Views of Signy

Although I am working with the wildlife on Signy the island itself is something to appreciate as well. At about 7km at its longest by 5km at its widest the island is still a small one - although bigger than my previous home of Bird Island - but manages to fit in a whole range of landscape views that are quite incredible. The profile of Signy is highly variable with lots of moss banks, scree slopes, cliff faces and a glacier in the middle each time we visit a different area we get a completely different view of the island. Despite the fact that photos cannot truly show the scale and majesty of such a location I have got to try; so here are some examples of the landscape we are fortunate enough to work in:

The view from the base itself is a great way to start each day, looking over to Coronation Island

After climbing up the stonechute from base we reach the main path to the glacier, this path overlooks Shallow Bay (which is crossable on low-tide) and the almost ever present Coronation Island is very impressive across the sea

The McLeod Glacier quickly comes in to view, as does the snow that has heaped on top of it over the winter, snow that is now starting to fall away more each day

The main path from base to the glacier runs across the side of scree slopes that themselves offer something interesting to the landscape

The most frequented path is that which runs from the bottom of the glacier down towards Gourlay, the most regularly visited study colony; often the views out across towards Gourlay and the Oliphant Islands are surrounded by icebergs

Gourlay itself also has some amazing views, just from the hut across Rock Haven - a popular spot for seals as well as penguins

Of course the views from Gourlay across to the Oliphant Islands can't help but include the penguins

One of the larger Adelie colonies always adds to the impressive views

Looking out from Snow Hills, a peak of 265m, out towards North Point with Coronation Island in the background

Not a bad place to work, checking the VHF Repeater on the top of Snow Hills

Cummings Cove as seen from one of the field huts, pretty nice to wake up to when out in the field overnight!

Cummings is visited when monitoring the Chinstrap colonies, including this one that looks out across Moyes Corrie towards Moe Island

Each new location offers more great views, such as this view across Port Jebsen to Everson Ridge

Of course, the sun isn't always shining on Signy, in fact that is a bit of a rarity. More often we have grey skies, dark and ominous clouds on the horizon and snowfall. That doesn't make the scenery any less spectacular, in fact it more often than not adds to the spectacle of the place. But when the cloud rolls in over the icecap causing white-out conditions the views become considerably less spectacular!

Tioga Hill, at 278m the highest peak on Signy and some of the most spectacular views we get..... sometimes!