Sunlight!

After a prolonged period of overcast weather and/or the wildlife not being co-operative, very few photos have been taken by anyone.

Tough times in the Weddell Sea. It was -5C, but otherwise fantastic weather. There were 10 Fin, 11 South Right and a Humpback Whale during the day but none close enough for photographs.

Yesterday we finally got good light and lots of birds at the same time (we're just west of South Georgia now) so everyone was out with their cameras making up for lost time. We are also onto the coring section of the trip so my data collection is mostly done and the data is largely processed so there is a bit more time to go out and play. Selection below from my 650 photos from the day:

Chinstrap Penguin, This species is attracted into the ship and fair size groups can swim around behind the ship

 

Wilson's Storm Petrel. These birds rarely stay still, flying more like bats than birds. They mostly pick scraps from the surface but can dive underwater very briefly

 Grey-headed Albatross. Often seen but rarely poses for photographs.

Wandering Albatross saying hello. Some of the birds were ringed and I managed to get one combination so hopefully we can get the life history. Fair chance the bird was older than me.

Heading towards South Orkneys

We're now heading to the South Orkney Trough to deploy a mooring, adding to five already there looking at outflow of bottom water from the Weddell Sea. Dense water is formed around Antarctica (especially the Weddell Sea) due to it getting very cold and brine rejected when sea ice is formed. This flows down the continental shelf and around the bottom of the world's ocean (except North Atlantic). Being below 2000m it is not sampled by autonomous floats so these mooring and the deep transect we will do afterwards are still the main way the properties, and any changes, are monitored.

  

Wandering Albatross. One of these birds was ringed so will try to find out the details.

 Wilson's Storm Petrel, the other end of the size range

 Cattle Egret. They seem to pick a compass direction and disperse that way. Not a great plan if you breed at the southern tip of Chile. They can't land on water, can't feed and will die. Unfortunate but not our fault.

Minke Whale that came in while we were on station. Some Fin Whales were seen but not photographed (by me anyway), hopefully there will be more today, this seems to be a favoured spot.

Falklands Seabirds and Dolphins

After a rather rather protracted process, we are finally at sea. We were initially delayed in Ascension by 14 hours, so I went for a couple of walks (weather was thankfully not too warm or sunny) and other people went for a swim. We then had to wait for the ship to be cleared of its previous crowd and then again to complete refueling and boat testing. In the end we left a day and a bit late but with all kit sorted and ready for work. The ship was docked in Mare Harbour which I hadn't been to before so a chance for new walks. The first had penguins and dolphins but quite a bit of rain and wind as well. the second was quite special.

Sooty Shearwater feeding frenzy

 Two parts of a huge feeding mass of Sooty Shearwaters. Conservative estimate was 20,000 birds but maybe many more. By far thelargest feeding aggregating of seabirds I've seen. They were initially close in but then moved further away from the beach.

The beach on the headland.

 

Commerson's Dolphins surfing

 Commerson's Dolphins in the surf. They were chasing small fish and using the waves to surf in at speed and surprise the fish.

Turkey Vulture on war memorial

 And finally a rather macabre reminder of the history of the islands.

Off again and Humpbacks

Off south again on 21st March. Arguably a silly date to be flying to the southern hemisphere but never mind. Post-breeding dispersal of seabirds actually makes autumn an interesting time to down there. Route is Falklands, South Orkneys, NW Weddell Sea (just before the ice gets there, hopefully), South Georgia (with base calls), Falklands and then holiday time on Ascension Island on way back. Getting back early May.

Below is some video of Humpback Whales feeding off Cape Cod in the summer. We were out there to learn about some new kit we have but this was on a day off.

Harrier images

Not Antarctic or seabird related, just an easy place to share these images of a Harrier at Ouse Fen whose parentage has been questioned - it is seemingly a Hen x Pallid Harrier hybrid. Click images for full size images, all heavily cropped. Better photos from the same day here

Hen x Pallid Harrier hybrid (aka Hellid)

Seabird problems

Firstly, the albatrosses and petrels on Midway got hit badly by the Japanese tsunami, many thousands of chicks lost and, more seriously for such  long lived species, many adults washed away with their plumage waterlogged. Fortunately seabirds can go long periods without food (due to sitting on eggs and small chicks while their partners go on long foraging trips) so they are still being pulled out of the debris healthy. More at http://peteatmidway.blogspot.com/

Also, something which would (should) be a big story if it wasn't for the way the world is at the moment, a bulk carrier has run aground on Nightingale Island (near Tristan da Cunha), details at http://www.tristandc.com/newsmsoliva.php. Latest updates show some badly oiled Northern Rockhopper Penguins (which are very cool creatures, when not oiled) but hopefully the majority of the population is away from the island by now. Fingers crossed for seabird species such as Spectacled Petrel (endemic) and Great Shearwater (most of the world population nest there).

Rothera camping (part of base training)

  Putting the tent up after digging down to some more solid snow

The Snow-cat that got us there, each bag of the roof is an individal set of sleeping equipment (ground mats, huge sleeping bags and liners).

 The caboose

 Selecting a dehydrated meal in the caboose

 The tilley lamp

Playing on a skidoo someone came up in (slightly staged, I put a coat on to drive the skidoo, but not for putting the tents up)

 The view down to the tents from the top of the slope

 The tents in the morning

The skidoo tracks in the morning

Sorry... I mean the unspoilt wilderness of Antarctica