The Sark Community Blooms group were out in force this weekend to plant bulbs, their first activity since taking the top prize in the Floral Guernsey Award last month. In the space of just an hour and a half the nineteen adults and four children planted nine hundred daffodil bulbs and about two thousand purple crocus corms in five public locations. A further twenty people bought crocus corms to plant…
Monthly Archives: October 2016
Experience one of the most unique coasteering environments in the world. Explore some of the most awesome caves and cavern systems. Experience a true Sark island adventure including gully and cave swims, scrambling and jumps, as well as some of the most stunning views in the Channel Islands. All equipment , water and snacks are supplied. The trips will be led by qualified guides. To find out more please visit www.adventuresark.com …
Virtually no records of Sark’s profusion of wildflowers were kept before the nineteenth century. In 1564 Helier de Carteret would have found the island a windswept plateau top covered in brambles, bracken and furze (whin or gorse) with valleys devoid of trees. The gardener, Thomas Knowlton (1691 – 1781), mentioned a white foxglove in 1726. Professor CC Babington recorded 252 plants in 1838, and published his Primitiae Florae Sarnicae the…
In 1882 Victorian naturalist WA Luff listed 27 species of butterflies on Sark, and 48 moths. He mistakenly thought that though Sark was smaller than Guernsey it boasted a greater number of species, in fact, Guernsey has about twice the fauna. However, some of the rarer Guernsey species are comparatively common on Sark, e.g. Lappet moth (Gastropacha quercifolia). In his introduction to ‘Insects of Sark’ Luff pointed out that although…
Our dawn choruses in spring are full of song – in valleys such as Dixcart Valley the warbler species are mainly represented by Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and Garden Warbler. Other warblers such as Cetti’s Warbler and Icterine Warbler sometimes make an appearance. The fruity warble of the Blackbird, the loud burst of song from the undergrowth of the Wren, the repeated notes of the Song Thrush, the Chiffchaff’s…
Sark Windmill 1571 Until the 20th century, Sark’s economy was based on grain; reliable mill was essential. Domestic handmills (like the pot quern at La Seigneurie) were small and inefficient, and the monks’ water mill above Port du Moulin could not serve forty settler families. Within six years of obtaining Queen Elizabeth’s grant of Sark (1565), Helier De Carteret built a windmill. The DE Carteret arms carved on the north…
Sark will feature in a brand new three-part television series next week that follows well-known actress Alison Steadman as she explores islands around the edge of the UK including the Hebrides, the Scillies and the Channel Islands. ‘Little British Islands’ begins on Wednesday 19 th October and Sark features on Wednesday 26 th October along with Jersey and Alderney. Alison has always been fascinated by idyllic island life and in…
The little barrel-roofed two-celled prison on Sark must be one of the world’s smallest prisons still used today. The present building is situated next to the Visitor Centre. This was originally built as a Girls School by Seigneur Ernest Le Pelley in 1841, completing the project which had been envisaged by his brother Pierre Le Pelley in consultation with his good friend Rev Cachemaille, which was to use to the…
The remains of the Silver Mines are located in Little Sark. Continue past La Sablonnerie Hotel and follow the road until you see a track to the right. You will see the chimneys from the mining era sticking up. The corner of the engine house shown in this image has since collapsed during a rough winter. When Queen Elizabeth I granted Helier de Carteret the right to settle Sark in…
You will see Pilcher Monument rising up like a needle above Havre Gosselin on the west coast of Sark. The story behind the monument: On evening in October 1868 Agnew Giffard, engineer-in-charge of the new breakwater at Creux harbour, set off back to Guernsey in an 18ft gig. He left Havre Gosselin with his brother Walter, Russell Renouf (keeper of the breakwater lighthouse), Dr Gatehouse (medical officer, about to take…
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