Inspite of a wee hangover after last night I volunteered to go out and do fieldwork rather than stay and do lab work. I got the task of Polar Bear lookout whilst Eleanor (one of the Research students) Wendy, Carla and Jo were counting and documenting tundra plants. If it were not 3 degrees below it would have been a great job. Even so it was good to be out and I saw another Bald Eagle and thankfully no bears.
After lunch I teamed up with Peter, Keith, Gray and Wendy to do a GPR (radar) survey of a burnt forest area around 15km inland from the centre. It was absolutely beautiful, warmer (around zero), the sun shining on a thin blanket of snow. It turned out to be the most frustrating afternoon for Peter because the radar wouldn't work (it had got wet in the morning). The rest of us hung around and chatted and had a lovely afternoon. On the way back we saw a 'Pre-Dorset Inuit site'. Don't ask me what 'Pre-Dorset' means... but it's definitely a very long time ago. And we saw wolf tracks and three caribou out across the fen.
Peter Kershaw, our esteemed leader and Gray Russell with wolf tracks
Volunteers: Wendy Sanger and Keith Roebuck
In a few minutes we have another Polar Bear presentation, this time from Evan, another researcher. He's a really nice unassuming guy who looks about 17 and spends his life hanging out of helicopters shooting darts into Polar Bears. Some people do have really boring jobs don't they...
And, just in case I haven't mentioned him before... Hello to Leo, tall handsome Brazilian guy. I'll make sure I add a photo of him soon.