Brits sent to count penguins for £46 a day as part of 'world's most remote job'

The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) is sending 2 "resilient" teams 9,000 miles southbound to negociate a basal astatine Port Lockroy connected Goudier Island and to Blaiklock Island Refuge successful Antarctica

A British squad is acceptable to embark connected a five-month ngo successful Antarctica, wherever they volition beryllium counting penguins and carrying retired conservation work.

The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) is sending 2 "resilient" teams 9,000 miles southbound to negociate a basal astatine Port Lockroy connected Goudier Island and to Blaiklock Island Refuge successful Antarctica. The squad volition depart successful October and volition beryllium stationed astatine Goudier Island for 5 months. Their duties volition see managing the world's southernmost post bureau and depository and monitoring implicit 1,000 gentoo penguins by counting nests, eggs and chicks.

The newest recruits volition beryllium surviving and moving connected an land the size of a shot pitch, with adjacent changeless daylight and sub-zero temperatures. They volition person to accommodate to beingness without moving h2o oregon a flushing toilet.

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Each subordinate volition beryllium allowed to bring conscionable 1 tiny container of location comforts, including their favourite games, books, photos and treats. The squad includes Lou Hoskin, who volition beryllium the basal leader, Maggie Coll, who volition enactment arsenic a wildlife monitor, and George Clarke, who volition tally the station bureau portion Aoife McKenna volition negociate the depository and Dale Ellis volition beryllium successful complaint of the shop.

The squad has already undergone extended training, including a speech from a penguin-ologist.

When the jobs were advertised successful March this year, it was said that the disposable positions up for grabs were wide assistant, store manager and basal leader, with salaries ranging from £1,375 to £1,985 per month. Applicants were warned they'd person to beryllium prepared to stock a country with 5 different people, spell for extended periods of clip without telephone oregon net and up to 2 weeks without showering.

For the idiosyncratic connected the lowest salary, £1,375 works retired astatine conscionable nether £46 a day, if each of the 30 days successful a period they're astatine Port Lockroy is counted.

For the archetypal time, a radical of specializer conservators volition aboriginal question to Blaiklock Island Refuge, UKAHT's smallest and astir inaccessible site. The distant land was erstwhile portion of the Jones Ice Shelf that has since disappeared owed to clime change, truthful tin present lone beryllium reached by boat. Here the squad volition beryllium moving successful "inhospitable conditions" to implicit urgent repairs to marque the tract harmless and reconstruct its historical buildings.

Blaiklock Island is the past known illustration of a 1950s refuge utilized by scientists successful the Antarctic, truthful the squad volition besides catalogue artefacts and seizure integer footage of the site. The squad includes filmmaker Michael Duff, conservation carpenters Dale Perrin and Graham Gillie, and conservator Lizzie Meek.

"We person selected the team, not conscionable for their emotion for Antarctica and a tendency to sphere and support its quality history, but besides for their resilience too," said UKAHT CEO Camilla Nichol.

"We consciousness assured we've recovered radical with the specializer skills we request to effort our archetypal conservation play astatine Blaiklock Island Refuge this year.

"While the oversea crystal and water currents tin marque reaching this distant land precise challenging, it feels captious that we reconstruct it present truthful we don't suffer this small clip capsule forever. Our fundraising efforts are inactive successful afloat plaything for this season, truthful the nationalist tin assistance america marque this hap by donating what they tin it's hugely appreciated."

Port Lockroy and Blaiklock Island Refuge are 1 of the six practice sites managed by UKAHT, whose relation is to conserve British Antarctic practice connected the Antarctic Peninsula.