Sark has always had an amazing display of wild flowers and each year our local guides offer to take you on magical walks along the paths, through the woods and out onto the headlands to point out the beautiful species we are lucky to have on this island. This year we also have the opportunity to paint them under the tutilage of Sark artist, Rosanne Guille. …
Nature
There are splashes of brightly coloured flowers emerging all over La Seigneurie Gardens hinting that spring is well and truly on its way. In the next month or so the wild spring flowers will be pushing through. The best time to see them in their full multi-colour glory is mid-April. We will be holding our Wild Flower Fortnight between 20th April to 4th May, during this time you can join…
This beautiful moth was photographed outside the Visitor Centre at the end of August. The Hummingbird Hawk Moth flies and feeds by day. This small but beautiful creature has a wing span of only 5cm, has a white spotted abdomen and orange hindwings. Their wings beat so quickly they become a blur, darting from flower to flower, unfurling its proboscis to feed: its easy to see how they acquired their…
Sark’s cliff tops, roadsides and meadows are buzzing with butterflies, bees and other insects but, to give nature a helping hand, two fields have been set aside and planted with special seed mixtures to feed our wildlife. The meadow at the Coupée has a mixture of wildflowers aimed at attracting pollinators, and benches to attract people to come and watch them. Near the Island Hall is the Project Sunflower field,…
There are plenty of butterflies around at the moment here on Sark but the most spectacular is the dark green fritillary. This striking orange and brown butterfly is impossible to confuse with the other brown butterflies on the wing at the moment being larger and more brightly coloured than both the gatekeeper and meadow brown butterflies. It has silvery spots on its underwings and is named after its dark green…
The seabird breeding season is in full swing here on Sark, which means that our puffins have returned from their life far out at sea to breed on L’Etac, an islet off Little Sark. The birds rear a single chick, called a puffling, in a burrow and by now one or other of the parents will be keeping the egg warm until it hatches in June. The best way to…
The seabird breeding season is in full swing here on Sark and this year seems to be particularly good for guillemots. These beautiful chocolate-brown and white birds belong to the auk family, along with puffins and razorbills that also breed here. Over the last three years they have established a new colony on rocks off the east coast as well as their main breeding site on Les Autelets on the…
The warm, sunny weather after the rain last week has created the perfect conditions for sowing the seeds for Project Sunflower, the conservation initiative started by Sue Daly and now in its third year. The two-acre field, which is near the Island Hall, has been loaned by farmer Gavin Nicolle who does the land preparation work with help from his son Martin. As well as sunflowers the seed mix contains…
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…
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…
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Sark Fest 2020
March 19, 2020