Royal Rarities One of the rarest butterflies in the British Isles was seen on Sark recently in the grounds of the Seigneurie Gardens. Resident wildlife photographer Sue Daly photographed a pair of Queen of Spain fritillaries mating in the donkey paddock and later saw one of the pair feeding on flowers in the walled garden. This is the first record of these beautiful butterflies, probably migrants from northern France, breeding…
Nature
Every year Sark becomes home to a large variety of birds. The sea birds occupy the cliff edges, the rock stacks and islets that surround the island. You can hear their cries and calls all along the cliff paths. Normally, this time of year, George would have his boat in the water enabling visitors get up close to birds such as puffins, guillemots, razorbills, oyster catchers, gannets, egrets, a myriad…
Sark has always had an amazing display of wild flowers and each year our local guides have taken 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 things are very different the world over and we are not able to travel. We can only assure you that the…
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…
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