Mother and pup on the track to Grytviken – this pup is 2 months old the ones we were weighing mostly don’t have puppy fluff anymore and are a lot bigger!

The last pup weighing at Maiviken was today and we are all exhausted. We left base at 8am so that the rat team could fly in the afternoon as we needed a SAR team on station. However, it is too windy for flying so we could have done it later in the day. The pups are weighed 1,2 and 3 months after peak pupping so March 7th is the last one thank goodness. They are quite mammoth at the moment the largest weighing in at 19kg. We split into teams of 4 with two catchers on each team. Our team was RAAT – Rob, Andy, Ashley and Tommy. Andy and I were the catchers with Tommy getting the nerve up to catch 2 in the tussock. Each team was to catch 25 on the beach and 25 in the tussock. So I did the first 14 and then Andy did the remaining 11 on the beach.

They were very bitey and both of us have love bites to attest to the job (the above is on my arm). We went straight into the next 25 with me doing another 13 and Andy finishing off our 25. We had a bit of a break and the other 4 still had 20 to do so we helped out and did 10 more of theirs in the tussock. With Tommy catching 2 and Andy and I each doing another 4. I fell in a few smelly seal wallows and generally got battered so am looking for an easy afternoon at the desk. It is too windy to do the sonar work at the moment. Cloths are in the wash! We realised that only Alastair and I had done all three weighing sessions – enough for another year that is for sure!