Summer on New Island

Blue skies, temperatures up to 22/23 degrees, and a warm wind. The best days of the Falklands have arrived (don't blink - it could be snowing again tomorrow) and we are enjoying them while we can. We flew to New island on Friday; west of Weddell beyond west Falkland; a spectacular flight on a clear day over winding coastlines and running white streamers across the bluest of seas.

Maria Strange came with us to spend time with Georgina, her daughter, who manages the island for the Trust they created. It is a conservation island and generally populated only by Georgina, the handyman Sam (out from the UK for the Summer, and picked from a good crop of applicants) and a few scientists. It was good to meet Laurent and his wife Maude and two small boys again; they are out for a couple of months studying hormones in Rockhoppers. Another two scientists are observing the albatross. Laurent's son, about 3, spent the day making mud dams on the beach, surrounded by wildlife, happily chattering to himself, and shadowed by the resting hulk of an old icebreaker ship now beached, its copper hull green and peeling in the sun.

 So, peace and quiet as we stayed across the bay from the rest of the group - in a tiny chalet-style log cabin which Ian and Maria built for themselves years ago. The view across the bay offers a picture of Upland Goose goslings, magellanic oystercatchers, kelp geese and Steamer ducks, and the odd Seal and Dolphin. The tide washes the small sandy neck in and out, and this weekend the sea sparkled magically.

Friday we walked across the main neck to The Rookery and spent an hour or so watching the heady mix of Imperial Cormorants, Rockhoppers and Albatross which shoehorn themselves into the rock faces on the west facing cliffs. There are thousands of them, all nest building and vying for nesting materials (diddle dee and tussoc) and space. A cacophany of noise and attitude. We wandered back in the evening sun and fell asleep early in the quiet.

Saturday morning, Georgina trundled us in the Rover across clay ruts and rock falls to the North of the island, to allow us to explore as far as possible in a day. We revsited North beach and its tiny shanty (Georgiana's honeymoon house when she is married in December), and walked through hundreds of gentoo penguins sitting on eggs. The Caracaras were doing their worst and there were some bloody sights, but watching penguins jumping in and out of the sea never gets boring. At the waters edges a huge male Fur Seal was sun bathing, but scuttled, dog-like, into the sea as we approached.
We set off for the nearby Albatross Rookery, set in precipitous cliffs above crashing waves, and walked the beautiful coastline to find the Fur Seals - about 30 of them - a community of characters; young males play fighting, mothers sleeping, young seals playing like labrador pups, sliding down rocks into the sea. ambushing each other from behind boulders. We walked from 10 in the morning til 7 at night and arrived back to the chalet for a glass of wine and a fabulous sunset. Dozing in the chairs, we remembered to venture out at 10.30, as dark fell properly, to witness the return of the Prions; the smallest of the Petrel family, they spend their days at sea and return to burrows at night. In the darkness, they seem to have a bat-like orientation system, flying into their small burrows at speed in the pitch black. Standing in the dark and feeling birds all around, hearing their wings past your face and their busy conversation, was a memorable experience.

Sunday our feet ached; we ventured south across the island to visit the abandoned whaling station. The only one of the Falkland Islands to be used for whaling, Salvesen set up a station around  1910 and ran it for  5 or 6 years, before deciding that South Georgia was more lucrative, abandoning New island. Huge rusting hulks of furnaces, vices, clamps and haulage devices stand on pristine white beaches, and you can only imagine the horror.

Back to MPH  and across Onion ranges where live firing has set the diddle dee alight. back to business...

Third chick arrives!

We have just returned from a fabulous weekend on New Island (more about that later) to find a third chick has hatched .Hoorah! We need names please....
Delilah seems to be a very good mother  -she is keeping the babies under her feathers and squawking when we disturb her. We have boiled eggs and mashed them up as apparently this is what baby chicks prefer. They seem to be eating well, so fingers crossed.
They are VERY sweet.

Zumba Chicks

School Life:

This afternoon we were given the opportunity of either doing hockey or Zumba so we obviously decided  to do Zumba!! It lasted for an hour but seemed to go really quickly.It was great to try different dances from completely different cultures such as India's Bollywood and Irish dancing!!!
There were about 20 people from our year doing the zumba class but only 6 people did the hockey- just shows how popular it was...
At first the strange dancing seemed awkward and confusing but we soon got ito the rythm of things and by the end of the session were loving it!

Such fun!!!

Very excited about the chicks and naming is in progress here in our dorm. At the moment, our thoughts are Jemima Puddle-Cluck, Fuzzy, and Cookie....although only two have hatched....
Any ideas??

Lots of Love from school
Phoebe and Georgia(her loyal and trusting friend??!!)

