Isle of May, Scotland, to Lindisfarne, England
Early in the morning the Endeavour slipped out through the locks at Leith Docks, and soon we were ready to Zodiac ashore to the Isle of May, a tiny uninhabited nature reserve situated far out in the Firth of Forth. The rocks on either side of our entrance teemed with watchful shags and gulls as we approached our landing place. Our first impression ashore was of a bright blanket of sea campion in dancing clumps from one end of the island to the other, dotted here and there with sea pinks (or sea-thrift). Close by were the remains of St Ethernan’s Priory, venerated as a holy site and pilgrimage center since the 7th century (see picture). One 14th century pilgrim was buried near the altar with a scallop shell in his mouth to signify that he had previously made the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
The Isle of May is now a haven for sea birds. In the absence of ground predators, 70,000 pairs of puffins breed there, not to mention the guillemots, razorbills, arctic terns, fulmars, kittiwakes and eider ducks, which throng the island, most of which are increasing in number. The warden introduced us to the work of the reserve, before departing to rejoin his small team on this year’s count of nesting seabirds.
Perfect sea conditions allowed the Endeavour to make excellent speed towards English waters again and to Lindisfarne, the Holy Isle. This tidal island is cut off for part of each day when incoming tides submerge the causeway and render Lindisfarne inaccessible to ordinary visitors. To this island St Aidan was sent from Iona in 635 to found a Christian community whose reputation for sanctity would resound across the medieval world. On this island the exquisite Lindisfarne Gospels were created at the end of the 7th century, one of the outstanding masterpieces of Anglo-Saxon art. It was at Lindisfarne in 793 that the Vikings first unleashed their wrath upon an unsuspecting Western Europe, ultimately forcing the monks to abandon their beloved home. A new Norman Benedictine Priory was built in the years following 1090, and its moldering ruins of beautiful red sandstone with its miraculously-surviving ‘rainbow arch’ are now the main focus for visitors today.
To landward of these ruins sits the village of Lindisfarne, a charming maze of cottages, tea shops and rural pubs, where every cottage garden and cobbled lane echoes to the song of the thrush. Beyond the village fields, the rest of the island is a nature reserve of 3,000 acres and a Special Protection Area for birds managed by English Nature. As afternoon stretches out into a warm, balmy evening, a deep sense of peace descends over the village, and even the lapping waves around the harbor grow quite still and tranquil.
Early in the morning the Endeavour slipped out through the locks at Leith Docks, and soon we were ready to Zodiac ashore to the Isle of May, a tiny uninhabited nature reserve situated far out in the Firth of Forth. The rocks on either side of our entrance teemed with watchful shags and gulls as we approached our landing place. Our first impression ashore was of a bright blanket of sea campion in dancing clumps from one end of the island to the other, dotted here and there with sea pinks (or sea-thrift). Close by were the remains of St Ethernan’s Priory, venerated as a holy site and pilgrimage center since the 7th century (see picture). One 14th century pilgrim was buried near the altar with a scallop shell in his mouth to signify that he had previously made the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
The Isle of May is now a haven for sea birds. In the absence of ground predators, 70,000 pairs of puffins breed there, not to mention the guillemots, razorbills, arctic terns, fulmars, kittiwakes and eider ducks, which throng the island, most of which are increasing in number. The warden introduced us to the work of the reserve, before departing to rejoin his small team on this year’s count of nesting seabirds.
Perfect sea conditions allowed the Endeavour to make excellent speed towards English waters again and to Lindisfarne, the Holy Isle. This tidal island is cut off for part of each day when incoming tides submerge the causeway and render Lindisfarne inaccessible to ordinary visitors. To this island St Aidan was sent from Iona in 635 to found a Christian community whose reputation for sanctity would resound across the medieval world. On this island the exquisite Lindisfarne Gospels were created at the end of the 7th century, one of the outstanding masterpieces of Anglo-Saxon art. It was at Lindisfarne in 793 that the Vikings first unleashed their wrath upon an unsuspecting Western Europe, ultimately forcing the monks to abandon their beloved home. A new Norman Benedictine Priory was built in the years following 1090, and its moldering ruins of beautiful red sandstone with its miraculously-surviving ‘rainbow arch’ are now the main focus for visitors today.
To landward of these ruins sits the village of Lindisfarne, a charming maze of cottages, tea shops and rural pubs, where every cottage garden and cobbled lane echoes to the song of the thrush. Beyond the village fields, the rest of the island is a nature reserve of 3,000 acres and a Special Protection Area for birds managed by English Nature. As afternoon stretches out into a warm, balmy evening, a deep sense of peace descends over the village, and even the lapping waves around the harbor grow quite still and tranquil.
