South Georgia , Oct. 24, 2001

Work very busy at the moment, we are in the middle of alterations to Larsen House, our living accomodation, and have made two bedrooms into one room which is to be the main kitchen for this building. Partitions are up, ceiling and walls boarded out and kitchen units made and about to be installed.

The weather has been warm and sunny during the day, but cold at night and also if it's windy. We had a fantastic display of lenticular clouds last week, lots of spaceship shaped objects in the sky! It was more like a scene from independence day!

Elephant seal pups popping out all over the place, big males fighting over territories, females ignoring them! Slightly more fur seals in, but still no adults, all young males at present. Small groups of king penguins dotted around the cove, most in moult, but all look great when new feathers show through.

Went arount the bay to Horse Head on Sunday to watch light mantled sooty albatross displaying, fantastic to watch, even got up close to a broody female sitting on a nest, but no eggs laid yet. Antarctic terns have started laying, found a nest last week (18th), very early for terns, who usually lay in November.

Giant petrels having a feast of it at the moment as there are so many dead seal pups around, gory! Cape petrels come in to feed off the outfall pipe every day, 54 being the maximum to now. Blue eyed shags fish close to shore and antarctic skuas bully all the others!

A Russian fishing ship visited earlier today, but no one came ashore. A yacht is due in tomorrow and the James Clark Ross is due in next Monday, with the Condor due in on the 6th Nov. It's going to get busy then!

Thats it for now, keep your emails coming, its great to hear from you all.

All the best,
Dewi

To:

Waterman Bird Club

Dutchess County, NY

                     USA

South Georgia , Oct. 14, 2001

Hello everyone.

Just a quick message to say that I have arrived safely and have settled in ok. The drive to Brize Norton was horrendous, heavy rain and a new car park section of the M6 opened in Birmingham! Security at Brize was tight due to the start of bombing in Afghanistan, but plane took off on time at midnight. Arrived in Ascension Island eight and a half hours later, even managed some sleep on the plane! An hour and a half stop over there then a seven and a half hour flight to Mount Pleasant airport in the Falkland Islands followed by an hours bus ride into Port Stanley. Spent the evening in the Upland Goose hotel - good food, a few tinnies and a great nights sleep. Woke up at 5:30AM, went for a walk along the harbour to get some birding in before breakfast then went shopping for a pair af hiking boots and a rucksack. Boarded the ship - The Sigma - at 10:30AM and sailed at 12:30. Seas choppy and very windy so I was seasick for the first time ever, but only lost control once and was fine after that. Birding from the ship was great, lots of albatrosses, petrels and even a dolphin, but no whales. Arrived at South Georgia on the 12th at 5:30PM after sailing past Bird Island, nice to see the place after so long, memories came flooding back, even some I thought I'd forgotten! Weather hot & sunny, well sunny! Unpacked gear and sorted rooms out before going back on board for a few beers with the crew and base winterers. Spent Saturday unloading cargo, opening boxes, storing gear and unblocking the jobbie pipe - some things never change! Spent today birding over at penguin river. Lots of elephant seal pups on the beaches, a few king penguins ashore and light mantled sooty albatrosses are starting to build nests and display. Put in an hours whale watching, but ended up as an hours wave watching as its too early in the season yet. Went over to the museum to have a look around and bought some postcards, expect them soon! Work starts in earnest tomorrow, we start at 7:00AM and finish at 6:00PM so I'd better go and get some sleep.

Thats it for now, hope everyone is ok.

Dewi.

To:

Waterman Bird Club

Dutchess County, NY

                     USA

Wales, Oct. 7, 2001

Swainsons thrush may have been a grey cheeked, observer was not sure and I've not heard any more details, but other three are confirmed sightings.

I leave here in a couple of hours for RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, we fly at midnight tonight to Ascension Island in mid Atlantic then on to the Falklands, around 18 hours flying time. We then go to Port Stanley for an overnight stop before boarding a fisheries patrol vessel for the voyage to South Georgia, which should take three days if the weather is fine. Should arrive on the 12th Oct.

I will be at South Georgia until 24th Jan 2002 then on the research ship Shackleton to Signy in the South Orkney Islands until the 6th April 2002. Should arrive back in the UK on the 19th April 2002. These itineraries are flexible due to conditions and can change at the last minute, I'll keep you posted.

You may have heard of the fire at Rothera base, look it up on this website:

http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/

So to misquote Captain Oates, "I'm leaving now, I may be some time!"

Regards to all,

Dewi.

To:

Waterman Bird Club

Dutchess County, NY

                     USA

Wales, Oct. 6, 2001

Just a quick note to let you all know of the rare birds in the area at the moment:

Grey catbird, red eyed vireo, swainsons thrush & ring necked duck!!!!

All blew in with a recent gale and are within half an hour of the house, unfortunately, I'm too busy packing & sold my car yesterday! 300+ birders there yesterday, lots more today.

C'est la vie.

Must dash, packing to finish.

Will write again when I'm settled in at South Georgia.

Dewi.

To:

Waterman Bird Club

Dutchess County, NY

                     USA