| Beauchene Island is one of the Falkland Islands, lying thirty miles south of Sea Lion Island, the nearest land. It was discovered in 1701 by Jacques Gouin de Beauchene and named for him. |
| Beauchene is the most isolated island of the Falkland archipelago. It is uninhabited, and is approximated 2 square miles in size. It is divided into two parts connected by a sandy isthmus: the south, with a hill of 82 metres in height, and a north eastern part with bare rocks. There is a natural anchorage on the east side of the island, though this can only be used in fair weather. |
Antoine de la Roche may have sighted Beauchene island as early as April 1675. However, this is by no means certain; De la Roche had been circling Cape Horn and was blown off course. What he saw is usually said to be South Georgia, which fits his descriptions better, particularly of high ice covered mountains, but supporters of Argentina's claim to South Georgia more often claim it was Beauchene.
A while after its official discovery in 1701 by Jacques Gouin de Beauchene, seal trappers tried to settle the island unsuccessfully. In 1834, the American McArthur landed 100 people on the island, driving the local sea lions to extinction (they have since returned).
The island is currently uninhabited, though there are ruins of a group of houses built in the 1830s, on the west side of the island. The first proper scientific expedition landed in 1951 by helicopter, staying for a month.
During the Falklands War, there was a Argentine wreck on Mintarry Rock, a submerged reef just south of the islands, and British soldiers lived for around four weeks there. In April 1982, a group of British soldiers stayed on the island for a month. |
| The island is a nature reserve and is covered in tussac grass and is known for its colony of black-browed albatrosses. Other wildlife includes Rockhopper penguins, while the coast is known for its caves. It is also known for its peat, which forms at around ten times the rate of anywhere else in the world. The process by which it forms so fast is not understood fully. |
| In 1980 two scientists from the British Antarctic Survey visited Beauchene Island and collected spiders from under rocks and in tussac. This collection of about 50 animals contained some real surprises. First of all there were seven different species, more than expected – at the time only 14 were known in the Falklands. Three species had never been found anywhere else in the world. |
| One of the new species found, called Beauchenia striata is very small, only 2.5mm long. It has a brown cephalothorax and a grey abdomen with a bold blackpattern. One of the most puzzling things about this spider is that there are no others like it in the Falklands, or in South America. To find other spiders like it, you would have to visit New Zealand. |
| The Falkland’s most famous spider is another discovered on Beauchene Island and called the Beauchene Spider. This is one of the few spiders in the world that has appeared on a stamp. It is a large spider, nearly 2 centimetres long, with a bold black, brown and orange pattern. Its scientific name is Emmenomma beauchenicum. |
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