Delilah

The latest excitement at Mount Pleasant House is the decision (after a lot of whinging from Phoebe) to allow the latest broody hen to sit on eggs. Delilah is currently sitting on 4 or 5 eggs and we are waiting for November 20th to arrive, to see if any hatch. Watch this space....

Wheel changing coffee mornings...

I had to add this to the blog..only in the Falklands would you have wheel changing coffee mornings. On our remote roads, you are unlikely to find a passing man to help, and with the state of the roads, punctures are common. It is vital that everyone has the right kit in their car,and is confident in manhandling a Landrover...so we bake some cookies, get out toys for the children, and all listen to the Driver while he tells us what to do. And we then all change tyres (and those xcountry tyres are HEAVY!) I am confident that no patch has so many wives competent in vehicle care.

The Neck, Saunders Island

Wednesday morning, and no let up – off on a heli to Saunders Island. One of my favourite places, Bill’s first visit, and I  was very excited as we had managed to book the cabin at The Neck for the night. This a three room basic portacabin, equipped with 8 bunk beds, which was dropped in the time of chinooks, on The Neck – a thin strand of sand between two main landmasses where 8,000 plus Gentoos, hundreds of Rockhoppers and Albatross, and a handful of King penguins, live peacefully together . Flying time is around an hour; it is to the west of West Falkland, and the pilots kindly diverted to show Robert San Carlos Water, Ajax Bay, Blue Beach, and various wreck sites. As we approached Saunders, we learned that the Leopard Seal we had heard about the previous day, was still around. These are rare and lonesome creatures, with a bad and arguably fair reputation for aggression and viciousness. It was a leopard seal who killed the BAS diver a couple of year ago in South Georgia, pulling her down under the ice and drowning her at depth; their method of killing prey. Leopard Seals have an ‘s’ shaped snake - like spine movement when swimming, and have triangular, reptilian teeth. I was torn between fascination and the dread of seeing The Neck a gruesome massacre site.

We were dropped on the hillside and collected by David Pole Evans who owns the island. He drove us the couple of miles to the portacabin – a luxury not experienced before – but a necessary one because of our luggage. Once established we set off to the beach and spotted the Leopard Seal at the water’s edge. It had obviously gorged itself and now wanted to sleep, not particularly bothered at our arrival. A Johnny Rook, the curious and fearless local bird of prey, hopped around its head and riled it into a lazy snap which allowed us to see its vicious teeth. We kept a reasonable distance. More Caracaras (rooks) arrived, disgustingly picking at the pooh which was being produced at regular intervals; ragged pieces of penguin skin and fur were clearly visible and irresistible to the hawks. Eventually the seal had had enough and swirled a full 360 degrees on the sand, snapping and flapping. The Johnny Rooks hopped back and returned.

We headed across the beach to watch the Rockhoppers justifying their names by hopping up the cliffs from the sea to their colonies; they leap without resting, on,on.  They prefer to live near fresh water and here they hopped up through a small waterfall, following a stream which ran alongside their colony. Whilst Gentoos will stop, watch and sometimes divert when we arrive, Rockhoppers carry on regardless, and we felt very privileged to see them at such close quarters.

Back to the cabin for lunch and to meet up with Bill who had been in town for meetings all morning, and then off to show him the Leopard Seal. It was a David Attenborough moment, sitting on a rock with a Leopard Seal three metres to one side of us, a couple of Rockhoppers in the pool behind us, washing and splashing happily, and a line of Gentoos emerging from the Sea ahead of us. Magical.

Up the cliffs (some more mountain goat - like than others!!) and then round to see the Rockhopper colony from above – nest building, chasing, egg laying, yellow eyebrows waving in the wind. Charming couples huddled together, beaks touching and eyes only for each other. Lone males, running the gauntlet around the colony, squawking, mischievous.   And at the edge, a lone Macaroni penguin – Phoebe’s first. Hoorah! They often seem to live with Rockhoppers; possibly confused – there certainly seems to be interbreeding. Macaronis are not so different from Rockies; larger, orange eyebrows instead of yellow, a little fatter, perhaps not so cute – but good to see one here.

And then on to my favourite ..Albatross. Back for the season, committed and caring couples act out the elaborate courtship rituals, beak touching, neck preening, sharing the nest building and the egg sitting. Every time one returns from fishing and they exchange places, the ritual repeats in a reassuring and sophisticated cycle. They too have no fear of humans; landing at your feet, they will carry on regardless, and plod plod past you with their wide grey flat feet. They colonise cliff sides here on Saunders, which allows them to launch elegantly and swoop across the sea. Landing can be a little clumsier which may be why they sit down quickly ; they are not land birds and moving their vast wings without the wind under them always seems to lead to trouble.

