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.

Monday, 18 March 2024

Homewards

Today our long journey home begins. 

The new polar research vessel, RRS Sir David Attenborough is due to arrive at Bird Island today for “last call”.  Last call is the final ship visit of the summer season and is when everyone except the wintering team of 4 people leave the island.  There will be 9 of us departing.  We have been preparing cargo and getting ready to leave for a while now and are now prepared and ready.

You can follow the ship webcam here:

https://www.bas.ac.uk/data/our-data/images/webcams/rrs-sir-david-attenborough-webcam/

Unlike the journey south, which took less than a week, our journey home is quite an adventure and it will be almost 4 weeks before we get back to the UK.  Once we leave Bird Island, we will be doing a round of the other BAS research stations- at King Edward Point, South Georgia, then onwards down to Signy Island in the South Orkney Islands (where I have also worked previously), before returning to the Falklands.  It should be a lot of fun!

 

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