Return of the Ellies

The weather gods continued to mock us with perfect weather on Tuesday. In the end it was too much and at lunch time on Tuesday Hazel and I downed tools, packed and headed out to camp at Penguin River. It was the most perfect weather, not a cloud in the sky, bright blue heavens and good firm snow underfoot. Penguin River is just across the cove from the base but since we haven’t yet installed the chain ferry that Hazel and I keep trying to persuade Jo that we need, it takes about an hour to walk to, especially if carrying a tent, stove fuel and food. On our way over there we met a number of Elephant seals, both male and female, lounging on the beach. Now the Ellies have been slowly returning to the beaches over the past few weeks. The males are here to establish themselves as beach masters on their chosen bit of shoreline and the females to give birth and then mate again. We wandered along the beach chatting to the seals and encouraging the females to pop their pups out so we could see one. Unfortunately none complied there and then so we continued on our way.

We arrived at Penguin River around 1500 and decided that we would camp ON the river. Of course it is frozen but there is also a small gravel bar in the middle where the penguins sit when they are there so we pitched on what we hoped was that bar. Once we had pitched camp we decided to make the most of the sun before it dipped behind the mountains and so we wandered up to Discovery point. This is one side of the entrance to Moraine Fjord and has a wreck of the Lyn, a fishing boat, on it. The other side of the entrance (Dartmouth Point) also has a wreck, the Maresco. I can’t remember which one grounded first in a storm but the other thought that the lights from the first ship meant that there was safety there, anchored, dragged and now there are two wrecks just sitting on the moraine bar. Luckily no one was hurt and no environmental damage was caused but there is a lot of driftwood that comes off them and arrives on the beaches. A good supply for woodwork. 

Campsite on the river       (photo: H. Woodland)

Campsite       (photo: H. Woodland)

Wreck of the Lyn    (photo: H. Woodland)

We walked right to the end of the point and discovered that it is rather a busy place with Furries and Ellies all over the place. There was one particularly large Ellie male  pestering two females who had made the mistake of hauling up near him. He obviously hadn’t read the manual that said that he has to wait till they have had their pups before trying to mate with them.

What big teeth I have!       (photo: H. Woodland)

 Standing in the sun it was a lovely temperature but as soon as the sun dipped below the mountains it was freezing. We hurried back to the tent and our big jackets which we had left there. After our sched (the call into base), a cup of tea and some rather good dehydrated beef stroganoff we chatted and lounged around the tent. A couple of hours later we realised that there was a light outside the tent so we opened the door to find a nearly full moon beaming down on us in all her glory. This precipitated a discussion as to whether it is a cat or a man in the moon (man obviously). We then lay in our sleeping bags with the tent door open chatting, sipping whiskey from my hipflask and just drinking in the glory of the night. 

View from the tent

Next morning      (photo: H. Woodland)

 The night was less glorious when we were trying to sleep and our noses were too cold to stick out of the bags (we discovered later that it was a balmy -10°C that night). We awoke to a less glorious morning but we packed up and after another wander up to Disco Point to see if the two females had popped yet (they had disappeared, obviously the males advances were a little too amorous for them) we returned to base. On the way back we noticed a fairly large amount of blood soaked into the snow. We thought it might have been from males that had had a fight but upon closer inspection I noticed black fur among the blood so we looked harder and behind a female Hazel spotted the first Ellie pup of the year. He was so sweet. They are covered in longish black fur and are a sack of bones to begin with. They then suckle the unbelievably rich milk and fill out almost before one’s eyes. They have an imperious, barking call and hearing mum and pup chat is a real experience.

Warning: this next paragraph is detailed in its description of an Ellie seal birth; if squeamish move onto the next paragraph. 

After that the weather clagged back in but today (Sunday) it cleared enough that we decided to go out on a pup hunt. Hazel, Jo and I headed round the beach to Penguin River and kept our eyes peeled for any pups. At Susa Point, right opposite the base, Hazel’s trained medical eye spotted an uncomfortable looking female. We went up to have a look and sure enough under her back flippers were another smaller pair peeking out. We backed off a little bit and waited. It took a while. The mother had to shoo away a couple of skuas (large seabirds) that were a little too close. She would give a push and a bit more of the back would appear then it seemed to be sucked back in. We had almost given up hope that she would birth before we got too cold to stay standing around when she gave a final roar and a push and out slithered this wet bundle of fur that lay very still on the snow. We looked at each other while it lay very still and unmoving. Just as we began to be really worried it gave a little cough, rolled over and gave an imperious bark demanding milk. We all beamed and watched as an obviously quite tired mother nuzzled it. After a little while the placenta came out and then there was a slightly gory tug of war between a skua tugging on the placenta and eating it and the pup still attached to it by the umbilical cord. This is entirely normal and no damage is caused, it actually helps the umbilical cord to detach.

First pup      (photo: H. Woodland)

 

Just look at those little whiskers!

Ellie family

There were other pups lying around, all less than four days old and all calling to their mums or snoring softly in a milk induced sleep. It was quite a wrench stopping myself from taking one back to base to keep in the hypothermia bath. I am sure that Nido (the powdered milk we use) mixed with Glen Delight (‘cream’ that has never seen a cow) would be a fine meal for a growing pup.

Soon the beach in front of the base will become a real nursery and fighting ground and I for one am looking forward to it enormously.