Back to the cabin for tea and cakes and to warm up, before heading back to watch the Gentoos come up for the night,

An evening of charades and meatballs. What more..

We had not yet seen Elephant seals during our whistle stop tour, and with a whisper of them at the end of the island, Robert and Alexis  headed off early for a couple of hours’ trudge. Phoebe, having seen many elephant seals, saw no reason to exert herself, and Rachel and Juliet were happy with the penguins. So we headed across the other aside of The Neck, finding a number of Leopard Seal Gentoo remains , and a depressing amount of rubbish washed in from the sea. Litter on island here is not an issue, but the huge number of fishing vessels around the shores sadly have no compunction in disposing of their waste overboard. A cold but happy morning revisiting all types of penguins, and discovering some awesome views across the island from the other end of the beach. The adventurers returned successful, having seen mothers and pups hauled out, and we trudged off for one last look at the albatross before home.

David was coming to fetch us, and there was a cruise ship calling that afternoon, which we had not seen before. The Ocean Avior, with 68 on board, anchored off shore and dropped zodiacs to transfer passengers ashore. Just as they set off, the heavens opened, and we watched from our cabin window as they waded in. We felt very privileged to have had the wildlife to ourselves for two days. 

Back home to warmth and comfort food – a last supper of chorizo chicken before the Friday flight. We had a fabulous time – wonderful to share such a magical place with friends.

A Visit to the Capital..

Tuesday was a home day; we headed down the long road to Stanley to see the sights; shopping, the cathedral, the museum. Bill met us at lunch time and we drove to Gypsy Cove and spotted Magellanics, Night Herons, and finally, close up Sea Lions, hauled out and suckling pups in the tussoc above the cliffs. We hadn’t expected to see Sea Lions, and had the dogs with us which made for an exciting moment. Archie’s nose was aquiver, and the Sea Lion gave some impressive warning growls.   The tussoc is substantial even here, perhaps 1.5 metres tall, and dense; it is easy to come upon  wildlife unexpectedly.

Back to the cabin at Hillside; Hillside is the army’s adventure training base in Stanley, and Bill has a portacabin (think dodgy caravan from your worst childhood holiday) which is useful if we have to stay over. We all piled in to get changed, and then the adults headed off to a reception at Government  House, so that Rachel and Robert could see how much better FCO quarters are then military (!) and the girls headed to Shorty’s diner for supper, where there is a huge menu, and chips with everything.   Andy, Bill’s driver deserves a medal for scooping them up and driving them home, listening to a hour of girlies banter..and we followed on later.

To the West!!

Monday morning saw us head West. Ant, who lives on Saunders island, was flying, and we crossed the Sound and dropped Bill and Robert on the Warrah river, just beyond Port Howard. The day was looking bright, and we hoped they would not be soaked before we collected them later. They were off to fish for the day and Critter, who owns the land, had kindly offered them the use of his brother Miles’ cabin if needed.

The girls headed on towards Dunnose Head and Rosemary Wilkinson’s craft room. Alexis, Juliet and Phoebe sat up with the heli pilots to see how to fly, and to press a few buttons, and soon the bay in front of Dunnose Farm appeared in front of us. We spent the day with Rosemary, felting, and produced bunting  and pictures – I may have let the side down, but otherwise, huge talent was evident!

We located the boys and picked them up, sunburned and with stories of the one that got away (and the one that didn’t – I think it was only one).Home and Supper.

Bleaker island

Friday morning saw an early start and off to the heli to Bleaker island. We had booked to stay at Cassard House, the Rendells new lodge. It is luxurious in a very un-Falkland way – open plan and airy, with modern bathrooms and all mod cons. We chose the easy walk up to the imperial cormorant colony  before lunch and watched a frenzy of nest building as diddle dee and tussoc was stolen from nearby moorland and nests established whilst neighbours simultaneously stole supplies to improve their own creations. Fascinating to watch the ensuing angry arguments and posturing; and at the same time the elegant and fantastic courtship behaviour  - winding of necks, rising and falling of heads, coral orange combs contrasting tropically with iridescent flashing blue eyes.  Thousands of birds bustling together on a cliff top; and here and there, an egg appearing. One or two Skuas were starting to arrive, preparing to take their gory share..

We couldn’t resist walking into the tussoc at the edge of the cliffs and finding the Rockhoppers. Just back for the season, they too were nest building, stealing tussock and chasing each other angrily away from chosen nest sites, partners, or choice pieces of tussock. Very noisy and busy, but endearingly curious as always, they were happy to sit close to us, walk up and inspect us, and carryon their business apparently undisturbed.

