... the hazards of walking through the tussock grass were revealed ...
... sleeping Fur Seals can look very much like a good stepping stone.
Huge numbers of King Penguins breed here - flat ground is a scarce commodity on the island ...
... the one year old juveniles were just starting to moult out of that plumage ...
... the beach is often a crowded place ...
... so the King Penguin colony is situated up the beach and away from the main loafing area of the seals ...
... some of the penguins had started to lay eggs and Brown Skuas were always looking for a feeding opportunity ...
... a few South Georgia Pintails were present ... these have the distinction of, uniquely among ducks, including dead seals in their diet. Despite this they are now considered to be conspecific with Yellow-billed Pintail which we had seen earlier on Tierra del Fuego ...
South Georgia Pipit is the only regular passerine on the island and was until recently was present only on offshore islands free of rats. Having previously had the designation - Near Threatened - its numbers are now increasing following a major rat eradication programme. Some were performing display flights ...
... and parachuting down to perch on tussock grass ...
Along the coast we started to encounter a few icebergs ...
At Fortuna Bay the King Penguin colony was more diffuse ...
... and the mist rolled down from the snow-clad mountains and produced a little snow ...
Heading south once again and some White-chinned Petrels came by ...
... and Snow Petrels began to be more frequent ...
Early the following day a pristine adult Grey-headed Albatross came close by ...
... and more Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses ...
... as we approached Grytviken the former whaling station with its rusting infrastructure became visible and Stromness Villa where Shackleton and his companions were welcomed by Thoralf Sorlle in 1916 stood out with its bleached timber walls. The settlement was dwarfed by the vast landscape and the mountain ridge over which Shackleton walked to get help loomed over the site ...
Antarctic Terns lingered among the decaying structures before returning to their breeding colony up the hillside, safely away from the seals on the beach ...
... and a few South Georgia Pintails arrived ...
Heading yet further south along the coast and the following day saw us around Gold Harbour and Royal Bay with the promise of another penguin species ...
... the Macaroni Penguins were breeding along a section of coast which offered no landing possibilities for us as the rocks fell away to the sea ...
... more South Georgia Pipits fed on the wave-washed rocks ...
... and a South Georgia Cormorant posed nicely ...
... as did a Sheathbill fittingly on a block of ice ...
... and Kelp Gull is a striking bird easily ignored in the context of all the other species ...
Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses were flying in tandem across the high cliff faces and alighting on their nest ledges ...
... one bird calling to another with a strange haunting cry ...
Along the coast a landing beach gave us a chance to see Southern Giant Petrels ashore ...
... and a white morph individual on the sea ...
... and King Penguins along side an Elephant Seal gave a sense of scale ...
... while two posed together engagingly ...
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