2000 Miles from Anywhere...: Base Life

I’m going for a change of pace today; this post isn’t about birds. Instead I thought I’d write about the other invasive mammal on the island besides mice… humans!

There is a long history of people visiting Gough since its discovery in the 16^th century. From then on, a wide variety of people have come to Gough for all sorts of reasons, from exploration and scientific discovery to hunting seals, fishing and even a few failed attempts at harvesting diamonds and seabird guano. The first extensive modern research programme however, took place between November 1955 and May 1956. This intrepid group of eight men completed the first detailed study of Gough’s geology and wildlife, as well as setting up the Meteorological Station. Fieldwork on Gough is hard enough with well-trodden paths (well, sort of), modern GPSs and all the mod-cons and relative comfort that the Base now has to offer; I can only imagine how tough this team had it back then. It was all worthwhile though, their hard work laid the foundations for every team since, of which we are the 62nd.

The first scientific expedition to Gough (David Kinchin-Smith)

There are 9 of us on the island this year, 7 South Africans and the two of us from Britain. Myself and David are here to continue the biological research and the ongoing attempts to eradicate Sagina procumbens from the island. With us are a team of 3 meteorologists who will take weather measurements day and night for every day of our stay here. The rest of the team is made up of the technical team (medic, radio technical, diesel mechanic and electrician), who keep us and the Base in good working order. Between us all we represent a remarkable mix of ages, colours, cultures and languages, which has certainly been an experience. There have been some tense moments, mostly revolving around the South Africans peculiar ideas about what constitutes a flapjack, and what is a pancake. Mostly though we get along well and Base life is enjoyable. We divide cooking and cleaning duties equally; the Base gets a good clean every Monday morning and one person cooks for the rest of the team each day. Dinner is served at 7, when the whole team gathers together around the dining room table. There’s a big projector in the living room, so the Gough cinema is open for business every Wednesday evening. Being English and wildlife lovers, we’ve also started hosting a weekly David Attenborough documentary. We even have a bar, complete with pool table, table tennis and flat screen TV (although weirdly, completely devoid of bottle opener or corkscrew). We’ve had some great parties to celebrate birthdays, and it’s a nice spot to relax, listen to music and play games when the weathers too bad to be out doing fieldwork. Monopoly, Backgammon and Settlers of Catan have all been battled through. We’ve even introduced the team to Blob, a card game created on the Farne Islands, where myself and David learnt our trade.

Enjoying my first Gough birthday (David Kinchin-Smith)

Enjoying some well earned time off (Em Witcutt)

Sometimes other team members take time out of their work to help us with ours. This is a great excuse to get out and explore the island, and get up close and personal with its inhabitants. We’ve had volunteers tackle the path up to Gonydale to help us monitor the Tristan Albatrosses, and others come out to help us to weigh penguins and seals.