Penguins of Rothera…
September 26th, 2009 Posted in Antarctica
This week saw our second Emperor penguin visit of winter. Not a common sight around Rothera, Al spotted this chap as he casually walked past the dining room window on Thursday afternoon out on the sea ice that still remains to the north. The last Emperor to visit Rothera was fairly sedentary (well, he was asleep mostly) so I reckoned on having enough 
time to finish my cup of tea before heading out to take pictures. As it was, this chap was fairly quick and had made it across the runway to the hangar and was on his way back out to sea by the time I arrived. That plus camera difficulties led to a fairly small number of pictures. Ah well. We also had a Gentoo penguin hang around for a few days a couple of weeks back so I’ve at least completed the set of “Penguins seen at Rothera”. That is to say I have photos of 2 Emperors, 1 Gentoo, 1 Chinstrap and thousands of Adelies. Summer is on it’s way and a couple of seal pups have been sighted in the local area. It also won’t be long before our beloved Skuas return to plague the runway and generally flirt with death in the path of aircraft propellers.
With that in mind, preparations for summer are in full swing. The first aircraft is due at Rothera in just under two weeks and my recent time has been mostly spent finishing the field equipment servicing and running checks on all the ops tower equipment (including a rebuild of one of the main HF radios) to ensure we’re in good shape for the coming season. Winter trips are coming to an end next week and the increasing length of days has led to some glorious views from the tower during evening scheds, the mechs have tentatively started clearing snow from around base and will soon be getting the snow-blowers out to clear the runway - the feeling on base is definitely that we are coming to the end of winter. It won’t be long before the peace is shattered and Rothera is again teeming with people and aircraft. It’s not all bad though, we might be able to get some more Vegemite sent down…
3 Responses to “Penguins of Rothera…”
By Andy A on Sep 30, 2009
Andy, it looks like the sun has come back down there? You still sane? not talking to penguins? I will email when I get a mo!
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Andy Reply:
September 30th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Yes indeed, we have the same equinox as everywhere else so we’ve got more daylight than nighttime now apparently. The majority of the base complement is still mostly sane although I’m sat here really enjoying a bag of prawn cocktail crisps right now which is something I never thought I’d do (is prawn cocktail actually the same as salt & vinegar but with something slightly extra?) and the idea of strangers turning up next week is rather frightening…
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By Mum on Oct 2, 2009
I love the penguin photos. The little one looking all lonely. Just like an Oliver Jeffers illustration. And the one leaning over to the right.
Holly and Lyndsay, Helen’s guinea pigs are enjoying life in Cornwall and becoming tamer every day. They had an MOT with the V-E-T when Zoe was here and he said they were very healthy although Holly was a bit overweight so she’s on a diet.
Bit like your Dad and I who were advised by my doc last week to lose half a stone each through more exercise & red wine. I think he meant just a glass of red on a daily basis & not in addition to the local tipple.
So sailing for Dad tomorrow & golf for me. Having some lessons again first & then joining Falmouth Golf Club overlooking the sea. Then a coastal walk on Sunday.
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