Introduction
The Journey South
Further South
Into the Ice
Icecliff Landing
Arrival at Base
Life on Base
Huskies
Sledging Trips
Relief of Base
Photo Gallery
Early Exploration
Contact and Links


Wildlife

The only wildlife seen about the base was during the spring and summer months. Spring saw the arrival of many breeds of birds, penguins, seals and offshore the occasional whales. Nesting grounds for the birds were limited, and were confined to scattered ice-free localities. The visitors included petrels, skuas, cormorants and terns. Skuas are large, gull-like birds, fiercely predatory, showing little fear of humans and are famous for "dive bombing" people and stealing eggs from penguin nests. The Arctic terns arrive in large numbers in Antarctica each summer after a journey of some 12,000 miles from their nesting grounds in the far north. Their migration is the greatest journey of any bird species and to accomplish it they are on the wing for eight months each year.
  Adelie penguins with chicks   Ginger penguin   Adelie penguins
Adelie penguin
All penguin species are restricted to the Southern Hemisphere, but the greatest concentrations are on the Antarctic coast and sub-Antarctic islands. Gentoo, Adélie and Chinstrap penguins breed in the southern spring but only the Adelie and Emperor penguins bred at the southern latitudes of Marguerite Bay. Females usually laid only one egg and males shared in incubation and chick rearing. Predation by brown skuas was a major cause of egg and chick loss. The breeding cycle had to be completed in a limited period so that the chicks were old enough to take to the water in time to get away from the rookery before the sea ice cut off their marine escape route.
Penguin on nest
Shag defending nest Blue-eyed Shag Shag with chick
The Blue-eyed Shag, or Cormorant, is found on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula and it nests on cliff tops close to the ocean, and fishes by diving and swimming underwater.
 
Giant petrel chick
   The petrels included the enormous Giant Petrel which were dubbed "stinkers" by the early whalers because of their ability to ‘projectile vomit’ the most noxious substance if their nest was approached. The smallest was the Wilson's storm-petrel that skips across the surface of the water as it feeds, stirring up small marine organisms with its feet.
 
Seal pup
 Crabeater seal Weddell seal
  Seal pup   Crabeater seal   Weddell seal
 
Depending on the species, seals feed on fish, squid and/or krill. The Leopard seal is also a predator of penguins and other seals. Seals leave the water to breed, rest and moult. Of the six Antarctic species, the Antarctic fur seals and elephant seals are only found north of the pack-ice zone and breed in dense colonies on beaches. 
The other species are ice specialists, breeding on the sea ice in spring. Leopard and Ross seals tend to be solitary, whereas Weddell and Crabeater seals form loose breeding colonies and were regularly seen on ice floes and the coastline around the base.


All photographs are scans from personally owned slides