Sunday 3 August 2014

OK...there were some bear visits....


Tom sent a text last night to announce that the last bear watch of the season was over, Schei Camp has closed and so now we can come clean. We had not mentioned this up till now to spare the worry of loved ones back home. On the 17th July a few days into the first camping trip Tom was on bear watch when he spotted a white patch in the distance. It caught his eye as he did not remember seeing it there before and then…he realised it was moving. Hoping it was a wolf at first, he quickly worked out that it was a polar bear (see the pic that Freydis took)!! 








We had seen some signs of bear activity in the area when I was up there in late June, but all the tracks we had seen were pretty old. (I am now recounting the conversation I had with Tom and so there may be some errors of fact here…but as I always say there is no point in letting the truth get in the way of a good story). The bear approached the camp and got to within about 120m or so (possibly closer), it finally moved off after Sean had fired off several bear bangers (see pic of the kit). Luckily this seemed to work and there was no more sign of the bear during that camping session.
However, a week or so later the team had returned to the camp (with Kerry, Alyn and Graham). Tom was on the phone to me giving me the latest news, when he broke off our conversation with the words “guys…….guys….is that a bear or a wolf coming up the ridge?” It was a bear… probably the same animal as had visited them before. Tom hung up quickly and it was over an hour before I heard back from him. On this occasion it did not come as close as it had previously… it wandered down checked them out from a couple 100m.…sat down for a bit and then moved off. They never saw it again.

I am in T2 at Heathrow as I write and will be in Resolute tomorrow evening. We are planning to search the north coast of Devon Island (about 140miles north of Resolute) on Tuesday and Wednesday, so hopefully we will have some more to report before the season finishes next weekend.

6 comments:

  1. Yikes!!! :o I hope everyone is safe and well. I mean, it would be kind of cool to see a polar bear, but I was hoping if Dad saw one it would be from the comfort and security of a helicopter or something...I know you guys are really well drilled for this eventuality in any case. Will be anxiously looking out for updates- stay safe everyone! ~ Suzy McElwaine

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    1. The camp is now closed so the chances of an "on the ground" encounter are very small now. Even if there were one, we will never be that far from the helicopter.. and we'll still have the guns..:)

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  2. That is an amazing photo of the Polar Bear, even though it looks a bit close for comfort. Question please, are the Brent while on their nests - which look very exposed and vulnerable - their eggs and then the goslings in very much danger from the resident predators like wolves, arctic foxes and polar bears. Thank you. B. McPolin

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    1. Yes they are potentially very vulnerable on their nests (which is why they may nest so close to Glaucous gulls in some of the colonies). BUT predator densities are very low..as is goose nesting denisty...so the chance of a predator encountering a nest is relatively small...

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  3. Yikes! Sounds scary but exciting at the same time. Hope you see the next one down-wind using a pair of high-powered binoculars :-) And Graham, if it finds the drinks cabinet...
    http://ct.fra.bz/ol/fz/sw/i57/2/11/9/frabz-Go-home-polar-bear-You-are-drunk-ddc117.jpg

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  4. Happy Birthday Ian. See you when you get back. I know you hate any fuss but we had to expose your Birthday secret. Sorry.

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