These pictures were taken one afternoon in the Antarctic
spring (October) when I went
for a walk from the base on Signy island to the Gourlay
Peninsula, about a mile and half as the skua flies, but
it always felt a lot further than this due to the incredibly
rugged nature of Signy's terrain.
Gourlay is a favourite place
for the wildlife lover with huge nesting colonies of adélie
and chinstrap penguins, loads of other birds and plenty of
seals, particularly fur seals.
Many of the seals are young
males, unable or not old enough to mate, so they tend to
hang around together. For many people their first encounters
with fur seals are rather disconcerting as they run along
towards you on their flippers for a few strides before
stretching their neck out and growling at you while showing
some quite impressive canines.
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