Falklands Conservation

Highlights from Warrah Issue 12 (November 1997)

Motley Island Revisited

A report on the second visit to our nature reserve off East Falkland, 11-16 January 1997

Robin Woods

Motley Island (330ha or 815 acres) is 12 miles (20km) southwest of Middle Island in the lee of the Seal Cove camp of Walker Creek farm and less than 1km from the mainland. After an hour's Landrover run from Walker Creek, the crossing took only a few minutes by Zodiac from one sand beach to another on the northwestern coast of Motley. John Willie Jaffray provided transport and collected us five days later. The preliminary survey for Falklands Conservation with a party from Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth in January 1995 (Woods 1995a, 1995b) showed that this Island carried a good variety of plants and birds. This year my brother Nick and I camped over 2km northwest of the 1995 site and were better placed to survey the plants and birds of the northern section.

The Effects of Over-Grazing
As far as we know, Motley has not had permanent human inhabitants though there was formerly a shanty on the northwestern coast used as a temporary shelter for sheep gatherers. Sally Poncet reported that the Island was heavily grazed until about 1992. Local information is that about 800 sheep were put on the Island annually and that the Falkland Islands Company vessel RMS Darwin took off 400 at a time for shipment to Stanley. It is unpleasant to see the effects of over-grazing in the extensive coastal slopes of eroded ground with dead Tussac bogs in various states of decay. However, the vegetation is now recovering and Tussac is growing strongly on the far northern peninsula and around the southern coast, while Mountain Blue Grass and Land Tussac are thriving in several sections.

Motley has low cliffs above wide rock shelves on the northeastern, southeastern and central western coasts, a large sand beach in the centre of the east-facing coast and smaller sand beaches towards the northwestern point. There are boulder beaches at the extreme northeastern point and in a wide southwest-facing bay. The Island has a low, rounded profile and reaches an altitude of 15m (50ft) at a few places inland. Walking is strenuous because the ground is very uneven. The surface varies between eroded Tussac peat or loose sand dunes with Magellanic Penguin burrows, low springy Diddle-dee, dense grasses up to 1m and Tussac up to 3m tall. The coastline alone extends for more than 11km and a circuit to collect data on the occurrence of plants and birds requires at least two days.

One Third of Falkland Native Flowering Plants
This survey has increased the number of species identified on Motley to 82, including 56 of the 163 species classed as native to the Falklands. The remaining 26 aliens were mostly introduced from Europe (Moore 1968). Of the ten endemic Falkland plants, four were found in 1995 (Falkland Cudweed, Hairy Daisy, Smooth Falkland Ragwort and Coastal Nassauvia) and this year, the widespread but very inconspicuous Falkland Lilaeopsis was added. Some introduced plants, notably Groundsel, Pineapple Mayweed, Small Nettle and Shepherd's Purse have become locally dominant in small areas on eroded sand dunes near our camp, but further inland native plants tend to be dominant. The appearance of several stands of different plants was studied to help the interpretation of aerial photographs taken in 1995. Motley has a wide plain of Mountain Blue Grass across the northern section, adjoining a prominent, dark green strip of dense Wild Celery up to 1m tall which covers an area of about 50m by 300m. Diddle-dee was present but only as low plants and on inland ridges. We did not identify any Whitegrass; the plants described as this in the 1995 reports was found to be Land Tussac growing in large tough clumps.

A Good cross-section of the Breeding Birds
During two visits, 41 bird species were recorded. 28 were confirmed as breeding, four more probably breed and another three possibly breed making a possible total of 35 breeding species. Six species were noted as present but showing signs of breeding. Magellanic penguins were numerous all around the Island. Their 'song' was almost continuous throughout the 24 hours, though more birds 'sang' simultaneously at dusk and dawn. Solitary adult Gentoo and King Penguins were recorded.

The small pool south of our camp held a pair of Speckled Teal and, although the water level was low, the large pond held a family of nine Speckled Teal and pairs of Crested Ducks, Chiloe Wigeon and Yellow-billed Pintail.

