Adelie penguins and their chicks. The Adelie Penguin colonies on the Yalour Islands in Antarctica were a hive of activity. Birds were coming and going from the colonies with food for the chicks. Some were sitting on eggs, some had very young chicks and others were...
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Adelie Penguins in the snow – Antarctica, 2020
Adelie Penguins in the snow. The Adelie penguins in the colonies on Yalour Islands can be filthy. In this film they are returning from a fishing expedition and so are nice and clean. They are making their way from the sea across the snow to the colonies perched high...
The beautiful Yalour Islands and its Adelie Penguins – Antarctica, 2020
The beautiful Yalour Islands and its Adelie Penguins. It was an overcast and snowy day which made the setting all the more magical. The distant blows of Humpback Whales just audible above the din from the penguin colonies, enhanced this wonderful scene. The Yalour...
Bald Eagles on the beach – Alaska 2020
Bald Eagles are impressive birds. Their size and power is very evident when they come close. These eagles were on the beach, just up from the water line, on Cohen Island in Kachemak Bay. They have an almost sinister demeanour as they walk around. Their haunting calls...
Gentoo Penguin chicks – Antarctica 2020
Gentoo Penguin chicks at González Videla Base, on the Antarctic mainland at Waterboat Point in Paradise Bay. One advantage of visiting this base is the opportunity to get closer to the penguins than is allowed elsewhere. This is because the Gentoo Penguins nest very...
Bubblenet feeding Humpback Whales – Antarctica 2020
Bubblenet feeding Humpback Whales. This group of Humpback Whales was close to Wilhelmina Bay, Antarctic Peninsular. Bubblenet feeding Humpabck Whales must be one of the most impresive sights in nature. These whales seemed to be feeding deep in the water so it wasn't...
Gentoo Penguins – Antarctica 2020
Gentoo Penguins. This very noisy and busy Gentoo Penguin colony was on Pleneau Island on the Antarctic Peninsular. Lots of interesting behaviour on view. Penguins were carrying stones to build the nests whilst penguins sitting on the nest with eggs were doing some...
Emperor Penguin – Antarctica 2020
We made a visit to the Chilean Antarctic base Bernardo O'Higgins to hear some of the history and current activities on the base. In addition, there was a Gentoo colony which we intended to visit. As we watched the Gentoos, we heard the unmistakable call of an Emperor...
Skuas feeding their chick – Antarctica 2020
Skuas feeding their chick. I had been watching a mixed Chinstrap Penguin and Gentoo Penguin colony when I noticed there was a pair of Skuas close by along with their chick. This was a very convenient place for them to be since food in the form of young penguin chicks...
Chinstrap Penguins – Antarctica 2020
These Chinstrap Penguins were on Georges Point at the north end of Ronge Isalnd in Antarctica. It had been a bit of a climb to get up there - first across rocks and boulders and then deep snow. It is remarkable that these hardy birds make their nests in such exposed...
Gentoo Penguins on the beach – Antarctica 2020
Gentoo Penguins on the beach at Cuverville Island, Antarctica. It was fun to watch the Gentoo Penguins as they waddled back and forth to the sea. Some were very dirty but others pristine. Gentoo Penguins are the third largest of all the penguins after Emperor and King...
Bubblenet-feeding Humpback Whales – Antarctica 2020
Bubblenet-feeding Humpback Whales in Antarctica. Bubblenet feeding by Humpback Whales is a very sophisticated, co-operative, group-based approach to feeding. Vertical walls of bubbles are created to trap prey for easier feeding. In the waters (Aquirre Passage and...
Playful Gentoo Penguins – Antarctica 2020
Playful Gentoo Penguins. There is a large Gentoo Penguin colony on Cuverville Island on the Antarctic Peninsula. It is both noisy and very smelly. But these are amazing penguins. Behind me was the colony and many penguins were making their way down to the sea. I...
Penguin punch-up! – Antarctica 2020
Penguin punch-up! All had been quiet at this Adelie Penguin colony on Yalour Islands on the Antarctic Peninsular. Chicks had been fed, parent pairs were displaying when all hell broke loose. A huge squabble broke out for no obvious reason and went on for several...
