Category Archives: Military Activity

pigeon guillemots took to the water with the first blast and did not return

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Friday, April 19, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 12.3 ºC »» Min. 6.1 ºC »» Reset 9.0 ºC
MARINE LIFE:2 mature bald eagles again today, one arrived after 14:00. Still 3 geese, the one, is definitely an un-welcomed interloper as far as the pair are concerned. There have been several noisey,feather ruffling encounters but no injuries and the ‘loner’ is very persistent!
HUMAN INTERACTION: 5 pleasure craft and 2 ecotour boats today. 2nd Nature – student class about 2 hours. Another day of D.N.D. blasting and again most affected were the birds.The pigeon Guillemots took to the water with the first blast and did not return for the rest of the day.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:04 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy »» Vis 12 Miles »» Wind West 17Knots »» Sea 2 – 3 Foot Chop
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:30 AM

ammunition detonations at the D.N.D. site

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Thursday, April 18, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 11.5 ºC »» Min. 5.7 ºC »» Reset 8.5 ºC »» No Rain :o)
MARINE LIFE: 2 mature bald eagles today, which spent the day flying between North and Southeast Rocks. Constantly on the alert because of the eagles, the birds were further upset by the ammunition detonations at the D.N.D. site.There were 4 sets of 3 blasts, with 2 minutes between each blast.Although there are not many sealions hauled out at this time of the year they were disturbed to the extent that 6 went into the water. The birds take flight with each blast. The more energy they expend, the more food they require and they are coming into breeding season now, putting a greater demand on the birds energy requirements.There were 3 geese today,1 pair and a loner that follows the pair around the island, wonder what happened to the 4th goose?
HUMAN INTERACTION: 2nd Nature in twice, station boat 2 return trips to Pedder Bay. 2nd Nature went out to pleasure craft to advise fishers of the ‘no fishing’ guidelines in the reserve.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:33 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind West 3 Knots »» Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:59 AM

Sealions disturbed by DND blasting

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Thursday, January 24, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 8.9C Min. 5.9C  Reset 5.9C  Rain 8.2 mm
MARINE LIFE: Today we monitored the scheduled detonations at the D.N.D. site on Bentinck Island. There were three sets of blasts,each consisting of two detonations separated by about 2 minutes.The first blast at 10:54 sent the gulls,cormorants into the air and alerted the sealions hauled out on the middle rock.About 20 animals moved towards the water then the second blast went off and caused a stampede of all the hauled out sealions. The birds as usual settled back down in a minute or two. Very gradually a few at a time, 10-15 sealions returned to the haul out areas.The Elephant Seals raised their heads and looked around but did not move away.The Second set of blasts at 11:53 and 11:55 cleared Middle Rock of sealions and also sent 40-45 Harbour Seals hauled out on the western slopes of the Southeast Rocks scrambling into the water. The Last 2 blasts( 12:48 and 12:50 ) sent the 5 sealions that hauled out again about 20 minutes after the 11:55, back into the water. Do not know the size of the detonations but they shook the cameras and most of the pictures on the walls.There are more blasts scheduled for tomorrow.There were 7 Bald Eagles – 4 mature.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:21 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Overcast �� Vis. 15 Miles �� Wind South West 17 Knots �� Sea 2 Foot Chop – Low West Swell
posted by Carol or Mike S at 8:13 AM

Blasting continues

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Friday, January 18, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 5.7C  Min. 3.8C  Reset 4.7C  Rain 3.6 mm
MARINE LIFE: At 8:30 there were only 75-80 sealions hauled out on middle rock, not all the animals have returned since the blasting yesterday.The first blast at 9:58 alerted all the sealions and 20-25 went into the water,the second blast 2-3 minutes later sent all but 6 animals scrambling into the sea.The last blast at approx. 10:25 sent 12 of the 20 sealions that had hauled out after the 10:01 blast, back into the water.There will be blasting exercises again next week on the 24th and 25th.There were 11 (7 mature ) Bald Eagles today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:03 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER : Sky Overcast Vis. 15 Miles Very Light Rain Wind North 8 Knots Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 8:07 AM

