Saunders Island, Falkland Islands
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Saunders Island () is the fourth largest of the
Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...
, lying north west of
West Falkland West Falkland () is the second largest of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. It is a hilly island, separated from East Falkland by the Falkland Sound. Its area is , 37% of the total area of the islands. Its coastline is long. Popula ...
. The island is run as a sheep farm. The island has an area of and a coastline of . It is about from east to west and almost that distance from north-east to south-west. It consists of three peninsulas linked by narrow necks, and it has three large upland areas. The highest point, Mount Richards, is high.


History

Port Egmont on the island was the site of the first British settlement, established in 1765. Unaware of the French presence at
Port Louis Port Louis (, ; or , ) is the capital and most populous city of Mauritius, mainly located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country's financial and political centre. It is admi ...
, in January 1765, British captain John Byron explored and claimed Saunders Island, at the western end of the Falkland Islands, where he named the harbour of Port Egmont, and sailed near other islands, which he also claimed for King
George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...
. A British settlement was built at Port Egmont in 1766. Also in 1766, Spain acquired the French colony, and after assuming effective control in 1767, placed the islands under a governor subordinate to
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
. During the Falkland Crisis of 1770, five Spanish frigates entered the port and the small British force had to surrender. This edged Britain and Spain closer to war. In 1771, Spain agreed to abandon Port Egmont to the British. In 1776, for economic reasons, the British abandoned Port Egmont. At that time, they placed a plaque at the site proclaiming their sovereignty over the Falklands. The island's present settlement, Saunders Island Settlement, lies on the east coast and has an
airstrip An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...
. There is one
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
here, known as the Stone House. There are permanent structures outside the Settlement with heat, electricity and running water for the island's tourist industry. There is a building that holds eight guests at the Neck and an additional building that holds four guests called the Rookery Inn. The island is currently owned by the Pole-Evans family that maintains the farm at the Settlement.


Conservation

Conservation issues include the danger of fire, some erosion prone areas near the coast,
overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature ...
and the presence of feral cats, mice, rats and rabbits. Clearance of these introduced species is unlikely in the near future because of the size of the island and the varied geography. Spear thistle, accidentally introduced to the island, is a problem; volunteers from Falklands Conservation continue to help control the infestation and there are hopes that the plant can eventually be eradicated. There is a small breeding colony of
southern elephant seal The southern elephant seal (''Mirounga leonina'') is one of two species of elephant seals. It is the largest member of the clade Pinnipedia and the order Carnivora, as well as the largest extant marine mammal that is not a cetacean. It gets its ...
s at Elephant Point, while a few
southern right whale The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20Â ...
s come into bays to rest or feed.


Important Bird Area

Saunders Island has been identified by
BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...
as an
Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
(IBA). Birds for which the site is of conservation significance include
Falkland steamer duck The Falkland steamer duck (''Tachyeres brachypterus'') is a species of flightless duck found on the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. The steamer ducks get their name from their unconventional swimming behaviour in which they flap the ...
s (250 breeding pairs), ruddy-headed geese, king penguins, gentoo penguins (6700 pairs),
southern rockhopper penguin The western rockhopper penguin (''Eudyptes chrysocome''), traditionally known as the southern rockhopper penguin, is a species of rockhopper penguin that is sometimes considered distinct from the northern rockhopper penguin. It occurs in subanta ...
s (6900 pairs),
magellanic penguin The Magellanic penguin (''Spheniscus magellanicus'') is a South American penguin, breeding in coastal Patagonia, including Argentina, Chile, and the Falkland Islands, with some bird migration, migrating to Brazil and Uruguay, where they are occas ...
s (4200 pairs), black-browed albatrossess (11,000 pairs) and white-bridled finches. The island is near the southernmost range limit of the Magellanic penguin, while gentoos range much further south into
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
. The island also supports near threatened striated caracaras, who closely associate with the abundant seabird colonies at the island's primary isthmus during austral summer. The Royal Air Force Ornithological Society's members conducted a complete coastal survey in 1995.


References

* ''Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean''. 1985. ed. Simon Collier, Cambridge University Press, London * Falkland Islands Information Web Portal. 2006
''Buildings and Structures in the Falkland Islands designated as being of Architectural or Historic Interest''
* C. Michael Hogan. 2008
''Magellanic Penguin'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
* Stonehouse, B (ed.) ''Encyclopedia of Antarctica and the Southern Oceans'' (2002, )


Footnotes


External links

*

{{Falkland Islands topics, state=collapsed Islands of the Falkland Islands Important Bird Areas of the Falkland Islands Seabird colonies Penguin colonies