A lifetime of Islands: 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.