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Bird Island

This is a small island (around 500 ha) just off the north-west tip of South Georgia from which it is separated by Bird Sound. Rising to 365 metres, the island's northern coast consists mainly of sheer cliffs with few beaches; the southern coast is more accessible with numerous beaches. There is no permanent snow or ice on the island. Summer rainfall is high.

BAS Research Facility on Birsd Island

Vegetation.
There is a moderate number of native plant species: around 11 vascular plants and 147 crytogamic plants. On the gentler slopes below 100 m the vegetation is dominated by tussac grass; however, there are some examples of fellfield, bog and mire plant communities. Above 100 m here are sparsely vegetated gravels and cryptogam-dominated screes and rock faces.

Insects.
Relatively rich insect fauna with one species of spider, 48 mite species, 30 feather lice (on the rich diversity of seabirds), eight springtails, four beetles, six flies, three fleas and a wasp.

Birds.
The island is the most important location at South Georgia, in terms of high biodiversity, for breeding birds, with the occurrence of 27 species, including species which are globally threatened or near-threatened; endemic or rare; and important populations globally or regionally.

This is the most important location after Willis Islands for macaroni penguins (near-threatened) which are abundant with around 50,000 pairs. Black-browed albatrosses (near-threatened) are abundant with 15,000 pairs or 15% of South Georgia's population. Bird Island is the single most important site on South Georgia for southern giant petrel (near-threatened) with 500 pairs or 10% of South Georgia's total breeding population of 5000 pairs, which in turn represents around one quarter of the world population.

The main breeding site on South Georgia for wandering albatross (threatened) is on Bird Island where there are 1,200 pairs, accounting for just over one quarter of South Georgia's total breeding population of 4,000 pairs, which in turn represents about 15% of the world population. The island is also one of the main breeding sites for the grey-headed albatross (threatened) with 11,600 of the total 80,000 pairs occurring on South Georgia which is the world's main breeding ground for this species, accounting for 46% of the world's annual breeding population.

The occurrence of the endemic South Georgia pipit and South Georgia pintail, and the rare fairy prion is important on this rat-free island. Rockhopper penguins have also bred here. In addition Bird Island is an important breeding location for species for which the South Atlantic is the global headquarters, in particular the white-chinned petrel, Antarctic prion and around 1,500 northern giant petrels representing about half of South Georgia's population of 3,000 pairs, which is possibly half of the world population.

Seals.
Bird Island is an important location at South Georgia for the Antarctic fur seal with around 65,000 pups born annually.

Scientific research.

Protection of the island is important not only for conservation but also for research purposes in view of the location of the British Antarctic Survey's research station at Jordan Cove. Research has been undertaken on Bird Island since the late 1950s mainly into population biology, ecosystem dynamics and behaviour of seabirds and seals. Bird Island has been a CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Programme (CEMP) site since 1985 and many indices of predator populations and performance have been recorded every year since 1976.

Management.
This is the only candidate protected area for which there is an environmental assessment (Bonner and Croxall 1988) examining how the British Antarctic Survey's scientific activities affect the environment. The Government will undertake another assessment of these activities in due course.

Protected Areas
The Protected Area (terrestrial) category replaces the categories of Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Specially Protected Areas from the 1975 Conservation Ordinance. The Government intends to designate eight Protected Areas (terrestrial) which are shown in Figure 16 with indicative boundaries, and described in Annex 11. The main aims of designating such areas are to provide a high level of protection to areas of special conservation interest, in particular, representative or unique ecological systems or habitats, and to prevent interference with scientific investigations and sites designated for monitoring, such as land-based sites in CCAMLR=s Ecosystem Monitoring Programme (CEMP). Terrestrial Protected Areas are similar in description to >strict nature reserves= under the IUCN Protected

Area Management Categories (IUCN (1994)).
Entry into Protected Areas (terrestrial) is prohibited except under permit issued at the Government's discretion for scientific and Entry into Protected Areas (terrestrial) is prohibited except under permit issued at the Government=s discretion for scientific and management activities. Permit conditions would describe activities which are prohibited, restricted or managed. In the longer term, the Government intends to develop management plans for each of the Protected Areas, particularly for those where there are long-term scientific and associated logistic activities or monitoring programmes. The plans will set out, amongst other things, the objectives to be achieved by protection, and measures necessary to ensure preservation of the area=s unique or representative ecological systems or habitats. The plans may need to include special conditions to protect sites designated for regional and/or global environmental monitoring, such as CEMP sites.
Whilst access to Protected Areas (terrestrial) is strictly prohibited (except under permit as described in the previous paragraph), vessels will continue to be allowed to anchor or cruise offshore and in bays close to these Areas.