Seymour Island 25/11/11

WE  were  woken at 2.30A.M. to gather on deck if we wished for the solar eclipse. I got up and went to the lounge deck taking my cardbord and plastic glasses with me to view the eclipse! ******** thick fog. Back to bed.
Back on deck at 7.0 A.M. i looked down and was amazed to see yet another Emperor Penguin swimming and diving alongside the ship which was now moored off of Seymour Island which was enveloped in fog. We should have been at Snowhill Island but the sea was still frozen solid.


Emperor Penguin alongside M/V Plancius

Seymour Island Ice Berg grave yard
Instead of our scheduled landing on Snowhill Island we went to Seymour Island which appeared to me made of mud

One of the dying bergs

 On the island Adelie and Gentoo Penguins nested, along with Kelp Gulls, Brown Skuas and Antarctic Terns.

Antarctic Tern

Adelie Penguin



?

Spider Crab sp.

 On the shore many apparently dead and dying crustaceans.

Kelp Gulls

 Antarctic Terns caught strange crustaceans and a few Snow Petrels ghosted by in the fog.

Antarctic Tern

 After lunch back on board The Plancius we were offered a trip out in the Zodiacs amongst the pack ice which most of the passengers did.

Weddell Seal

Antarctic Tern

Crabeater Seal

 Our Zodiac was the first out and were taken into the pack where we had superb views of Weddell and Crabeater Seals and Antarctic Terns. We out of view from the Plancius when our Russian driver Ilya asked us if we would like to go on to the pack ice which we jumped at. In a matter of seconds he had literally driven the Zodiac onto the ice and out we stepped for a few minutes. An amazing experience for which our driver got his wrist slapped as we were the only ones to experience this.

Mike,Gill, My self and David on an ice flow

 Back in the Zodiac holding on tightly, Ilya was doing his best to tip us out as we rounded a small berg, I heard Mike shout a ******* Emperor! Just a few yards away an stunning Emperor Penguin stood on a flow. We shouted to Ilya who slowed and took tour Zodiac slowly right up to the flow where we watched the Emperor down to a few feet. Most the time it was to close for my 400mm lense to get the whole bird in shot. After getting all our photo's and savouring the moment we radioed the other Zodiacs and shortly 9 Zodiacs converged on the Emperor. Probably the first Antarctic twitch. 


Emperor Penguin from Zodiac

Another amazing find

Star performer



As other Zodiacs arrived it lay down

Happy passengers in our Zodiac after the twitch

Entrance to the Weddell Sea 24/11/11 P.M.

Antarctic Shag

 As we left Brown Bluff Antarctic Shags were flying to and from their cliff face colonies. We also came across a huge ice berg when looked at with some imagination took the form of a Scotty Dog lying down. For the rest of the day this berg seemed to be insight.


Scotty Dog

As we entered the ice flows Wilson's Petrels were flying quite close to the bow of the ship enabling me to get some pleasing shots.

Wilson's Petrel

Wilson's Petrel

 Crabeater Seals and the odd Weddell Seal were sun bathing on the ice flows.

Crabeater Seal

Ice flows in the Weddell Sea

Several Snow Petrels ghosted up to the ship and past just as quickly. Most the time there was only 8 passengers at most including our group of 4 out of 107 watching out for birds and cetaceans.  

Candidate for one the most beautiful birds in the world 

We were sea (Ice) watching from the front of deck 3 when Mike called Orca! As the bridge relayed the news over the PA we were joined by all the other passengers. The captain then very carefully manoeuvred the ship as close as he could to the pod and superb views were had by all as we watched them for the best part of an hour.

Looking out for seals

Spy Hopping

This young Orca swam down the side of the ship eyeing us  up

A while after the excitement of the Orca's as most the passengers had drifted back to the lounge Mike quietly said Duck or something like that as both he and David shouted Emperor Penguin. It was about a mile in front of us on an ice flow. Once again the bridge relayed the news and we joined by the rest of the passengers. As we got nearer to the bird we could see that it was spanking full adult, which is  unheard of as only 1 juvenile has ever been seen on these cruises before. Adults are usually only seen on the breeding grounds in the heart of the continent. The captain once again did a fantastic job of steering the ship through the ice to slowly sidle up beside the Penguin even making sure the light was perfect for photography. Shortly after we spotted 2 more further away on ice flows.

