South Georgia Newsletter, Feb 2010

From South Georgia Website

- Disclaimer: This newsletter is not produced by GSGSSI; it does not necessarily reflect their views.

Habitat Restoration Plans

Tony Martin, project manager of the six million pound South Georgia Heritage Trust (SGHT) Habitat Restoration Programme, will shortly take up a new appointment as professor at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee.

Professor Martin takes up the post in April and will be seconded to the South Georgia Heritage Trust (SGHT), which is also based in Dundee. Though he will be mainly working from his home in Cambridge, he will make the 8000 mile journey to South Georgia between February and April each year of the project, (beginning in 2011).

Swedish industrialist Frederik Paulsen, a Trustee of the SGHT, is funding the appointment through his company 'Ferrings Pharmaceuticals'.

Professor Martin joins the University after a long period with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) in Cambridge. He spent many years as a cetacean biologist with the Sea Mammal Research Unit, before transferring to the British Antarctic Survey in a broader role, leading investigations of the Southern Ocean foodweb. His most recent work has involved higher predators in the area around South Georgia, and particularly how they have responded to protection after unprecedented sequential over-harvesting by man. His research interests and expertise extends into several areas, including animal behaviour, ecology, migrations, reproduction, diving physiology, conservation and the impact of introduced alien species. He is also one of the world’s leading experts in whale and dolphin behaviour, and has carried out marine mammal research from the Arctic to the tropics. He has been a UK delegate to the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission since 1979.

A press release from the University says: At first glance, the recruitment of an eminent biologist may appear to be an incongruous appointment for an art college. However, the work of Professor Martin fits with collaborative research into conservation and habitat restoration carried out by the SGHT, according to artist Professor Elaine Shemilt, trustee of the organisation and artistic director of the University’s Centre for Remote Environments. “This is a measure of the sort of collaborative research we do here. We are all artists and designers but we work with a huge spectrum of people from different specialities. A lot of artists are passionate about environmental management and sustainability. Artists deal with topical issues all the time and habitat restoration is extremely topical at the moment. Tony Martin has been carrying out research into Antarctic regions for nearly 10 years, and South Georgia in particular. This is the most important island for wildlife and birdlife in the world, and it is vital to restore it to its previous status. To do this, we needed somebody, a scientist, with a huge knowledge of South Georgia and we really have got the best man for the job.”

The Habitat Restoration Programme is ambitious, aiming to remove rodents from the extensive areas of the Island they populate. A recent article in 'New Scientist' gives an overview of the planned SGHT Habitat Restoration Programme and outlines some of the risks involved. It also underlines that the poison bait programme aimed to kill the rats will need to be preceded by removal of reindeer from the two peninsulas they inhabit. If successful, removal of both the introduced reindeer and rodents should aid the recovery of the native wildlife, especially ground nesting and burrowing birds, on South Georgia.

The SGHT is closely watching the eradication project on the sub-Antarctic island of Macquarie. The island is infested with rabbits, rats and mice and in June/July this year the Australians will be using some of the same techniques as the SGHT plan to use in South Georgia. In particular SGHT are interested in the Australians' trials at bait spreading in the vicinity of the big king penguin colonies whilst minimising undue disturbance. The Macquarie project will be the largest island eradication program for rabbits, rats or mice ever attempted. The island is about 128 square km, tiny compared to South Georgia's 4000 square kilometres.

Professor Martin said: "Plans for the removal of rats from South Georgia are well advanced, and the project team looks forward to getting started on the ground in early 2011. This operation will be the largest in the world by far, and will promote the UK to the forefront of island conservation. For the many people involved, in so many capacities, it is the opportunity of a lifetime to make a real difference. The legacy of what we achieve on South Georgia will last for millennia."

The project is envisaged to last four years and cost between five and six million pounds, of which 1.5 million has so far been raised.

You can read the 'New Scientist' article here.

