Bird Island sights and sounds

We dropped Hannah and Richard at Bird Island South Georgia today. It was a very misty journey but we were lucky that the mist lifted for a short while when we arrived so we could see the flocks of prions and albatross on the green hillside. A real contrast from King George Island and also Signy it has been great to be able to visit places on the route from the extremes of my Antarctic study sites. The sound of birds was amazing, plus smell of birds and seals was unbearable for some. I was too busy gawping at the wildlife to register what it smelt like (plus there is nothing as pungent as actually walking amongst penguin and seal colonies …). The sea was full of fur seals and rafts of macaroni penguins jumping out of the water, diving and swimming around the ship – an amazing place teeming with wildlife wherever you looked. And at the opposite side of the bay was the tip of South Georgia island, with large and majestic grey cliffs with patches of green. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to get out (just a couple of Humber trips with kit and people) but apparently fur seals were everywhere around the base so logistically and safely getting a group of people ashore would have been too difficult. As we prepared to leave the mist returned creating, once again, atmospheric surroundings combined with the eerie callings from the abundant mass of local wildlife.

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