Battle Day

Last Wednesday (Dec 8th) was a public holiday for Battle Day. Before we moved here I never had any idea that the Falkland Islands were involved in the first world war.

After the British were defeated off the coast of Chile on November 1st 1914 they sent a large force to track down and destroy the German squadron of 8 vessels which were responsible.

The British force of 7 vessels arrived in Stanley the day before the German force arrived to attack the British navy supply base here. In the Battle for the Falkland Islands on 8th December 1914 all but 2 of the German ships were sunk.

There is a memorial commemorating this on the sea front in West Stanley.

On Battle Day each year there is a service in the cathedral attended by military representatives and local dignitaries, including the governor. This is followed by a parade with military band to the memorial where prayers are said and wreaths laid.

These are representatives of the Falkland Islands defence force.

The governor inspected the troops at the memorial. We have recently had a new governor with , presumably, a new set of uniform. During the ceremony some of the red feathers blew out of his hat. I wonder how they are fastened in anyway!

Local organisations like the sea cadets, cubs and brownies (who dress in red) also attend.

Simon went windsurfing and tacked his way up the harbour as far as the memorial but he didn't land. The naval vessel, the Clyde, was also in for the celebration.

Paul and Lesley Evans who are visiting our church here came to have lunch with us then in the afternoon we took them to see the lighthouse at Cape Pembroke.

There was a young elephant seal on the rocks below the lighthouse.

Stormy weather

We have been having a lot of cold, wet and windy weather recently with hail and sleet showers (this is meant to be summer!).

On Saturday afternoon Simon and I went for a short walk from the end of Surf Bay towards Cape Pembroke. It was so windy that I kept being blown sideways but was very dramatic and exhilerating (except during the hail squalls).

There is a colony of rock shags nesting on a small cliff to one side of a gulch near where these pictures were taken and as the waves crashed into the gulch they were getting deluged with spray and didn't look at all happy.


The waves were crashing onto the coast sending up huge plumes of spray (not really good for the camera).


The small bays were filled with a thick white foam which covered the rocks and pebble beaches like soft white icing and was being blown inland. I suspect that alginates from the kelp along the coast get mixed with the sea water to form the foam.

This photo is looking back towards Surf Bay.

This week

Tuesday was definitely the best day of the week. Since then it has been very cold and windy with heavy squalls of rain, sleet and hail and is forecast to continue the same for another week. As I write it is raining torrentially and just before this squall arrived there was a bright rainbow over the harbour.On Wednesday I went for a walk at Cape Pembroke. Well actually I got blown down the Cape and battled my way back against the wind. There are some interesting dunes with exposed layers of sand and peat. I'm not sure how they form but maybe different things get blown at different times depending on the direction of the wind.


Near the headland there is a lot of dense kelp and it all swirls around with the waves in the inlets between the rocks looking quite sinister. You can almost imagine yourself watching some science fiction film and getting drawn into it! It certainly isn't much fun if you get tangled up in it when windsurfing.


Yesterday I went to Surf Bay and found that almost the whole beach had become a lagoon, which the wading birds were enjoying. I suppose it was a combination of a high tide and the wind direction. I have been very surprised how much the beach changes since we have been here, with several feet of sand being washed away at times.