2022: Blog | Penguin, penguin, penguin
24/01/2022
Today Lucy and I carried out an all island count of the Gentoo penguin chicks at Port Lockroy. This is something that UKAHT staff carry out every year and feed the data that is gathered back to the British Antarctic Survey.
Pictured: one of Port Lockroy's many gentoo penguin families
We share our tiny snow and guano covered island with our feathery neighbours from egg to chick to fully fledged adults. Because of this extremely close living arrangement we get a very unique and intimate view of the lifecycle and of the bird itself. This at times can be a bit of a double-edged sword! Seeing penguin chicks on your daily commute to work or the elegance of the adults swimming and porpoising around icebergs in the crystal clear Antarctic waters, never fails to make you smile when you need it most.
In contrast to this, the smell and slippy working conditions that are posed by the extraordinary amount of guano can make life and work on Goudier Island tricky at times. It is amazing how quickly you get used to the ‘eau d’guano’! Unless it has been raining and then the sun comes out – very ripe! Considering how pungent it is, it makes it even more disconcerting when Lockroy staff start to realise that they themselves are more odoriferous than the penguins!
Kit Adams, Port Lockroy General Assistant 2021 - 2022