Island 221 - White Island, St Martins, Isles of Scilly

White Island (apparently it is pronounced wit, not white)is located about 200 metres off the north coast of St Martin's.  It is approximately 800 metres from north to south.  It is 400 metres wide at its nearest point but only 75 metres at its narrowest and has an area of around 165 hectares.   The highest point on the island is 31 metres above sea level.  There is a coast path around the island but on the west coast much of it has disappeared into the sea quite recently by the look of it.  The island can be accessed at least 2 hours either side of low tide across a beach of sand and boulders.   It is currently uninhabited.

White Island is an SSSI, which is managed by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust on behalf of the Duchy of Cornwall.  It is a breeding location for lesser black backed, herring and greater black backed gulls, kittiwakes and fulmars. When I visited in mid March there were lots of gulls on the maritime heath in the middle of the island.  They got a bit agitated by my presence, so I tried to keep to the coast as far as possible and didn't stay long.  

The island's thin soils and its exposed position have led to the development of wind pruned waved maritime heath, which is dominated by heather and gorse.  There are also areas of maritime grassland and lots of thrift.   The more sheltered areas, which have thicker soil, are covered in bracken and brambles and some honeysuckle.

The geo that almost cuts White Island in two is called Chad Girt.  It is of great interest to geologists, as it has an unusual sequence of late Pleistocene deposits.  These are a raised beach, granitic head (Porthloo Breccia), soliflucted material containing glacially derived clasts and loess (Hell Bay Gravel), head containing erratics (Brad and Cheese Breccia).

The remains of a kelp pit, which was used to burn the seaweed to produce soda ash from the 17th to the mid-19th centuries, is located on the west side of White Island.


North end of White Island



White Island Geo - Chad Girt
 - this nearly cuts the island in half

White Island from St Martin's 

North end of White Island
Lots of thrift plants, not in flower in mid March

White Island - Porth Morran
Centre of the island looking south west towards St Martin's across the waved maritime heath.

This is in the vicinity of the chambered cairn marked on the OS map, which I couldn't find.  It think these rocks may be the remains of an ancient field system.  There are several other ancient cairns on the island.

White Island's only tree

Looking towards Chapel Down on St Martin's from White Island

White Island from St Martin's 

Porth Morran looking north


Porth Morran looking south

Island 220 - Pernagie Isle, St Martins, Isles of Scilly

Pernagie Isle is a small rocky tidal island linked to St Martins at low tide by 500 metres of boulders.  It is wholly unremarkable and probably doesn't have enough grass to graze a sheep but it is otherwise large enough to qualify as an island.  The highest point on the island is 11 metres above sea level.

Judging by the guano deposits, it is a favourite roosting and maybe nesting place for gulls.  The journey across the boulder field from St Martins isn't particularly difficult but it takes at least 15 to 20 minutes.   You have to cross areas of small boulders, large boulders and bedrock alternately.   As I was crossing to it, it occurred to me that if I had fallen and broken my ankle or hit my head, no one on earth knew where I was and the tide would be returning in a couple of hours.  Therefore I took my time and concentrated hard on where I was putting my feet and it was fine but I didn't linger long on the island.  When a seagull emptied its bowels from a height a few feet away from where I was standing, I decided it was time to leave.   Believe me, you don't want to be on the receiving end of a seagull bowel dump - I have experienced it before and it goes everywhere!  If you aren't an island collector or maybe a fisherman I wouldn't recommend a visit - it isn't worth the effort of getting there!

Looking towards St Martins and White Island from Pernagie Isle



St Martin's from Pernagie Isle



Pernagie Isle

Island 219 - Plumb Island, St Martins, Isles of Scilly

Plumb Island is a small tidal island located about 150 metres off St Martins and is accessible at low tide across a boulder field.  It has a small amount of vegetation on it - mainly thrift and it looked as if it had had more until the recent storms, there were areas of scoured out earth.  It isn't worth a visit unless you are an island collector of course.

Plumb Island is about 125 metres x 50 metres.

 St Martins and Tean from Plumb Island

Plumb Island 

Pernagie Isle from Plumb Island

Island 218 - Rat Island, St Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Rat Island has been joined to St Mary's by the harbour wall at Hugh Town since 1835-8.  When Augustus Smith became Lord Proprietor of the Isles of Scilly in 1834, one of his first building projects was to extend the quay on St Mary's out to Rat Island.  The first quay had been built by Francis Godolphin soon after 1601 and it was rebuilt in 1740 and 1748.  The quay was further extended by T.A. Dorrien-Smith in 1889 to cater for the expanding flower trade.

Rat Island is now home to a few companies e.g. the Rat Island Sailboat Co. and the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group's ticket office, toilets, exhibition area and waiting room.  There is also a small café but it was closed all the time I was there in mid March 2014 - like almost all the other cafes on the Isles of Scilly that week! The Scillonian III docks at the end of the quay and the smaller off island boats moor up nearer the landward end. 

Scillonian III and St Martin's Boat Service boat moored at Rat Island, Hugh Town, St Mary's

Several businesses are based on Rat Island behind the Harbour Offices

 Rat Island - not terribly scenic!

