First Call and First Impressions

Bird Island is harder to land the cargo and personnel at than King Edward Point, which is on the South Georgia mainland and has a harbour that the JCR itself can dock on. Therefore, when a weather window allows Bird Island gets the priority for the call in of the BAS ships. As such, after leaving the UK on the 5^th November, visiting the Falklands and Signy but missing King Edward Point, I made it to my new home of Bird Island on the 23^rd November.

First view of Bird Island (it is the more distant and misty one!)

Well, when I say made it to my new home, what I actually mean is the ship did. We arrived overnight with the hope of a 6am drop-off but the high winds meant we had to sit and actually wait until 5am the following morning to get dropped off.

James, Ian, Jerry and I ready to go ashore

Those of us staying on the station for the next few seasons got over early in order to start to settle in and meet the team already on island. This was a great opportunity actually as it allowed those of us that haven’t been before to get acquainted with the layout of the base and chat with the team before being drowned in cargo to unpack.

The cargo was able to finally get through the wind in the late afternoon, but only half could be completed before it got dark. We were unpacking until around midnight but it was a very successful day. However, not all our cargo made it in and with the weather looking worse the JCR decided to leave for King Edward Point and will come back to finish Bird Island later in the week.

Cargo aside it was amazing to finally make it to the base. I have been waiting since April (when I was hired) to get to Bird Island and my first impressions of the place certainly didn’t disappoint! The team were incredibly friendly and welcoming (and there will be more on who we are and what we do throughout my time here) and the base itself is also excellent. The buildings are actually quite big and very comfortable to live in.

The office, boot room, kitchen, bedroom and living room

With the JCR away for a couple of days it actually meant I could get my first experiences of the wildlife. First impression: OH MY GOD! This island is spectacular and it is almost a bit surreal to be here.  The wildlife is instantly in front of us with the landing beach covered in fur seals.

Seals on the doorstep! This is mostly males, when the females arrive it will be packed!

The sights and sounds as the male fur seals establish a territory awaiting the arrival of the majority of the females is an unusual welcome to a new home, but one that I certainly enjoyed!

I also got my first opportunity to go and see the wandering albatross nest sites. These birds are ridiculously big! No photo really does do the size justice but I can say that working with one of, if not the largest flying birds in the world is an experience I’ll never forget!

Wandering Albatross - massive!

But of course I am primarily the Penguin and Giant Petrel Zoological Field Assistant so it was my first experiences with these species that were the highlights of my first couple of days on base. The Giant Petrels have a real prehistoric look to them and going around reading their ring numbers to confirm the partnerships currently breeding for the first time produced a continuous smile :)

Giant Petrels

Last but certainly not least was my first sight of the Macaroni Penguin colony over on Big Mac. This truly took my breath away. You can hear it before you see it, but when you see it the sight of thousands of penguins up the hillside is something that will never cease to amaze me whenever I go and work with that colony.

The really, really Big Mac colony

I certainly can’t wait to continue to learn my new role and experience the work we do with the wildlife here more. I wonder how long the Jurassic Park theme song will be stuck in my head when I walk over the edge of cliffs and see a range of albatross and petrels nesting in front of me!

Birds nesting in the mist across the island