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Morrisons Value chocolate biscuits. The chocolate is so thin it's practically painted on :(
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Some supplies for the site office.
I knew the Digestives would be a bad idea, they were all gone by the end of the second day... and they'd only gone in one place. My mouth. Oh dear.
Final six uploads from the Svalbard trip. I thought the shots of the polar bear could be cropped more tightly, and so here they are.
Each time we tell folks of the trip, it sounds ever more magical and fantastic.
Which it was.
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I was awake at five, and could not get back to sleep, so got up to go to the lounge to have a coffee and found several packs of digestive biscuits out to dunk.
Outside, we were bobbing around ready to go back into the pack ice, but a change of plan meant we went down a fjord were there was the strong possibility of bears.
It is very hard to judge distance up here, what seemed like a mile must have been several more, and at the far end were four other ships, looking like toys as they were dwarfed by the mountains and glaciers around the bay.
We edged through the ice filling the bay, followed by a flock of Kittiwakes, who were waiting for the flows to be pushed aside and codling be left in the open, then they would swoop.
It took nearly two hours to make our way to the end of the bay, and in the lea of a large rock boulder, a mother Polar Bear was looking after her cub. And despite weighing three quarters of a ton, they two bears were never more than a few pixels in the viewfinder.
We drifted for an hour, maybe more, just watching the bears, a pod of Beluga Whales came by, all round the edge of the pack ice, surfacing with a short pout of water, they went back and forth for an hour too, never for than an inch or so out of the water, but that didn’t stop me taking dozens, possibly hundreds of shots.
Just before lunch, news came that we would be going out in the zodiacs for the afternoon, wrap up warm, we were warned.
After lunch we barded all the zodiacs, and we slowly made our way in large “s” bends nearer and nearer the cliff edge, where at the bottom as polar bear was sleeping off its lunch of walrus carcass. We tried to be quiet, but occasionally it looked up to see what was disturbing his post-lunch slumber.
We didn’t get too close, so he wasn’t spooked, and after each time looking up at us, he would stretch back down in the cool snow, yawn and go to sleep again. I guess we were 100m from him, and was amazing to see something that big and rare, so lucky we were.
After that, we cruised along the edge of bay, passed 5 glaciers what were silently flowing to the fjord. All around were birds, the same Kittiwakes, arctic turns, eiders, but best of all, the weather had calmed down so there was no wind, and we were treated to perfect reflections in the water as the sun came out.
One last visit to the bear and we made our way back to the ship, to be all back on board ready for dinner. Only two more bears were spotted about, about a mile off the port side, mating. Just as well they appeared as dots in my viewfinder. To add to the excitement, another pod of belugas appeared and then an arctic fox was seen in front of the ship, on the ice. And finally, a juvenile bear was spotted, running over the ice, jumping, hoping to find the breathing hole of a seal.
Phew.
After dinner, we sat in the lounge, looking at the sun high over the ice flows, a quarter to ten and still broad daylight, and would be all “night”, of course.
We sat in the lounge, me sipping a wee dram of Shackleton Whisky, named after the famed polar explorer, it seemed fitting. IN front of us, through the large windows was the bay and out to see, al full of pack ice, glinting in the late evening sunshine. It seemed other-worldly, but yet, here we are, and we had been out in the boats in it too, so it was of this world, but so out of our experiences, like something out of a David Attenborough documentary.
In front of the boat, an artic fox had been spotted, and behind another pod of beluga, while we watched a ring seal diving from one area of ice-free water to another. This must be an every day scene up here, but for us, it was magical.
So magical, that when the juvenile polar bear was spotted earlier, rather than run for my camera, I chose to stay and watch it through my eyes alone. It was distant, and others too shots aplenty, but it was this bear, running, jumping, swimming, all on the lookout for a late snack before the artic summer really kicks in. Because for the bear, summer is the lean times, when they overheat easily, and their usual hunting grounds on the ice have melted. So they sleep. For months.
IN the end, we saw at least seven polar bears on Monday, I said to Jools it would have made a fine climax to the trip, so to have on the last day, as the bears is what most of us wanted to see on the trip. But there is so much more, I guess what I will remember is the grand landscapes, the towering cliffs of granite, carved by ice and time, now home to tens of thousands of kittiwakes. And on days when there was no wind, the ice covered cliffs reflected in the icy waters, which were lined with ice flows. Birds wheel around, Fulmars follow the ship in hope of a free meal, and Kittiwakes swarm round the disturbed ice in the hope of grabbing a codling or two.