Arctic birds: Fulmars and Guillemots – Svalbard 2019
Arctic birds: Fulmars and Guillemots. In the Arctic, the temptation is to focus on the iconic species. But the birds are always fun to watch. Here Fulmars and Guillemots appear at one with the ice
Arctic Fox kit – Svalbard 2019
Arctic Fox kit. The perfect Arctic Fox encounter. At Alkhornet on Svabard, we found three Arctic Fox kits high up in the rocks. One of them ran off but whilst we were watching the remaining two the third appeared behind us and ran to join the others. It stopped en...
Polar bear on an aquatic hunt for a bearded seal – Svalbard 2019
Polar bear on an aquatic hunt for a bearded seal When we found her, this female polar bear was clearly hunting and in the distance we could see her prey: a beared seal. What followed was a perfect example of an aqautic hunt except she failed to catch her prey. She...
Essence of the Arctic: Pushing through the ice floes – Svalbard 2019
Essence of the Arctic: Pushing through the ice floes. On the M/S Malmo we spent a lot of time pushing through the ice around Svalbard. The colours in the sky, reflections in the sea and the patterns in the ice made for a wonderful experience. The wonders of the Arctic!
The mighty Walrus on ice – Svalbard 2019
The mighty Walrus on ice. It is always special to see Walrus hauled out on ice floes. It was comical to see the youngster rubbing itself on the ice. In the second clip blood can be seen running down the tusk of the mother. It was unclear what had caused the damage but...
Two polar bears vie for a seal carcass – Svalbard 2019
Two polar bears vie for a seal carcass. Getting food is tough in the Arctic! On the ice near Svalbard, this large male polar bear had killed a beared seal and you can see from the state he is in that he had been feasting on the kill for some time. The younger male...
Gentoo Pengiuns – Neko Harbour, Antarctica 2015
Neko Harbour on the Antarctic Peninsular is a beautiful location to observe Gentoo Penguins. A white patch above the eye makes them unmistakable. The third largest Penguin, they reach up to 90cm tall and weigh up to 8.5kg. They breed in small colonies. They use a wide...
King Penguins – Salisbury Plain, South Georgia, 2015
Salisbury Plain on South Georgia is home to 60,000 pairs of King Penguins and their chicks. One never forgets the sight, sound and smell of this enormous penguin colony. With its golden-yellow plumage at the neck and throat, the spectacular King Penguin stands up to...
King Penguins – St Andrews Bay, South Georgia, 2015
St Andrews Bay on South Georgia is home to 150,000 pairs of King Penguins and their chicks. One never forgets the sight, sound and smell of this enormous penguin colony. The colony stretches away as far a the eye can see. With its golden-yellow plumage at the neck and...
Black-browed Albatross – Falkland Islands, 2016
We spent a full day around this huge colony of Black-browed Albatross on Steeple Jason on the Falkland Islands. The colony stretches for 5 kilometers along the coast and is some 200m wide. It contains about 100,000 breeding pairs. We got to see the full spectrum of...
Rockhopper Penguins in the surf – Falkland Islands, 2016
We saw Rockhopper Penguins at several sites we visited in the Falkland Islands. This group were filmed on Saunders Island. It was remarkable watching them deal comfortably with the heavy surf. Whilst at times ungainly on land, however they have no trouble hopping up...
Polar Bear and two cubs feast on a Walrus carcass – Wrangel Island 2018
I was able to film this from a zodiac which was moving constantly. Challenging filming and editing! The Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) is the iconic species of the Arctic. They are normally found near the floe edge where they hunt seals most notably Ringed Seals. On...
Polar Bear on pack ice – Wrangel Island 2018
The Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) is the iconic species of the Arctic. They are normally found near the floe edge where they hunt seals most notably Ringed Seals. On this trip we found several bears on Walrus kills and saw very few seals. Polar Bears will also take...
Two young Polar Bears play in the sea – Wrangel Island 2018
It seems likely that these young bears had only recently left the protection of their mother and would be soon going their separate ways. The Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) is the iconic species of the Arctic. They are normally found near the floe edge where they hunt...
Three Polar Bears near a Walrus Carcass – Wrangel Island 2018
Close to Wrangel island, we came upon three Polar Bears near a Walrus Carcass. This was the third Walrus kill we had seen. Surprisingly we had seen few seals so the bears had had to resort to taking young Walrus. The Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) is the iconic species...
Playful Polar Bears – Wrangel Island 2018
Just south of Wrangel Island, these two Polar Bears entertained us with their playful antics. It seems likely that these young bears had only recently left the protection of their mother and would be soon going their separate ways. The Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) is...