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New Island
New Island is the most south westerly of the Falkland Islands. It is an island of peat covered in grass with shrubs but no native trees. Around its fringe are white sand beaches lapped during our visit by deep blue water that turns choppy and steel grey in bad weather. There are also rocky cliffs where colonies of Rockhopper penguins and Black-browed albatross are currently settled to raise this year’s young.
Rock hopper penguin
Rock hoppers are found from the sub-Antarctic as far north as Tristan de Cuna. In many places their populations are dropping because of the effects of climate change on food supply and because introduced rats prey on their eggs and young.
On New Island sea skuas are the rock hopper’s number one enemy. They knock nursing penguins from nests to steal their eggs or young. The colony is scattered with empty shells testifying to the skua’s success. As we watched the flat rocks down by the sea, two rock hoppers took on a skua: striding at it, beaks thrust out and wings flailing, until it backed away from the nests. Higher up the cliff, another skua sat calmly watching, waiting for its moment to strike.
The rock hoppers share their colony with black browed albatross. Elegant birds that lay eggs on foot high stacks constructed from mud and vegetation. These have concave tops and the parent fluffs its breast feathers around the single egg that lies there.
Courtship
The birds form strong pairs and throughout the colony, couples were preening and stroking each other with their long hooked beaks. Other albatross were swooping over the sea and returning from height to the colony, lowering their large webbed feet to act as air brakes so that they stalled and descended.
Albatross landing
They have a wing-span of 2.5 metres but are still considered small compared to other species of albatross.
Black-browed albatross
We got close enough to see the glitter in the albatross’s black eyes and the Rockhopper’s spiky tail feathers. Neither bird seemed concerned. A Rockhopper hidden on its belly behind a rock took a peck at a foot that nearly trod on it, but didn’t get up to move.
Along with the colony come a dedicated group of researchers, who visit daily to observe the behaviour of the birds that live there. They are lead by Ian Strange, who has operated New Island as a wildlife reserve since 1971 and founded the New Island South Conservation Trust. In 1992 he was awarded an MBE for his work.
Surg Lt Alison Dewynter
Photographs by Capt Nick Lambert
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