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The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a hypercarnivorous species of bear. Its native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean and its surrounding seas and landmasses, which includes the northernmost regions of North America and Eurasia. It is the largest extant bear species, as well as the largest extant land carnivore.[6][7] A boar (adult male) weighs around 350–700 kg (770–1,540 lb),[8] while a sow (adult female) is about half that size. Although it is the sister species of the brown bear,[9] it has evolved to occupy a narrower ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice and open water, and for hunting seals, which make up most of its diet.[10] Although most polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their time on the sea ice. Their scientific name means "maritime bear" and derives from this fact. Polar bears hunt their preferred food of seals from the edge of sea ice, often living off fat reserves when no sea ice is present. Because of their dependence on the sea ice, polar bears are classified as marine mammals.[11]
Because of expected habitat loss caused by climate change, the polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species. For decades, large-scale hunting raised international concern for the future of the species, but populations rebounded after controls and quotas began to take effect.[12] For thousands of years, the polar bear has been a key figure in the material, spiritual, and cultural life of circumpolar peoples, and polar bears remain important in their cultures. Historically, the polar bear has also been known as the "white bear".[13] It is sometimes referred to as the "nanook", based on the Inuit term nanuq
Constantine John Phipps was the first to describe the polar bear as a distinct species in 1774 in his report about his 1773 expedition towards the North Pole.[4][2] He chose the scientific name Ursus maritimus, the Latin for "maritime bear",[15] due to the animal's native habitat. The Inuit refer to the animal as nanook (transliterated as nanuq in the Inupiat language).[16][14] The Yupik also refer to the bear as nanuuk in Siberian Yupik.[17] In the Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages of Alyutor and Koryak, the name of the polar bear is umqa, while in the related Chukchi, it is umqə.[18] In Russian, it is usually called бе́лый медве́дь (bély medvéd', 'white bear'), though an older word still in use is ошку́й (Oshkúj, which comes from the Komi oski, "bear").[19] In Quebec, the polar bear is referred to by the french terms ours blanc ('white bear') or ours polaire ('polar bear').[20] In Norwegian, one of the primary languages of the Svalbard archipelago,[21] the polar bear is referred to as isbjørn ('ice bear') or kvitbjørn ('white bear').[22]
The polar bear was previously considered to be in its own genus, Thalarctos.[23] However, evidence of hybrids between polar bears and brown bears, and of the recent evolutionary divergence of the two species, does not support the establishment of this separate genus, and the accepted scientific name is now therefore Ursus maritimus, as Phipps originally proposed
The polar bear is found in the Arctic Circle and adjacent land masses as far south as Newfoundland. Due to the absence of human development in its remote habitat, it retains more of its original range than any other extant carnivore.[40] While they are rare north of 88°, there is evidence that they range all the way across the Arctic, and as far south as James Bay in Canada. Their southernmost range is near the boundary between the subarctic and humid continental climate zones. They can occasionally drift widely with the sea ice, and there have been anecdotal sightings as far south as Berlevåg on the Norwegian mainland and the Kuril Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk. It is difficult to estimate a global population of polar bears as much of the range has been poorly studied; however, biologists use a working estimate of about 20–25,000 or 22–31,000 polar bears worldwide.[2][41][42]
With the discovery of a southeast Greenland population in 2022,[43][44] there are 20 generally recognized, discrete subpopulations of polar bears.[41][45] The subpopulations display seasonal fidelity to particular areas, but DNA studies show that they are not reproductively isolated.[39] The 14 North American subpopulations range from the Beaufort Sea south to Hudson Bay and east to eastern Greenland and account for about 54% of the global population
The usual range includes the territory of five nations: Denmark (Greenland), Norway (Svalbard), Russia, the United States (Alaska) and Canada. These five nations are the signatories of the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, which mandates cooperation on research and conservation efforts throughout the polar bear's range.[47] Bears sometimes swim to Iceland from Greenland—about 600 sightings since the country's settlement in the 9th century, and five in the 21st century as of 2016—and are always killed because of their danger, as well as the cost and difficulty of repatriation.[48]
Modern methods of tracking polar bear populations have been implemented only since the mid-1980s, and are expensive to perform consistently over a large area. The most accurate counts require flying a helicopter in the Arctic climate to find polar bears, shooting a tranquilizer dart at the bear to sedate it, and then tagging the bear. In Nunavut, some Inuit have reported increases in bear sightings around human settlements in recent years, leading to a belief that populations are increasing. Scientists have responded by noting that hungry bears may be congregating around human settlements, leading to the illusion that populations are higher than they actually are.[49] The Polar Bear Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission takes the position that "estimates of subpopulation size or sustainable harvest levels should not be made solely on the basis of traditional ecological knowledge without supporting scientific studies."[50]
Of the 19 polar bear subpopulations recognized in 2017, one was in decline, two were increasing, seven were stable, and nine had insufficient data.
Digestive CARE™ is a medical Group of 52 Broward and Palm Beach County gastroenterologists dedicated to providing state-of-the-art, efficient and high quality medical care. Our commitment is to ensure the South Florida Community receives the ultimate access to a broad range of high-quality gastroenterology services including diagnostics and treatments. Dedicated to excellence in gastroenterology care, we are sure you’ll find that our Digestive CARE™ physicians are among the very best in Florida.
Digestive CARE™ is a medical Group of 52 Broward and Palm Beach County gastroenterologists dedicated to providing state-of-the-art, efficient and high quality medical care. Our commitment is to ensure the South Florida Community receives the ultimate access to a broad range of high-quality gastroenterology services including diagnostics and treatments. Dedicated to excellence in gastroenterology care, we are sure you’ll find that our Digestive CARE™ physicians are among the very best in Florida.
Pregnancy And Diarrhea seem to be a common occurrence for many. This is a digestive problem and it happens frequently when one is pregnant. The reason for Pregnancy And Diarrhea is because of the shift in the hormone levels, stress and a change in diet. Pregnant women have to face this discomfort on and off.