#Lundy

I have recently been on a 5 night stay on Lundy Island.

Lundy Island ? A relatively isolated lump of rock (it is granite/basalt plus shale etc - the geology is complex) - 10 miles from North Devon and 20 miles from Pembrokeshire. It is roughly 3 miles long and 1/2 a mile wide. It is located where the Bristol Channel meets the Atlantic Ocean.

It is owned entirely by the National Trust but it is leased to the Land Mark Trust who manage it. The objective is to preserve and enhance its character under an umbrella of just about every official / legal protection going including building listing, SSSI, Marine Conservancy, RSPB protection etc. On Lundy peoples needs are secondary to wildlife - particularly birds, sealife and natural flora and fauna. As such it is a special place - very natural, very quiet and very peaceful (subject to the weather which can be rough).

The Land Mark Trust employs 28 people currently - who live on the Island. Most are called general assistants who pretty much will turn their hand to any role required. There are also specialists including a farmer (they do farm on a conservative scale cattle, sheep,goats and deer), a mechanic for farm related stuff), a maintenance man and of course the most important - the Warden - who oversees everything to ensure the security of the wildlife. There is a lovely pub called the Marisco Arms and 23 small properties that have been adapted from old buildings for visitors to stay in. There is a small general store. That is it. However this makes up a big part of the Island's income with the rest coming from day visitors.

Day visitors - as I understand it there are two runs per week by the MS Oldenburg and old style ferry that can take up to 250 people plus cargo for the Island. The ferry runs from either Ilfracombe or Bideford depending on tidal conditions. One practical issue is you might leave from Ilfracombe and return to Bideford. It takes 2 to 21/2 hours on a good crossing. The return ferry aims to leave at 4pm so day visitors do not have masses of time. Be warned - the crossings can be rough and to do it twice in one day could be a real test. On our return journey there was quite a bit of sea sickness and the weather is potentially very changeable. In the winter the ferry does not run - only access is by helicopter.

My brother Mike had been to Lundy a couple of times and then went as part of a working party and has been back several times since. In this process he got to know a small group of mainly ladies who are very keen on visiting Lundy and most are birders (not twitchers). Birders enjoy watching birds. Twitchers are apparently focused on saying they have seen a bird and will travel miles to record seeing a rare bird for 5 minutes !). Lundy is a birders heaven. One of the ladies - Mandy - hired the Barn - which sleeps about 14 in 2 dormitories. She offered a place to Mike and was looking for others. I went on Mike's recommendation.

We had a very enjoyable week. Catering was shared between our group and actually we ate very well by everyone mucking in under Tracey's inspired cooking. We ate in the pub on 2 nights. On the evenings in the barn we usually had 2 or 3 guests from the Lundy staff and including the Warden so we had a very good insight to life on Lundy.

The days were very relaxed and in the main we were blessed with the weather. The ferry link, the pub, the shop, the church and most of the accommodation is located at the southern end of the island so there is plenty of walking available to get up to the north of the island which is 3 miles away. The walks are rugged but relatively easy going until you want to get down lower to the sea. Lundy is steep sided and it is pretty much impossible to get down to the shoreline even if it was permitted - which in the nesting season it definitely would not be. The east and west side of the Island are contrasting. The full length of the east side is a Marine Conservancy area. Our days were mainly walking, sitting, observing - bird watching - seal watching and generally relaxing. No agenda. No timetable. The landscapes and the seascapes are fantastic - unspoilt - natural and quiet. For me the quiet stands out as it is surprisingly hard to achieve on the mainland with aircraft, traffic noise, farm machinery and boat engines. There are no cars on Lundy except a couple of Landrovers and a few quad bikes used for farming etc.

In our group was tremendous expertise - about nature - about green issues - about Lundy - 2 of the ladies were Lundy Ambassadors and lead guided tours for day trippers. All had excellent bird knowledge. Mike is relatively new to it but has a long lens camera. Most of the time I didn't know what I was looking at and my camera was my mob phone but I have picked up some knowledge and will slowly build on it - especially sea birds. Mike had a very special moment. Mike and I were sat on the north edge - mainly watching seals. There were 30 or more on a rock below us and many swimming in and around. They were massive. A Whatsapp came through from our group- has anyone spotted a large black and white bird ? Not long after the said bird came slowly cruising in front of us. Mike got some great photos. It was a White Stork. What was especially amazing was this was the first White Stork to be seen on Lundy since 1992 and Mike was the only one to catch it on camera. Everyone including the Warden was keen to see it. Mike now has the bug following his terrific success !

It was a lovely, special, wholesome week. It was a lot of fun - not least the Ukulele sing a long night. Lundy is a special place. Go as a day tripper maybe but it will be time constrained. See if you can rent a place to stay but they do get booked up well ahead because they are so limited. 

I took lots of mob photos - but not many of birds because I didn't have the lens needed - but I did see Puffins who were just beginning to come on land plus many others. I now know a Gannet, a Fulmar, Cormorants, Guillemots and Shags, Manx Shearwaters, Ravens, Wheatears and Redcaps !

Go if you get a chance but I think you have time - Lundy is very unlikely to change much from what it is now because it is so heavily protected and the wild life so important.

Mob photos in no particular order :

The White Stork caught on photo by Mike. The first time the White Stork has been seen on Lundy since 1992. Mike was the only one to get the photo. 

Puffins nest on Lundy. They had just started to arrive when we were there.

My Raven photo - mob camera !

Mike

Seals below

Slave cave (read the story)

A terrible photo but Puffins on the grass

Mike in the redundant lighthouse. (it was too high to be seen in low cloud). They built two more but much lower - one at the South end one at the North.

Mike at the top

The cottages for two families and cannons were located at the bottom of a steep cliff - very isolated. In the period there was no functioning lighthouse shelless cannon were fired every 10 minutes in bad conditions as a warning to shipping they were too close to the dangerous shoreline.

The Marisco Arms