irishbrentgoose

June 19th-21st
Not much to report over this period. We are really just waiting for the thaw to progress and the place to dry out a bit. Everything is exceedingly muddy at the moment although some of the places that were quagmires when we arrived are now bone dry, so it will not take long. We headed to the lab on the hilltop above the weather station to have a look across Eureka sound at the Schei Peninsula and Brant island. Much of the snow that was covering it is now gone, and we are hopeful that we will find more birds breeding when we return later in the week. We also re-checked the lone gander on the braided river to the east of the base...he is still there, with a female on a nest doubtless somewhere nearby, but we cannot find her!
A lone wolf visited the tent again on the night of the 20th. We think this was a different animal from the previous pair. It spent some time eyeing up Tim (the helicopter engineer) at quite close range, before heading off east up the airstrip. We were due to fly on the 21st, but the weather took a bit of a turn, snow and high winds stopped the helicopter from flying. The weather cleared a bit late in the evening to reveal a dusting of white on all of the higher ground.