In 2015 I was involved in a project to promote science on South Georgia in the South Atlantic, which involved trying to return the island to a more natural state through the eradication of predators, such as rats, which had decimated some bird species, including the South Georgia Pipit. Early in the year two colleagues and I visited several countries in the Far East to give talks on South Georgia research to nations involved in polar research (the Far East tour). Then in September I travelled to the Falkland Islands to assessment the results so far and plan the next phase of the project.
Maggie and I travelled to the Falkland Islands via the RAF Airbridge that flies from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to RAF Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands, with a short refueling stop in Ascension Island.
We had a good journey down to the Falklands as there is plenty of leg room on the airbridge flights and we had two seats each, so we got a reasonable amount of sleep. After passing through immigration at Mount Pleasant we got the bus down to the Malvina House Hotel in Port Stanley (https://www.malvinahousehotel.com/). This is an excellent hotel with a very good restaurant and views across Stanley harbour from the guest rooms. In fact we’d hardly settled in before we started to see the typical birds of the islands from our room, such as the very common Upland Geese.
Most of my time in the Falkland Islands was spent at the South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI) in Stanley working with the other South Georgia team members. However, we did find time to do some birding in the vicinity of Stanley and during a weekend trip to Sea Lion Island. In the following we provide details of these birding trips, along with a tour to Goose Green.
This was a very enjoyable trip to a remote British Overseas Territory that is well off the beaten track. I had been to the Falkland Islands several times before on the way to Antarctica, but it was all new for Maggie, who really enjoying seeing this very British destination in the South Atlantic. The Malvina Hotel was excellent and we particularly enjoyed spending a few days on Sea Lion Island where we saw some excellent birds.