Day 3 at the BBC - ferret rescue

Things got a lot more hands on for me today, which was a welcome change indeed! I was assigned to work with the mid morning show producers and after a quick brainstorm of topics (they seemed incredibly relaxed considering the show was starting in less than 90 mins), they set me off researching topics and lining up callers. I spoke to a lifeboat man who had been involved in slightly unusual rescue – saving two ferrets stranded on rocks by the tide. Once I’d lined him up as a caller for the show, it was up to me to write a script for Jonathan, the presenter, to lead in with and then the questions he would be asking. It was pretty cool hearing the words I’d written go live on air on only my third day. Sitting with producer Jo in the studio for the second hour of the program, I answered phones to callers with requests, traffic updates and some fairly hilarious stories – which for the sake of maintaining their dignity,  I won’t go into. Oh, and I featured in the program elsewhere when Jonathan told the story of how I’d been misunderstood when I tried to ask for jam on my French exchange and accidentally asked for a condom instead!

I love local radio. Today's breakfast show featured an 81 year old who'd been banned from her cricket club for allegedly chasing children off the pitch! Ferrets, old ladies...I wonder what's coming next...

Working at the BBC

I know I haven't posted anything for quite a while, but right now I'm up to something pretty interesting so I thought it might be nice to share. I'm working at BBC Newcastle for 3 weeks, as a 'science media fellow'. I'm part of a scheme set up by the British Science Association to help scientists understand the media world so that hopefully, they can communicate their work more successfully. As I work on climate change, in my view, a very poorly communicated subject, I thought it was worth a stab. And here's how I'm finding it so far...

First few days at the beeb

I wanted to see into another world and I certainly got that chance on my first day. Probably the highlight was a trip to see Claire in Gateshead, to interview her and meet her Royal Python Cyril. Claire runs a company callled Zoo Academy that takes exotic animals out to schools and teaches them about conservation.  BBC Newcastle sent their reporter Jordan out to meet her and let me tail along. Before heading out on the road I was handed a health and safety document to read which warned of the dangers of bites, trampling or crushing injuries whilst working with animals, a little bit worrying. Back at the studio Jordan cut and clipped for a mere ten minutes, then spend 30 secs thinking of the perfect strap line for the presenters to lead into the story. He made it look so easy, never so much as pausing for thought. I asked if he’d prepared his interview questions beforehand, “I used to when I started out, and maybe I still will if I’m talking politics but otherwise I just ask what comes into my head at the time.”  I was impressed and a little bit daunted, knowing later on in my placement I'll be out on my own.

The editor asked me today what had been my biggest shock in my first couple days. The thing that’s struck me most is just the totally relaxed atmosphere, and how at ease everyone appears all the time. The presenters drift casually in and out of the studio, sometimes seconds before they go live on air. The other thing is the pace of the media world. Unlike science where it often takes years to see the fruits of your labour, here they work on timescales of minutes and hours.  They just get on with it and get the job done, no messing around. Maybe the ability to just crack on with things is something useful I can take back to my scientific work!

 A Sunny Sunday Afternoon

 A glimpse into the world that keeps drawing me back for more...

Ice and Sky

Cirrostratus delight over Reptile Ridge

Looking back at base

My Met Towers

Some Things Never Change

Here's a link to my account of the month of June here at Rothera, recently posted on the British Antarctic Survey Website:

http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/living_and_working/diaries/rothera/2011/06/index.php

Winter Team 2011

Take a look at the mad men and women I'm stranded with for the next dark months! Should be interesting...
Left to right, back, to front we are: Dave (Communications Manager), Rod (Base Commander),
Curly (Vehicle Mechanic), Nick (Plumber), Lorna (Chef), Vicki (Doctor), Malcolm (Field Assistant), Mike (Field Assistant), Cheese (Field Assistant), Tom (Field Assistant), Tamsin (that's me...Meteorologist), Terri (Marine Biologist), Frazer (Electrician), Dave (Dive Officer), Simmo (Marine Assistant), Tomo (Generator Mechanic), Ross (Electronics Engineer), Dave (Boatman), Gavin (Carpenter, Ian (Field Assistant).

Winter Trip

Admiring the view from the summit of imaginatively named peak N26

My humble abode

Another Antarctic summit, this time I descended in style, snowboarding

View across the bay. We travel around the island two by two, each driving a snowmobile and pulling a sledge carrying everything we need to survive, all tied together by thick ropes just in case we are unlucky enough to drive across a crevass.

ANTARCTIC HIGHLIGHTS

People are always asking me why I keep coming back to Antarctica. Well, as much as I love my job, it's the lifestyle that really has me hooked. The perks that these images hint towards are definitely a big part of the appeal.

Exploring the incredible shades of the ice, up close. That's me at the helm.
The glacier front of the Sheldon glacier, source of many of the icebergs in the bays around the base, as it retreats.

Tom roping up on the ramp above base ready for some survival skills training.

Tom enjoying one of the first rock climbs of the summer.

