Island 537 - Carraig Fhada, Islay

Carraig Fhada is a tidal rock located at the south end of Kilnaughton Bay on the island of Islay in the Inner Hebrides.  It is a mile south west of the harbour at Port Ellen.  

In 1832 a tower was built on the rock by Walter Frederick Campbell, in memory of his wife Lady Ellinor Campbell (née Charteris), who died in 1832 aged 36.   The town of Port Ellen is named after her.  There is a large plaque above the main door on the west side of the tower.  There is a poem on it, written by Walter Frederick Campbell as a tribute to his late wife.

The tower, which was built by David Hamilton, was used as a lighthouse from 1853, but didn't come under the control of the Northern Lighthouse Board until 1924. The light is displayed from a mast on top of the tower.

The lighthouse is very usual, as it has a stepped L-plan form.  The main tower is square with a smaller and shorter square tower attached to it, which contains the staircase.  The main tower has 3 storeys and a parapet at the top.

Carraig Fhada can usually be reached easily at low tide via a concrete walkway with a metal bridge section about halfway along it.  However, when I visited in June 2025 the bridge was usuable, as it had no floor and was roped off.  As it was low tide, I was able to scramble across the seaweed covered rocks underneath the bridge and access the island that way.

Low tide walkway

Broken bridge

Approaching the lighthouse

Tower and staircase

North door

Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses plaqye

Islay from Carraig Fhada

Island 536 - Little Heathy, Bryher, Isles of Scilly

Little Heathy is located 100 metres to the north of Droppy Nose Point on the south west coast of Bryher.  It is a rocky and uninhabited tidal island.  Grass and thrift grow on the island and the rocks are covered in grey/green and gold lichens.  You need to scramble across rocks to access the island.

Hell Bay Hotel from Little Heathy

Rocky tor on Little Heathy

Bryher from Little Heathy

Looking out to sea from Little Heathy

Bryher from Little Heathy

Island 535 - Middle Colvel Rock, Bryher, Isles of Scilly

Middle Colvel Rock is located 50 metres to the south of Inner Colvel Rock off the south west coast of Bryher. Grass, thrift, sea beet and scurvy grass grow on the island.  The rocks are covered in gold and grey-green lichen.  It is necessary to scramble over rocks to reach Middle Colvel Rock from

Inner Colvel Rock from Middle Colvel Rock

Middle Colvel Rock

Thrift growing on Middle Colvel Rock

Thrift in flower on Middle Colvel Rock

Middle Colvel Rock from Inner Colvel Rock

Island 534 - Inner Colvel Rock, Bryher, Isles of Scilly

Inner Colvel Rock is a small rocky tidal island, located 100 metres off the south west coast of Bryher.  Grass, red escallonia bushes, scurvy grass, sea beet and thrift grow on the island. The rocks are covered in gold and grey-green lichens.  The first part of the crossing is across a sandy beach, but there are some rocks to scramble over closer to the island.

Inner Colvel Rock

I think this rock looks a bit like a turtle

Sea beet on Inner Colvel Rock

Escallonia bushes on Inner Colvel Rock

Inner Colvel Rock from Middle Colvel Rock

Island 533 - Hangman Island, Bryher, Isles of Scilly

Hangman Island is an uninhabited rocky tidal island located 150 metres to the north east of Kitchen Porth on the east coast of Bryher.  The island's name may comes from a time in the past when mutinous sailors were hanged on it, possibly by Admiral Blake during the English Civil War.  Alternatively, the name may be derived from the Cornish an-men, meaning the rock.  The current gibbet on top of the island is modern.

Hangman Island can be accessed on foot at low tide from Bryher.  You have to cross a sandy beach and then about 50 metres of seaweed covered boulders, followed by a short scramble up the rocks onto the island.  The island is covered in grass, bracken, Escallonia rubra, scurvy grass and agapanthus.  The exposed rocks are covered in grey-green, black and gold lichens.

Hangman Island

Hangman Island

Looking south east towards New Grimsby on Tresco

Hangman Island

Island 532 - Ginamoney Carn, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly

Ginamoney Carn is a small rocky tidal island located 100 metres off the north west coast of St Agnes in the Isles of Scilly between Periglis and Porth Coose.  I visited it for the first time in 2014.  However, at that time I was unable to find a name for it, so I didn't count it.  The island is linked to the mainland by a man-made rocky causeway, which I assume was built to make Periglis Bay more sheltered.

Ginamoney Carn is covered in grass. Pittosporum crassifolium trees and Escallonia rubra shrubs are growing on parts of the island. Both are used extensively as hedging plants to act as windbreaks around the fields on all the inhabited Isles of Scilly.  Pittosporum crassifolium is a native of New Zealand, where it is also known as karo.  Escallonia rubra is native to Chile and Argentina. The rocks on the island are covered in several different kinds of lichens.

Someone has created some hammocks out of old fishing nets and strung them up between the trunks of the largest Pittosporum crassifolium trees.

Ginamoney Carn from St Agnes

St Agnes from Ginamoney Carn

Hammocks made from old fishing nets

Burnt Island and Tins Walbert from Ginamoney Carn

Island 531 - Hermetier, Herm

Hermetier is a very small tidal island located 200 metres off the west coast of Herm at Fisherman's Beach.  It is easily accessible across a mainly sandy natural causeway.  There are some boulders to cross close to the island.  The rocks on the east coast of the island form natural steps, so it is relatively easy to climb onto the island.  An oyster farm is located to the north and northwest of Hermetier.

Hermetier from Herm

Looking south from Hermetier to Herm

Looking east from Hermetier to Herm

Oyster farm to the north of Hermetier

Oyster farm from Hermetier

Island 530 - Hommet Herbe/Houmet Jerbe, Guernsey

Hommet Herbe/Houmet Jerbe is a small rocky tidal island located 200 metres to the west of Grandes Rocques.  Access to the island is across a field of large boulders.  Flint and prehistoric pottery has been found on the island.  The island is composed of a very attractive pink/apricot coloured granite.  Autumn squill, rock samphire, sea campion and thrift all grow on Houmet Jerbe.

Houmet Jerbe

Houmet Jerbe

Looking east towards the fort at Grandes Rocques

Interesting rock formation on Houmet Jerbe

Island 529 - La Capelle/Chapelle dom Hue, Guernsey

La Capelle/Chapelle dom Hue is a very small tidal island located 300 metres from the west coast of Guernsey at the southern end of Perelle Bay.  Grass, thrift, sea beet and rock samphire all grow on the island.  

The remains of a porpoise were found buried on the island in 2017, during an archaeological dig to look for a religious building, which was thought to have been built on the island in the late medieval period.  The porpoise was buried between 1416 and 1490, according to radiocarbon dating and it is thought that it may have been buried to preserve it for consumption as food at a later date.

The skeleton of a Royal Navy sailor was discovered during another archaeological dig in 2018.  It is thought that he died around 1760.

Looking south east from La Capelle

Looking south west from La Capelle

Looking north east from La Capelle