Blasting disturbs birds and sealions

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Thursday, January 17, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 6.1C  Min. 2.7C Reset 4.7C
MARINE LIFE:At 8:30 there were 150-170 Sealions, 2 large bull and 1 smaller Elephant Seals on Middle rock. With the first blast at 11:10 the gulls and cormorants took flight, most of the sealions were alerted and some went into the water. When the second blast went off 2 minutes after the first, the sealions scrambled over each other in a rush to get to the water.The elephant seals although alerted (raised their heads and looked around ) did not move off their spots. With each blast the eagles,gulls and cormorants all took flight but within 1 or 2 minutes settled back down. During the hour between blast series 10 to 15 sealions hauled out again but appeared to be somewhat ‘edgy’ and were much quicker to move into the water when the blasting occured again.There were 14-7 mature Bald Eagles in the M.P.A. today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:11 PM
The smoke, some of it coloured that can be seen at times in camera one is coming from the D.N.D. property,there may at times be blasting sounds. These exercises will continue until friday afternoon.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 9:53 AM

DND Blasting

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Thursday, November 22, 2001
Good evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.5ºC — Min 7.8ºC — Reset 8.7ºC — Rain 12.8 mm
MARINE LIFE: A typical November day weather wise however the Military detonation exercises on Bentinck Island were particularly disturbing for the Harbour Seals and Sea Lions. Once the blasting was done for the day the animals were still quite nervous and in fact when a Cuda Marine Whale Watching boat went by one rock(15:15-15:30) with approximately 120 sea lions hauled out over half of them stampeded into the water!
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:11 PM
Good morning
WEATHER: Sky overcast — Vis. 10 miles — Rain — Wind north 21 knots — Sea 4 foot moderate — Low north east swell
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:24 AM

No blasting today– sealions return

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 Good morning
Sky overcast — Vis 15 — Wind west 9 knots — Sea rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:40 AM

After a quiet weekend (no blasting at D.N.D.) only 85 Sea Lions have returned to their usual haul-out areas.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 10:49 AM

The poor quality video from camera#1 and especially #3 is because of the sheets of rain driven by the 45-50knt. winds we are enjoying at this time! The visibility is very poor but looks like all but 8 or 9 sea lions have moved into the water, the aprox. 300 gulls are all huddled together in small groups facing into the westerly.13 Black Oyster Catchers are together in a small depression on the east side of Gr. Race in the shelter of the house.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 3:48 PM

DND blasting

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Good morning
Sky overcast — Vis. 15 miles — Wind south west 10 knots — Sea rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:12 AM
Friday, October 19, 2001
Good evening
Max 10.5ºC — Min 8.8ºC — Reset 9.9ºC Rain 2.4 mm — Sky cloudy until 11:45 than part cloudy
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:20 P
If you were watching camera #1 or #3 in the last few minutes you may wonder why the Sea Lions all rushed into the water,well the D.N.D. are preforming explosive exercises. Yesterday morning we counted 580 sea lions hauled out on the various islets but after three ‘blast ‘series fewer than 50 sea lions remained hauled out, by 2 p.m. when the blasting had ended for the day we counted only 9 sea lions hauled out on the rocks. This morning fewer than 100 sea lions had returned to the haul out areas. The first blast today at aprox. 10:28 alerted the animals and the second blast about 2 minutes later scared all but 23 into the water. Since the two blasts 10:51 and 10:53 only 17 animals are stilled hauled out!
posted by Carol or Mike S at 11:03 AM

History of the War Signal Station at Race Rocks

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This letter and pictures were received from Francis Clements of Calgary, Alberta. Francis tells of his posting to Race Rocks in 1939 when he was stationed with five other sailors at the “War Signal Station”. Our sincere thanks to Francis for this wonderful piece of history! Click on his pictures below.

fclementsletter