Stacey in Antarctica: Icebergs and penguins

Since August 2008 I have spent a number of seasons working on Signy Island (South Orkney Islands) and Bird Island (South Georgia) for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) as a Zoological Field Assistant on the penguin, seal and albatross long-term monitoring programme. More recently I did a short season at Bird Island in Janary 2024 and in November 2025 I returned to Signy Island. In November 2026 I am heading to the Antarctic Continent to study snow petrels and Antarctic petrels.

This blog gives readers an insight into my day-to-day life in the Antarctic, from my first trip south in 2008 to the present day.

Saturday, 27 March 2010

Icebergs and penguins

It's only just over a week til the last ship of the summer and we settle down to 6 months of winter with no more ship visits. As a result, we are all busy running around, finishing the last of our summer fieldwork and packing up cargo to go out on the ship. It is the time of year when we send out all of our rubbish, recycing, empty fuel drums and anything else sitting in dusty corners of the base that we no longer use.

We've had some great icebergs recently, and the penguins and seals have a a great time, jumping on and off them and sliding into the sea. I'm not going to write much here as i still have lots to do, but here are some happy gentoo penguins to keep people amused til after the ship has been and i have no more excuses left for not writing anything on here!!!