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
Many historic expeditions and explorers, including the men of Operation Tabarin (a top secret mission to Antarctica during World War II) have followed this same route to Antarctica. Whilst I set sail on a modern ship, the 14 men of Operation Tabarin left Stanley on 2 small ships, one of which was not ice strengthened. Not only did they have the dangers of a polar expedition in front of them, but also the potential threat of enemy forces during WWII.
This film captures the 134ft HMS William Scorseby at sea in Feb 1944 (Reproduced courtesy of BAS Archives, Ref AD6/16/1944/1.1).We, like our polar ancestors, are now heading South through the furious 50°'s and eventually to the screaming 60°’s, where the winds batter the Southern Ocean, with terrifying intensity. I cannot begin to imagine what it would have been on The Scorseby, with the men of Operation Tabarin in such weather. I am hoping to experience some of the beauty and wonder of Antarctica's wildlife on my journey there. With perhaps a small bit of Antarctic adventure thrown in. Although perhaps I should be careful what I wish for!
