| Sea Lion Island |
|
Sea Lion Island is situated eight miles south east of Lafonia (East Falkland). There is a small settlement on the island and two airstrips.
Historically, Sea Lion Island was a sheep farm and a base for slaughtering penguins to render for oil.
When the British ship Viscount was wrecked in 1892, the debris was used to build the farmhouse.
Sheep farming is much declined, and in recent years, ecotourism has come to dominate. In 1990, the Clifton family who owned the island, sold it to the Falkland Island Development Company.
They had planted 60,000 stands of tussac grass. There is also a memorial to HMS Sheffield on Bull Hill in the south of the island.
Fortunately, Sea Lion Island is free from introduced predators such as cats, rats and mice which would otherwise threaten the many varieties of ground nesting birds on the island.
The island has also been designated as a National Nature Reserve and as a Ramsar Site (The International Convention for the Protection of Wetlands, particularly as habitat for waterfowl).
Sea Lion Island is a long narrow island, with cliffs on the "West End", and also a few ponds, such as Beaver, and Long Pond. Just to the south is Rum Island, a small seal colony. |
|
East Loafers is the name of the bay on the south shore. Bull Hill is the highest point at around 150ft/46m.
The geology is mainly sandstone and mudstone, from about 250 million years ago. Some minor fossils have been found.
The native flora of Sea Lion Island has been closely studied and some of the species found are endemic to the Falkland Islands. Species of particular note include:
Viola magellanica which has been found nowhere else in the archipelago.
The scarce freshwater reed Schoenoplectus californicus is found in Long Pond and is important for Silvery Grebe.
Rumex magellanicus a scarce native recently rediscovered in the Falklands and which had not been recorded since 1856.
Large stands of Poa flabellata which forms a nationally important habitat (Tussac) of high wildlife value. |
| |
| Map of Sea Lion Island |
|
|
|