Island 57 - Skomer, Pembrokeshire, Wales

Skomer Island is located at the western end of the Marloes Peninsula in Pembrokeshire.  The island (not including The Neck at the eastern end of the island, which is only joined to the rest of the island by a narrow isthmus) is approximately 1.5 miles from east to west by 1.25 miles from north to south.  The highest point on the island is 79 metres above sea level.  There are cliffs round the whole island but the top of the island is relatively flat.

 

Passenger boats to Skomer depart from Martin's Haven near Marloes and land at North Haven on Skomer.  The crossing time is approximately 10 minutes.  87 steps lead from the landing place up to the top of the island, which is  is open to visitors from 1st April or Good Friday (whichever is earliest) until the end of September. There is a toilet on the island but no other facilities.  You can buy bottles of water.  It is not possible to book tickets in advance and a maximum of 250 visitors per day are allowed to visit Skomer, so my advice is to arrive at Martin's Haven early in the day.  The first boat departs at 10am. Dogs are not allowed on the island

Skomer has been inhabited since at least the Iron Age.  The island is covered with the remains of settlements, field systems and cairns from a variety of time periods. The Harold Stone at the eastern end of the main part of the island is a standing stone, which may date from the Iron Age. The Vikings called the island Skalmey (skalm means a short sword or a cut/cleft and ey means island). The name probably refers either to the fact that the island is almost cut in two and only joined by a narrow isthmus between North and South Havens or to The Wick in the south of the island, which is a deep cut into the island.  

 

Skomer was farmed until 1950.  In the 13th century it was a rabbit warren for fur and meat.  The volcanic soils on the island are not naturally very fertile but two lime kilns on the island produced lime, which could be used as a fertilizer. The present farmhouse was built c1840 on the site of an earlier (c1700) building.  It is now in ruins but some of the outbuildings have been converted into hostel style accommodation and it is possible to stay the night on the island.  Overnight visitors staying during the bird breeding season get the chance to see the Manx Shearwaters returning to their burrows under the cover of darkness.  They do this to avoid predators such as Great Black Backed Gulls.

 

In 1959 Skomer was purchased by the West Wales Field Society and the Nature Conservancy.  It has been a National Nature Reserve since 1959 and it was later designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The West Wales Field Society later changed its name to the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.  They are the current managers of the island.

 

 My visit to Skomer in June 2004 can be summed up in 2 words: puffins and bluebells. I couldn't have chosen a better day to visit - lots of warm sunshine, the bluebells were in full flower and the puffins were nesting. 

In the breeding season the island is home to 22,000 puffins and 316,000 pairs of Manx Shearwaters.  Together with the Manx Shearwaters which nest on the neighbouring island of Skokholm, this is the largest concentration of this bird in the world. There are also various types of gulls, razorbills, guillemots, kittiwakes and fulmars. You can get very close to the puffins - they show no fear of humans.  They nest in burrows. If you haven't encountered puffins before you will probably be surprised how small they are. 

 

The Skomer Vole, which is a type of bank vole, is unique to the island.  Atlantic grey seals can be seen in the sea around the island.

Puffin outside his or her burrow

 

The Wick

South Haven looking towards The Neck

South Coast looking towards The Wick and the Mew Stone

Bluebells

I always thought that bluebells only grew in lightly shaded woods but Skomer doesn't have any trees on it and yet more or less the whole island is covered in them.  A month or so later and parts of the island are covered in red campion.   The island was originally covered in oak and birch trees, which were cleared by early settlers and the bluebells are apparently left from this time.

Puffins

The Spit, Pigstone Bay

 

Limekiln near the Harold Stone looking towards The Neck

 

Harold Stone

 

Old Farm

 

Skokholm from Skomer

 

Trig Point above the Old Farm

 

Razorbills and Guillemots

 

The Wick

 

Garland Stone

 

Puffin

 

Puffin

 

North Haven

 

North Pond

 

Ruined cottage near the Old Farm

 

The Neck across a sea of bluebells and red campion

Island 54 - Sheppey, Kent

Sheppey has been inhabited for at least 6,000 years.  It was later occupied by the Romans and settled by the Saxons.  In 675 AD a nunnery was founded at Minster by Queen Seaxburga.  In the 8^th century it was attacked by Vikings.  The highest point on the island is south east of Minster and is 76 metres above sea level.

