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| Page Views: 2,599 | Falklands Islands 2004 - The Come-back Tour by zweiblumen - last update: Aug 15, 2008 |
My Second Home | Sea Lion & Pup, Falklands |
Or so it seems! I spent a further six months down there working at MPA to add to the 9 months I did in 2000-2001.
I took more photos than I can care to remember of Penguins but I can't actually say that one can take too many penguin photos!
So for a change here is a photo of a female Sea Lion and her pup on appropriately, Sea lion Island. It remains the best picture I have of a Sea Lion, I took closer shots on a boat trip we did into the Choiseul Sound, unfortunately my camera played up and I was left with very blurred pictures :-( |
|  | Hill Cove I spent a delightful three nights on a farm at Hill Cove on West Falkland in May 2004. The journey from MPA to Hill Cove was by FIGAS (Falkland Government Air Service) and it was the roughest flight I have ever been on. It was one of the windiest days this year and the plane was tossed about in the air like a piece of paper. I was glad when we finally touched down, I then watched the Islander plane struggle to get airborne again as it battled against the gale. I spent my few days there walking along the coast and hills and birdwatching (LOADS of Turkey Vultures here). |
Operation Speckled Duck This is me after completing "Operation Speckled Duck" a military exercise for civilians and military personnel. It was one of the strangest things I have ever done. In 36 hours I was trained how to load, fire and strip down an SA-80 rifle, patrol, assault "enemy" positions and to sleep (or not actually) in an ISO container! I took part in an amphibious landing exercise (it was supposed to be silent but I slipped on a wet jetty and dropped my gun with a loud clatter) and a night assault on a beach (at Fox point to the West of Bertha's Beach). The night assault was all adrenaline and confusion but we achieved our objective (rescuing a couple of local hostages) after that we went on night patrol and had several inconclusive skirmishes with the "enemy" .. all very interesting and exciting but I really missed my bed and the sleep depravation laid me out for the weekend! | | | After Ex speckled Duck - JCUFI bar MPA, Falklands |
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| | All at Sea I was fortunate to get myself on a sailing on board HMS Glasgow a Royal Navy destroyer that was visiting the Falklands. We sailed from Stanley to Mare Harbour a journey that took five hours. While we sailed we were shown just how manoeuvrable the ship was and they also laid on an air-sea rescue exercise for us. The photo shows a Sea King helicopter from RAF 78sqn search and rescue which flew out from MPA to rescue a dummy from the sea (too cold to risk a real human being!) Upon reaching Mare Harbour there was a delay in disembarking the guests because the crane that was supposed to lift the gangway into place had not arrived. Guess whose job it was to raise the necessary paperwork to get the crane in place?! Ooops .. I'm sure I did it .. honestly! Well we were ferried ashore by landing craft .. which was much more exciting! |
Turkey Vulture Considering they are by far the most numerous birds of prey in th Falklands (you see them everywhere) they are damned hard to get a decent photo of. This juvenile I caught by surprise while I was out walking, I was on my way back from Pleasant Peak to MPA when something at the side of the track caught my eye. As I got closer I could see it was a juvenile Turkey Vulture (dark brown head as opposed to the bright red head of an adult). The bird did not see me at first as it was too busy feeding on the rotting carcass of a sheep. So I managed to get within a couple of metres before it took to the air. This remains the best shot I have taken of a Turkey Vulture .. not perfect but good enough. | | | Turkey Vulture - Falkland Islands |
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| Sheep, Hill Cove, Falklands |
| | Sheep If there is one thing that most people know about the Falklands, apart from the fact that there was a war about the islands sometime or other .. it's that there are a lot of sheep there. There are approximately 700,000 sheep on the islands, the majority to be found on West Falkland. That is about 250 sheep per human inhabitant. I was surprised however by the conspicuous absence of sheep. I had been led to believe that you couldn't walk one step without falling over a sheep .. not so, there were many days when I didn't see any sheep at all! This example was photographed at Hill Cove, it was one of the lucky ones that seemed to have the run of the whole settlement and did as it pleased. Sadly the others were all destined to be slaughtered. While I was in Hill Cove I was unfortunate to witness sheep being slaughtered and it turned my stomach, it was a messy sight and unpIeasant experience. I am so glad I am a vegetarian. |
an ickle birdie! Ooh look .. a Two-banded Plover (Charadrius falklandicus) on Sea Lion Island just begging to have his photo taken. Well who was I to refuse? In the UK you would need to digiscope to get close up to small birds like this, but in the Falklands all you need is a little patience and the birds come to you! | | | Two-banded Plover, Falklands |
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| Resting Elephant Seals, Sea Lion Island |
| | Let Sleeping Seals Lie Taken around 6:00 am on the Northern beach at Sea Lion Island. |
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jumpingnorman Sat Oct 31, 2009 22:31 UTC
LOL, changed to "agricultural" - I thought that's how you spell it in UK (agro)...You have incredibly beautiful pictures Steve and thanks for being a part of the jumping galleries - I emailed you the locations of the jumping photos...Cheers, Norman :) | leecouk12324 Fri Oct 9, 2009 21:21 UTC
I have family live in Isleof Man (where Clarkson lives) and many people hate him there because public footpath near his house but he wants to stop people walking there | Rhondaj Thu Oct 8, 2009 00:15 UTC
aw...i think that a beautiful pic of a mandarin duck. people eat them yes? yikes! | SONG Sat Oct 3, 2009 18:41 UTC
Your love of nature and animals is evident in your wonderful photos. Thanks for sharing. Kathy in Sunny Florida |
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