Rat eradication trial at Greene set for 2011

For two centuries, South Georgia’s native wildlife has fought a losing battle against invasive rats introduced by the earliest human visitors. Rats are aggressive predators, eating the eggs and chicks of any small bird they encounter. For petrels, prions and the endemic South Georgia pipit, most of the island is now uninhabitable.SGHT’s Habitat Restoration project is now gearing up to rid the island of rats over the next 5 years. It will commence with the trial clearance of Greene Peninsula, an Area of Special Conservation Value covering 30 square kilometers.

Greene Peninsula is surrounded on all sides by glaciers, so rats cannot reinvade after the area has been cleared. However, with glaciers retreating, the overall objective must be rat eradication from the entire island. The area to be cleared on South Georgia is seven times larger than any other eradication attempted to date, worldwide.But glaciers split South Georgia into sub-islands, and these can be treated individually, giving a high probability of success.

Fieldwork will be preceded by careful planning and environmental assessment, ensuring that any adverse effects on native wildlife are minimised and managed. Detailed monitoring should identify any problems, allowing them to be resolved before work continues on the remainder of the island.
 
Thanks to the Government of South Georgia’s biosecurity improvements and support from the Island Foundation and the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation, we expect to begin work on Greene Peninsula in early 2011. Please support this project by making a donation to SGHT and playing your part in transforming South Georgia’s wildlife. This project will cost millions of pounds and involve huge challenges. But who can put a value on the restoration of this jewel of the Southern Ocean?

The 2008/9 season at South Georgia Museum was a particularly busy and exciting one. The Carr Maritime Gallery was officially opened by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal during her visit to the Island in March 2009. The gallery is situated in a workshop adjacent to the Museum and is named in honour of Tim and Pauline Carr who dedicated many years to the development of the Museum. The gallery includes a replica of the James Caird which has been well received, giving people an idea of the scale of the vessel in which Shackleton and 5 of his men undertook the treacherous journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia in 1916.

Conservation work was undertaken on a range of artefacts including the bow section of the Alert. The Alert was used during the Discovery Investigations to survey inshore waters in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Our Museum Assistant, Chris Moore, very kindly volunteered to undertake the restoration project and the section is now on display in the Maritime Gallery. Taxidermist Steve Massam came down to South Georgia at the beginning of the season and was with us for 4 ½ weeks. During this time he finished his work on a wonderful wandering albatross specimen. The specimen is now on display in the Carr Maritime Gallery and he will be enhancing the display by creating a backdrop for it next season. He also completed a beautiful snow petrel specimen which was mounted in the Prince Room.

Documentation of the collection continued throughout the season and we have now recorded details of the majority of the collection. We also documented items in storage, catalogued the library collection and created a large photographic record of the artefacts. We have started to upload our artefacts on to the online database eHive, which means that everyone can view, search and comment on our collection. The collection can be found at www.ehive.com and we will be adding artefacts throughout the summer. We have also been working on the conservation of the collection toprevent deterioration. Items in storage have been repackaged in archive standard materials, UV filters have been fitted on the windows of the Maritime Gallery and the Church library and the relative humidity and temperature of each room was monitored as if these fluctuate too much it can been very detrimental to artefacts.

Almost every room has had new additions this year, either in the form of new acquisitions or items previously in storage. Changes include the displays in the Bonner Room which have been developed to highlight the work of the South Georgia Heritage Trust. A number of new historical information boards have also been mounted, including the history of the Museum and the Managers’ villa. A big thank you goes to everyone who supported the South Georgia Museum this season through donations or other assistance; it is very much appreciated and helps to safeguard the future of the Museum and its amazing collection.

The Museum Gift Shop is a busy and social place, not only during ship visits but also in between times too.  KEP residents welcome the open door policy we have and often arrive for a cuppa as they go past.  Elsa’s marmalade cake may have something to do with this popularity.  Approximately 7708 passengers passed through the shop from a total of 71 cruise ship visits in the 2008-09 season.  During quieter moments on these visits, passengers always welcome the opportunity to talk to museum staff, showing a real interest in what it’s like to live on the island. 
Although ship visits were up this season, passenger numbers were down from last year. 

The museum shop which holds a delightful range of books and art relating to South Georgia and the Antarctic, will next season include a new range of one-off pieces of jewellery designed by award-winning young Scottish artists. These may become collectors’ items in a few years. Jewellery designed by new South Georgia resident Ruth Fraser will be available as part of the “Made in South Georgia” range.

