It's my last morning here, stumbling among tussac clumps worn smooth by fur seals, which the beaches are thick with. At seemingly every turn they lurk among the tussac slopes, with a growl, a yelp and stench.
Found 15 giant petrel nests. Another few records to add to our ever growing database of giant petrel nests in South Georgia. The survey team will be here for another three weeks, heading for the south east end of South Georgia and filling in any gaps we've missed due to bad weather and our travel timetable.
Working in the field work, day after day, week after week, is a strange life. A world of Zodiac landings, painstaking ground-combing and data entry.
It's quite tough, sometimes tedious, sometimes against bad weather. And then sometimes you're required to walk a few miles in landscapes raw and magnificent under a clear sun and blue sky, searching for birds with the calm roar of the natural world of our planet pulling ever stronger. Many of the seemingly important things of my normal life have slipped away, lost in the focus of what we're doing and where we are.
Living aboard the 20 metre Golden Fleece for a month. The sea dominates. Constant motion, in constant change, the sea and the weather constantly define what we can and cannot do, where we can and cannot go. Living in close quarters, our team is life-enriching mix of biologists, sailors, adventurers and enthusiasts. We use three languages, share a mix of cultures and ideas, have learned much about each other and our interests.
But South Georgia has been our focus. It is an incredibly wild, rugged place, seemingly a true wilderness. But conserving South Georgia is not so simple as that may imply. There are areas that really are pristine planet. Others have been grazed by introduced reindeer, infested by rats and mice. There are places deep with the history and impacts of whaling industry; the sealers too have left their mark.
Today, the tourist ships bring visitors, raising both revenue and interest in the island. And of course it's the vital nesting place for many thousands, for hundreds of thousands and even millions of sea birds, as well as some rare land birds like the South Georgia pintails and pipits.
There clearly is a good understanding of the importance of looking after this amazing and far flung overseas territory of the United Kingdom. Our discovery of rats along the colonies of burrow nesting petrels and prions at Saddle Island has already met with an encouraging initial concern from the authorities, who have immediately recognised its high priority.
Effective resourcing for conservation however is particularly difficult in a remote island without permanent inhabitants. And clear, perhaps bold decisions need to be made and shared by a variety of experts and interests to develop appropriate nature conservation plans alongside the other interests of the island.
I'm one of the lucky few to have seen albatrosses and petrels soaring the waves, remote at sea and giant at hand on their nests. These massive, impressive birds are among the Earth's most amazing wildlife: something we surely have no option but to safeguard and treasure, on land and at sea.
And if I never see another fur seal in my life, I won't be disappointed.
My thanks to Sally Poncet and South Georgia Surveys for inviting me to join the 2006/7 ACAP South Georgia Petrel Survey; to skipper Dion Poncet and the crew of Golden Fleece for safe passage and exceptional efforts in looking after us; and to the other members of the survey team for their friendship and inspiration.