Behind The Photographs

The Isle Of May is a little sliver of an island, just one mile (one and a half kilometres) long, located in the mouth of the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh, Scotland.

Because of the seabirds that nest there, the island is designated a European Special Protection Area.

It may seem obvious, but it is worth stating what this means.

It means is that no development can take place on the island and scientists have unrestricted access to measure the breeding success and examine the habits of the seabirds on the island.

This is very important, because what scientists find out here can be used as evidence to prevent abuses of nature here and elsewhere.

But the island is not only a European Special Protection Area. Because of the seals that come on land to bask and the underwater reefs around the island, it is also designated a Special Area of Conservation.

So that is double protection for the island as a refuge and a haven for wildlife.

We Visit The Island

North Berwick is a small town on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, about an hour east of Edinburgh.

It is home to the Scottish Seabird Centre which organises trips to the Isle Of May and to Bass Rock.

The Isle Of May is more accessible than the Bass Rock in uncertain weather because although they both lie in the Firth Of Forth, Bass Rock is a massive rock that juts out of the sea with sheer cliffs on all sides.

So while landing on the Isle Of May on a given day might be dicey because of the uncertain weather, landing on Bass Rock is much more problematic.

That’s why we opted to visit the Isle Of May this past June.

Still, one day we would like to visit Bass Rock, too.

A Glorious Day For A Visit To The Isle Of May

We were so lucky with the weather. The sun was shining and the sea looked calm. The signs were good for a successful trip!

We set off from North Berwick, heading out in a small motorised rubber dingy with a dozen people on board.

As we whipped along with the wind in our faces, the bright yellow wet weather gear we were all wearing marked us off as adventurers of the first order (kind of).

We passed Bass Rock and continued, on and on.

The 10 mile (15km) journey seemed to go on for hours and our liitle dinghy felt very small in the middle of a lot of water.

Fog In The Firth And Seabirds On The Horizon

Then the fog came down – and our destination became a pale smudge in the distance.

Meanwhile, we saw seabirds flying dead straight and low over the water – guillemots and razorbills – and I hoped again that this low-lying lump of rock would hold puffins.

We swung around the south east corner of the isand and puttered slowly up a narrow channel to the landing stage.

Artic terns, with black caps and bright red beaks, hovered just overhead. I was too stunned at the sight of them – so beautiful and so close – to have the presence of mind to get my camera out of its bag.

The Gauntlet Of Terns

The terns’ breeding colony occupies the more or less level ground near the landing stage on the island, and we had to walk up the path that cuts through the colony.

The warden explained that terns dive-bomb intruders, and he instructed us in how to protect ourselves as we walked.

He said we should hold our arms, a bag, or perhaps a camera tripod – whatever we were carrying – over our heads as we walked, to prevent being pecked by dive-bombing terns.

And pecked and harassed we were. A tern pecked my hand and around me I could hear little yelps and shouts as other members of the party wilted under the attacks.

And then we were through and up to the rest area where we took off our wet weather gear.

Then up to the rocky coastline on the far side of the island.

Would We See Puffins?

I had read about the falling numbers of puffins over the past few years – both in the Farne Islands in Northumberland and also further north here in Scotland.

The falling numbers are due to a one-percent increase in the temperature of the waters around the coast.

This has led to a decrease in algae and plankton, which has led to the sand eels that are the puffins’ staple food moving further north where the waters are cooler.

In turn this means that the puffins have to travel further to catch the sand eels. The result is that they feed their chicks less and so fewer survive to aldulthood.

But whatever the fall in numbers, there are thousands of puffins still on the island.

Looking out over the cliffs we saw thousands of seabirds – guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, and shags.

Guillemots, razorbills, and kittiwakes prefer to nest on small rocky ledges on the cliff face, whereas puffins like to nest on the level grassy ground, with their young hidden down burrows in the sandy soil.

While puffins can excavate their own burrows, the burrows on the island have generally been excavated by rabbits, and there are lots of rabbits on the island.

The bottom line is that the puffins were near us and we were near the puffins. Sheer heaven!

Quillcards Ecards

We have put four of our photographs of puffins in our main ecard site at Quillcards – in the Birds category of the Natural World theme.

At the present time, you will also see them in the Recently Added section of the main site at Quillcards.

Information About The Isle Of May

To see the precise location of the Isle Of May, put the following reference into Google Maps:

56° 11′ 4.68″ N, 2° 33′ 17.93″ W

The Scots are very aware of the beauty of their country, and the Isle of May is owned and managed by Scottish Natural Heritage – a public body that is part of the Scottish Government with responsibility for Scotland’s natural heritage.

Finally, our trip was organised by the wonderful Scottish Seabird Centre located at North Berwick.

The Centre also runs trips to Bass Rock, and now that we are accomplished adventurers, we shall endeavor to make a trip there also.

Where To Go In Scotland

Scotland is not a big country. It has mountains and lochs and castles and forested hills within easy reach, and even from coast to coast it is not more than a two-hour drive.

This is Kilchurn Castle in central Scotland at the north-east end of Loch Awe near the small village of Dalmally. To the west is the coast and the Isle of Mull.

Set on a small mound against a backdrop of green hills, it seemed exactly right and fitting as our destination a couple of weeks ago following a meandering car drive from Edinburgh.

There were sheep grazing in the long grass on either side of the sandy path and in the distance I could see more sheep on the mound on which the castle is built.

This photo is a crop of the full frame of the shot I took while we were still far down the path.

In my mind’s eye as we walked, I was happily composing the shot of the sheep on the mound that I would take when we got much nearer – except that a young boy jumped down onto the grass from one of the windows of the ruin and the sheep scattered.

