Bird Island

I have now been back at Bird Island for over a week and am very much settled back into life here.  I’m conscious that I have a new set of followers of my blog and many of you will be unfamiliar with much of the work I have done in the past and where I am.  Therefore I’ll try and explain a bit about it all in my next couple of blogs.

Bird Island is a small sub-Antarctic island that lies at the western end of South Georgia, to the south east of the Falkland Islands in the southern hemisphere. 

The island is small, about 3 miles long and about half a mile wide, separated from mainland South Georgia by a 500m stretch of water.

Bird Island is home to vast volumes of internationally important wildlife and a small group of seal and seabird scientists (working for the British Antarctic Survey) live and work at the research station here to study them.  Being in the southern hemisphere it is now summer, so we have quite long hours of daylight.  The weather is relatively mild at this time of year (between about 0 and 5 degrees), and usually quite windy and rainy.  When the sun shines the island takes on a green, almost tropical look, and is very beautiful.  Icebergs can be seen all year round.  Much of the island is covered in deep tussac grass with mossy wet meadows and small ponds.  During the winter months, the island is frequently snow and ice covered, but at this time of year this usually falls as rain.

Bird Island on the day we arrived.

The research station is modern and comfortable, and this season there are 13 of us here.  The group is made up of 7 seal and bird scientists studying the wildlife (me), the station leader (who keeps everything running smoothly on station), and a project team of 5 who are installing solar panels and working on other infrastructure projects on the station. 

The island is sloping, with rocky beaches along the southern coastline…

Which rise up to huge cliffs that plunge into the sea, all along the northern coastline.

The island is filled with a melee of wildlife, including seals, albatrosses and penguins who come to the island to breed each year.  The meadows are used by breeding wandering albatrosses and giant petrels.  Black-browed, grey-headed and light-mantled sooty albatrosses nest on the steeper ground.  Beneath our feet, smaller burrow-nesting petrels and prions (like tiny albatrosses) make their home.  In summer the beaches are busy Antarctic fur seal breeding colonies, and elephant seals also breed.  Leopard seals visit the shores during the winter months.  Gentoo, macaroni and chinstrap penguins nest on the beaches, while large groups of king penguins also hang around (but do not breed).  There is also an endemic South Georgia pintail duck, and a small songbird, the South Georgia pipit. 

The island is therefore a delightfully busy, and noisy place!  I’ll write about my work here in my next blog, but meanwhile here are a few penguins for those that have asked for them.

The journey south

I have now safely arrived and settled in at Bird Island, South Georgia, which is to be my home until April.  The 9000 mile journey began last Tuesday when my luggage and I were dropped off at Darlington train station by Adam and I caught the train down to my parents in Lincolnshire.  The next day my parents took me to Cambridge, which is where the British Antarctic Survey offices and labs are.   Here I met a small group of other BAS staff who were also heading south and we were taken to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.  Here we met more BAS staff and boarded the plane.  By now our group size had increased to 9 people, all of us heading for South Georgia.

The plane was a relatively ordinary military version of the Airbus A330 (and not a Hercules, which some people have asked me). 

We passed a pleasant journey on a plane that was only half full, which was nice as it meant 2 seats each and just enough space to sleep on the journey.  The journey takes about 17 hours, with a short stop at Ascension Island for refuelling approximately half way there.   Ascension Island is a small rocky island far out in the Atlantic, a little south of the equator, and was a pleasant 26 degrees when we got off the plane. 

Sadly we aren't allowed out of the terminal to explore the island as we're still in transit but it was nice to get off the plane and stretch our legs (I did spend a week on the island on a previous trip so I didn't feel I missed out too much by it only being a very short stop on this occasion).    

Once the plane was refuelled, we continued on our way to Mount Pleasant Airbase in the Falkland Islands.  Another bus journey from Mount Pleasant and we arrived in Stanley, the capital of the Falklands.  The Falklands are windswept and vast (like a larger wilder version of Shetland). 

The majority of its ~3500 inhabitants live in the capital, which sprawls along the seafront, in an array of brightly coloured, mostly wooden-clad buildings.  We spent one night in the Malvina hotel in Stanley, which was just enough time for a walk along the seafront, where I spotted my first penguin and seal.

The next morning we were on the move again (by now it was Friday).  This time onto the MV Pharos SG, the Fishery Patrol Vessel for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.  We spent nearly 3 days onboard, heading from the Falkland Island to Bird Island which lies at the western end of South Georgia.  As the ship is quite small, and the swell was pretty big, the crossing was quite rough, but the time passed pleasantly enough. 

There are two research stations on South Georgia.  Four of us are heading for Bird Island Research Station while the remainder of the group are heading for King Edward Point Research Station.  The group heading there made our journey very interesting- they are whale scientists and were heading there to study humpback whales.  They were a very interesting bunch doing some fascinating science, and kept a permanent watch on the bridge of the ship for whales during the entire journey.  This was great as there was always someone there to tell everyone if whales were spotted.   The journey was mostly spent eating, or watching the birds that were following the ship.  This one is a wandering albatross.

As we got closer to South Georgia, there were quite a few icebergs.  I have never quite got over my fascination for icebergs.  Every one is different and the colours and shapes are ever changing with the light.

We finally arrived safely at Bird Island on Monday, where four of us disembarked the Pharos in small boats to our new home.  We receive a very warm welcome from those currently at the island and quickly settled down to life on station.