For more than a week now Sark has seen some wonderfully mild weather with sunshine and blue skies from dawn ’til dusk. Although there may yet be some winter weather to come, there’s a real sense of spring in the air with birds singing and flowers unfurling. The forecasters are predicting that we will be blessed for another few days so, if you’re thinking of a quick trip to the…
Nature
There was no shortage of volunteers for the Channel Island Big Beach clean here on Sark recently but there was a shortage of rubbish. The event was held on Dixcart beach but the small amount of rubbish that there was didn’t take long to collect so the organisers decided to run a sand sculpture competition for the children instead. The were several mermaids and a turtle created from sand and…
Having been crowned the overall winners in the regional Britain in Bloom competition, as well as scooping the prize for best community involvement, you might imagine that members of the Sark Community Blooms group would be resting on their laurels for a while, but not at all. They were out in force this weekend planting bulbs, their first project on the road to representing the Bailiwick in the national competition…
The conservation initiative to provide food for wildlife is now in full bloom. Called Project Sunflower, and now in its second year, it was set up in a two-acre field belonging to farmer Gavin Nicolle that was previously used for growing hay. It has been sown with a special mixture of plants to provide nectar through the summer and seeds through the autumn and winter. The sunflowers are the most…
A field near the Coupée has been dedicated to wildlife this year, specifically pollinating insects. The four-acre field, which is opposite the carriage park, belongs to the Magell and Woolford families who have sewn it with a specially blended mixture of seeds to provide pollen and nectar for a wide range of insect species including butterflies and bumblebees. The crop contains trefoils, clovers, phacelia and borage. Picnic tables and log…
The Gouliot Headland is a RAMSAR site (it gained this status in 2007), recognised worldwide as having special animal and plant life, particularly the marine life in the Gouliot Caves, a large sea cave system on the Sark side of the Gouliot passage. The area above the caves, on the headland itself, is a blanket of bluebells and primroses in spring. Botanists may also spot one or two white bluebells (not to…
From time to time, groups of bottlenose dolphins appear on our shores following shoals of fish, much to the delight of both visitors and locals. They are mostly seen around the east coast and have sometimes escorted the island’s ferries from the Bec du Nez all the way into the harbour, much to the enjoyment of those on board. Over the last decade or so dolphin numbers appear to…
The Sunfish is named after their habit of ‘sunbathing’ on the surface of the sea. These ocean wanderers can grow to be several metres across but feed almost exclusively on jellyfish. They are native to tropical seas but are occasionally seen around the British Isles although usually much later in the summer. George Guille recalls seeing a basking shark: “The sea was really calm,” explains George, “so at first I noticed just…
Divers exploring the rocky reefs around Sark this month came across a very rare sea slug. The animal, just two inches long, was found at L’Etac, the islet off the south coast of Little Sark best known for its puffins. Sea slugs, known more correctly as nudibranchs, are often very colourful, unlike their land counterparts, making them popular with divers particularly underwater photographers. Most only have scientific names. This one,…
If you’d like to see Sark’s most charismatic seabirds, the puffins, you need to get your skates on as the breeding season will soon be over. The puffins, along with their relatives the guillemots and razorbills, only come ashore for as long as it takes to rear their single chicks. At the moment all are busy hunting for sand eels and other small fish to feed their growing youngsters. All…
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The Glorious Gouliot Headland
April 18, 2019