Its been a long while since I wrote a blog but now that I am back settled in colder climes I think it’s about time that I update this website.
I am back in my favourite part of the world living on a small island 500m North West of South Georgia. It’s aptly named Bird Island since its home to hundreds of thousands of seabirds and penguins. So dense is the wildlife here that there is either a seabird or seal every 1.5m2.
Big Mac is the largest colony on the island and is used by 40,000 pairs of Macaroni penguins
As with all travel in the Southern Ocean, ‘Plan A’ very rarely comes to fruition. I set off from home via RAF flight to the Falklands where I had a couple days to explore the rich wildlife the islands have to offer. Having been to the Falklands several times now I am still amazed by what’s on show here. With it being located north of the subantarctic convergence the species found here are slightly different and there were great opportunities to see Southern Sea Lions, Rockhopper Penguins and Imperial Cormorants.
The Falklands will literally blow you away with wind and rain almost as predictable as beautiful wildlife!
Thousands of Rockhopper Penguins breed along the cliff tops of the Falklands
Two headed Cormorant
Bull Seal Lions are formidable animals weighing 350kg
I then headed south on board the Naval patrol ship, HMS Clyde. My next destination was Bird Island. 3 days sailing away. As we made our way South on the unusually flat calm seas we were treated to views of fin whales, right whale dolphins, Peale’s dolphins and Humpback whales as well as lots of seabirds.
Humpback whale alongside the ship close to shore
First of many Wandering Albatross over a flat sea
Giant Petrel over a less flat sea
As I woke up on the 3rdmorning, just north of Shag Rocks, ready for my 5am ice watch on the bridge, we were greeted by a 2 by 3 mile iceberg which had a couple of smaller bergs which had broken off. Fortulately the captain was up on the bridge and suggested we position the ship so that when the sun rises it comes up directly behind the ice berg. And this was carried out to perfection!
HMS Clyde making her way to the Iceberg
Sunrising behind the iceberg
Decent sized chunk of ice!
Unfortunately the next step of the plan worked out less perfectly as we approached Bird Island which is very exposed to the prevailing winds and swell. The decision was made to not even attempt landing meaning we would reposition to my old home at King Edward Point and wait patiently for a different lift.
Sunsetting over my first views of South Georgia this season
Heading towards Cumberland Bay down a snowy coastline
It amazing to see how many whales there are around South Georgia this year. These are only the second Humpbacks I have ever seen inside Cumberland Bay.
Grey Headed Albatross over the South Georgia mountains
The Nordenskjold glacier still looks as spectacular as ever
Back to my old home, King Edward Point! Temporarily!
There are definitely worst places to be stationed on standby. Read my next blog here
As much as it kills me to have left my work with the British Antarctic Survey, the new job has some pretty amazing perks. Working at King Edward Point allowed me to see a small part of South Georgia over a long period of time working immersed within incredible wildlife. However, life on board National Geographic Explorer has 5 star food every night, a masseuse and most importantly, access to much much more of the island than we were able to visit from base.
Gold Harbour home to Bertrab Glacier and a few penguins
One of my favourite new landings to visit this year is Gold Harbour. Not the largest king penguin colony on South Georgia but still spectacular.
Kings making their way to sea
One of the many things that make this site stunning is the Bertrab Glacier, which hangs over the colony.
King standing tall in front of the Bertrab Glacier
The sunrises at gold are ridiculous as are the frequent rainbows
More Kings
During spring the beaches are covered by harems of Elephant seals which push the colony back into the tussock.
Elephant seals in the morning sun
Young beachmaster checking out the competition – the weather can change within a second from snow to sun to rain.
Calm before the storm
The breeding season is a difficult time for these giants. Beachmasters will spend months on end starving on land, battling to defend their harems from competitors. During this time, the battles can be brutal and so moments of rest and recovery must be taken at every opportunity.
