Winter Whiteness

On the snow or flying above, white bodies of heavenly beauty living in the arctic territories:

The arctic fox Vulpes lagopus in winter

The tundra swan, Cygnus columbianus

Polar bear Ursus maritimus and cubs

The arctic ermine, Mustela erminea

A snow owl Bubo scandiacus in low flight

Arctic hares, Lepus arcticus

The rock Ptarmigan Lagopus muta in winter

The artic Tern, Sterna paradisaea

A baby harp seal, Pagophilus groenlandicus

Or even...

A snow cat :)

Villa las Estrellas, an hamlet in Antarctica

King George Island, Antarctica
Population ~1200


Villa las Estrellas

At 62°12′ S, 58°53′ W, this is the only town in Antarctica's South Shetland Islands. It is integrated in Chilean Eduardo Frei Base, a scientific (meteorology) - military (air base) station on King George Island, Filde Peninsula.


It is one of only two civilian permanent settlements on Antarctica (the other being Argentina's Esperanza Base). It has a summer population of 150 and 50-80 in winter - the most populated town of Antarctica ! The average temperature is - 5ºC. Winter (June , July and August) is mostly dark antarctic night, with only 4-5 h of sun light, but in summer there is no real night - just twilight. The longest day is the 25th December, when the sun rises at 3:00 and sets at 22:51.

Villa Las Estrellas was founded in 1984.

The hamlet has 20 prefabricated modules, 14 are family residences. It´s an incredible place, where you can find everything in well equiped small warm spaces.


Bank, post, hospital, school, kindergarten, hostel, gym, store/market, local shop, church:

The catholic church of Las Estrellas: a large metallic container. The local gym, the red-and-white hangar at right, where locals practise cycling, games, athletics...

There is an aerodrome providing the settlement and other Antarctica bases with several connections, with some 200 flights each season.

A chilean Hercules approaching the base, passed over the Trinity Church of neighbour Bellinghausen station.

Vila Las Estrellas and Eduardo Frei Base, showing the hospital, school, church and hostel (clic for a better view).

The local 15 children youth study at F-50 School, a primary school staffed by two teachers.


There is a Hospital staffed with one doctor and a nurse:
The Post Office is also an attraction for tourists and philately enthusiasts that travel to the town to send postcards and letters with an Antarctic postmark.

Not always easy to reach, though...


For visitors, the small hostel "Polestar", a dormitory for up to 90 people:
The settlement is just some 200 m away from the russian Bellinghausen station I recently posted about.

Here you can see the territory, with the orthodox Trinity Church dominating in the far, over a hill: (clic for a better view)


Villa las Estrellas is one of the main ports of call of Antarctica cruises.

Southern Thule:a church in Bellinghausen, Antarctica

Bellinghausen Station is a Russian base in Antarctica, on a mostly ice-free peninsula of King George Island, where several other research stations are located. It normally houses around 25 people to a maximum of 50.

King George Island is probably the most populated region in Antarctica: Chilean, Polish, Argentinean, Brasilian, Peruvian, Chinese, Korean ... and Russian stations were built there for its natural conditions of easy access, natural harbours and relatively mild climate.

In recent years Bellinghausen station gained reputation as a trading post, with station members willing to swap or sell pins, flags clothing...

The average temperature around the station varies from -6.8°С to +1.1°С .

Coordinates : 62º 12' S, 58º 56' W

The Orthodox church of the Holy Trinity

Maybe the most remarkable feature of the station is now its Trinity Church - a small Russian Orthodox church which is the southernmost church in the world (though there is an ice-made igloo-like church, mostly unattended, some degrees more southerly) and the only permanently staffed church in Antarctica.

The church was opened in 2004 - shipped from Siberia in pieces and reassembled at the site. The interior is really well conceived and decorated, creating maybe the best place to feel cosy in all Antarctica!

This church was built in 2003 in the Altaï Mountains, in noble Altaï cedar and larch wood, the logs sealed with a special glue and reinforced with a structure of steel chains to resist strong horizontal guts and storms.

First taken to the port of Kaliningrad on five big trucks, in separated numbered parts, then on board the research vessel "Akademik Sergey Vavilov" to the southern continent in a long trip of more than two months.

Akademik Sergey Vavilov arriving in Bellinghausen

For half a century of scientific exploration of the ice continent, 64 russian polar explorers have found peace in the rocky ridges of Antarctica. Now there is a place to mourn them.

In 2007, the first and only until now wedding in Antarctica took place - the daughter of Russian polar explorer was married to a Chilean polar explorer from the next station.

Slowly, the temporary population of Antarctica stations is settling in a permanent way of living; also schools, hospitals, gyms and restaurants may help this change in a continent with an open future.

The arctic ermine - the dearest arctic creature!

Some time ago, I declared my admiration for the Arctic Tern as the most wonderful bird on the planet; now, I declare my sympathy for the Ermine, the most cute (though fearsome and deadly!) small mammal.

Ermines (Mustela erminea) live in the Arctic tundra of North America (Canadian high arctic), Greenland and Europe (Siberia). Their usual habitat: flat marshes, open spaces or rocky areas.

In the spring and summer they have brown to yellow-brown fur with paler or white fur on the belly and a black tip on the tail.

Ermine usually reach over 30 cm in length.

The head is triangular shaped with small round ears, small, bright eyes and long whiskers.

They grow white fur in the winter, but the tip of the tail remains black:

Ermine's black tail tip may draw any predator bird's attention and fool it into attacking the tail.

A small, white face pushes up through the snow, its black eyes gleaming brightly.

The ermine's flexible spine allows it to do the "marten run" in which the back is first arched, then extended.

Ermines are very territorial, and largely solitary animals.

Their life span is 4 to 7 years.

Elusive predators, ermines are cruel little killers for there preys mainly mice, lemmings, squirrels, small birds, but also rats and sometimes rabbits!

Ermine are largely nocturnal or crepuscular. Most of their preys are small rodents that live beneath the snow in winter. And in turn they are ferquent prey to wolves, foxes, cats and large birds.

A long time ago, during the Middle Ages, the fur of the white phase of the ermine was popular in clothing, and had a strong symbolic meaning of purity.

"Ermine" portrait of Elizabeth I by Nicholas Hilliard, 1585

Nowadays ermines are almost never used in clothing.

Ermines were also choosed to figure in some coats-of-arms, because of that purity symbolism.

Ermine in Chateau-Blois window

Ermines are neither threatened or endangered. The world population is some trillions !