An amazing weekend

We have just had an amazing weekend away to celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary. After being told different departure times for our flight to Carcass Island it was finally confirmed that we were due to depart at 2:30 so we checked in a bit before 2pm. The local airport is only about 10 minutes drive away. You have to be weighed as well as all your luggage and the pilot allocates seats accordingly to balance the plane. There was an extremely strong and very gusty wind on Friday afternoon so I was very grateful to have taken an anti-sickness tablet before we went as it was very bumpy.

The Islander plane can take 7 passengers if 1 sits next to the pilot. There was 1 other person going to Carcass Island and 2 others going on to somewhere else. We had the seats behind the pilot and there are big windows next to them so we had a great view out - though somewhat scary as we flew very low over hill tops and along hillsides. When we landed on the grass airstrip there was a landrover waiting for us and the driver had cleared the geese and sheep from the runway. The landrover had a trailer with fire fighting equipment on. After the plane had taken off again the trailer was returned to a small shed near the airstrip on our way back to the settlement which was about 30 minutes drive.

When we got there we were welcome by Lorraine McGill. She and her husband Rob have owned the Island since 1974 and are so hospitable and have a wealth of information and wisdom to share. They have sheep and beef cattle but also run the island as a nature reserve and welcome visitors. They employ someone to help on the farm and a Chilian cook and his wife to help in the house.


After a welcome cup of tea and homemade cakes we set off at 5pm for a walk before dinner.
We were keen to see the colony of Gentoo penguins and were very surprised when Lorraine told us we would find them on the top of a 500 foot high hill about a mile from the house. Somewhat disconcertingly as we trudged up the hill a striated caracara (known locally as Johnny rook) kept swooping down within inches of my head. These birds of prey are remarkably unafraid of people and love to steal anything you put down - I was wondering if I was going to lose my hair!


As we reached the top of the hill there was this amazing sight of hundreds of penguins. They look rather like king penguins but smaller and were busy re-arranging there nests of pebbles and twigs of diddle dee, a low growing bushy plant, and talking to each other. We were able to sit just a few feet from the edge of the colony and some came up really close to look at us. A few of them were already sitting on eggs. Each day these penguins walk all the way down to the sea to feed and then in the evening trudge back up the hill. Apparently they used to nest lower down and there is still a small colony closer to the shore. About 5 years ago there was a red algae tide affected the area and many of them died but the survivors moved to the top of the hill and have stayed there since.

We then walked down towards Leopard beach where more Gentoo and Magellanic penguins were coming out of the sea. passing lots of upland geese with goslings and teal with ducklings on a small pond. Beacause this Island has been kept free of cats, rats and mice birds flourish and we saw so many different ones. There are no native trees on the Falklands although there are some planted around settlements. However there is tussac grass which grows up to about 10 feet tall in huge clumps and provides shelter and nesting sights for many birds. In many places over- grazing by sheep or cattle has killed the tussac grass but there are still large areas around the coast of Carcass Island.


We had seen Magellanic penguins before as there are some at Gypsy Cove not far from Stanley. They return here late September to breed and are smaller than the Gentoo penguins. They nest in burrows they dig in the peaty soil and return to the same burrow and the same mate each year. On Carcass Island there are thousands of them and the hillsides along the coast look like rabbit warrens but with penguins standind outside the burrows or diving down the holes when they see you instead of rabbits. They call to each other with an amazing braying sound, particularly in the early morning and evening - hence their local name of jackass penguins. I was woken at 3:30 the next morning by the noise they were making near the house and this was followed by a beautiful dawn chorus of small birds in the trees outside our window.