Battle of the giants
Sleeping beauty
Beach littered with elephant seals and penguins trying to navigate the maze
Not all the fights end in blood and gore; youngsters are always practising because they know that at some point it will be their turn to fight for real.
Not quite as dramatic when the youngsters fight
But seemingly just as exhausting
As the elephant seals head out to sea for a much needed foraging trip the beach opens up, allowing other wildlife some space to thrive.
Antarctic Fur Seals can be found on just about every South Georgia beach and Gold Harbour is no exception
Gentoo penguin trying to blend in with the crowd
Wherever there are penguins and seal colonies, predators and scavengers are never too far away
Brown skua looking for a space to land in the colony
Skua in the morning light
The beaches can be quite exposed and landings aren’t always easy for our Zodiac boats or the penguins
Although not in the same abundance, elephant seals can still be found here late in the season since they return to the South Georgia coast in order to moult. This process takes roughly a month. Several animals will lie in the same location for most of this process and the combination of their weight and excrement kills everything beneath them, leaving foul smelling wallows throughout the coastline.
If only you could smell them!
If the wildlife doesn’t quite do it for you, then you can keep your eyes above the seals and penguins and it still ain’t half bad.
Sunrise on the Bertrab glacier
Despite the 4 a.m. mornings there is very little that can spoil an experience like this. However, we did find one thing that did just this on our final landing of the season. A young Antarctic Fur Seal with fishing material wrapped around its neck.
Despite South Georgia’s isolated location, there is no escape from marine pollution. Ghost fishing and marine waste are a real problem here. During my time on South Georgia we freed, any number of animals entangled within fishing or packaging waste. And on a landing at King Haakon Bay, we even managed to retrieve a washed-up fridge from the beach, as well as numerous bottles and bags.
Young fur seal with fishing material around its neck
If you think about how little activity and fishing there is in sub antarctic waters in comparison to other areas further north then the impacts and effects this will be having is hard to fathom. Over 100,000 marine animals are harmed through pollution such as this every year.
Not to end on a negative note, here are a few time lapses from a day at Gold Harbour
It’s been a while but I thought it was about time that I wrote a blog about a typical day as a Naturalist on board the National Geographic Explorer. And what better location to do so than from Salibury Plain. The second largest king penguin colony on the island, Salisbury Plain lies within the Bay Of Isles towards the North of South Georgia.
After a blustery night anchored in the Bay of Isles, guests awoke expecting poor conditions but were pleasantly surprised to see flat seas and a fresh coat of snow covering the bay. Just five days previously, when we were last in the bay, there was barely any snow on the near mountains.
Not a bad sight to wake up to. First light uncovered a snow-coated Salisbury Plain. At dawn, King Penguins already spanned from the shore all the way up the hillside. As the day progressed waves of adults joined the colony from the Southern Ocean.
View of the ship from the landing
Thousands of King Penguins covering Salisbury Plain
Its been a hard year for these King Penguin chicks, after the eggs were laid a year ago they have been stuck on this beach through the harsh South Georgia winter. Some of the chicks will have gone months between feeds shrinking up to 50% in weight during these periods.
All four seasons were experienced throughout the landing with brief spells of snow followed by beautiful sunshine.
Warming up after the snow
Early travellers thought that these woolly penguins AKA Oakum Boys, were a completely different species than the adults
The landing did not disappoint, a natural path through the colony allowed guests to get their best views of the “Oakum Boys” yet. Despite the cold temperatures, the light was stunning and guests used every second on shore to get their shots.
Adult leading its chick through the snow in search of shelter
The snow got worse before it got better
Chicks were left covered in snow when the sun came out again
Covered in snow
Bracing from the snow
Sun shining on the colony within a few minutes of a blizzard
The cold was obviously too much for this penguin who couldn’t stop sneezing!
Creching for shelter
Chicks without parents huddled together in order keep warm
By this stage of the breeding season, the weakest chicks will have perished, so those remaining all looked in good health. After more than a year of development these chicks will soon loose this downy coat in favour of their waterproof juvenile coat.
