Git Orf My Laaand!
Base H - Signy Island Antarctica

  ©Copyright P. Ward - picture taken 1985 / 86

Getting too close to a skuas nest led to them going into defensive mode until you were what they thought of a safe distance away. Quite often they would do a silent fly-past from behind just inches from your ear, an event that certainly woke you up! Sometimes they would hit the back of your head while doing this with the leading edge of one wing, something that never happened to me I'm pleased to say (I developed a reflex ducking motion when I first heard the swoosh of air through feathers) though I know people who had been given a pretty bad headache for the rest of the day as a result of this. Some would fix a stick of some description to the top of their rucsac higher than their head to keep the skua from hitting them. Conor Nolan at bottom waving something threatening at the skua.

Previous	Next
back to thumbnails