Disease Affects King Penguins

A small percentage of King Penguins in a variety of locations around the Island are suffering from disease, possibly avian pox.

Only two affected birds were seen amongst the many thousands at St Andrews Bay, but reports have been received of others at the other main colony sites such as Salisbury Plain and Gold Harbour, and afflicted birds have been seen locally in Cumberland Bay. The affected birds have protruding and obvious lesions. Vets in the Falklands have seen photographs of affected birds and think it may be an outbreak of avian pox, but no samples have yet been taken to confirm the identity of the disease. Penguin biologists are hopeful that the afflicted animals can survive the infection.

Tour ships were asked to be especially vigilant when overseeing their biosecurity when moving from one site to another to minimise the risk of human activity spreading the disease.

Fishing And Shipping News

February was one of the busiest months in the 2009/10 tourist season with sixteen cruise ships visiting. The 11th was an especially busy day at Grytviken, with two vessels bringing the largest numbers of passengers in a day this season. “Delphin” with 355 passengers visited in the morning and “Minerva” with 300 in the afternoon.

Continued stormy weather disrupted schedules and prevented many landings as the ships sought out the more sheltered potential landing sites on the worst weather days.

Six yachts have been around the Island this month. Three on private visits, two on charter to small tourist groups, and one acting as support yacht to a kayak expedition (see below). Three yachts gathered at the north end of the Island awaiting better weather before launching back to the Falkland Islands. With the weather unrelenting the yachts were trapped long enough for passengers and crew to miss pre-booked flights. One yacht that did head out had a very rough voyage and another 15-metre long yacht ended up having to be singled handed back by the skipper when its two crew joined a cruise ship to get back for their flights.

New Geomagnetic Observatory At KEP

By Simon Flower, BGS

Scientists from the British Geological Survey (BGS) visited King Edward Point (KEP) between January 29th and February 11th, in the first of a two phase installation of a geomagnetic observatory on the Island. The observatory will make regular measurements of the Earth's magnetic field, which changes continuously due to both the dynamic nature of the field and the interaction of the Earth's and Sun's magnetic fields. Data from the observatory will be transmitted to the BGS in Edinburgh in near real-time and will contribute to models of the Earth's magnetic field which are used in the production of Hydrographic Office charts (amongst other things).

South Georgia is of particular interest because of the 'South Atlantic Anomaly' - an area of the Earth where the strength of the geomagnetic field is unusually weak. The Island has hosted geomagnetic observatories in the past, starting with the German contingent of the first International Polar Year, who established a scientific station at Moltke Harbour in 1882. The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) ran a geomagnetic observatory at KEP between 1975 and 1982. The second phase of the present installation, which will see the observatory up and running, should take place early in 2011.

Discovering New Plants At Grytviken

By Jonathan Shanklin

(Whilst visiting KEP to update the weather station (see below) Jonathan Shanklin used his spare time to search for introduced plants.)

I am an amateur botanist and bryologist and wanted to see if any new plants had appeared since my last visit to the Grytviken area in 2004. I also wanted to try and photograph some of the liverworts in the vicinity of Grytviken.

Identifying the liverworts proved troublesome; there is currently no key to these tiny primitive plants and most need to be viewed with a hand lens. Higher plants are much easier, and my first target was to re-find the mat grass Nardus stricta reported by Kew team last year. I found the single clump on the track at Maiviken quite easily. Less easy to find was the diddle-dee which had been reported over 30 years ago at Hestesletten. Three of us set off to search west of the Zenker Ridge. When we at last spotted a circular patch of something different – the Diddle-dee, we found it had expanded from the 1.2m diameter reported in 1971 to 2.8m, and was very healthy.

