Finally a post from the island!

I’ve been on Bird Island now for just over a week and it has been a hectic week! We arrived on the afternoon of Saturday 17^th November. We had to come across from the JCR ship to the island in small inflatable ribs as the weather wasn’t good enough to launch the tender boat. As we got to the island I was amazed to see all of the seals swimming around the boat and waiting on the beach, as well as the birds soaring overhead. There was a huge elephant seal on the beach outside the base just chilling out amongst all the male Antarctic fur seals that were fighting to hold their territories. 

The Bird Island winterer team about to head to the island

First view of the base from the boat- a massive elephant seal in the foreground

The Bird Island winterer team were waiting at the end of the jetty to greet us (Ruth, Jenny, Jon, Rob and Jaume). It was great to finally meet them after talking by email and seeing photos of them over the last few months.  We were all very excited to finally be on the island! The rest of the day was spent in base waiting for the ship to send over the tender with the first of the supplies, but it never came. The captain decided that the weather wasn’t good enough so they would go a few miles out and wait until the next day. 

The following morning the weather was better and the first tender came in carrying the FIDS (that is the name for the people from the ship- I think it stands for Falkland Islands and Dependencies) and lots of wood (tonnes of the stuff)! On Bird Island it is not easy to unload the supplies. The ship cannot come directly to the island as the base is located in a shallow bay, instead the ship carries a smaller tender boat that is loaded with supplies and then comes over to the end of the jetty. This is also quite difficult as it can only get in when the weather is good (which isn’t very often) as the entrance to the bay is fairly narrow and there are lots of rocks that the tender could run into.

This year was particularly difficult as it was later in the year than usual which meant that there were more fur seals around the base than usual. Everything had to be brought past them which can make them pretty cranky when they want to sleep right in the middle of the jetty. This year we also had three large fuel tanks to get onto the beach. Everyone was worried that we might not be able to get them ashore as the tender had to run aground on to the beach onto fairly soft sand and we could only do it at high tide. Then there were the seals to contend with, and reliance on the Bob cat machine (which is prone to break down). Amazingly though we managed to get all three tanks onto the beach (they have ruined the view out of my bedroom window!). The scientists aboard the JCR will be happy as the tanks were on the science deck which they need clear to do all their experiments once they have unloaded at all the bases. 

The fuel tanks are going to be installed at the start of next year when we get the builders in. The reason for the new tanks is that currently we rely on drums of fuel to power the generators, which means we have to bring lots of them onto base and roll them all to the fuel store. This year we had 190 drums to roll, which takes a long time but certainly gives you a good work out! 

Rolling barrels

Besides the fuel tanks and drums and wood, we also had the food supplies for the year and the bond (drinks- which is apparently very important, the winterers were down to the last glass of red wine). Science equipment, personal belongings (I was happy to see my box had made it and wasn’t sitting on a dock somewhere in the UK!), cleaning products, everything you could possibly need!

It took three days to get everything unloaded and all of the waste back onto the ship to go back to the Falkland Islands and the UK. Everyone worked really hard and I was impressed how organised it all was. The FIDS were keen to see a bit of the island, so when we had a bit of spare time Jen and I took a group of them up the hill to see some Wandering Albatross, which they all really enjoyed! The JCR kindly provided us with food during first call so we were all well fed and had plenty of leftovers for the following days.

Eventually when everything was unloaded it was time to say goodbye to everyone from the ship and wave the tender off for the last time. It was strange to see it go and know that I’m going to be on this island for the next 16 months but it was also pretty exciting. 

Since the boat left I’ve been busy getting stuck into the work. I have been following Jenny (albatross assistant) around the island and she has been teaching me everything she knows. Hopefully by the time March comes around and she leaves I’ll have a good idea of what I need to do. 

Gentoo Penguin

One of our daily tasks is going to a part of the island called Wanderer Ridge to check on all of the Wandering Albatross chicks. These are all now very big and have started fledging (leaving the nest) and won’t return for around 5 years. A few have already gone but we need to get the date each one goes, so every day we go and see if they are still in their usual spots. They all have plastic markers on their leg so we can tell who is who. When they are 260 days old we also have to weigh them and take bill measurements. I have been getting to grips with doing this and I’m now feeling fairly confident with them. They are lovely birds and make the most hilarious sounds. When they flap their wings to practice flying they jump up and down and make an excited screeching noise, as though they are just excited that they have wings.

