Port Lockroy Update
21st - 30th November 2009
Over the last ten days our wardrobes have
changed hourly with the weather! Katabatic winds have battered the
sea-ice in the back bay and snow storms have nearly buried the
penguins but blue skies and brilliant sunshine have had us in
t-shirts! We’ve had spectacular early-season sunsets, spotted
avalanches in the surrounding mountains and regularly hear the
thunderous rumble of calving ice.
The wildlife has continued to amaze us too: blue-eyed shags
gathering seaweed for their nests, starfish in the rock pools and
tiny grey-black Antarctic terns and ice-white snow petrels flitting
around the island. Young elephant seal bulls hung out near the
boatshed this week reclining on the rocks, Eleanor and Claire
watched a leopard seal devour a blue-eyed shag off Jougla Point, and
a chinstrap and Adélie have both been seen onshore. We have been
steadily monitoring the resident gentoo penguin colony, noting the
numbers of established nests and eggs laid every few days. One
visitor to the base spotted a nest with three eggs (very unusual –
most only lay two), but several eggs have already been taken by the
skuas and sheathbills. Egg-laying progress has been excellent,
however, and we look forward to carrying-out a whole island count
soon. Early in the week, a couple of days
without a ship gave us a great opportunity to prepare the Post
Office stock. First Day Covers and Mint Sets have been made up, and
many philatelic requests answered. There are two new British
Antarctic Territory stamp issues this year: one to commemorate the
50th Anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty, and another one with
heat-sensitive ink to show the effects of climate change on the
continent’s ice-shelves. Lucky we were prepared - Neil Armstrong
popped in on Sunday with our friends on National Geographic Explorer
to buy stamps!
A couple of other special guests also made an appearance at Lockroy
this week: Canadian International Cricketer Steve arrived by zodiac
for an impromptu birthday party and we are very grateful to
Antarctic Dream for their excellent hospitality that night(!) and
Jonathan Selby arrived to install our new Iridium Open Port system
which will make the credit card payment process in the shop much
easier. As all proceeds from the shop go to safeguard Antarctic
heritage, the smoother the process the better. Many thanks are due
to Jonathan and Global Marine Networks (GMN) for their help with the
new system. Jonathan spent four days here as a fantastic addition to
the team, helping out with all sorts of other odd jobs from franking
mail to collecting glacier ice from the shore for our Gin & Tonics!
We loved having you here Jonathan – thank you so much for your help
and we hope to see you in Ushuaia at the end of the season.
As Jonathan departed, the fourth member of our team (Anna) arrived
on Hanseatic having had a wonderful trip down from Stanley via South
Georgia and Elephant Island. Anna has already begun conservation
work in the museum, and Bob Burton’s new interpretation posters are
up on the walls and looking great. Anna also brought with her the
first batch of mail from Stanley – everyone here sends many thanks
to Eleanor’s Granny and Aunt for the lovely card!
On Friday the British Antarctic Survey ship James Clark Ross arrived
with 72 cubic metres (2 lorry loads) of cargo for the Nissen Hut
reconstruction. This hut will replace the one which was originally a
warehouse, and will provide new staff accommodation for those
working at Lockroy. We are indebted to the 34 members of BAS crew
who spent all day carrying timber, corrugated tin, windows, iron
beams and sacks of cement mix ashore and who never complained
despite the hot weather and hard work! We are also extremely
grateful to the following UK suppliers who have provided fantastic
help with building materials: (SIPBuild Ltd for panels; G&T Evans
for corrugated tin, Tracoinsa for structural steel, Gerald Piper of
Central Stores – Tredegar, Scott Hughes Design Ltd and, as ever,
Jeld-Wen for windows and doors). All the materials have now been
covered in tarpaulin and rope to protect them until January when
Rick, Joe and Graham will arrive to assemble the building. If only
Tudor could find the assembly instructions(!).
During the cargo unload the shop was busy and bustling with visits
by Orlova and Ocean Nova, and the yacht Australis anchored in the
back bay. We had a great start to the day with breakfast on Orlova,
lunch courtesy of the JCR and a wonderful dinner on Ocean Nova
(thank you so much to all three ships for their generosity!)
We can hardly believe we’ve been here three weeks – so much has
happened and we are enjoying every moment. We look forward to Rachel
Harrex arriving tomorrow on Fram to make up the final member of our
team. Tudor and Jonathan installed the new solar panels on the roof
of the workshed this week, so long may the smiles and sunshine
continue! Eleanor |
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