New Island

The human history of New Island reaches back to the earliest visitors to the Falkland Islands. Just as today, people were drawn here by its rich wildlife, though the attraction in the late 18th and early 19th centuries was a rather bloodier one.

American sealers were among the first to regularly call here to cull its wildlife for the booming fur trade. Captain Barnard of the ship Narnia and his crew spent 18 months here in 1814–14 after their vessel was commandeered by the shipwrecked crew they attempted to aid, only to find themselves in need of rescue themselves.

Throughout the 19th century there were several attempts to create a guano extraction industry from the deposits left by the resident seabirds, as well as the culling of penguins for their oil. In the early 20th century, New Island was home to a major whaling station until the operation was shifted to the more profitable waters of South Georgia. The island was then given over to sheep farming.

Since the 1970s the island has been a nature reserve and is now owned by the New Island South Conservation Trust. The small Barnard Museum at the settlement tells the maritime history of the islands and is named for the unfortunate stranded captain of two centuries ago. It overlooks the wreck of Protector III, a 1940s minesweeper-turned-sealer, that was abandoned here in 1969.

The western cliffs of New Island are home to one of the most thrilling seabird colonies it's possible to visit in the Falkland Islands. Black-browed albatrosses dominate here, but their tall mud pot nests are intermingled with those of both imperial shags and rockhopper penguins. Wherever you look there is constant bustle and noise. Some rockhoppers evidently find it a bit too much and have taken themselves off into the nearby tussac grass to nest.

This mass of life attracts plenty of aerial predators. Above the colony, look out for Falklands skuas (another species that nests in the tussac), turkey vultures, striated caracaras and dolphin gulls, all on the lookout for a meal of eggs, chicks or carrion.

The beaches of the eastern side of the island are home to Gentoo penguins and Magellanic penguins. The main rookeries are generally some distance from where expedition cruise ship passengers disembark, but it's common to see them in the water.

North of the settlement, at Landsend Bluff, there is a large South American fur seal colony. The waters around the island are good for spotting Commerson's dolphins and Peale's dolphins. While not common Southern right whale sightings are not unknown here.