Second Island
| Second Island | |
| Location | |
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| Location: | 51°34’35"S, 60°46’20"W |
| Highest point: | Sixtus Hill, 246 feet |
| Data | |
| Population: | 0 |
Second Island, otherwise known as Second Passage Island, is the largest of the string of four islands known as the Passage Islands, extending in a curved line west from Dunnose Head, a headland of West Falkland, in the Falkland Islands. As the name suggests, it is the second island west of the headland. It is within an 'Important Bird Area' denoted for the Passage islands.
Second Island over five and a half miles from east to west and up to one and a quarter miles wide. There are cliffs up to 100 feet high of very unstable decaying rock strata around most of the coast. The highest point is Sixtus Hill at 246 feet, in the eastern half of the island. A small sheltered bay provides the only safe landing near the centre of the northern coast.
The island has a considerable 'black ground' above the cliffs and especially behind the old woolshed at the northern inlet where the valley is full of decomposed peat dust, indicating that much of the vegetation has been over-grazed in the past. Tussac is restricted to steep rocky slopes, the western point and the cliffs along the northern shore. There are several ponds, some of which are seasonal and shallow but one, with thriving vegetation, provides feeding grounds for wading birds and waterfowl.
References
- passage islands Group - BirdLife International