There are also a few adults returning in preparation to breed this season. Some of them had GLS tags (GPS locators) put on them last year, so we are keeping an eye out for any with them so we can retrieve and download the data. So far we have only retrieved one but it will be exciting to see where the bird has been over the last year. 

Wandering Albatross chick practicing using his wings

Another job that we have already completed is ringing all of the Wandering albatross chicks across the island. There were almost 600 to ring, and Jenny saved me a few so that I will know what to do next year. Each bird receives a metal ring on its leg that is a unique identifier so we can tell if it comes back in the future which bird it is, or if it ends up somewhere else we can find out where it went. 

Me with an adult Wandering Albatross

Grey Headed Albatross

It is not only the Wandering Albatross that we work with on the island. I have also started work on the Black Browed and Grey Headed Albatross. Each species has its own personalities and I have discovered that the Black Brows are pretty grumpy and will try and peck you at every opportunity, whereas the Grey heads are very docile and very rarely peck. There are different colonies where the birds’ nests across the island. Some of these are study colonies which we have to visit to monitor breeding success. Once or twice a week we visit to see how many nests are still active, and for each nest we record both parents and laying date if possible. The Black brows and Grey heads are all now sitting on eggs and should have chicks sometime next month. 

 

This week we did an all island count of the Black brow nests which everyone on base helped with. This gives us an estimate of how good a year it is for the birds- so far it looks like the numbers are slightly down on last year unfortunately. 

Elephant seal

Birthday presents!

Besides work we have been finding out how life works on base and getting to know our new housemates. It was my birthday this week and Jaume made a huge effort and we had a Mexican feast followed by a very tasty chocolate cake that apparently had Guinness in it- I’ll definitely have to get that recipe! I even got a birthday present- a newborn baby fur seal that was born on my birthday that has been named after me. I went over to SSB which is the seal study colony to meet her which was lovely! As a bonus I also got to see some Gentoo penguin chicks on the way. 

Antarctic Fur Seal pup with his mum

A Bird Island tradition that we all took part in was the annual blonding that happens on the day the first seal pup is born on the study beach. So we are all now sporting various amounts of blonde hair and for some moustaches.

The long journey south- part 2

After spending the night on the ship just off Stanley we finally set sail destination Bird Island! It was another glorious day at Stanley but almost immediately a thick fog descended and it got a lot colder. Ship life continued the same- eating,  sitting around and drinking tea. I tried to get out on deck as much as I could and not long after we set sail we were already being followed by Black Browed Albatross (one of the species I am going to be working with). They were able to follow the ship effortlessly, and swooped in between all the waves without getting wet at all. The first evening a Wandering Albatross was sighted near the ship, although it didn’t come very close it still looked absolutely huge compared to all the other birds. This was very exciting for me as I am going to be working closely with these birds.

Me on the JCR near sunny Stanley

The second day at sea Light Mantled Sooty Albatross were seen (the third of the albatross species on Bird Island) and finally a single Grey Headed Albatross- the final albatross species on the island. We were also followed by a cloud of Cape Petrels which are gorgeous little birds.

Other wildlife of note were a few hundred Antarctic Fur Seals that we saw feeding and porposing (jumping out of the water) in a patch of ocean that must have a high density of food. Not far from there we sighted our first whales. The tell tale signs of water being blasted into the air from their blow holes was sighted from the bridge and broadcast to the rest of the ship. We all hurried out onto deck after grabbing some warm gear as it was snowing, and sure enough we saw at least three individuals. They were all quite far from the ship so we couldn’t tell what species they were, but suddenly one came right along side the ship and we got a good luck at it as it descending back down into the depths. Hannah (our Bird Island marine mammal expert) thought it was most likely a Minke Whale. 

My first glimpse of Bird Island through the fog and snow

The following day we were due to arrive at Bird Island, I was glad as although the ship was fairly comfortable I was getting tired of the constant movement of the ship (which had been a bit violent on occasion with everything flying across the cabin). I went out on deck to try to catch the first glimpse of Bird Island, but it was snowing and foggy and I saw nothing. I went back inside to warm up and not long after we had the call that we had arrived. Out of the window we could just make out the looming hills of Bird Island shrouded in the mist. We had finally arrived!

