MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands’ pristine stacks and bluffs illustrated by Tony Chater in stamps issue

They are seldom seen other than from the air and can only be visited by way of a long and arduous boat ride

Illustrations of some of the least accessible spots in the Falkland Islands are featured in the third series of “Stacks and Bluffs” postage stamps, released last week by Pobjoy Mint.

Many of these stacks and bluffs are seldom seen other than from the air and can only be visited by way of a long and arduous boat ride. Their very remoteness has meant that, in certain cases, they have remained almost untouched by man and free of introduced species.

Such islands have retained the qualities of true wilderness remaining, as they have, virtually unchanged for thousands of years.

Bird Island, about 4.5km to the south-west of Stephen’s Peak, West Falkland, is captured on the 3p stamp.

The 27p stamp features Eddystone Rock, charmingly first described by Elizabethan explorer Sir Richard Hawkins in 1594: “At first wee had thought (it) to be a shippe under all her sayles; but after, as we came neere, it discovered itself to be a rocke.”

This isolated stack is situated some 6.5 kilometres to the northwest of Cape Dolphin.

Round Island and Sail Rock, on the western side of Whale Passage, are on the 70p stamp, and the set is completed by the depiction of Direction Island on the £1.71 stamp. Privately owned by Joan Spruce, this rugged island is situated about 1.5 kilometres to the south of Bertha’s Beach, East Falkland, and rises to a height of about 5 metres above sea level.

The illustrations are from Falklands’ author-naturist Tony Chater.