Cape Whitson, is a

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John ...

on the south coast of

Laurie Island Laurie Island is the second largest of the South Orkney Islands. The island is claimed by both Argentina as part of Argentine Antarctica, and the United Kingdom as part of the British Antarctic Territory. However, under the Antarctic Treaty Sy ...

, the easternmost and second largest of the

South Orkney Islands The South Orkney Islands are a group of 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, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

. It lies about 9 km south-east of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

’s

Orcadas Base ) , subdivision_type4 = Location , subdivision_name4 = Laurie Island , established_title1 = Established , established_date1 = 1903 , established_title2 = Founded , established_date2 = , elevation_m ...

. It is named after Sir

Thomas Barnby Whitson Sir Thomas Barnby Whitson FRSE DL EZS LLD (10 March 1869 – 1 October 1948) was a Scottish chartered accountant who served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh The Right Honourable Lord Provost of Edinburgh is the convener of the City of Edinburgh ...

Lord Provost of Edinburgh The Right Honourable Lord Provost of Edinburgh is the convener of the City of Edinburgh local authority, who is elected by City_of_Edinburgh_Council, the city council and serves not only as the chair of that body, but as a figurehead for the e ...

at the time of its full mapping in the 1930s by the Edinburgh map-makers J.G.Bartholomew & Sons.

Important Bird Area

Cape Whitson has been identified as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because it supports a large breeding colony of about 13,000 pairs of chinstrap penguins. The 54 ha IBA comprises the ice-free land of the cape, extending for 1.5 km between Aitken Cove and

Methuen Cove Methuen Cove () is a cove between Cape Anderson and Cape Whitson on the south coast of Laurie Island, in the South Orkney Islands off Antarctica. It was charted in 1903 by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition under William Speirs Bruce Wi ...

. It has an elevation of less than 250 m.

References

Laurie Island Important Bird Areas of Antarctica Penguin colonies

Whitson Whitson is a village on the outskirts of the city of Newport, South Wales. It is located about south east of Newport city centre on the Caldicot Levels, a large area of coastal land reclaimed from the sea. Administratively, Whitson is part of ...

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