The majority of the chicks on the colony to have made it this far were looking in good condition and will soon be melting into their juvenile coat
Fat and ready to moult
Basking in the brief moment of sunshine
As the snow came down again and the feeling in my hands finally disappeared completely, we headed back to the ship
After a long but spectacular morning on the colony we headed back to the ship for hot drinks and tasty food, a luxury which the British Antarctic Survey never provided!
View of the colony from the warmth of the ship
Albatross over the ocean as we navigated out of the Bay Of Isles around the stunning South Georgia coastline
The island is home to millions of birds including ten of thousands of Black Browed Albatross which thrive in these windy conditions.
Black Browed Albatross soaring close to the ocean in a localised patch of calm
I was recently approached by Will Harper-Penrose from Woodmansterne Primary School and Children’s Centre via the wonderful medium of Twitter. His year two pupils were learning about the Antarctic and exploration, and he got in touch to ask about the possibilities of doing a Q&A Skype session.
Unfortunately, South Georgia’s internet connection was not up to a Skype video so, on hearing that, Will came up with a much more imaginative way to ask the questions. Being a music teacher, he composed a song for his pupils to sing, asking questions like ‘Have you seen a penguin sliding on its belly?’ and ‘What do you eat in Antarctica?’
As you can see for yourself, the video, song and dance are awesome and put a smile on everyone’s face on base. Completely aware that this amazing video would outshine any video of mine, I used my surroundings on the island to assist me, featuring penguins, seals, icebergs and boating, here is a compilation of some of my footage from a year on South Georgia.
I hope that this will entertain the kids and hopefully inspire one or two to become polar scientists
Absolutely devastated to leave South Georgia after an incredible and life changing year. If anyone gets the chance to visit I would 150% recommend it! It has everything, landscape, wildlife, glaciers and very occasionally the sun also.
Wintering team plus postie!
It was an absolute pleasure spending the year with this team. One final BBQ in the snow as well as a final champagne toast and it was time to set sail on board the Shackleton.
Last views of Mount Duse for a while
One last picture of Grytviken and KEP
The Nordenskjold in the cloud
As to be expected the scenery on the way out was still magnificent and a few species of wildlife made the effort to come and see us off.
Giant Petrel in front of SG coastline
Our ‘horse and carriage’
On our way North we passed several, huge icebergs which were obviously floating north from the continent
More Icebergs
Different view of the same Icebergs
Once within flying range of the Falklands a Hurricane made a flyby whilst carrying out a training exercise allowing great views for photographs
Technically I have left South Georgia but I am aware that I haven’t posted many blogs over the past few very busy weeks. So I will catch you up on my activities with a few blogs! The beginning of spring brings a series of fresh faced new British Antarctic Survey recruits eager to takeover from the old guard and ready to learn their new job.
First on the long list of Kierans (the new me) new responsibilities was the Giant Petrels. Fortunate for us, these prehistoric birds have the a habit of nesting in areas of especially spectacular backdrops!
Where ever there are Giant Petrels there are glaciers not too far away so its often harder to take pictures without glaciers in the background.
There are colonies of Northern Petrels at Maiviken, Zenker Ridge and the Greene which nest approximately six weeks ahead of the Southerns which nest at Harpon and on the Greene.
The latest trip was to check up on the Southerns which should have all laid by now. The Northerns, are starting to lay and will have chicks by now.
Both sexes are very similar in appearance. However females tend to be smaller in size.
Last month I made the short voyage up the coast of South Georgia to The Bay Of Isles and Prion Island to check up on the Wandering Albatross. These are the world’s largest seabird and they nest in numerous colonies around the South Georgia coastline.
Sitting tight
Working the vocal cords
A few years back when I saw my first ever albatross on The Galapagos, I put ‘seeing wanderers on the nest’ top of my bucket list.
Bucket list complete! – me for size comparison
I didn’t think for a second that I would be able to cross it off so soon. To be allowed to get up close and personal with such incredible birds was a privilege and a pleasure, but now I need something else to take top spot …. maybe diving with leopard seals!
