The RRS Ernest Shackleton got in to the Falklands on the 25th
March, bringing me back out of the Antarctic territories for the first time in 499days! What a journey, what a job, what an experience!! But that wasn’t the end
as Lucy, James and I arranged to stay and investigate what the Falklands has to
offer and we were rewarded by some great sights and some brilliant people.
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| A Falkland thrush |
Stanley is the main town on West Falklands and we stayed
there for the first few days enjoying our first retail therapy in a long time!
We also checked out the local wildlife, and wow was it impressive! The
highlight was a day when James went to find dolphins whilst Luce and I went to
see a rockhopper penguin colony. It was brilliant to see a new species of
penguin for us, and to see so many jumping around at impressive speed was a
spectacular sight.
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| A new colony, a new species for us, it was great to see the rockhoppers! |
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| Looking across the rockhopper colony |
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| Some of them looked really smart, others really scruffy, the perils of the moulting season! |
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| Funky little penguins |
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| They pair up still, bonding at the end of the season |
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| Even in a visit for just a couple hours we could see what characters these guys are |
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| That hairstyle is very striking |
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| As with all the penguins I have been lucky enough to see and work with, the rockhoppers are just amazing to watch |
After such sights from our time in Stanley it would be hard
to get better, but we did just that! Going to stay at a lovely little cottage
at Elephant Beach Farm and investigating around Cape Dolphin gave us so much!
Penguins, vultures and other birds, sea lions, dolphins and whales. If anyone
ever goes through the Falklands then this is the place to have a weekend away
at, whilst no photos could do this part of the trip justice I’m going to try:
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| Rock shags |
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| Night heron |
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| Kelp gulls on the beach |
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| A dolphin gull decides to test if seaweed is food, in this case it isn't! |
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| Steamer ducks going for a paddle |
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| Steamer ducks have flightless and flying variations, these ones were flightless |
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| Who made those tracks in the sand?... |
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| ...gentoos! These guys are everywhere but I never tire of seeing them :) |
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| What makes these burrows on the Falklands?... |
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| ...it's penguins!! Magellanic penguins to be precise |
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| Nesting underground protects the eggs and chicks from aerial predators |
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| Magellanics are sweet little penguins |
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| There is something strange about seeing penguins popping out of the ground in fields full of geese |
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| A different type of lion safari - a sea lion safari! |
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| Sea lions are great to see, certainly very big and the males in particular look bear or lion like with that coat |
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| Some of the big old guys are calm at this time of year, but earlier in the breeding season are very territorial |
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| Just having a scratch... |
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| ...and a yawn, showing off those big teeth! |
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| Quite different to fur seals, these sea lions were a huge bonus for us to be able to see on the way home |
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| A group of females hangs out on the rocky shore |
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| At this time of year many females are still raising their pups... |
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| ...pups that are just as cute... |
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| ...playful... |
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| ...and lazy as the fur seal pups that we are used to! |
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| Peale's dolphins; unfortunately the sei whales were too far away for me to photograph, but seeing these dolphins closer in to shore looking for food in the shallows was brilliant |
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| Turkey vultures are a regular sight, patrolling the skies |
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| An adult resting with a youngster taking off in the background |
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| Vultures can also be seen hanging out around colonies of penguins... |
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| ...sea lions colonies... |
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| ...and shag colonies, all to scavenge any scraps of food |
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| It is great to see large birds of prey again |
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| Red-backed hawk |
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| Striated caracara |
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| Barn owls have made it to the Falklands, most likely by roosting on ships |
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| This terrain is not the same as the giant petrel study area on BI... |
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| ...but that doesn't mean I can't see a few of my study species one last time :) a small colony of southern geeps has taken to Cape Dolphin as a nesting site |
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| A few weeks away from fledging still, but the wings are getting a workout |
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