Back to the house for lunch and then off to find Seal lions – but no luck. Presumably out fishing; we ended up watching Southern Giant Petrels swooping  along  the cliffs in the draught, and being entertained by Magellanic penguins just back for breeding, busily sorting out their burrows and reclaiming their homes. We discovered a young Night Heron and watched him fishing, spotted two sleeping Oystercatchers and a flock of Snowy Sheathbills, stark white against the slate black rock.

So back to the Rockhoppers for a proper look – and on to a second colony perched on the cliff edge with a breath-taking  view out to sea which I don’t suppose they appreciate. The weather was bright but very cold and windy, and the sea and the cliffs conspired to produce tall walls of shining white spray, shooting high towards the sky. The cliffs here are dramatic shelves of rock which allow you to step down and down until you are offered out towards the swirling crashing green water; impressive and intimidating.

We had ordered the Bleaker meat packs that night, intending to use the BBQ in the barn across the field. A huge pile of (very) low carbon footprint meat duly arrived, but while Bill dutifully stoked charcoal , we didn’t venture far from the house and enjoyed the warmth and rest on a very cold evening.

Saturday morning was bright but still finger- numbingly cold, with a skin- freezing wind. We set off to walk to the Gentoo colony, passing Big Pond (typically imaginative) and spotting silver grebes and black necked swans. Magellanic penguins poked up from their burrows in and amongst the cows and sheep, and after a very cold night, petrels and vultures were cruelly on hand to clear up new born lambs who had died from hypothermia overnight. It was heart rending to see the mothers fight off the scavengers until they realised the futility of their instinct, eventually running back to the flock.  

The Gentoo colony is at the far end of Sandy Bay (see earlier !)  and the penguins have established a highway between beach and colony which they bustle up and down. Nest building was in train, but many were already sitting and were intent on protecting their one or two eggs, standing up regularly to check between their toes, and then carefully lowering their warm bellies over the nest. Some Skua activity could be seen, with an odd egg out in the open, but in general the colonies were calm, although those penguins without mates were regularly chased crossly through the nests and ejected.

We headed back for a cup of tea, spotting an Upland goose sitting bravely on her nest low down in the Diddle dee. We stumbled upon her, but she held her nerve and stared us away.  The nests are beautiful soft feather and down creations, with 6 or 7 brown eggs. Islanders will collect and eat these eggs and they are plentiful, and apparently good for baking. A Rufus- breasted dotteril jumped around in front of us, and as we headed back we were buzzed by a Hercules; the ADC and team had convinced the Herc guys to take them up, and they had come to find us. (We later discovered they were either being sick or hanging out of the side door, terrified, in danger of their ears blowing off!

After warming up we borrowed Mike’s Rover and headed back to the Gentoos to watch the evening exodus; from late afternoon, the penguins all head out of the water and back up to the colony for the night; it is addictive to watch raft after raft of flying birds leap from the spray. The wind was up, and the crashing waves offered a dramatic backdrop.  Another stream of photographs of penguins and waves - what will we do with them all. Alexis found her machine gun button, and took around 30 shots for each click. I hope she can edit ruthlessly..

Mike and Phyl were staying on the island and kindly invited us over for a drink; their cows were calving, and all hunkered down in the tussoc at the back of the house. What an amazing location to live; windows on all sides, sea front and back, penguins burrowing nearby, and huge sunsets stretching across the front of the house.  Phyl had seen a sea lion catching mullet earlier – rising up out of the sea, fish in mouth, to celebrate his catch.

A night of jigsaws and bananagrams, and lots of sleep.

On Sunday we drove to the Southern edge of the island – craggier and loftier cliffs than in the milder centre of the island – and it was good to witness the contrast. We did spot a few sea lions, but they kept their distance, although with the blue sky now breaking through, the views themselves were sufficient. Gentle pottering and sheltering from the bitter wind for the rest of the morning – and then back to Mount Pleasant to regroup.

October Half Term - the Purdys arrive!

Hoorah! One less UK return flight – the lovely Purdy family brought Phoebe out to the Falklands for half term, and stayed for the week. How fabulous to be able to show off our new found treasures to our friends; and great fun for Phoebe to have teenagers instead of adults as company.

We were determined to make the travelling worthwhile for Rachel, Robert, Juliet and Alexis; my planning may as a result have been rather full-on, and I think everyone was looking forward to a lie in by the end of the week, but we did do a lot and see loads – so hopefully it wasn’t all bad. I have to admit to my bossy tendencies coming to the fore in, at times, a rather military operation, but I hope all will be forgiven…