A Peregrine Falcon eyrie with two fledged juveniles was found on low cliffs. One adult buzzed a Turkey Vulture and later swooped aggressively over us. The only evidence of petrels was a picked corpse of a Diving Petrel, found beneath the eyrie on 12 January. Specific identification of this and the Middle Island Diving Petrel corpse await investigation by Mark Adams at the Tring Natural History Museum. A single pair of Crested Caracaras mobbed us along the western coast but we could not find a juvenile. Passerines were plentiful, especially Tussacbirds, Cobb's Wrens, Thrushes, Black-Throated Finches and Black-chinned Siskins. There were several family parties of Long-tailed Meadowlarks, several singing Grass Wrens in Celery and Mountain Blue Grass and a few Ground-tyrants. No pipits were seen, perhaps because we were unable to spend long in the southeastern section where a nesting pair was found in 1995. A female Black-chinned Siskin was flushed from a nest with four eggs on the southeastern side of a mature Tussac plant, north of our camp. Two individual Short-eared Owls were flushed from among clumps of Land Tussac on boggy ground near the large pond. The feathers of another full grown Short-eared Owl were found among Tussac nearby, where it had possibly been killed and plucked by a Peregrine.

Introduced and Native Mammals
The two heavily fleeced sheep noted on 7 January 1995 were seen again in the central part of the Island. Though we had no time to visit the small colony of Southern Sea Lions at the southeastern tip, we saw a bull and two cows up in Tussac at the northern point and later saw a large bull, a young bull and a 33 cows, but no pups. A very old skeleton of a large beaked whale was found on the boulder beach at the extreme northwestern corner. On 12 January we had brief glimpses of two cetaceans cruising in the extensive kelp beds offshore but could not identify them.

A Few Insects Noticed
Most obvious were 11-spot Ladybirds (Woods 1996). We frequently saw adults at our camp sites on sand with low Sheep's Sorrel, Prickly Burr, Groundsel and Sea Cabbage. We also saw several larval Ladybirds in our tents, indicating that their species was breeding. Some aphids were found on a specimen of the slightly succulent Andean Pearlwort but it is not known whether this plant species alone supported aphids for the Ladybirds. A single Queen of the Falklands Fritillary butterfly was seen briefly in bright sunshine.

The Value of Middle and Motley Islands as Nature Reserves
A report on Middle Island was published in The Warrah (Woods 1997a). The extensive eroded slopes of loose sand and peat dust clearly show that both Islands have been heavily grazed, but they still carry substantial amounts of Tussac grass and good stands of other grasses. Their total area is about 480 hectares (1185 acres) and between them, they hold at least 96 species of flowering plants, including seven of the ten endemics and the general quality of habitat is remarkably good. More than 30 birds species are breeding, including all nine native songbirds. There are no surveys with which to compare present observations but there is evidence that since grazing ceased the vegetation is regenerating. A detailed report (Woods 1997b) has been given to Falklands Conservation and recommendations for habitat improvement and monitoring have been made. Both Islands are free of cats, rats and mice and while actions are taken to improve habitats for birds and invertebrates and increase their value as reserves, it is more important to guard against the introduction of predators.

Reference:
Moore, D M (1968) The Vascular Flora of the Falkland Islands. British Antarctic Survey Scientific Reports No. 60. NERC.
Woods, R W (1995a) Motley Island Expedition January 1995. Unpublished report to Falklands Conservation, February 1995 pp32.
Woods, R W (1995b) Motley Island: On the Falklands Ecology Map. The Warrah, Newsletter of Falklands Conservation, May 1995, No 7: 8-9.
Woods, R W (1996) The Eleven-spot Ladybird in the Falkland Islands. The Warrah, November 1996, No. 10:10
Woods, R W (1997a) Middle Island: More Secrets of our Nature Reserves Revealed. The Warrah, May 1997, No. 11: 8-9.
Woods, R W (1997b) Middle Island and Motley Island Nature reserves. Unpublished report to Falklands Conservation on field survey work in January 1997, pp19.

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