Around Grytviken and KEP I re-found several of the alien species I had located on my last visit in 2004 (presumably, see above), but failed to find a few others. These may have been killed by the spraying operations to control the bittercress. One day, walking along the track near the guano store, I spotted a robust looking grass, which I immediately recognised as Cock’sfoot Dactylis glomerata. The plant looked a year or two old, and had presumably been brought in accidentally. This is the first time it had been seen on the Island. Kew had mentioned other grasses that might be present, so whilst wandering around I occasionally checked specimens more closely. One patch by the cemetery, whilst looking similar to all the other patches nearby, on closer examination showed several differences. It was brown bent Agrostis vineale, known to be present at some of the other whaling stations, but not previously recorded at Grytviken, though clearly it had been there for many years, perhaps sown as grass for the cemetery.

It is interesting to note that there are no known endemic species of higher plants on South Georgia (plants that only occur here). This means that all the plants of the island are in one sense introductions, so should we worry about further additions? My view is no, provided that the introduced species does not threaten anything that is endemic. Even with the known vigorous introductions such as dandelion, mousear and now bittercress, there is no evidence that any are causing problems to endemics, and indeed may even be benefiting the pintail and pipit. The same cannot be said of rats or reindeer!

Setbacks Don't Stop Solo Paddle Attempt

Solo paddler Hayley Shepherd has overcome a series of serious setbacks to start out on her attempt to be the first to solo circumnavigate the Island by kayak. Originally planned to take place last summer, the attempt was delayed a year after a major sponsor dropped out shortly before she was due to set off. Luckily Hayley secured the assistance of support yacht “Northanger” for the rescheduled attempt this summer, but it proved far from plain sailing even to get to South Georgia to start the expedition.

At the beginning of February the yacht sailed from Ushuaia, Argentina, en route to South Georgia, and was quickly into stormy seas. More used to the motion of her tiny kayak than a yacht, Hayley suffered badly from seasickness. During the bad weather, and only a couple of days into the passage, the yacht's Captain Greg Landreth badly injured his hand, making it necessary for the yacht to alter course to Stanley, Falklands. The injury was such that he could not continue. The expedition nearly halted there. It was decided that unless a suitably qualified person could be found to join the yacht the expedition would not continue. Hayley began to make contingency plans, considering kayaking around the Falklands if she could not get to South Georgia. After a long anxious search an appeal in the local newspaper 'Penguin News' turned up a suitable new crew member, though without the usual Captain, and with co-boat owner Keri Pashuk now in charge, it was stipulated that though the expedition could continue to South Georgia they would only proceed with great caution. They left Stanley en route to the Island again on February 16th and arrived at the kayak expedition start point in King Edward Cove nine days later.

Hayley must have felt that after all her problems so far, she was finally here and her solo circumnavigation attempt all but under-way, but once again she suffered a major setback. Her two kayaks had been delivered to the Island by cruise ship some months before. Her main kayak was custom built for her and commercially shipped from Canada. It had then been loaded onto a cruise ship more than a year ago, ready for the expedition's original scheduled start last year. When she unpacked it she was devastated to find extensive damage. In her blog she described the damage: “There were many gel coat and fibreglass punctures on the stern top-deck.....including one which was 6 inches long....along the entire stern of the kayak the hull had completely separated from the deck. Chunks of gel coat were discovered in the stern hatch and when looking from inside the hatches, bright light shined through showing the vulnerability and fragile state of my brand-new expedition kayak. The kayak had been completely crushed.” Still undefeated, the team set about repairing the main kayak whilst preparing Hayley's spare craft so she could set out as soon as possible. Frustratingly the repairs meant staying-put, despite the excellent paddling weather.

At last, on February 28th, Hayley crammed her gear into and onto her spare kayak and was waved off by her support team and the whole population of the Island. She is heading anti-clockwise, up to the northern point of the Island. She had planned to make her first overnight stop at Jason harbour but fifteen nautical miles later she had exceeded her expectations and arrived to camp on shore at Leith Harbour. With a very poor forecast she is planning to wait there for the next weather break, meanwhile the support team are completing the repairs to her main kayak and will soon rendezvous with Hayley so she can exchange craft. Hayley is dedicating her solo circumnavigation attempt to raising awareness of the plight of the albatross. These birds will accompany her on the water and will be nesting on the cliffs above her when she camps and she wants to use the publicity surrounding her voyage to highlight the fact that albatross numbers are in drastic decline.

