Wandering Ardnamurchan Albatross

The 'Wandering Ardnamurchan Albatross' - better known as Trevor Potts who runs the Kilchoan camp site - has sent us an account of his recent weeks as a guide on a cruise ship in the Antarctic. Here is 'Episode 1' -

We have just returned to the Beagle Channel and are now at anchor awaiting the pilot to take us the 60 miles up the channel to Ushuaia. We had one of the smoothest and sunniest crossing of the Drake Channel I have had in ten years and have arrived very early so we now have an easy day in a sheltered anchorage until our scheduled plot arrives at about midnight.

Most of our passengers are elderly, age range about 70-85 years old with only a small number under 60 this makes small boat operations and landings on wet slippery boulders a challenge. Walking through mud consisting mainly of guano and deep snow is no better.

During the first two trips we had very good killer whale sightings, one pod was over 20 strong spread out around the ship at the south end of the Gerlache Strait. Minke whales and Humpback whales have been scarce with only fleeting sightings in the distance. They do tend to be more numerous and inquisitive later in the season when they are well fed after their long migratory fast. During their (southern) winter migration north to warmer tropical waters to breed they do not feed for about six months. When their calves are fat enough to stand the cold they migrate south to feed on the abundance of krill that feeds on the algae growing on the underside of the sea ice. No sea ice, no krill, very few whales, seals or penguins.

One thing that has surprised us this year are a number of bird species much further south than their usual feeding range. There are few birds that actually bread south of the Antarctic Convergence (that mixed band of water a few miles wide where the cold Antarctic waters mix with slightly warmer water from the north). This convergence zone is the biologic boundary of Antarctica and many bird species feed around it especially the various Albatross species which do not usually venture very far south of the convergence.

Birds breading south of the convergence on the South Shetland Island and the Antarctic Peninsula are, Blue eyed Shag, Cape Petrel, Skua, Kelp Gull, Wilsons Storm Petrel, Snow Petrel, Giant Petrel and of course a few Penguins, Emperor (to far south rarely seen in the Peninsula area) Gentoo, Adelie, Chinstrap and a very small number of Macaroni.

On the Bransfield Strait way south of the convergence we saw four Light Mantled Sooty Albatross (pictured above) flying together around the ship. It is very unusual to have so many together and so far south and for them to come close to the ship. They spent some hours late in the evening using the updraft from the windward side of the ship to gain height as they circled and swooped down to the waves searching for krill. At some stage during the trip we also had a Black Browed Albatross hundreds of miles south of its normal range. Both birds breed on the sub Antarctic Islands north of the convergence, such as South Georgia.

Trevor runs the Ardnamurchan Campsite & Study Centre, website here.