Sheppey is located at a strategically important location.  Edward III built a castle at Queenborough in the 1360s and a town and harbour grew up around it.  There is a museum in the Guildhall in Queenborough, which tells the story of the town.

In 1665 Sheerness was chosen as a site for a new royal dockyard.   In 1667 before it was completed it was attacked by the Dutch Navy, who occupied the town and destroyed 15 Royal Navy ships in the Medway.  The dockyard closed in 1962.   Sheerness is a major freight port.  From 1971 until 2012 it also had a steelworks.

There is a Heritage Centre in Sheerness, which is the largest town on the island.  Sheerness also has a large reconstructed smock mill.  The original mill was completed in 1816 but demolished except for the brick base in 1924.  The mill was rebuilt minus its sails as flats in 2007 but was badly damaged by fire in 2008 and then had to be rebuilt again.  

There were originally 3 ferries to the island from mainland Kent – the King’s Ferry near Iwade, one at Elmley and one from Oare on the mainland to the Isle of Harty in the south east corner of the island.  The Isle of Harty passenger ferry ran until 1946.  There is still an isolated pub called the Ferry Inn there.

A railway and road bridge was built across the Swale, which separates Sheppey from mainland Kent, in 1860 and the railway terminated at Sheerness.  This was replaced in 1906 with a rolling lift bridge.  This was, in turn replaced in 1960 by the current Kingsferry Bridge.   A second bridge, the imaginatively titled Sheppey Crossing, opened in 2006.  

Kingsferry Bridge and Sheppey Crossing

Kingsferry Bridge and Sheppey Crossing

In 1909 an airfield was built initially at Muswell Manor and then at Eastchurch.  This was the UK’s first airfield.  Seaplanes were built there.  In 1911 it became the first military flying school in the UK.  During the First World War the Eastchurch Aerodrome was used by the newly formed Royal Naval Air Service.  The Aerodrome closed in 1950 and a prison was built on the site.  There are now 3 prisons there: Elmley, Swaleside and Standford Hill.  There is a memorial opposite All Saints Church in Eastchurch to commemorate the village’s part in British aviation history.

 Aviation Memorial, Eastchurch

 

All Saints Church, Eastchurch

Metal plane sculpture at Eastchurch

In 1901 a light railway was opened from Queenborough to Leysdown-on-Sea via Minster and Eastchurch in a failed attempt to develop Leysdown as a resort.  The railway closed in 1950.  There are lots of caravan parks and amusement arcades at Leysdown.

Elmley Marshes are a privately owned and run National Nature Reserve for wading birds, ducks and geese, including avocets, teal, redshanks and wigeon.   In 1688 King James II was captured in the Elmley Marshes by local fishermen while trying to flee to France.

 

I spent a few hours on the island in 2002.  We went there mainly because we wanted to see what Southend-on-Sea and Shoeburyness looked like from the other side of the Thames Estuary!  I went back for a second visit on Christmas Eve 2011 and spent 4 hours exploring Sheppey and its neighbouring islands of Elmley and Harty.

Sheppey was home to malarial mosquitoes until comparatively recently.  There were epidemics in Queenborough and on the neighbouring Isle of Grain in 1917 and 1918 and at least 330 people were infected.  In 1952 the last death in England from locally acquired malaria was on Sheppey.

 

The ship the SS Richard Montgomery ran aground on a sandbank and sank off Sheerness in 1944 with an enormous quantity of explosives in her holds.  The ship is still there and much of her deadly cargo is still on board.
 

Blue Town, Sheerness

Blue Town was so named because dockyard construction workers in the 17th century were allowed to use blue grey naval paint to paint their houses.   The name is now applied to the north-west area of Sheerness by the docks.

Whelans is the largest concrete garden ornament manufacturer in the UK.  It was founded in 1974 and is located in Blue Town, Sheerness.

Sheerness - entrance to Blue Town
 

Blue Town, sheerness
 

Queenborough Church

Beach at Leysdown-on-Sea - east end of the island

There are also beaches at Minster and Sheerness.

Minster remains at Minster

Crumbling cliffs at Warden on the NE Coast

Island 55 - Ramsey, Pembrokeshire, Wales

Ramsey is owned and managed by the RSPB:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/r/ramseyisland/  

It is located due west of St Davids, Pembrokeshire and at the nearest point is just over half a mile from the mainland, from which it is separated by Ramsey Sound.   It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a National Nature Reserve.  The Welsh name for Ramsey is Ynys Dewi, which means St David's Island.  Boats cross to the island from the Lifeboat Station at St Justinians near St Davids.  The service is run by Thousand Island Expeditions, which are based in St Davids.  They also run non-landing tours of Ramsey and Grassholm in jet boats and rigid hull inflatable boats.