Hayley Shepherd's main website is http://www.kayakingtosavealbatross.com

You can follow her progress in her blog and on a tracking map here.

Hayley setting out for her solo attempt to kayak around South Georgia.

New Weather Station Equipment Confirms It Is A Rotten Summer

By Jonathan Shanklin

This season I visited KEP to inspect and maintain the KEP automatic weather station, which is part of the Global Climate Observing System’s network of stations. The stations are monitoring how our planet responds to the increasing amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere – KEP has been warming since the 1930s. I also installed a laser precipitation sensor to record the amount and type of precipitation. It quickly recorded a wetter than average February! Data from both systems is available on the BAS website http://www.antarctica.ac.uk

Record Breaking Half Marathon

Course records were smashed and more than ￡1000 raised when the annual South Georgia half marathon was run on February 17th.

The weather was cooperative if cool. The four walkers set off at 8.30, followed by the three runklers (a class who claim to part walk and part run the course but mostly seem to run it!) an hour later. The eight runners set off at 11.30.

The grueling course takes the competitors over the top of one mountain, back to sea level and then over a mountain pass to Maiviken and back. Trips on the scree and slips on the wet moss caused bumps, bruises and scratches but that was all forgotten when all managed to complete the course.

The fit and competitive runners gave an outstanding performance; winner Richie Inman smashed the race record by eight minutes, completing the course in just hr 37 minutes. Just two minutes behind was regular runner and veteran winner Hugh Marsden. First woman Paula O'Sullivan came in in two hours forty minutes, taking half an hour off her time last year.

The competitors raised more than ￡1000 towards the SGHT Habitat Restoration Project.

Deserving of special mention was George who ran the complete course in a kilt, gym pumps snorkle mask and a mohican wig!

Marathon Runners Perspective

By Hugh Marsden

As we lined up on the start line and waited for the distress flare to explode, I already knew that even after 40 years of competitive running, I could never be prepared for what was about to come. Perhaps if I had taken note of the map, I would have realised that with about 1.500 feet of ascent over 13 miles, this race was not going to be your average half marathon/fun run.......

Hugh was beset by ill omens for the race ahead, find out why Hugh could not wear his lucky red shorts and how a miscalculation in accepting a drink of water may have lost him the race in his excellent and amusing report here.

Local Ch-Art Exhibition In The Whaling Station

Artist Bridget Steed organised an exhibition of locals' art work amidst the remains of the whaling station at Grytviken.

Bridget, who is visiting the Island for the summer and whose trip here was assisted by a Scottish Art Council grant, has often used maps of the Island as a base canvas for her artworks. This time she gave each local a map and encouraged them to think imaginatively and produce their own work. The resulting charts were displayed amidst the tanks and equipment of the old whaling meat cookery in the centre of Grytviken on February 19th.

A cruise ship was visiting at the same time and several tourists enjoyed viewing works that included a chart made into origami penguins, a tiny chart set in resin alongside fish otoliths (ear bones), and a time-lapse photography sequence displayed inside the whaling machinery.

Bird Island News

By Stacey Adlard, Zoological Field Assistant the British Antarctic Survey Station, Bird Island

February began with the whole island wandering albatross census. This year we only have 697 active nests, which is sadly the lowest number on record. Very strong winds during January caused large numbers of nests to fail early in the breeding season, which appeared to be one of the main causes of this. On a nicer note, the first wanderer chicks started to hatch towards the end of the month. It can take three to five days from the first signs of hatching for the chick to emerge fully into the outside world, and although none had quite made it in time for the end of the month, some were well on their way…

We had a lot of grey weather this month, but still continued to get out and about as usual, and even managed a BBQ on one of the nicer evenings. February is the beginning of the end of summer for some of the wildlife and staff on Bird Island. Towards the middle of the month we waved goodbye to Sam, our Summer Base Commander, and Helen, who has been here fixing all of our databases. It always takes a few days to get used to the base when people leave, and it seemed very quiet with only six of us left.