Emperor Penguin

What a stunning way to end our first day in the Weddell Sea.

Brown Bluff 24/11/11A.M.



Brown Bluff

 We woke to another stunning Antarctic day with Cape Petrels and Southern Giant Petrels still around the ship as we headed towards the 750mt high brown cliffs that gives this part of the continental peninsular its name. As we neared our anchorage Adelie and Gentoo Penguins could be seen swimming to and from their colonies also Wilson's and Black Bellied Petrels flew out to the ocean and my first Snow Petrel ghosted by. 

Adelie Penguins

 Our Zodiacs found a way through the pack ice to the beach for us to make our first landing on continental Antarctica. Huge colonies numbering tens of thousands of Adelie and some Gentoo Penguins packed the hillside down to the beach in the bright sunshine.

 Most the time I was there I just looked and took in the fantastic sights and sounds of these beautiful creatures rather than through the view finder.

Gentoo

 Brown Skua's, Kelp Gulls and Sheathbills patrolled the colonies waiting to pounce on unattended eggs. At the edge of the ice along the shore a Leopard Seal patrolled looking for unwary Penguins. While we were there some lucky people saw it catch a Penguin. Wilson's Petrels, Cape Petrels and a couple Snow Petrels flew high along the ridge of the Bluff.

Leopard Seal

 Inexperienced birds left some of there eggs on show making life easy for the Gulls and Skua's

  All to soon we called to go back to the ship for our onward journey into the Weddell Sea. While making my way back to the Zodiacs a Snow Petrel flew straight towards me low through the mashed up ice bergs on the shore allowing me to take a couple of pictures of it.

Snow Petrel a stunning bird

Back at Dunge

A quick look at the military canal at Hamstreet on my way to Dungeness this morning found 3 Little Egrets and 1 Great White Egret. At The Point a steady trickle of Guillemots and Kittiwakes moving SW offshore and little else moving but the Glaucous Gull was by the fishing boats.
At the ARC from Hanson Hide the Penduline Tit was putting on a fine show in the sunshine, just when my camera and lens are both in for servicing. Also there 3 distant red head Smew could be seen at the south end, a Bittern flew into the reeds by hide and could be seen for a while before flying back towards the Water Tower, 11+ Goldeneye and 2 Black tailed Godwits were the highlights there.
Stopping on the causeway going back to the beach 1 Great White Egret was in sheltered spot as was the Long Tailed Duck. Back at the beach no change.
At Scotney 800+ Golden Plover and just about anything else that was there were being constantly disturbed by the council working on the cycle way. 2 Marsh Harriers could be seen by the windmills.
On Walland no sign of any wild Geese or Swans yet but 40+ Tree Sparrows in the bushes round the feeders.
Hopefully i will have my camera back by the end of the week.

Deception Island 23/11/2011 P.M.



Approach to Deception Island

 Arriving at Deception Island in the early evening of 23rd in brilliant sunshine we still had Cape Petrels, Southern Giant Petrels,Wilson's Petrels and Skuas. Deception is a collapsed volcano which flooded thousands of years ago. To enter the caldera and the safety of calmer waters we had to sail through  a narrow channel called Neptune's Bellows which was quite spectacular.

Entrance to Neptune's Bellows

Gentoo Penguin

 Although this landing was primarily to learn more of the history of Deception there were still birds to be seen. With Gentoo Penguins and Chinstrap Penguins, Kelp Gulls, Antarctic Terns and Skuas. On the outside slopes of Deception there is a vast colony of Chinstraps.

South Polar Skua

 The amazingly close views of the Skuas gave us the chance to separate South Polar and Brown Skuas. Which at close quarters was relatively easy, as the Brown Skuas are huge with very heavy bills and very dark faces compared to the South Polars. Unfortunately we did not come across any really blonde South Polars.

Brown Skua

South Polar Skua

3 South Polar and a Brown skua bottom right. (note bill size and dark face)

Gentoo and Chinstraps

Gentoo

Old whaling station

You cant help some people

 The sea inside the caldera is allegedly warmer due to volcanic activity but only by 1C. 2 passengers decided to have a swim. 1 week ago the whole of the caldera was frozen solid. The photograph below  shows the opposite end of the caldera the same day.  

Fragmenting ice pack in the caldera.