Twenty four hours flies when all is new, and the sun never sets. Fried fish and couscous were prepared, and dinner was savored around a campfire. Long lost logs wash up on the beach with high tides, so although there are now trees taller than 4 inches above ground, there is plenty of fuel. The one tree found here, a willow species, grows prostrate along the ground . After dinner, rifle practice commenced, along with the use of emergency flares as a bear deterrent. Each tent houses one of the rifles at night, the bear fence is turned on and the dogs (two) are let loose outside the fence. With four bear deterrants present at night, we "should” be fine. I must have thought so for sleep came easily snuggled down in a polar sleeping bag, in one of the three tents.
I am in the company of three good friends, now, quite comfortable sharing wise-cracks with and about each other.
The team consists of;
Ann Harding, Little Auk researcher and leader of the team. She calls home Anchorage, Alaska but goes back to visit family in Devon, England, where she was raised.
Rachael Orben, biologist, is a field assistant and seabird researcher. She considers home to be Springtown, Pennsylvania but has spent time in Alaska, Antarctica and Hawaii conducting field work.
Jerome Fort, from Strasbourg, France, is pursuing a PhD. in Ecology. His thesis also focuses on the Little Auk.
Ewan Weston, field assistant on the team is a zoologist with a strong interest in ornithology. His home is Aberdeen, Scotland.
Nicolai Bech, from Copenhagen, Denmark, has been a visiting researcher with the National Environmental research Institute. It was his gift that I brought with my flight.
Finally, and very importantly are Abe and Tyr, our watchdogs, leftover fish eaters and company that doesn’t make wisecracks.
Fish Love
Ewan Watson loves his fish!