Carcass Island and New Island, Falkland Islands
A beautiful, calm dawn in the Falkland Islands saw the Endeavour positioned a short distance off Leopard Beach, Carcass Island. After an early breakfast the hikers went ashore and enjoyed the wealth of wildlife to be found on the island. As a result of environmentally sensitive management the island remains free of introduced mammalian predators such as cats and rats. The resulting abundance of small birds, such as tussacbirds and the endemic Cobb’s wren, together with Magellanic penguins, peregrine falcons and johnny rooks, greatly enhanced the simple pleasure of the hike from the beach to the settlement. Here we joined the other guests enjoying the Falkands tea and hospitality of Rob McGill, owner of Carcass Island.
During lunch we repositioned to New Island, the most westerly of the Falkland Islands. We landed by Zodiac on the east coast and a short hike across the island and through a band of tussac grass brought us to the top of exposed cliffs open to the South Atlantic Ocean. Here we found a vibrant mixed seabird colony. Downy black-browed albatross chicks sat upon mud pedestal nests, surrounded by raucous rockhopper penguins, awaiting the next meal of regurgitated fish chowder from visiting parents (pictured). Many of the rockies were undergoing their annual post-breeding catastrophic moult, in which all feathers are lost and replaced in a three week period during which time the birds are restricted to land.
In early evening we departed New Island and headed west, bound for Punta Arenas and the end of an extraordinary adventure.
A beautiful, calm dawn in the Falkland Islands saw the Endeavour positioned a short distance off Leopard Beach, Carcass Island. After an early breakfast the hikers went ashore and enjoyed the wealth of wildlife to be found on the island. As a result of environmentally sensitive management the island remains free of introduced mammalian predators such as cats and rats. The resulting abundance of small birds, such as tussacbirds and the endemic Cobb’s wren, together with Magellanic penguins, peregrine falcons and johnny rooks, greatly enhanced the simple pleasure of the hike from the beach to the settlement. Here we joined the other guests enjoying the Falkands tea and hospitality of Rob McGill, owner of Carcass Island.
During lunch we repositioned to New Island, the most westerly of the Falkland Islands. We landed by Zodiac on the east coast and a short hike across the island and through a band of tussac grass brought us to the top of exposed cliffs open to the South Atlantic Ocean. Here we found a vibrant mixed seabird colony. Downy black-browed albatross chicks sat upon mud pedestal nests, surrounded by raucous rockhopper penguins, awaiting the next meal of regurgitated fish chowder from visiting parents (pictured). Many of the rockies were undergoing their annual post-breeding catastrophic moult, in which all feathers are lost and replaced in a three week period during which time the birds are restricted to land.
In early evening we departed New Island and headed west, bound for Punta Arenas and the end of an extraordinary adventure.