 Rat Island at low tide

 Rat Island from the Garrison

Island 217 - Toll's Island, St Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Toll's Island is one of the larger tidal islands off the Isles of Scilly.  It is 300 metres long by 175 metres wide and is located 100 metres east of the coast of St Mary's at Pelistry.  The highest point on the island is 16 metres above sea level.  Toll's Island is linked to St Mary's by a pale vanilla coloured sand tombolo, with a few rocks to climb over at the island end.  The island has distinct areas of bare rock; rough grass; heather; gorse; bracken/brambles; stunted and weather beaten trees + a few daffodils.  There are various paths but some of them were overgrown when I visited in March 2014.  There is a walled area where the trees are growing.

 

The remains of 4 kelp pits can be seen on the south side of the island but they are difficult to spot if you don't know what you are looking for.  Seaweed was burnt in these stone lined hollows to produce soda ash, which is rich in sodium carbonate.  This was used to make glass, soap and alum.  This went on in the Isles of Scilly from 1684 until 1835.  I didn't know what they looked like, so didn't notice them.  I will look harder next time!

 

The remains of Pellew's Redoubt also proved rather elusive.  It dates from the English Civil War (1642-1651) and was a large gun battery built on the highest point on the island.  The island was strategically important as it is located at the entrance to Crow Sound and Pelistry is a sheltered landing place.  I could see a few rather small earthworks, which I presume were part of it.

 

Toll's Island from Pelistry, St Mary's

But is it art? 
I'm not sure why these fishing nets were festooning the trees on Toll's Island.  Some of them looked like they might be hammocks?

Toll's Island tombolo, Pelistry, St Mary's

Pelistry, St Mary's from Toll's Island

Pelistry from Toll's Island

Toll's Island from Pelistry

 

The rocky south eastern end of Toll's Island



Toll's Island and tombolo from Pelistry

Island 216 - Innisidgen, St Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Innisidgen is a small tidal island approximately 150 metres long by 40 metres wide.  It is located 100 metres off the NE coast of St Mary's.  It is mainly bare rock with a small amount of grass.  It is a bit of scramble across a boulder field to access Innisidgen and I am not sure that most people would think it was worth the effort.

 

 Innisidgen from St Mary's

Innisidgen

 Innisidgen from St Mary's

 Innisidgen from St Mary's looking towards St Martin's

Innisdgen Island from the lower burial chamber on St Mary's

Innisidgen - grass and rock

Island 215 - Taylor's Island, St Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Taylor's Island is a small rocky tidal island joined to Porthloo Beach on St Mary's at low tide.  It is covered in long grass and brambles and also has a few short trees. It is of course of most interest if your surname is Taylor!  I crossed to it 2 hours before low tide without a problem.  It is a minor scramble over the rocks but it isn't far.  

The highest point on the island is 14 metres above sea level.  The island is approximately 150 metres from east to west and 40 metres from north to south.  At the time of my visit in mid March 2014 it had a geocache on it.

 Samson from Taylor's Island

Taylor's Island from Porthloo Beach

Taylor's Island from the coast path beyond Juliet's Garden, St Mary's

Taylor's Island from Porthloo Beach

One of Taylor's Island's few trees and lots of bracken and brambles



Taylor's Island cut off at high tide from Porthloo Beach

Taylor's Island rocks

Island 214 - Newford Island, St Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Newford Island is a small tidal island linked to Porthloo Beach on St Mary's.  It is only cut off for an hour or so around high tide and the distance between St Mary's and Newford Island is only about 50 metres.  From a distance it appears to be covered in trees but in actual fact they are just planted around the edge and inside them is an open area that looks to be used as a market garden, although nothing much was growing when I visited.  There are also several dilapidated sheds on it.  There is a dry stone wall around the island but it is possible to walk around the outside of this wall.  As I was leaving I noticed the word Private painted on a rock on the Porthloo side.  It was very faint and I didn't notice on my way over.  Apologies to the owner for my short visit.

The highest point on the island is 8 metres above sea level.  The island is approximately 220 metres from east to west and 50 metres from north to south.

 The inside of Newford Island
 - not much growing at the moment

 View of Hugh Town from the western end of Newford Island

 Newford Island from Porthloo Beach at low tide


One of several dilapidated sheds on Newford Island



Newford Island from Porthloo about an hour after high tide.



Taylor's Island from Newford Island

 

Island 213 - Tins Walbert, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

Tins Walbert (no, I have no idea what the name means but I think it is a great name) is a small tidal island located to the north west of Burnt Island, which is itself a tidal island off the west coast of St Agnes.  It is roughly circular in shape and is approximately 50 metres long by 50 metres wide.  It is covered in thrift and grass, which when I visited in 2014 had been flattened by the winter storms.

On my last visit to St Agnes in 2003 I thought the "building" I could see on Tins Walbert from the beach at Periglis was a chapel, although I was puzzled why it wasn't marked on my OS map.   I was feeling more adventurous on my next visit in March 2014, so walked out to Tins Walbert via Burnt Island and when I looked at the front of it I realised it was a navigational daymark of some sort.  

I thought it had been there for centuries but research on the internet reveals that it was only erected in 2002 by Seacore for Trinity House.  It is a painted and re-enforced masonry wall anchored down to the granite outcrop on which it is located.  It can be seen from a distance of 8 km.


Front of the Daymark



Daymark

From this angle it looks like a giant tombstone!

Burnt Island and Tins Walbert from St Agnes

Burnt Island and Tins Walbert from Periglis, St Agnes

 

Front of the Daymark

Tins Walbert

Daymark from the side