The Falklands

The Falkland Islands is a strange place, there are hardly any houses or buildings apart from the RAF base, and the houses in Stanley. It’s almost desert like and very dusty, but also in a way like the Scottish northern islands. I saw plenty of sheep, which are one of the main commodities of the islands.

When we arrived in Port Stanley we were taken straight to our ship the James Clark Ross which has sailed down all the way from the UK over the last 5 weeks. Once on board we were assigned cabins and tried to sort out the luggage so we have room to move and bags are flying everywhere during the journey. In the evening we walked into Stanley which seemed to be deserted and found a pub that was pretty packed (obviously where all the inhabitants of Stanley hang out) and had a couple of drinks surrounded by British flags and memorabilia and lots of 80’s music. 

The JCR ice breaker ship

Dolphin Gull

Upland Geese- these are everywhere!

We expected to be leaving the following morning, but all of the cargo hadn’t been loaded so we got a free day in Stanley. I was so pleased about that as it would be a shame to travel all the way to the Falklands and not see any of it! We set off to walk into Stanley, which took a very long time as we are a group of bird and sea mammal nerds! We saw Commerson’s dolphins which are tiny and black and white. For those of you fellow bird nerds I’ve put a list below of the species seen in the Falklands.

Magellanic Penguins (from on a distance on the beach)

Southern Giant Petrel

Southern Fulmar

Rock Shag

Kelp Gull

Dolphin Gull

South American Tern

Black-crowned Night Heron

Upland Goose

Kelp Goose

Falkland Steamer Duck

Magellanic Oystercatcher

Blackish Oystercatcher

Turkey Vulture

Long-tailed Meadowlark (they have a bright red chest!)

House Sparrows (just like at home)

For those of you not that interested in birds, I saw penguins, sea birds, geese, vultures and a few little birds! 

Town centre of Stanley on a beautiful day!

Stanley Catherdral and whale bone arch

The weather in Stanley was so hot that we had a picnic by the whale bone arch at the Cathedral and even had ice cream!!! Not what I was expecting at all! In the afternoon we were planning on going to a penguin colony but unfortunately we were called back to the ship because we had to move away from the dock. Another ship with a medical emergency needed to come into Stanley and we were in the way. We stayed over night and set said the following day.

The long journey south- part 1

Getting to Bird Island is not an easy feat. It starts with travelling to Brize Norton RAF base near Oxford for a flight to the Falkland Islands via Ascension Island. The RAF like you to be there extra early, so I arrived about 5:30pm for a 11pm flight. It’s very different to a normal airport in that you have to get a security pass to get into the place with your picture on it. Once inside the terminal some things are the same, you still get the baggage trolley and queue up to check in (luckily I was just under my weight limit so didn’t have to pay any extra!). Other things are not the same, there were lots of soldiers in the airport, as there was due to be a flight in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan the same day, there is no duty free, or really any other kinds of shops (apart from a Spa). There is also no Wetherspoons (which seems to be a staple in most airports these days), because it is a dry airport (not sure if that is because they don’t want the soldiers having a few too many before flying or what).

The flight left just after 11pm and much busier than I expected. The plane was 8 seats wide and most of them were taken. It was fairly comfy and we were served snacks and orange squash (again a dry flight). Not long after take off they came around with ipads for all of us with films to watch. That was really surprising after being served orange squash for drinks, but hey ho! The flight was around 7.5 hours and then we landed in a slightly damp Ascension Island. We were only there for an hour and a half and were kept in what could only be described as a cage in the airport. I was really looking forward to my last bit of sunshine, but disappointingly it was over cast and a bit damp. 

After the plane had been refuelled we all got back on for the next 8 hour flight to the Falkland Islands. We arrived at Mount Stanley to glorious sunshine, which I really wasn’t expecting! Outside the airport we stripped down to just t-shirts (I’d packed a hat and gloves in my hand luggage ready for arrival- but I definitely didn’t need them). From the airport it is a long drive to Port Stanley (the capital of the Falklands), not because of distance but because of the lack of proper roads. Our journey was made longer when we had to stop because part of our bus was dragging along the road! Eventually the offending piece was ripped off and we continued on our journey and eventually made it to Port Stanley and our ship. 

The view while we waited for our bus to be fixed. That is the main road between the airport and Stanley!