The wildlife has also been leaving the island. By the end of the month all the macaroni penguin chicks had finished moulting their fluffy grey down, replacing it with smart new feathers, and headed for the sea to brave the Southern Ocean for their first swim. The adult macaronis left too, heading out to feed for several days, before they return to the colonies to moult. We were lucky enough to find a rockhopper penguin moulting at Big Mac, but typically, none of us had cameras with us, and when we returned the next day it had disappeared. Still, it made a nice change as none of us have seen one on Bird Island before.

The gentoo penguin chicks are also nearly ready to fledge, and are big and noisy. It is great to see them all looking so healthy after such a bad season last year. Fur seal pup weighing occurred on February 11th, and like the gentoo chicks, are doing very well. The seal boys, Ewan and Mick, spent a lot of the month hunting around the island for the pups that were born on the special study beach earlier in the season. When they found them they fitted them with flipper tags. Now they can be individually identified when they return to the island in future years. It is surprising how far up the valleys the fat little puppies can travel from their birthplace. The seal pups have now almost completely moulted their black fur and now have lovely soft grey swimming fur and spend hours playing in the sea, twisting and turning amongst the kelp and ice, playing in the tussac grass, and play-fighting with each other.

I think that’s all to report from Bird Island this month. It’s now only 6 weeks until our last ship call of the season and we start to think about settling in for the winter.

South Georgia Snippets

The markers indicating the exclusion zone around Husvik whaling station were moved this month and now enclose the old Managers Villa. Until now it has been regularly used as a base for researchers.

The distinctive funnel of the old sealing vessel "Dias", which lies alongside the remains of an old jetty at Grytviken, was damaged in recent stormy weather. The "Dias" is a historic vessel and the only remaining example of a Hull steam trawler. The funnel has rusted through at the bottom, and the stays have broken, causing the funnel to lean.

Times journalist Frank Pope made a brief visit to the Island. He originally planned a visit of several days but transport problems and bad weather curtailed it. He was accompanies by GSGSSI Chief Executive Martin Collins.

Artist Bridget Steed, one of the Museum Assistants, has spent much of her time working for the Museum in making souvenirs for the 'Made in South Georgia' label. These include replica sperm whale teeth, animal models and fridge magnets. This month she has been adding value by making the replica sperm whale teeth into unique bits of art by adding scrimshaw details. Her designs are inspired by the heritage and wildlife of South Georgia and have so far included wildlife and whale tails.

A new display has been created in the main hall of the South Georgia Museum to explain the SGHT Habitat Restoration Project and to encourage donations from visitors. The display includes an oar marked to show how fund-raising is progressing.

Field Assistant Tom Marshall returned to KEP this month to train the staff at the base in outdoor techniques including safe camping and land navigation. It was also an opportunity for staff to try out some ice climbing techniques and walk on the Nordenskjold Glacier where they would not normally be allowed to travel.

There are now 11 king penguins nesting at Penguin River, three times more than have ever tried to nest at once there before. By the end of the month three tiny chicks had hatched. The penguins were being kept company by other moulting kings and two moulting chinstrap penguins. Three more chinstrap penguins are moulting on the track close to Grytviken. One has mountaineering instincts and can be seen teetering on a tiny rock ledge well up the cliff with a cascade of moulted feathers below.

A very rare melanistic king penguin was spotted at St Andrews Bay. The penguin has none of the usual white plumage, indeed these sections are perversely darker black than the sections of plumage that are usually described as black in this species.

A selection of short clips relevant to this months news.

View Of The Month

Don’t forget to see this month’s 'View of the Month' on the South Georgia Heritage Trust website.

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