Spring has sprung

And the animals are returning to the island for the breeding season. This is really exciting as we've been able to watch a few male elephant seals having fairly large fights as they jockey for position. Apparently the larger ones - the beach masters - are still to arrive.

We've also had the penguins starting to turn up and make their nests - right next to work! On Monday morning there were about 5 penguins and by the afternoon there this many:

They're so cute to watch waddling around and chasing each other off their prime piece of real estate. Many more will be turning up shortly and the first elephant seal pups will be born over the next couple of weeks.