Little Scrub Island

Little Scrub Island is a rocky island surrounded by choppy waters that contribute to making the shoreline inhospitable.^[2] The island has no beaches nor bodies of freshwater.^[1] It covers an area of 1.2 hectares (3.0 acres) and rises to a maximum of elevation of 16 metres (52 ft) above sea level.^[1] It is located 500 m (550 yd) west of the bigger Scrub Island and 1.3 km (0.81 mi) northeast of the main island of Anguilla.^[3]

The island was completely stripped of flora by Hurricane Luis in 1995 and Hurricane Lenny in 1999. Since then, the flora has recovered; morning glory (Ipomea violaceae) and prickly pear cactus (Opuntia dillenii) can be found in abundance on the island.^[4] These two plants are the main food source of Pholidoscelis corax, also known as the Little Scrub Island ground lizard, which is endemic to the island.^[5][6]

The island provides a nesting site for various birds, including the brown noddy, bridled tern, sooty tern, roseate tern, and the brown booby. Several dove (Zenaida aurita) nests were also identified during a 2010 survey, along with a single Sargasso shearwater nest. Brown pelicans also used the island at that time, but they were not observed to be nesting.^[7]