Watson Peninsula is a narrow

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

long separating

Macdougal Macdougal, foaled 1953, was a New Zealand thoroughbred racehorse. In November 1959 he won the Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse. He was ridden by Pat Glennon and carried a weight of 8-11 (123 pounds). Macdougal started at odds of 8/1 in ...

and

Marr Bay Marr Bay () is a bay lying between Cape Valavielle and Fraser Point along the north coast of Laurie Island, in the South Orkney Islands off Antarctica. It was mapped in 1903 by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition under William Speirs Bruce, ...

s on the north 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 ...

, in 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 was charted in 1903 by the

Scottish National Antarctic Expedition The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (SNAE), 1902–1904, was organised and led by William Speirs Bruce, a natural scientist and former medical student from the University of Edinburgh. Although overshadowed in terms of prestige by Robe ...

under Bruce, who named it for G.L. Watson, yacht designer and redesigner of the expedition ship ''Scotia''.

Important Bird Area

The peninsula has been identified 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. Other birds nesting at the site include Adélie and

gentoo penguin The gentoo penguin ( ) (''Pygoscelis papua'') is a penguin species (or possibly a species complex) in the genus ''Pygoscelis'', most closely related to the Adélie penguin (''P. adeliae'') and the chinstrap penguin (''P. antarcticus''). The ear ...

s as well as

southern giant petrel The southern giant petrel (''Macronectes giganteus''), also known as the Antarctic giant petrel, giant fulmar, stinker, and stinkpot, is a large seabird of the southern oceans. Its distribution overlaps broadly with the similar northern giant pet ...

References

Laurie Island Peninsulas of the South Orkney Islands Important Bird Areas of Antarctica Seabird colonies Penguin colonies {{SouthOrkneys-geo-stub