The Skerries, Anglesey
Encyclopedia
The Skerries are a group of sparsely-vegetated rocky islets, with a total area of about 17 hectares (42 acre), lying 3 km offshore from Carmel Head at the northwest corner of Anglesey
, Wales
. The islands are important as a breeding site for seabirds, and they attract divers, who come to visit the numerous shipwrecks.
The islands can be visited by charter boat from Holyhead
. The individual islets are accessible from one another at low tide and by small bridges.
The name "Skerry" is the Scottish
diminutive of the Old Norse
"sker", and means a small rocky reef or island (source). The Welsh
name for these islands, Ynysoedd y Moelrhoniaid, means "the Islands of Bald-headed Grey Seals" (source).
colony, which is particularly important for Arctic Tern
, numbers of which are nationally important; Roseate Tern
breeds occasionally in very small numbers. The following species also breed: Atlantic Puffin
, Black-legged Kittiwake
, Herring Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gull
.
Because of these birds, in particular the terns, the island has been designated as part of the Ynys Feurig, Cemlyn Bay and The Skerries Special Protection Area
along with two other nearby sites, Cemlyn Bay
and Ynys Feurig
, and all three are also classed by Birdlife International
as an Important Bird Area
. The Skerries have also been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest
.
Terns interchange regularly between all three sites, and form part of a larger Irish Sea
tern population together with birds at sites in Ireland
such as Rockabill Island
. The islands are wardened by the RSPB during the tern breeding season, and management measures they have undertaken here include control of introduced Tree Mallow (Lavatera arborea
) and provision of nestboxes; these measures as aimed particularly at helping to increase the attractiveness of the site to breeding Roseate Tern
s, although it is accepted that the future number of pairs of this species here is primarily dependent on the overall health of the Irish Sea
population.
The site came to national attention among birders briefly in July 2005 when it attracted a Sooty Tern
, a species which only a very small number of birders had previously seen in Britain.
, rather than payment from shipping tolls. An act of 1730 allowed his son-in-law, Sutton Morgan, to increase the dues charged for shipping and confirmed the patent on the light to Morgan’s heirs forever.
It was rebuilt around 1759 by Morgan’s heirs for about £3,000. The rebuilt lighthouse was a slightly tapering limestone tower
, 6.65 metres (21.8 ft) in diameter and about 8.5 metres (27.9 ft) high. It was lit by a coal brazier
on top of the tower. Morgan Jones, who was twice high sheriff
of Cardiganshire
, inherited the lighthouse in 1778; he raised the top of the tower by 6.7 metres (22 ft) and built an iron balcony
with railings enclosing the oil-burning lantern
. The lantern was glazed all around with square panes and covered by a cupola
.
Trinity House
took over operation of the lighthouse under an enabling act of 1836, but not without a fight from the original owners, who wanted to protect their investment from a low takeover price. It was lavishly restored by James Walker, exhibiting two of his characteristics: a decrease in diameter and a solid parapet (as seen at his Trwyn Du Lighthouse
). The stone-built gallery was 0.84 metres (2.8 ft) wide and bracketed out on corbels with a crenellated parapet
. A new cast-iron lantern, 4.25 metres (13.9 ft) in diameter, was glazed with square panes around a dioptric light with mirrors, later replaced by a lens. On the north side of the tower there is a former external doorway exhibiting the Trinity House coat of arms, which now leads to the engine room.
The light shines at a height of 36 metres (118.1 ft) above the average high tide
, with an intensity of 1,150,000 candela
s. It flashes twice every 10 seconds and can be seen 22 nmi (40.7 km) away. In 1903–4, a solid circular tower, about 3 metres (9.8 ft) in diameter, was added to the south-west side of the main tower to carry a sector light. This shines at an elevation of 26 metres (85.3 ft) above the sea. The light was automated in 1987 and is now controlled from Holyhead
.
Nearby are castellated dwellings having cobbled yards and entrance stairs, along with symmetrically sited privies, a garden, a stone bridge connecting two islets, and a unique stone well-head building. An axial corridor leads from the dwellings to the lighthouse tower's base. The early date of the lighthouse keeper
s’ cottages makes the buildings of considerable interest. For a number of summers, they have been used by wardens working for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
.
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. The islands are important as a breeding site for seabirds, and they attract divers, who come to visit the numerous shipwrecks.