Rockhoppers

Yesterday I added a ninth species of penguin to my collection and they rate pretty highly on my coolest penguin leader board. The funky rockhoppers with their crazy hairdos and bright red eyes were a joy to watch as they bounced up the cliffs then danced about the colony until they found their nest. The only way to get to this remote spot on the deserted Falklands coastline was via landrover. We took what our guide called 'his local high street', zigzagging across peat bogs and craggy outcrops until we arrived in the middle of nowhere . It was worth the ride as not only the penguins but the scenery was stunning and it may be some of the last land I see that isn't hidden beneath a blanket of cold white lovliness. Mmmm, snow, powdery fresh snow, how I miss it. Can't wait to get even further south and it shouldn't be long now. Hopefully departing on the Dash 7 tomorrow morning at 4am! Bring it on...

Southward Bound Once More

Yes, I’m off again.

But before I go on, first please let me apologise for my online absence. Now that I’m off to the back of beyond to resume my adventure in the name of science, I plan to write much more frequently.

The first time I went to Antarctica most of my friends and family were really excited for me. I think they shared in the nervous anticipation of the unknown. Each step I took on my adventure was thrilling.

Now though, a lot of them seem quite puzzled. Why do I feel the need to go back, again and again? Haven’t I seen what I need to see, had my adventure, had enough of the cold and the snow?

I must admit it feels different now than it did when I was planning my first trip. And my motivations have changed. Now I want to go so badly not to find out about another world, another way of life, but because I know I love that way of life and the freedom it gives me. Here's a poem I wrote last time I was south that might help explain what I'm talking about:

ANTARCTICA

To be here, to come here

This place with its view

Means so little to so many

But so much to so few

Who’ve been here, who’ve seen it

Who’ve felt it and lived it

Who’ve kept it inside them

And can’t live without it

Who know its uniqueness

Its whiteness, its bleakness

Who crave its togetherness

And love its remoteness

Who live with the secret

That others can’t know

That this place is special

More than rocks, ice and snow

A world in its own right

That floods all the senses

Such that nothing else matters

Outside of its fences

And each day I wake up

And feel it take hold

There’s beauty in isolation

And there’s warmth in the cold

And I know I’m in love

As each time I depart

All that I think of

Whilst we are apart

Is the day I’ll be back

On this floating ice shelf

Or this snowy mountain

And I smile to myself

Certainly not a work of literary genius but it does talk of that feeling that keeps drawing me back to Antarctica, the feeling that there's nowhere I would rather be in the world!

Christmas Eve: Mulled wine, mince pies and a spectacular view out across the bay...

Happy Christmas!

Launching the Rothera weather balloon on an icy Christmas Morning

Fabulous Antarctic Videos

OK, so I know I haven't posted any Antarctic action lately (that' s because I'm currently based in Cambridge, UK and as far I'm concerned, if there's no snow, it's not worth writing about) but Kirk Watson, one of the team down at Rothera, has been making some
WONDERFUL VIDEOS OF ANTARCTIC WINTER LIFE

As for me, I'm off back down south in just a few weeks time so watch this space for more photos, stories and snowy science from the start of November...

Travels

A few photos from my recent travels up the Antarctic Peninsula to Tierra del Fuego and into Patagonia...stories to follow...

Out and About

Last Sunday afternoon, as the sun broke through the clouds at last, I clambered up Stork Ridge and looked down at the glacier below.

Monday night at Rothera's very own ski resort...

Wildlife

And even wilder scenery...

From the window of the plane when I was lucky enough to venture further afield:

Happy Christmas and a very Merry New Year!

A 'Dingle Day' at last!

When the sun finally comes along and lights up this place after days spent under a giant white blanket of cloud and snow, it feels like the curtain has been lifted on a world inconceivable only hours ago. Days like today are beyond description in English but in Antarctican we call them 'dingle days'. When the snow sparkles and each face of a mountain is glowing in a different shade. The sea shimmers and, around the base of icebergs, takes on an incredible turquoise colour that could never be mixed. When everywhere you look, you find yourself staring transfixed and unable to take it in. When the thin strands of high ice cloud appear as if they are trying to frame the view. When nothing quite looks real. When the scene in front of you is so breathtakingly beautiful that you can't think beyond the present moment.

I set off from the base, below, to marvel at the raw beauty that surrounds it...

A lonely penguin dwarfed by the icebergs that act as a safe haven for it to escape the lurking leopard seal.

A seal sunning itself on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

After a day out enjoying the stunning weather, including carving some turns on my board at the local ski resort - Vals, I prepared for a night spent weather watching. The recent bad weather has left us with a back logs of field parties to fly out so today 24 hour operations were called for. I'm duty met tonight and it suits me just fine as I can enjoy a few more shades of magic as the light slowly shifts and the clouds start to roll in. Soon the splendour will be hidden behind a veil once again so I'm happy to catch every moment.

I'll try and write a bit more about my job here soon.