Arch Islands

About

The Arch Islands (Islotes Franceses) are a group of small islands off Port Albemarle on West Falkland in the Falkland Islands. They are uninhabited, and accessible only by boat. They are so called because the largest of the group has a natural arch in it, large enough to allow a fair sized boat through. The islands are located at the south-western edge of Falkland Sound and include Arch Island East, Big Arch Island, Clump Island, Tussac Island, Pyramid Rock, Natural Arch Island, Sand Bay Island, Last Rock, and Albemarle Rock. The islands are owned by the British government, and are a part of a national nature reserve which was designated in 1978. Between 1864 and 1866, the penguin colonies on the islands were decimated to provide penguin oil for trading through Stanley. The islands are noted for their populations of breeding striated caracara, and by 2008, the whole island group had been cleared on invasive rodent species. Other wildlife noted on the islands include Sea lions, and elephant seals, which in the past, were killed and transported by hunters. Several landforms across the island have been named after service personnel who were killed during the Falklands War. The landforms were previously un-named.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.