inland, uphill from the nearest beach. So this guy made his long hike for no reason!
Trying to blend in – a suprise Macaroni penguin in the Gentoo colony
The Gentoo count itself was a little depressing, as we had expected, with El Nino seemingly affecting the numbers of Krill in our waters. Having received news from Bird Island that several thousand Gentoo nesting attempts had been unsuccessful, we were not holding out much hope for our 800 eggs at Maiviken. During previous brief ventures into the colony, I had noted a number of deserted, unincubated eggs, suggesting that the food shortage is leading the Gentoos to terminate breeding attempts, and the Skuas’ nests are littered with debris from the colony. However, we were pleased to see that we still had 120 chicks remaining and looking, on the whole, healthy. And during the time we spent with the birds, adults were observed frequently regurgitating large amounts of Krill to their chicks.
Feeding time for the Gentoo chicks
Further bad news from the Penguins’ point of view is that both pairs of Brown Skua, adjacent to the breeding colony, now have hungry chicks to feed, meaning scenes like that captured in the last blog will become more and more frequent.
Proud Parents – Two Brown Skuas and their chick overlooking Maiviken
Hatching at exactly the wrong time for the penguins a brown skua chick
Sorry to keep mentioning it, but my job is incredible and has many, many perks. One of these is it allows me to get out and about, especially on boat trips to other peninsulas. On one of these trips last month to the Greene, we went via the Hamburg and Harker Glaciers for a bit of familiarisation (sightseeing). And we timed this trip to perfection since on our arrival, a chunk of ice the size of my house calved from the face. I don’t know what was more spectacular, the actual calving or the size of the wave that it caused.
Having enjoyed the calving from a close but ‘safe’ distance, we decided we were ok to sit still and face the oncoming wave. But as the wave continued to grow, eventually dwarfing the glacier from our view, we quickly realised this wasn’t the case and were ordered to ‘run away’!
One of the many receding glaciers here just starting to calve
Hamburg Glacier calving into the sea
The wave, following the calving of the glacier. The chunk of ice that fell would have dwarfed my house
Just Before we decided that running away was the best decision!
Whist watching these spectacular structures calving, its hard to think that future generations will not get this chance. The effects of climate change are clear to see all over South Georgia with some Glaciers receding at over 1m a day. In fact, in the entire of South America there is only one Glacier that is not receding, the Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina and it is thought that within the near future, this will follow the same trend.
Imagine a world without these… Hamburg Glacier
On top of the fact that glaciers are in their own right epic, another great thing about hanging around them is that you have a chance of seeing the majestic snow petrels. These are by far my favourite birds here although they do frustrate me by only turning up when I have a small lens on my camera, hence the slightly distant shot.
Definitely my favourite birds here. They never appear when you have the right camera or lens.
On another of my scientific trips to around South Georgia, this time to check my Southern Giant Petrels at Harpon, I got to experience the Antarctic water temperatures for first time. I was in a dry suit, so not particularly brave!
Upon arriving in our rib to a steep shelving beach full of ice glacial debris, it was necessary to jump out in waist-height water and hold the boat whilst we unloaded all the gear. Just standing there for two minutes in a dry suit, my legs were quickly numbing and losing sensation. I have no idea how the seals do it for longer than this – to think that an Elephant Seal will dive to depths of 1500m and spend two hours completely submerged is unfathomable.
Molting Elephant Seal sunning itself in glacial debris on Harpon beach
As per usual, my visits to my seal colonies continued every other day. One particular visit sticks out as particularly ‘blondie’. Across my beaches, I noted six blonde pups, three blonde females and two blonde males. When you consider that, on average, 1 in every 800 fur seals is blonde, you should get an idea of how many seals make up my study site.
Ebony and Ivory – Antarctic Fur Seal Pups
As I mentioned earlier, dumps of snow are almost weekly at the moment and the animals in front of base are starting to look less than impressed. Especially the King Penguins, which have picked this time of year (supposedly the warmest) to molt their feathers.
South Georgia only has one songbird, the South Georgian Pipit, so its song should be heard throughout the entire island such is the lack of competition. Unfortunately this is not the case. Ever since humans arrived on the islands back in 1775 with their rat-infested boats, it is likely that these vermin have been present. Rats can have devastating affects on whole ecosystems, especially in those species that nest on or beneath the ground.
South Georgian Pipit, our only song bird, making his way across a beach in the snow!
South Georgia was no exception to this dictum, with rats preying on both chicks and eggs. Huge areas of potentially viable nesting habitat were left barren of birds with the South Georgian Pipit completely extinct from entire peninsulas. In 2011, the South Georgia Heritage Trust invested huge sums of money into the largest rat eradication project in the world in order to return this incredible island to its former pristine self. Because of the nature of the island and the conditions, the challenge was huge. Some parts of the island are completely inaccessible except by helicopter and boat, and its not infrequent to experience 80-100 knot winds.
Seal Colonies are often good sources for flies and thus make good foraging
However, there was one factor working in the favor of the team, in that the glaciers split the island into smaller sections, providing unpassable terrain for the rats. This meant that the project could target specific peninsulas in sequence, making the project slightly more manageable, although when I say “manageable”, it should be noted that each individual section to be baited was larger than any other project of this kind to date!
The glaciers themselves provided the team with another challenge. Since they are receding at incredible rates, often greater than 1m a day, these subsections would soon no longer be divided, allowing the rats to disperse freely across the island, meaning the team was up against the clock!
One of the many receding glaciers here just starting to calve
The wave, following the calving of the glacier. The chunk of ice which fell would have dwarfed my house!
Although the eradication team went through two helicopters, both torn apart by the wind, it seems that the project has been a success. Throughout the season, I have been lucky enough to hear the dulcet tones of South Georgian Pipit songs across my Maiviken Study site. It was originally thought that these could just be migrant birds passing through but the songs continued and the sightings increased until it wasn’t long before I saw the adults flying with food in their bills, suggesting that chicks were present.
Pipit in flight with food at burnet
South Georgia pipit in flight with food
My surmise was confirmed when a week later, I eventually heard the rasping calls of the begging pipit chicks. It’s amazing the distance at which these can be heard and how easy they make it to locate a nest. Armed with my camera, I took quick photo evidence before leaving the nest alone.
South Georgia Pipit chicks – not the most attractive things you’ll ever see!
All bird species nesting here on the South Georgian mainland will have been negatively effected in some way by the rats and it will be interesting to see the rates at which they recover. Some of these species, such as diving petrels and storm petrels nest in burrows high up in the mountains and so recovery is hard to measure. However, both pipits and pintails nest within the tussock grass that surrounds most of our seal colonies and it is easy to see how well these guys are doing already, just one season after the eradication finished.
I have since discovered another four breeding pairs of South Georgian Pipits at the Maiviken beaches, all of which now have successful fledglings. And I can’t walk more than 20m in the tussock without seeing South Georgia Pintail ducklings running through the undergrowth!
Another species to have benefited – a very obliging South Georgian Pintail duckling
The work is never done. Now that the invasive fauna have been wiped out work has began on the invasive flora.
Pair of South Georgia Pintails foraging amongst invasive Dandelions – the next mission for the trust
