Falklands Conservation

NEWS DIGEST 11

From Falklands Conservation Newsletter 39 & 40, Stanley

June 1999

Management Plan for Cape Pembroke

The Management Plan for Cape Pembroke, prepared by Falklands Conservation and the Environment Planning Department, will shortly be available for comment. The need for a co-ordinated management policy for Cape Pembroke has been evident for some time in order to ensure protection of the site's important features whilst retaining traditional use of the area by Stanley residents and other visitors. Amongst the more obvious problems (or conflicts in some cases) are sand extraction from the Yorke Bay sand dunes versus landscape value, tourism at Gypsy Cove versus breeding Jackass penguins, and vehicles versus Sea Lions (and Tussac grass) at the Lighthouse. Cape Pembroke is a tremendous asset for all who live in the Falklands and for visitors to the Islands. But it could be better - and this Plan is an attempt to secure both protection and improvements in the future.

New Support for Conservation from Local Businesses

In response to a recent fundraising appeal to raise sponsorship for the work of Falklands Conservation from businesses within the Falkland Islands, Fortuna Ltd (a company wholly owned by Falkland Islanders involved in all major fisheries around the Islands) has recently agreed to help our annual Seabird Monitoring Programme with a generous and welcome donation of £5,000. This aspect of our work, which is essentially to monitor links between seabird populations and fisheries has to date been funded entirely by the Falkland Islands Government. We are also pleased to announced financial support from Cable and Wireless Falkland Islands with a donation towards the costs of our publications. Falkland Conservation's long term aim is to reduce our dependency on the Falklands Government for the cost of running the office and carrying out our regular field projects. We are actively seeking additional sponsorships from other companies both local and overseas.

Farewell to Conservation Officer, Jeremy Smith

Jeremy Smith, whose involvement with Falklands Conservation goes back to the 1994/95 field season, and who has made an enormous contribution to our achievements and development over the past few years, is leaving us at the end of June. In his valedictory address he looks back over past successes and challenges for the future:

"In terms of influence Falklands Conservation is now a lead player in the environmental debate within the Falklands and plays an active role on both the Environment Committee and the Falklands Environment forum. Internationally we are working hard to raise the profile of conservation issues in the Falklands, and a measure of the importance of this aspect of our work is the ever improving relationships we have with international conservation bodies such as the RSPB and BirdLife International.

Without doubt, the Oil Issue has dominated the past few years. In the early days we all learnt a great deal very quickly, but equally quickly we were able to apply the results of that learning to the establishment of a programme of research and environmental monitoring related to those developments. However, other issues have also been important, and not least amongst these have been the recently completed Johnny Rook Survey, the development of new conservation legislation for the Falklands, the launch of our Native Plant Survey and the very successful work toward the designation of Ramsar sites in the Islands. Many of these issues will remain on the agenda in the future, but other challenges will include the potential impacts of agricultural diversification, the possible expansion of tourism, and the contributing to international issues such as applying the Convention on Biological Diversity to the Falklands. "

Rebecca Ingham has been appointed Conservation Officer from 1st July 1999 whose current role of Field/Science Officer will be taken up by Dr Andrea Clausen.

Bird Sightings

There has been a run of reports of Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis) which is normal for this time of year. Many thanks to everyone who called in saying "There's a strange white bird in my garden and it doesn't look very well".

We have also had several sightings of Fire-eyed Diucon (Pyrope pyrope) both in Stanley and on West Falkland. This is a slightly larger and darker bird than the Dark-faced Ground Tyrant and, as the name suggests, has a conspicuously crimson or organdie iris. (Woods 1988).

Both Milly Grant and John Stephenson report seeing Violet-eared Doves (Zenaida auriculata) around Stanley and Moody Brook. These are fairly easily identified by their pinkish underparts and are the most commonly seen member of the pigeon family in the Falklands.

A more unusual sighting was that of a Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) by Neil Watson on the House Pond at Long Island in early April. This is a distinctive and elegant shorebird with very long legs and an upright stance, with black crown and black and white underparts. Usually seen in groups in shallow waters and marshes, their distribution is from the Canadian border south to southern Brazil.

Other recent sightings include a Tussac Bird (Cinclodes antarcticus) at Cape Pembroke Lighthouse and two Crested Caracara (Caracara plancus) (locally known as Carancho) in the Stanley/Mount William area.

• Contact us?
• Return to Index?