Stephanie sits amongst a colony of penguins

In our first meeting of the new season we were joined by our first guest speaker Stephanie Winnard, who presented  “In the South Atlantic”. Stephanie’s talk took us on an adventure on the islands of South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands, a British overseas territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean, as she talked about her time spent working there with the British Antarctic Survey.

Her story was illustrated with her vast variety of photographs taken on the islands, ranging from the beautiful wildlife and mountainous vistas, to snapshots of daily life for the teams stationed on the islands. While on the islands, Stephanie had spent a large part of her time studying and surveying the wildlife there. The teams would check up on the populations, monitor progress of chicks, navigate their way though colonies of seals, and much more.

A macaroni penguin

Much of the wildlife she encountered on the islands had no fear of humans, allowing Stephanie and her colleagues some wonderful close up opportunities for their work, and with her camera.

Chicks are checked to monitor their health and progress

King Penguins on South Georgia