Pebble Island

Pebble Island runs east to west north of West Falkland and is named for the small translucent stones found on its beaches. It holds a set of freshwater ponds that draw large numbers of waterfowl, including black-necked swans and several grebe species, along with gentoo, magellanic and rockhopper colonies on the coasts. It is one of the larger islands and a vehicle is needed to cover it.

History

The settlement's Spanish name, Puerto Calderón, "port of the cauldron", recalls its early days of sealing and of boiling penguins for oil. The farm was founded in 1846 by the Englishman John Markham Dean, who bought Pebble and three neighbouring islands for £400; it passed to Dean Brothers Ltd, run locally by the Evans family, whose forebear Johnny Evans brought sheep to the island, and in 2025 to the Goulds. In the early 1900s Constance Allardyce, wife of Governor William Allardyce, collected a large set of fossils here and shared many with the American palaeontologist John Mason Clarke, finds that proved important for the geological history of the South Atlantic, and more recently the settlement became one of the first in the islands to draw most of its power from wind turbines (Wikipedia, Pebble Island).

The landscape

• The ponds - freshwater lakes drawing swans, grebes and duck in numbers.
• The beach stones - the small translucent pebbles the island is named for.
• The penguin colonies - gentoo, magellanic and rockhopper on the coasts.
• The scale - a long island needing a vehicle to cover properly.

When to go

October to March is the breeding season and the practical window. Waterfowl are present through much of the year. Winter access is limited and the weather severe.

Good to know

The island is large and getting between sites needs a vehicle arranged with the lodge. FIGAS flights are weather-dependent. Accommodation is a single lodge and books up.

Nearby

Keppel is west, and Saunders is beyond it.

Key facts