ZSL Penguinologist Tom Hart continues his journey across South Georgia with the joint tasks of working on the rat eradication project, collecting penguin feathers for DNA sampling, and checking the cameras set up last season to see if they’ve made it though the winter.  Here is his latest news…

Fur seals in Fortuna Bay

28th November
We left the main base at King Edward Point early this morning after a couple of days rest, washing and getting ready.  We were dropped into Fortuna Bay around midday for two weeks in the next rat zone. I was last here in February with Ben, and we set up a camera trap overlooking the king penguin colony.

Tom setting up camera traps in 2011

3rd December
We finally made it over to the king penguin colony today. We’ve been trying to find crossing points for a couple of days. There’s quite a torrential meltwater river coming down from the glacier, so we’ve struggled to find a safe ford. It was bitterly cold, but we finally found somewhere safe enough to wade across.

We got over to the colony, collected loads of feathers but didn’t find any eggshells and looked for sign of rats. While looking for river crossings, we got up to the edge of the glacier. We didn’t find a crossing up there but we did manage to get some glacier ice for an evening drink. Glacier ice is potentially thousands of years old, and at the bottom of the glacier is ice that fell as snow and has been compressed by the huge weight of the glacier into ice. There are hundreds of tiny bubbles of past climate as compressed air trapped throughout the ice, so when you put them into water they fizz and crackle. Simple pleasures maybe, but it is pretty cool to think of past climates being released in crackles as we watch the sun go down.

6th December
Lovely morning – yesterday was rain, drizzle and sleet which made everything pretty damp, so this morning was a good chance to dry out and clean the camp. We found a seal that had some discarded fishing net caught around its neck. We tried to pin it down and cut the line, but it was too embedded and she ran off to sea. It’s distressing to see signs of human activity and those that directly impact on the wildlife. Sadly it’s fairly common.

We walked over to Stromness today, which is one of the old whaling stations. Co-incidentally this is the final part of Shackleton’s long route out of Antarctica, so if the weather is rights, its quite popular for the visitors to South Georgia do this two hour walk. There is a small gentoo penguin colony on route, so I am trying to work out vantage points and co-ordinates for visitors to monitor this colony through photos. If we can get 5-10 photos throughout a breeding season, that should be enough to do counts of the colony and to work out the timing of breeding. I think it was successful, but I won’t really know until I can access a computer and work out if the photos are good enough.

Tonight we had to stay in a tent, rather than the refuge hut. It was horrible weather, so I cooked a boil in the bag ration pack and we sat in the tent with that and a glass of whiskey. It’s fantastic being somewhere so scenic and remote, but when the weather is bad here, you can’t fight it. The wind’s howling and gusting is unbelievably strong. People lose tents on South Georgia fairly regularly, so you always have a survival bag to hand. We’ve doubled up on all our tent pegs and even doubled up on the tent poles, so we feel fairly secure. We’ve been doing a lot of walking over the last few days, so the gusts were not enough to keep me awake. Once I’m tucked up inside a thick down sleeping bag (thanks Rab!), I’m out for the count.

8th December
After another rough night, we awoke to a stunning morning- one of South Georgia’s finest, which meant we could get some waterproofs and socks out to dry. There are lots of fur seals spaced regularly around the tent, which means you have to watch out slightly. Unlike many other seals at this time of year, fur seals are fiercely territorial, so you have to pick your way around invisible boundaries. This morning, a heard of reindeer are passing through the valley, and you hear the clicking of their hooves and tendons as they trot past. They generally ignore the seals, but get spooked whenever they notice us.

Antarctic fur seals

Reindeer were introduced to the island as additional meat variety for whalers. The plan is to herd them up and removed them next year. It should be a really positive step, as it will allow the tussac grasses to recover which is essential habitat for ground nesting birds. I feel I ought to have a trip to Norway at some point, to see rats and reindeer in their natural habitat, rather than as introduced pest species.

Overhead, skua pairs are displaying as part of their mating. They do really fast paired acrobatic displays and you get surprisingly loud rushes of air as they pass. There’s a slight breeze, so we’ve opened up the tent fully to give it an air. The tent is pretty musty at the moment, so we’re trying to have a clean out. We are long overdue for a wash, but it’s trying to find a pool that isn’t bitterly cold. I think today might be the day, if not then I might have psyched myself up by tomorrow…

Tom Hart