The islands can be visited by charter boat from Holyhead
Holyhead
Holyhead is the largest town in the county of Anglesey in the North Wales. It is also a major port adjacent to the Irish Sea serving Ireland....
. The individual islets are accessible from one another at low tide and by small bridges.
The name "Skerry" is the Scottish
Scots language
Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
diminutive of the Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
"sker", and means a small rocky reef or island (source). The Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
name for these islands, Ynysoedd y Moelrhoniaid, means "the Islands of Bald-headed Grey Seals" (source).
Seabirds
The islands have a seabirdSeabird
Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...
colony, which is particularly important for Arctic Tern
Arctic Tern
The Arctic Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America...
, numbers of which are nationally important; Roseate Tern
Roseate Tern
The Roseate Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a number of geographical races, differing mainly in bill colour and minor plumage details....
breeds occasionally in very small numbers. The following species also breed: Atlantic Puffin
Atlantic Puffin
The Atlantic Puffin is a seabird species in the auk family. It is a pelagic bird that feeds primarily by diving for fish, but also eats other sea creatures, such as squid and crustaceans. Its most obvious characteristic during the breeding season is its brightly coloured bill...
, Black-legged Kittiwake
Black-legged Kittiwake
The Black-legged Kittiwake is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae.This species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 as Larus tridactylus....
, Herring Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
The Lesser Black-backed Gull is a large gull that breeds on the Atlantic coasts of Europe. It is migratory, wintering from the British Isles south to West Africa...
.
Because of these birds, in particular the terns, the island has been designated as part of the Ynys Feurig, Cemlyn Bay and The Skerries Special Protection Area
Special Protection Area
A Special Protection Area or SPA is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds.Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certain particularly threatened birds.Together with Special...
along with two other nearby sites, Cemlyn Bay
Cemlyn Bay and lagoon
Cemlyn Bay is a bay on the northwest coast of Anglesey, North Wales, approximately 2.5 km west of Wylfa nuclear power station, within the parish of Llanfairynghornwy....
and Ynys Feurig
Ynys Feurig
Ynys Feurig is the name for a set of three small inter-connected low-lying inshore tidal rocky islets , lying off from the west coast of Anglesey, North Wales, just north of the village of Rhosneigr and south of RAF Valley airfield. They are also known by the English name Starvation Island...
, and all three are also classed by Birdlife International
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...
as an Important Bird Area
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...
. The Skerries have also been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
.
Terns interchange regularly between all three sites, and form part of a larger Irish Sea
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...
tern population together with birds at sites in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
such as Rockabill Island
Rockabill
Rockabill is a group of two islands, "The Rock" and "The Bill", lying in the western Irish Sea about 6 kilometres east-north-east of Skerries, County Dublin, Ireland. An alternative Irish name, Carraig Dhá Bheola, meaning Two Lips Rock, is probably just a corruption of Carraig Dábhiolla.The...
. The islands are wardened by the RSPB during the tern breeding season, and management measures they have undertaken here include control of introduced Tree Mallow (Lavatera arborea
Lavatera arborea
Lavatera arborea , the Tree Mallow, is a species of mallow native to the coasts of western Europe and the Mediterranean region, from the British Isles south to Algeria and Libya, and east to Greece.- Description :It is a shrubby annual, biennial or perennial plant growing to 0.5–2 m tall...
) and provision of nestboxes; these measures as aimed particularly at helping to increase the attractiveness of the site to breeding Roseate Tern
Roseate Tern
The Roseate Tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a number of geographical races, differing mainly in bill colour and minor plumage details....
s, although it is accepted that the future number of pairs of this species here is primarily dependent on the overall health of the Irish Sea
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...
population.
The site came to national attention among birders briefly in July 2005 when it attracted a Sooty Tern
Sooty Tern
The Sooty Tern, Onychoprion fuscatus , is a seabird of the tern family . It is a bird of the tropical oceans, breeding on islands throughout the equatorial zone. Colloquially, it is known as the Wideawake Tern or just wideawake...
, a species which only a very small number of birders had previously seen in Britain.
Lighthouse
The Skerries Lighthouse (53.4211°N 4.6085°W) was established on the highest point of the largest island after 1716. A patent for the lighthouse was subsequently obtained in 1824. The builder was William Trench, who lost his son off the rocks and died in debt in 1725. He is said to have originally been allowed a pension from the Post OfficePost office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
, rather than payment from shipping tolls. An act of 1730 allowed his son-in-law, Sutton Morgan, to increase the dues charged for shipping and confirmed the patent on the light to Morgan’s heirs forever.
