The Land of the Long White Cloud 5 - Cetaceans

The Kaikoura Peninsula from which whalers once launched. Now a different sort of whale-spoters work nearby.

They are still looking for that famous lop-sided blow of the sperm whale,

A huge male (bull) sperm whale comes to the surface to replenish his oxygen supply - accompanied by a fur seal

Close-up of the whale-friendly seal

Whale-watching vessel stalks whale - the dorsal bump of the whale to the left and blow-hole to the right.

More than one way to watch whales here

And here is another

Going down!

Another cetacean - the dusky dolphin

View from the coastal road

The land of the long white cloud 4 - seabirds

A wandering albatross

Seabirds seen off Kaikoura.

A juvenile giant petrel 

Wandering albatross meets juvenile giant petrel (larger dark bird with huge beak) and  some Cape pigeons

A New Zealand white-capped mollymawk (a species of albatross native to New Zealand)

Cape pigeon in flight (a petrel species)

The Land of the Long White Cloud 3 - Fur seals

Fur seals on the rocks

 Jusr north of Kaikoura is a place just off the coastal road where the New Zealand fur seals haul-out - and right now is pupping town. The site is very noisy. There seems to be much squabbling going on, but amongst all the drama are the sharp-nosed, big-eyed pups with their mums close by.

A small altercation between a female and a much larger male.

Slick from the sea.

Giant kelp surrounds the haul-out

Mother and pup

Pup and 'dad'

Pup sitting on pieces of broken kelp (perfect camouflage)

Before the whalers started there trade on these New Zealand shores there were sealers. The fur seals were taken for their pelts - which are famed for having two sorts of hair, long and short as visible in some of these pictures) - and their oil. The New Zealand fur seal was pushed to the edge of extinction but has now recovered well. As you drive toards the viewing-point for this colony a sign warns of fur seals on the road.

Land of the Long White Cloud 2 - the Wildlife of Akaroa Bay

 What can you see in Akaroa Bay on one sunny morning? (This is the first day of Summer here by the way.)
Well....

White-fronted tern

Spotted Shag

Spotted shags on the roost with young

Mid-Bay

Young spotted shags paying careful attention

Entrance to the Bay (a southerly blowing)

A New Zealand furseal

Hector's dolphins

Blue Penguins

Pied Shag

Young Pieds

Land of the Long White Cloud 1

As you probably know the blog is entitled Somewhere Far Away. Sometimes I think this is a philosophical statement (as in somewhere far away from the norms of society) but mainly it is because I often find myself far from home. Today I am about as far away as I could possibly be: South Island, New Zealand.

Here are a few images from around Bank's Peninsula.

View from the Scenic Drive along the edge of the old volcano looking towards Akaroa (the Long Bay)

Large adjacent bird of prey: Marsh or Australasian Harrier (an endemic species)

White-faced heron

Here be an old 'Tri Pot' (used for boiling whale blubber to recover the oil therein) because we are again on the trail of the whalers here in Bank's Peninsula.

Plate on tripot reads: Whaling Tripot used by Capt. Hempleman Peake 1835

The whalers came here in the 1800s looking for the liquid gold that the whales contained and they also found a green and pleasant land where many aspired to live. 

In 1838, Jean Langlois, the captain of the French whaling ship Cachalot attempted to buy Bank's Peninsula from the local Maori Chief. He returned to France and arranged for a group of colonists to be shipped across the world. But by the time that they arrived in 1840, accompanied by a French naval vessel, the treaty of Waitangi had been signed and New Zealand was already a British Colony. 

Today people flock to Akaroa to interact with cetaceans rather differently - plate on side of boat reads Swimming with Dolphins'

Congratulations Dr de Boer

My old friend, co-author and long-term collaborator, Marijke de Boer, survived her PhD viva last week at the University of Wageningen and emerged as Dr de Boer.

The whole event is online; so if you want to see how a formal viva at a Dutch University is conducted, including many interesting question of a variety of degrees of relevance click HERE

Marijke presents her work flanked by her paranymphs

The review panel including the University's Rector Magnificus process from the room

Marijke's thesis consists of 8 published papers. 4 come from her work with WDC over the years and 2 of these concern studies made on Bardsey Island. It is entitled: 'Elusive Marine Mammals Explored - Charting under-recorded areas to study the abundance and distribution of cetaceans using Multi-Method approaches and Platforms of Opportunity'.

Well done Marijke and thanks in particular for taking the Bardsey work to fruition. .

The Cat Graffiti of Tangier

There are many rangy cats (and quite a few equally rangy and large-eared dogs) roaming the back streets of the Kazbar. They seem mainly well cared for and curiously - they have been recognised in some small artistic wall decorations.

And here is the real thing - enjoying some November sunshine