I visited for 4 hours one afternoon in June 2004 and for 6 hours in April 2012.  4 hours is sufficient to see the island but doesn't give you much 'stand and stare' time.  6 hours is plenty of time to climb all 3 peaks, walk all the paths, stand and stare for a while and to drink several cups of tea and have a chat to the wardens.  You can walk round the coast of almost the whole island on an easy 3.5 mile long path with optional small detours to climb the islands 3 peaks - Carn Llundain (the highest point on the island at 136 metres), Carn Ysgubor and Foel Fawr.  There is an additional path, which cuts across the island from the west coast at Porth Lleuog to the Farmhouse.

There is a compost toilet located in amongst the farm buildings, an information centre and a small shop where you can also buy hot and cold drinks and a few basic snacks.  The island is closed from November to the end of March.  The wardens and volunteers greeted us warmly and enthusiastically and were very happy to chat and to answer all the questions I had.  Two wardens live on the island all year and they are joined by an assistant in the summer months. 

Ramsey was farmed from the Bronze Age to the late 20th century.  There are Bronze Age cairns on the summits of Carn Ysgubor and Carn Llundain.  A monastery was founded on Ramsey by St Devynog and St David and St Patrick are said to have met on the island.  The remains of the monastery have been mostly eroded by the sea over the passing centuries.  St Justinian is reputed to have been murdered on the island by some of his own monks.  

The island was owned and administered by the Bishops of David from the 13th century until 1905.  It became a place of retreat and pilgrimage.  After 1905 the island had a succession of owners and tenants.

Rabbits were introduced in the 13th century for meat. Cattle, goats and sheep grazed on the island and barley, oats, wheat and vegetables were grown.  In the late 20th century the island was used as a deer farm and there are still a few descendants of these red deer on the island.   The island is now grazed by rabbits, cows, ponies and sheep.

In the summer breeding season razorbills, guillemots, ravens, fulmar, peregrines and kittiwakes can be seen on the high sea cliffs.  Choughs can also be seen on the island and I did see a couple on both my visits to the island.  During the second visit we saw a peregrine.    Rare golden hair lichen can be found on the western slopes of Carn Llundain, which indicates that the air is very pure.  Grey seals can be seen around the coast.  Work is currently underway to encourage puffins back to the island now that the rats have been eradicated.

The south and west of the island are made of igneous gabbro, rhyolite, dolerite and tuffs, while the north and east are made of sedimentary and metamorphic mudstones, sandstones and shale.

 Farmhouse and shop - looking east towards the mainland

Farmhouse looking south

 Farm buildings

Cairn on Carn Ysgubor

 Porth Lleuog

 Trig Point on Carn Llundain looking east

 West coast of Ramsey

 View looking south from Foel Fawr at the southern end of Ramsey towards Ynys Cantwr and Ynys Bery

 Ynys Bery

 From Carn Llundain looking south towards Ynys Bery

 Aber Mawr from Carn Ysgubor looking towards Carn Llundain

Not the most exotic bird on the island but certainly the friendliest!

 South Bishop Lighthouse from the west coast of Ramsey - built 1839

The islets and rocks off the west coast of Ramsey are collectively known as the Bishops and Clerks.  At least one of them - Carreg Rhoson - was once used for summer grazing.

 Welsh mountain ponies enjoying a drink

 The only other building on Ramsey apart from the farmhouse.  On the south east slopes of Carn Ysgubor

  Track up from the landing jetty
I thought this might count as a separate island but the warden said it was part of Ramsey

 Aber Mawr on the west coast
 - apparently this is a good place to see breeding seals in the autumn.  There is no access to any of the beaches on Ramsey

 The top of Carn Ysgubor looking towards St Davids Head and Carn Llidi

  An unstable cliff on the west coast at Porth Lleuog

 North east coast

 The Bitches in Ramsey Sound looking north towards St Davids Head and Carn Llidi.  

In October 1910 the St Davids Lifeboat was swept onto the Bitches and wrecked while trying to save the crew of the ketch Democrat.  3 lifeboatmen were drowned but the 12 other lifeboatmen, along with the 3 crewmen of the Democrat were rescued after clinging to the rocks for 12 hours.