At this stage of the development, adults are both out foraging so we were very lucky to see this adult paying the island a brief visit
Begging chick
Bracing from the snow
The trip was a success but with the weather window being very narrow, there was much concern that we may not manage to get the work done. However, after a dawn wake-up, we managed to get landed.
Prion at sunrise
Of the birds present, when I last monitored Prion back in April, 100% had successfully made it through the winter and all should hopefully be fledging before the end of the year.
Albatross on the snow
Huge wingspan
Stretching its wings
Another chick
The island is also home to a number of other species which have been able to thrive without the presence of rats. Two colonies of Gentoo penguins were all sitting on freshly laid eggs, Giant Petrels were courting and laying, Pipit chicks were calling from nests all over the island, Light Mantled Albatross were sitting on nest bowls and White Chin Petrels were singing from their underground burrows. Also, the first few male Fur Seals were taking up residence on the beach.
This second instalment from my latest incredible trip to St Andrews will involve fewer superlatives – because I used my quota up in the first instalment!
I have spent a year on this amazing island and over a quarter of my pictures have been taken in the two weeks spent at St Andrews Bay. This is no reflection on how ‘boring’ the rest of the island (it’s not) … but St Andrews Bay is flipping ridiculous!
Elephant seal bull relaxing in the snow
Having a scratch in the snow
Young male on the beach
As you’ll have seen from my previous blog, there are hundreds of thousands of breeding King Penguins resident here, but just as awesome are the majestic giants that span the entire shore front.
St Andrews Shore
Where penguins meet steaming elephant seals
They are loud, they smell worse than the penguins and they very rarely move but when they do, the sheer power and strength on display commands your attention and respect.
Challenging bulls are frequent
Elephant Seal in one of the glacial lakes at St Andrews
Beachmasters will spend months on end within harems of hundreds of females, fighting off challenges and rivals in order for the chance to mate with the females once they have weaned their pups. The challengers are numerous and relentless, leaving the beachmasters little time to sleep and relax between bouts and duels.
A new bull on the beach checks out the competition
There are considerable size differences amongst males and it is in the interest of both beachmaster and challenger not to waste energy/get injured in one-sided competitions. So, in order to prevent this from happening, males use their proboscis to amplify their roars, allowing competitors to calculate the size of their rivals and if a fight is worthwhile.
Steam from a bull’s breath as he roars out his battle cry
This means big fights only happen when there is an even match and, as a result, duels can last for tens of minutes as both rivals rear back and take turns to slam their bodies and teeth into each other.
Trying to get higher than your rival
Two evenly matched competitors
Locked in battle
The noise as each blow was made was deafening
Sinking teeth into flesh
Blood is almost a guarantee and injuries are often haunting and sometimes even life-threatening.
Bull after a fight
Afterwards, the competitors are understandably exhausted and plaster themselves with cold stones or mud from the beach in order to help them cool off.
Mud, mud glorious mud ….
Cooling off
Our visit came during the peak pupping period and as a result, the beach was covered in new-borns suckling the fatty milk of their mothers. Born at approximately 40kg, these will reach 180kg by the time they wean just three weeks later.
Young pup begging for milk
Young pup in the snow
Weaned pups quickly move up the beach away from the busy harems
Saying goodbye was definitely very hard but I am very excited to say I’ll be back to St Andrews in January, this time on board the National Geographic Expedition ship!!!
Sadly my time on South Georgia is coming to a close. The time has absolutely flown by and I have well and truly fallen in love with the island and its incredible wildlife. With the breeding season and my workload starting to increase, I managed to wangle one last non-scientific holiday and made the long hike over to St Andrews Bay to one of the most incredible wildlife congregations this planet has to offer.
