Shingle Cove is a small, sheltered cove in the north-west corner of
Iceberg Bay, several kilometres east of
Cape Hansen, on the south coast of
Coronation Island, in the
South Orkney Islands
The South Orkney Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands, islands in the Southern Ocean, about north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula[Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...]
. The nearest research station is the British
Signy, about 1.5 km south-west of Cape Hansen.
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]
Discovery and naming
The cove was first surveyed by DI personnel in 1933. The name, applied by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey
The Falkland Islands and Dependencies Aerial Survey Expedition (FIDASE) was an aerial survey of the Falkland Islands Dependencies
The Falkland Islands Dependencies was the constitutional arrangement from 1843 until 1985 for administering the v ...
(FIDS) following their survey of 1948–49, arose from the fine shingle on the landing beach on the south shore of the cove.
Important Bird Area
A 34 ha site comprising the ice-free area south-west and adjacent to the cove has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports a colony of about 13,000 Adélie penguins, with another 3,000 pairs within the cove. Other birds recorded as breeding at the site include Cape and snow petrel
The snow petrel (''Pagodroma nivea'') is the only member of the genus ''Pagodroma.'' It is one of only three birds that have been seen at the Geographic South Pole, along with the Antarctic petrel and the south polar skua, which has the most s ...
s, skuas and snowy sheathbills.
References
Important Bird Areas of Antarctica
Penguin colonies
Coves of Antarctica
Seabird colonies
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