Seals of approval

When the BBC’s Frozen Planet was on I was glued to the sofa. I was particularly spellbound since I have been to some of the places featured.

I spent five weeks navigating from the Falkland Islands to South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula on a Russian ice-breaker, battered by force 12 winds, 10-metre high waves and sub-zero temperatures.

Before we joined the trip, my wife and I had spent a week camping in the Falkland Islands, just ourselves and the penguins.

Although the penguins there were by no means scarce, or shy, their black and white plumage is still a challenge to photograph and I used this first week to practice.

As I boarded our ship, the Vavilov, I was nervous. I had such high hopes for this trip, it being one I had wanted to do since I was a child. Our first port of call was back at the Falkland Islands. We jumped onto dinghies – “zodiacs” – and headed out but I was soon in trouble with one of the guides who caught me climbing down a cliff to photograph penguins as they launched themselves out of the water.

Next we headed for South Georgia accompanied by a procession of birds riding off the slip stream.

The distance these birds cover is extraordinary. We saw arctic terns from the North Pole and Royal albatross all the way from Australia and New Zealand, foraging for their chicks more than 5,000 miles from the nest site.

But black-browed albatross and wandering albatross, which has an 11ft wingspan – the longest of any bird in the world – were our main companions

For three days the sea was pink with crill. Crill, a type of shrimp, is the staple diet of much of the wildlife we were watching, from whales to seals, penguins to petrels.

After a few more days at sea, South Georgia loomed on the horizon. Black mountains towered up into the clouds. These peaks were interspersed with starkly contrasting white and turquoise glaciers that tumbled into the icy sea. As we drew nearer, we could hear the faint moans and groans of fur seals echoing across the waves. It felt and looked pre-historic and I wouldn’t have been surprised if pterodactyls had flown down from the cliffs.

The ship dropped anchor and I was first in the queue to get into one of the zodiacs. We were heading to Salisbury Plain, host to the largest king penguin colony on South Georgia with 200,000 birds.

It was mid-summer in Antarctica – although temperatures were still below freezing – and we were going to be there for four hours. What we saw when we landed was mind-blowing.There was just so much going on. There were elephant seals hauled up on the beach to moult, fur seals giving birth to pups and a mass of king penguins as far as the eye could see.

Right in front of me, a procession of adult king penguins were walking down to the sea from the main colony in truly splendid formation. Yet it was a young, dull-coloured penguin that caught my eye. He was covered from tip to toe in an ugly shaggy coat of brown down feathers. Young penguins can’t swim until they are fully moulted into their waterproof feathers – but this feisty youth hadn’t read any of the bird books.

He strutted straight up to the crashing waves and dived in. But his shaggy brown down became waterlogged and he had to struggle back to shore with his pride in tatters. Standing glumly on the beach, he looked totally dejected.

Next we anchored at St Andrew’s Bay – the second largest king penguin colony on South Georgia it is home to some 100,000 birds.

Before the landing we were briefed that we were not allowed to go closer than three metres to any penguin or seal, but this is easier said than done.

On the shore we were faced with a wall of blubber: elephant seals. Also, and by far the worst obstacle, were territorial male fur seals which would charge at you like angry Rottweilers.

As with so much wildlife, the golden rule remained true: stand your ground and the animal will stop, run and it will chase you. Nevertheless things got a little alarming when a seal charged at my wife. She bravely stood her ground as the seal opened its mouth, revealing razor sharp teeth, and leant over to “mockingly” bite my wife’s calf. After the seal had safely moved away, we laughed, but I didn’t find it quite so amusing when it inevitably happened to me. I was interested to note on Frozen Planet that even killer whales flinch away from seal gnashers.

Having made it through the seal gauntlet, I headed up to the penguin colony. Penguins are unlike any wildlife I have ever photographed, or painted. They are really interested in humans and if you sit down you soon attract a crowd.

I laid down on my belly photographing a pair as they performed their incredible courtship ritual, a sort of slow dance which unfolds over several days.

The couple strike a pose in perfect synchronisation, slowly morphing into the next pose and then the next.

After the slow motion dance, they set off on a grand promenade. It all looked so romantic. Yet the end of this courtship was far less so. The male got the female in a head lock with his beak and pushed her forcibly to the ground before mating her – I was quite aghast!

Up until then I had been transfixed, but at this point I looked down at the soil I was lying on to see that on closer inspection it was a composition of penguin excrement, feathers, down and body parts of dead penguins.

I was just about to brush myself down when I felt a hard tapping on my boot. I turned onto my side to see a young penguin standing over me flapping its flippers and spinning around as if it was auditioning for Happy Feet.

The trip came to an end all too quickly. But I remain attached to this very special place and this autumn I attended a reception at the House of Lords hosted by Princess Anne to celebrate early success in plans to protect South Georgia’s unique bird colonies. The South Georgia Heritage Trust has begun a project to rid the island of rats, which eat the eggs and chicks of ground nesting birds. I hope to return there one day and see the results but for now I’ll just have to be content with Frozen Planet.

Getting there

Robert Fuller travelled to South Georgia with Peregrine Tours. Similar 20 day tours cost from £6,000. Tel 0845 004 0673

Robert’s gallery at Thixendale, (located in the Yorkshire Wolds, between York, Driffield and Malton), is open daily from 11am-4.30pm.

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