King Penguins of St Andrews
Having had an uncharacteristically warm September, I booked the time off with high hopes of easy hiking and blue skies. Sadly this wasn’t the case but when you come to South Georgia you can’t complain. The walk over was easy, certainly, with mild conditions allowing us to make it over in four hours and get into the colonies for the afternoon. Luckily we took advantage of this and enjoyed the only clear skies we were going to get for the week!
Chicks well and truly outnumbering adults in the colony
It was amazing to see such a massive change in the dynamic of the Bay. Hungry chicks dominated the main breeding colonies, magnificently outnumbering the few providing parents. The few gaps in the colonies were covered in unfortunate chicks that sadly didn’t make it through the harsh South Georgia Summer. The rivers and lakes which had run through the colony on my last visit were now melted and flowing.
King Penguins gracefully making their way across a tidal pool
The outskirts of the Bay were completely covered with non-breeding, moulting King Penguins – staying well away from the noise of the main colony. Many adults had ventured more than a mile inland to stand on the cool of the glaciers. By far the most significant change came along the beach front. Where months previously I had taken pictures of thousands of King Penguins lining the shore a much larger South Georgia native had now taken up residence there. More than 5,000 Elephant Seals covered the beach, obstructing the poor penguins’ route up to the higher breeding ground.
Lower beach, now dominated by elephant seals
One of South Georgia’s latest residents taking advantage of the melted pools
After a tip-off from our Doctor and Base Commander, who had visited a few weeks previously, we left the main colony for a rocky peninsula to the north of the Bay. As we passed the streams of clumsy Kings crossing the tidal pools going the opposite way to us, we noticed a number of injured penguins, suggesting that the tip-off had been good.
A marginally better water entrance.
As we stepped out onto the rocks and peered down into the deep, we were greeted by a number of inquisitive eyes checking us out. In total, there were eight leopard seals all waiting close to the rocks and kelp, looking to ambush any passing King Penguins.
Three of the Eight leopard seals present in the water.
Within seconds of arriving, we spotted thrashing offshore as a hungry leopard seal tore apart an unfortunate King Penguin. In total, across the few hours spent at the point, I saw seven successful kills including three simultaneously. Nature, red in tooth and claw …
Leopard seal with kill
And the reason so many penguins manage to escape is because the leopard seals love to play with their food, often catching it several times and letting it go before finally killing it.
Full leopard seal on the rocks
At one point, I was amazed to see a number of young Fur Seals cleaning themselves in the waters within a couple of metres of two big Leopard Seals and assumed that, with such abundant harmless prey in the form of King Penguins, the Leopard Seals didn’t bother the Fur Seals. However, it turned out the Fur Seals simply hadn’t spotted the Leopard Seals yet since they were soon making the 2 metre leap from the sea to the relative safety of the rocks.
As the light faded and the visibility reduced,we headed back to our hut for a dinner of military ration packs and an early night – the alarm was set for 05.30.
Poor weather approaching
As I awoke, I was extremely happy to see bright white coming through the windows and eagerly got out of bed. I opened the door … to discover that what I thought was bright sunshine was actually a thick layer of snow! Still, since I was now up, I decided I may as well get my Antarctic Hero gear on and brave the conditions. Although the visibility wasn’t obviously bad, the fresh falling snow accompanied by the evaporation off the elephant seals backs obstructed any wide-shots I attempted, so I headed back to the Kings.
King Penguin chicks in the snow
The winter is the hardest part of the season for the King chicks. Between April and October, some of the chicks will only be fed a couple of times, going as long as four months without a parental visit – Social Services would definitely not approve! It also means that it’s not uncommon to be followed around the colonies by a group of hungry chicks trying their luck. I managed to resist since I was running low on their preferred lantern fish.
More King Penguins bracing against the snow
You can’t blame the adults for making themselves scarce – the few chicks lucky enough to have parents around were extremely high maintenance, always begging for their next meal.
Begging chick
Chick thinking about its next meal
No matter what was going on on the beach, no matter what the weather was doing and no matter what dangerous obstacles needed passing, the stream of King adults kept coming, with numbers within the breeding colony increasing every day. Pretty impressive, all things considered.