The 'Made in South Georgia' souvenirs were as usual very popular, particularly the fridge magnets, so much so that the museum staff who produce these items were unable to keep up with demand.  Museum staff will arrive in South Georgia early next season and so will be able to build up a good supply.

Steve Massam our superhero taxidermist and sculptor made two cold cast bronze sculptures for auction; an Albatross on the wing and an Elephant Seal head which is currently for sale.  These were much admired by passengers and the winner of the auction, Mr P. Wilson, is now enjoying the Albatross bronze.

Thanks to everyone who entered the competition to win a limited edition print of Stromness harbour by artist John Gale. John has provided these prints exclusively to SGHT and proceeds from their sale go to SGHT’s conservation projects for South Georgia. Congratulations to our winner, Ms Ethna Cooke of Swanley.
 
Thanks to Darren Cox, Chris Moore and Heather Norman, our brilliant museum staff. We had such a fun time together, lots of laughs and mad cap humour got us through many long hours and a busy season.
 
I am already looking forward to next season!

Heather,Darren and Chris in the shop.

New home for SGHT

On 20th July 2009 SGHT moved office. Our new office is within the grounds of a former jute mill which also holds Dundee’s Industrial Museum, Verdant Works.

TV wildlife presenter Nigel Marven at the SGHT Royal Geographical Society event on Tuesday November 10th

Filming Penguins and Pipits in South Georgia
A presentation by TV wildlife presenter Nigel Marven
7pm, Tuesday 10th November
Royal Geographical Society, London

Following on from last September’s successful performance of Tom Crean – Antarctic Explorer in Dundee, SGHT is planning to hold a second special event in London later this year to help raise funds to support the Trust’s conservation work in South Georgia, in particular to support conservation work for South Georgia’s birds.

On the evening of 10th November 2009 TV wildlife presenter Nigel Marven will give a talk entitled Filming Penguins and Pipits in South Georgia – how do you do that?  

Beginning his career at the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, Nigel Marven worked closely with David Attenborough for over 12 years and produced highly acclaimed prime time TV wildlife documentary films including Incredible Journeys and Life of Birds. He went on to produce and present natural history programmes for ITV and now owns his own production company. Using examples of footage shot in South Georgia, Nigel will tell us about filming birds on South Georgia.

Nigel Marven’s talk will be held in the Ondaatje Theatre at the Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London, commencing at 7pm with an introduction by HRH The Princess Royal, Patron of SGHT. Prior to the talk, between 6pm and 7pm, Her Royal Highness will attend a reception in the Map Room of the Royal Geographical Society.  On view will be a collection of South Georgia art  by a number of distinguished artists whose work is being offered for sale that evening to help raise funds for the Trust. There will be an opportunity for those attending this event to see and purchase the art work on display after the talk.

This promises to be a very special evening for those interested in the island of South Georgia and all are invited.

For further information and tickets please contact Alison Neil at the Trust headquarters in Dundee, e-mail: alison.neil@sght.org. You can also buy tickets online from our shop at http://www.southgeorgia.absolutewebhosting2.co.uk and at www.sght.org/rgs.htm.

Info  British Antarctic Survey Medical Unit Conference at Discovery Point, Dundee

Antarctica: Health risks and solutions. Discovery Point, Dundee, 28 / 29 October 2009

The aim of this conference is to revisit the difficulties in managing medical problems and major incident planning in the remote and hostile environment of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. Experts from different organisations and fields will give their views, and it is hoped to produce a consensus on best practice and to update previous publications.
Full details are available on the website www.medicalantarctica.org together with booking facilities and information on the venue. Online booking through a link from the website will be available from 27 July 2009.

The Princess Royal arrived at Discovery Point at 5.30pm and was introduced to the staff and trustees of SGHT and Dundee Heritage Trust who were the hosts at Discovery Point.

Above: Trustees Howard Pearce, Frederik Paulsen and Chief Executive Alison Neil are introduced to The Princess Royal.

Mr Howard Pearce, Chairman of SGHT showed The Princess Royal an exhibition on SGHT's work on South Georgia.

The Princess Royal then joined an audience of 80 to watch actor Aidan Dooley's enthralling one-man play "Tom Crean - Antarctic Explorer" in the auditorium of Discovery Point..

Thanks to our sponsors (below) for making this such an enjoyable event