It was rebuilt around 1759 by Morgan’s heirs for about £3,000. The rebuilt lighthouse was a slightly tapering limestone tower
Tower
A tower is a tall structure, usually taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires....
, 6.65 metres (21.8 ft) in diameter and about 8.5 metres (27.9 ft) high. It was lit by a coal brazier
Brazier
A brazier is a container for fire, generally taking the form of an upright standing or hanging metal bowl or box. Used for holding burning coal as well as fires, a brazier allows for a source of light, heat, or cooking...
on top of the tower. Morgan Jones, who was twice high sheriff
High Sheriff
A high sheriff is, or was, a law enforcement officer in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.In England and Wales, the office is unpaid and partly ceremonial, appointed by the Crown through a warrant from the Privy Council. In Cornwall, the High Sheriff is appointed by the Duke of...
of Cardiganshire
Ceredigion
Ceredigion is a county and former kingdom in mid-west Wales. As Cardiganshire , it was created in 1282, and was reconstituted as a county under that name in 1996, reverting to Ceredigion a day later...
, inherited the lighthouse in 1778; he raised the top of the tower by 6.7 metres (22 ft) and built an iron balcony
Balcony
Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...
with railings enclosing the oil-burning lantern
Lantern
A lantern is a portable lighting device or mounted light fixture used to illuminate broad areas. Lanterns may also be used for signaling, as 'torches', or as general light sources outdoors . Low light level varieties are used for decoration. The term "lantern" is also used more generically to...
. The lantern was glazed all around with square panes and covered by a cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
.
Trinity House
Trinity House
The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond is the official General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales and other British territorial waters...
took over operation of the lighthouse under an enabling act of 1836, but not without a fight from the original owners, who wanted to protect their investment from a low takeover price. It was lavishly restored by James Walker, exhibiting two of his characteristics: a decrease in diameter and a solid parapet (as seen at his Trwyn Du Lighthouse
Trwyn Du Lighthouse
Trwyn Du Lighthouse is a lighthouse between Dinmor Point near Penmon and Ynys Seriol, or Puffin Island, south east Anglesey, at the north entrance to the Menai Strait and marking the passage between the two islands....
). The stone-built gallery was 0.84 metres (2.8 ft) wide and bracketed out on corbels with a crenellated parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
. A new cast-iron lantern, 4.25 metres (13.9 ft) in diameter, was glazed with square panes around a dioptric light with mirrors, later replaced by a lens. On the north side of the tower there is a former external doorway exhibiting the Trinity House coat of arms, which now leads to the engine room.
The light shines at a height of 36 metres (118.1 ft) above the average high tide
High Tide
High Tide was a band formed in 1969 by Tony Hill , Simon House , Peter Pavli and Roger Hadden .-History:...
, with an intensity of 1,150,000 candela
Candela
The candela is the SI base unit of luminous intensity; that is, power emitted by a light source in a particular direction, weighted by the luminosity function . A common candle emits light with a luminous intensity of roughly one candela...
s. It flashes twice every 10 seconds and can be seen 22 nmi (40.7 km) away. In 1903–4, a solid circular tower, about 3 metres (9.8 ft) in diameter, was added to the south-west side of the main tower to carry a sector light. This shines at an elevation of 26 metres (85.3 ft) above the sea. The light was automated in 1987 and is now controlled from Holyhead
Holyhead
Holyhead is the largest town in the county of Anglesey in the North Wales. It is also a major port adjacent to the Irish Sea serving Ireland....
.
Nearby are castellated dwellings having cobbled yards and entrance stairs, along with symmetrically sited privies, a garden, a stone bridge connecting two islets, and a unique stone well-head building. An axial corridor leads from the dwellings to the lighthouse tower's base. The early date of the lighthouse keeper
Lighthouse keeper
A lighthouse keeper is the person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Keepers were needed to trim the wicks, replenish fuel, wind clockworks and perform maintenance tasks such as cleaning...
s’ cottages makes the buildings of considerable interest. For a number of summers, they have been used by wardens working for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Bird Notes and News was first published in April 1903.The title changed to 'Bird Notes' in 1947. In the 1950s, there were four copies per year . Each volume covered two years, spread over three calendar years...
.