In the last three days I have seen four more leopard seals, taken the RIB south to St Andrews Bay (where we watched a leopard seal tear apart a king penguin) and spent the night at Maiviken, where we watched at least 1000 Gentoo Penguins returning to South Georgia for the night …. Life is hard!
The beginning …. lep 1
Sleepy leopard seal in front of base
With news of a second lep sighting at Grytviken coming in the final minutes of light of the day, I set my alarm early and made my way over for first light hoping she hadn’t slugged off in the night in order to get more pictures for the rapidly growing leopard seal database.
Thankfully my efforts were not in vain!
It was initially to dark for good record shots but it soon brightened up
Lep two in front of South Georgia Museum and Mount Hodges at Grytviken
I quickly headed back to base to complete my morning rounds and get ready for a day of boating – but not before taking a quick shot of the Pharos alongside before a patrol.
Pharos alongside at King Edward Point
Next on the agenda was kitting up the boats and getting away, with St Andrews our next destination in order to re-supply the huts with food and medical gear. Unfortunately, the visit had to be very quick but, as regular readers will know, on South Georgia, a lot can happen in a short amount of time!
King Penguin fresh from the sea at St Andrews
Upon landing we were greeted by a cloud of hungry Giant Petrels who are resident around the King Penguins. I caught a flash of yellow disappearing towards the sea and was able to get a couple of record shots of a yellow Darvic on the leg of a giant petrel, most probably from Bird Island.
Yellow Darvic on the leg of a Giant Petrel
Time didn’t allow me to reach the main King Penguin colony and check up on the chicks but there were a few Kings on the beach near where we landed, along with St Andrews latest occupants … Elephant Seals.
Soon the beaches will be covered in these monsters, battling for harems
Trying to get some kip before the fighting begins
Elephant seal eating the jetboat!
As we lifted the anchor, a very inquisitive leopard seal came to check us out. Unfortunately, my hands were full of anchor so no pictures were possible before it got bored of us and headed off. As we headed back to sea with Hound Bay our next destination, I clocked a congregation of Cape Petrels in the distance and headed towards it. Being in contact with our colleagues at Bird Island, I hear tales of leopard seal attacks and had subsequently added observing a kill, hopefully, to my bucket list.
View through a wave
As we approached, all that was clear was that something was being thrown around in the water by a dark shadow.
Swallowing some flesh
A mouthful of king penguin
Unfortunately, the poor light and swell were enough to make focusing on the action very difficult, so the pictures aren’t much more than record shots but it was an incredible spectacle.
The leopard seal shook the meat from the penguin
Leopard seal and a king penguin
Young Kelp gull bravely stealing some scraps with the leopard seal lurking below
Due to a thick band of incoming fog, we couldn’t stay with the kill for long and were soon on our way north again to Hound Bay, where we were greeted by yet another leopard seal trying to hide itself amongst all the elephant seals.
Hound Bay Leopard Seal
We did get one last look at the South Georgia landscape before we were engulfed by fog for the duration of our trip back to Maiviken, where we were dropped off for the night.
Paget Mountain towering above Hound Bay
Gentoo Penguins opt to return to the South Georgian shores every evening to roost, unlike other SG Penguins, even outside the breeding season. As we sat on the shore waiting for the sun to set, sipping mulled wine, we had hoped to see good numbers of Gentoos but we didn’t expect quite as many as we got!
Waves and waves of up to 50 Gentoos returned until over 1000 had passed us on the beach
For the first time this year, the Gentoos were observed making their way up past their usual roost site all the way up to their breeding colony, suggesting that we may well have an early breeding season this year.
Gentoos piling onto the beach
Whilst the majority of the gentoos opted for the large open section of Tortula Beach, not all picked the same route
Making their way through the rocky shore
Not all pick the easiest beaches to land on
With last year being a spectacular breeding failure for the Gentoos, we are hoping for a more fruitful season this year.
