Coquet Island
Coquet Island /ˈkoʊkət/ is a small island of about 6 hectares (15 acres), situated 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) off Amble on the Northumberland coast, northeast England.
Bird reserve
The island is owned by the Duke of Northumberland. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds manages the island as a bird reserve, for its important seabird colonies.
The most numerous species is the puffin, with over 18,000 pairs nesting in 2002, but the island is most important for the largest colony of the endangered roseate tern in Britain, which, thanks to conservation measures including the provision of nestboxes to protect the nests from gulls and bad weather, has risen to 92 pairs in 2005. Other nesting birds include sandwich tern, common tern, Arctic tern, black-legged kittiwake, fulmar, three gull species, and eider duck.
The island is uninhabited in winter, but seasonal wardens are present throughout the summer to protect the nesting birds. Landing on Coquet Island for the general public is prohibited, but local boating companies from Amble sail close up to the island in good weather throughout the summer, allowing visitors to get good views of the puffins and roseate terns.
Coquet Lighthouse
 The lighthouse | |
 | |
| Location | Coquet Island Northumberland England |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 55°20′2″N 1°32′23.2″W / 55.33389°N 1.539778°W |
| Constructed | 1841 |
| Construction | sandstone tower |
| Automated | 1990 |
| Height | 22 m (72 ft) |
| Shape | square tower with balcony and lantern |
| Markings | unpainted lower tower, white upper tower and lantern |
| Operator | Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (Coquet Island Preserve)[1] |
| Fog signal | one 3 second blast every 30s. |
| Light | |
| Focal height | 25 m (82 ft) |
| Light source | solar power |
| Intensity | white: 155,000 candela red: 21,830 candela |
| Range | white: 19 nmi (35 km) red: 15 nmi (28 km) |
| Characteristic | Fl (4) WR 20s. |
Coquet Island also holds the remaining structure of a medieval monastery on the south western shore, which was largely incorporated into the 19th-century lighthouse and lighthouse keepers' cottages. Coquet Lighthouse was built by Trinity House in 1841 at a cost of £3,268.
James Walker designed the lighthouse, which is a white square tower of sandstone, with walls more than one metre thick, surrounded by a turreted parapet. The first keeper at Coquet Lighthouse was William Darling, the elder brother of Grace Darling. The lighthouse is now automatic with no resident keeper.[2]
See also
- List of lighthouses in England
- The Farne Islands; another important bird reserve about 30 km to the north.
- Henry of Coquet (12th century) - Danish hermit and miracleworking saint who lived on this island.
References
- ^ Coquet Island The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 30 April 2016
- ^ "Coquet Lighthouse". trinintyhouse.co.uk. Trinity House. Archived from the original on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
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External links
- Trinity House
- Tide times for Coquet Island from the BBC and Easytide[permanent dead link].
- History of Coquet Island. (Modified from "A History of Northumberland", volume V, by John Crawford Hodgson. Published 1899).
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