Wednesday, 4 September 2013

Lundy Revisited - A look beyond the obvious - see also Island 44

Having spent a week on Lundy in 2001 and revisited for the day in 2009 I had been to the most obvious places, so for my 2013 day trip, I concentrated on looking for some of the less obvious places of interest:

Heligoland or Funnel Bird Trap
Named after the island in the southern North Sea, which belonged to Britain until the government of the day gave it to Germany in 1890 in return for Zanzibar in Africa.  Birds fly into the wide end and move towards the narrow end but find it difficult to get out.  They can then be caught for ringing and other checks.  The birds are not harmed by the trap.  This one is on the east coast of Lundy in the area of the old quarries and is owned by the Lundy Field Society.  The original trap was developed by Hugo Weigold on the island of Heligoland.

Rocket Pole Pond
Rocket poles were used for training for a system of rocket launched life-saving equipment.  They were used to fire a line to a stranded ship.  This could then be used to winch survivors ashore.  Neath the pole is a rectangular pond, which was created during test digging for granite at the time of the construction of the Old Light.  Apparently the pond contains carp, which appear to thrive, despite an apparent lack of food and it is not known who put them there.  


 The Old Sunday School
 - affectionately known as the Blue Bung - short for bungalow!


 Mouse Hole and Trap
 - you need to enlarge the photo to see these features in the rocks  properly

 Prepare to be underwhelmed - I think the plant with yellow flowers is the very rare Lundy Cabbage

 Remains of a Heinkel 111
This is one of two Heinkel's that crashed on Lundy in 1941.  This one is located about 200 metres south of the Halfway Wall just to the west of the main north-south path.  The other Heinkel is located to the south of the Earthquake on the west coastI presume that the area around the crash site was contaminated by fuel or heavy metals, which is why the vegetation hasn't grown back.

 Devil's Punchbowl
The origins of this bowl shaped piece of granite is not known.

 Ally Sloper Rock
Ally Sloper was a fictional late 19th and early 20th century comic strip character.  He had a big nose and his profile looked like this rock on the west coast of Lundy.

The Earthquake - on the west coast
This rift was thought to have been caused by the same earthquake that destroyed Lisbon in 1775.  However it is now thought that it was either caused by a much earlier earthquake or is weathered granite fissure or possibly the result of early mining activity.

The graves in the foreground are very early Christian graves
They have inscriptions on them but I couldn't make them out.

Devil's Limekiln
- a collapsed sea cave at the south end of the island

VC Quarry  
This plaque on the east coast of Lundy is in memory of John Pennington Harman, who was the son of Martin Coles Harman (owner of Lundy from 1925-54) and who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at Kohima in Burma in 1944.

Unusual tree guard - vertical design

Unusual tree guard - horizontal design

Discarded millstone on the west coast

Benson's Cave below the Castle



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