Tramping back from Penguin Bay toward North West Bay hut we stumbled across these two hidden quietly amidst the shield fern and Dracophyllum. As it turns out the juvenile Hoiho (Yellow-Eyed Penguin) has a faint blue-grey eye, changing to the characteristic yellow as the bird matures. Natures wonders’ eh? There’s probably a very good reason for this, but I’ll leave it to the universe and it mysteries for now.
[Alex Fergus]
Campbell Island is really an archipelago of little dots in the ocean. On a larger scale it is part of the NZ bioregion’s subantarctic island domain comprising the Bounty’s, Antipodes, Snares, Aucklands, Campbell and Macquarie Islands (the last is a territory of Australia). Many of the islands are highly significant as refuges and as geographic limits, and for the memories they bring back to me.
In December 1980 ecologist Martin Foggo and I were dropped by helicopter...
Most plants perished from Antarctica as global temperatures cooled and the ice sheets advanced. Cushion plants and mosses were among the last plants to perish. Although the precise stratigraphical sequence and dates are controversial, fossil remains suggest that they may have persisted until the Pliocene Epoch about ten million years ago.
Cushion plants form expansive communities on Campbell Island. It is conceivable these plants are the descendants of Antarctic tundra vegetation....
When I arrived at Campbell Island with the Bicentennial Expedition on the 8th of December 2010 I went up to the Met. Office in the Tech. Building to assist Wayne Lowry from MetService with the AWS (Automatic Weather Station) calibrations. On the wall of the office is the following note written in flowing script with a fountain pen.
‘In remembrance of my dear brother, Ralston Hawea Thomson, who worked on Campbell Island as a Shepherd with three other men. I was twelve years...
The Island is small but it expands according to the difficulty of walking in the soft pillows of peat, moss and swamp. And there is so much packed into such a small space, and its ever-changing moods make Campbell Island such an intense and rich experience. Although movement around the island requires a high level of fitness many of the island’s plants and animals that contribute to its magic are readily accessible. This was most apparent yesterday as we sat on the jetty with...
On this trip I play dual role of field assistant and researcher. During the time I am assisting with fieldwork I am also observing and documenting scientists’ fieldwork practices. This participant observation constitutes one aspect of my data collection on scientists’ engagements with this environment. During the past week I have assisted expedition team leader (and father) Colin Meurk resurvey a series of vegetation plots that he began monitoring in 1984 when sheep were...
A number of exotic plants have become established and persist on Campbell Island. They are mostly associated with homestead or campsites or along tracks. The most common are range grasses such as Poa pratensis, Kentucky bluegrass, Festuca rubra, red fescue, or Anthoxxanthum odoratum, sweet vernal grass. A few such as Cerastium fontanum are found in coastal habitats at the high tide line or tussock or megaherb communites. They are mostly perennial herbs or grasses with seeds or fruits that...
On the final day of 2010 we found ourselves working in Norton Stream which has the distinction of reaching the sea at the only significant stretch of sandy beach on Campbell Island (cleverly known as Sandy Bay). According to some of the expedition members who have extensive experience of the island, in this bay one would once encounter over 100 sea lions in a relatively small area and have to run a gauntlet of mock charges to get along the beach. However, it would now appear not so many...
Canadians are a fine good bunch, and ingenious to boot, a character trait most kiwis can approve of. Canadians also have a rich cultural heritage. It should have been no surprise to me then that my Canadian host at the Penguin Bay Hilton had started to create his own versions of the staple foods of New Zealand back country huts. Two of these achievements in particular come to mind. In the cold and clag one afternoon down at the Rockhopper Penguin colony, my spirits were a little revived to...
Here is a nasty piece of work, not that I want to demonise Leopard Seals or anything, but they are worth being weary of. Carla and I stumbled over this fellow after returning from Camp Cove around the coast toward Tucker Cove. Leopard Seals are not common on Campbell Island, with only a handful likely to be seen in a given year. Those that come ashore are often injured, and take up on the island to convalesce. Leopards are pretty aggressive; they feed on other seals and birds, their...
