Salisbury Plain, South Georgia

A colony of up to 60,000 King penguins on Salisbury Plain

Salisbury Plain is a broad coastal plain indented by the Bay of Isles on the north coast of South Georgia. It lies between the mouths of Grace and Lucas glaciers on the southern coast of the bay, with Mount Ashley rising to the south of it.

The plain is south-east of Start Point.

This plain is best known as the breeding site for as many as 60,000 King penguins, its beaches are also covered with many Southern elephant seals and Antarctic fur seals.

American ornithologist Robert Cushman Murphy made the first detailed study of the birds in the area in 1912–13. He named nearby Grace Glacier after his wife.

The name appears to have been first used on a 1931 British Admiralty chart, after the plain was charted by Discovery Investigations in 1929-30: it is named after Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire; the latter not known these days for penguins nor seals nor glaciers.

Location

• Location map: 54°3’24"S, 37°20’33"W

References

• Gazetteer and Map of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands: Salisbury Plain