And that is how I didn’t get the shot I wanted.

Ah, well – the castle and the sheep will have to wait for another visit some time in the future – perhaps when we visit the Isle of Mull.

A Powerful History

The castle was originally built on a small island in the loch, when the water level in the loch was higher. Then in 1817 the water level in the loch was lowered so now the castle sits on the little mound on the shore of the loch.

But Kilchurn Castle itself is six hundred years old.

It was built in the fourteen hundreds by Sir Colin Campbell, 1st of Glenorchy (as he was designated) who was granted (given) Glenorchy by his father in 1432.

He was also given lands by King James III – including the barony of Lawers, Perthshire – for his services in capturing Thomas Chalmer, one of the assassins of King James I.

The story of the Campbells and Kilchurn Castle goes as follows. In the mid-13th century Robert the Bruce gave the MacGregors’ lands around loch Awe to Clan Campbell in retaliation for the MacGregor of Glen Orchy’s intransigence in continuing to support William Wallace.

Now when I was growing up in the industrial north of England, I occasionally heard mention of the ancient and longstanding feud between the Campbell clan and clan MacGregor, but it didn’t mean very much to me because I didn’t have an historical context for understanding it.

Now that I am here in Scotland and reading more about the clans, I get a sense of the history of the castle and the land at Kilchurn.

And with mention of William Wallace, I see that the feud has to be understood against the backdrop of the Scottish wars of independence fought against the English in the late 13th and 14th centuries.

It was obviously a bitter feud and I learn that in the 1600s the even the name MacGregor was outlawed in Scotland.

Even today there are tensions, as you can read if you google for the Campbells and the MacGregors.

A plaque at Kilchurn Castle explains that the castle was used as a government garrison during the failed Jacobite uprisings of 1715 and 1745 – and now I have learned something of the history of the clans, I can see why the castle was a government garrison rather than a rebel stronghold.

Whatever the dispute between the clans, in 1760 it all came to an end for Kilchurn Castle when it was badly damaged by a lightning strike and abandoned.

Kilchurn Castle Today

Today Kilchurn is looked after by Historic Scotland, and during the summer months it is open to visitors.

Although it seems from the outside to be nothing but a ruin, inside there are wooden staircases bolted to the walls so you can climb up and look out over the landscape.

This is the view down Loch Awe – the longest freshwater loch in Scotland – and as you can see on the map above, the loch is a thin ribbon of water stretching south west.

Today, the straggly woods around the castle are home to some sheep.

The sense of place is probably very different in winter, but in the June sun it is a very romantic spot.

Rocky Outcrops

Around the castle there are jagged outcrops of rock – part of the documented Loch Awe Syncline. This is where the rock strata have been folded and then warn down over the millennia leaving jagged rocks cutting at an angle through the landscape.

The dark rocks in the foreground at the left in this last photo are part of this syncline, as is the white outcrop behind.

No Need To Plan Your Visit

Apart from checking with Historic Scotland that the ruin is open, Kilchurn is the simplest of places to visit. Just turn up and wander around the between the shore, the trees, and the castle.

And breathe in the pleasure of a place far from even the sound of traffic.

The Calm Before The [Diamond Jubilee] Storm

It felt a bit like the calm before the storm last week when my husband David and I visited London seeing as it was the run-up to the five days of festivities this week for Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee to celebrate her sixty years on the throne.

Although things were revving up somewhat and you saw emerging telltale signs that the city was in store for something special, the merrymaking hadn’t officially begun. So what we saw on the streets was low on the razzle-dazzle scale compared to all the jubilee pageantry and spectacle that we have all witnessed this week.

Nevertheless I think London is always full of bits and bobs that are grand to come upon and learn more about, including what follows here.

From Punchman To Punch

There he was, luring my husband David and I with his bright colors in a shop window – and no doubt you’ve also seen this commanding fellow either in person or in print:

He’s the character Punch who is part of the Punch and Judy duo, a traditional English popular puppet show.

Other characters pop up on stage along with Punch and Judy – which invariably leads to a bit of an anarchic, thespian free-for-all that gets the spectators laughing.

It turns out that traditionally the single puppeteer who performs the show was known as a ‘professor’ or ‘punchman’ in Victorian times – which is, of course, where our hero Punch here gets his name.

The Helpful Bottler

A punchman was sometimes helped out by a ‘bottler’ – that is, the name given to the person who tries to corral an audience, introduces the show, and finally collects the money (‘the bottle’) at the end of the performance.

The bottler would often play accompanying music (in Victorian times the drum and pan pipes were generally used) or do sound effects or chat back to the puppets. The latter often consisted of repeating lines the puppets said that might have been difficult for the audience to understand.

These days punchmen usually work on their own because they often get gigs at private parties or public engagements so they are paid beforehand and not busking on the streets.

Pulcinella to Punchinello to Punch

Punch and Judy have their roots in the commedia dell’arte of 16th-century Italy, a form of theatre with masked ‘types’.

Commedia dell’arte had many actors and players who commanded high fees – which is what led in the 17th century to bringing in string puppets (known as marionettes) who replaced the actors.

Punch’s figure is taken from the Neapolitan character Pulcinella, which was later anglicised to Punchinello. He’s fashioned after the mythological Lord of Misrule, and originally his wife was named Joan.

Watched By Samuel Pepys And George Washington

Mr. Punch as he was also known first appeared in England in 1662. Samuel Pepys, the English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who became known for his diary, wrote about the marionette show that had an early version of the Punch character that he saw in Covent Garden in London.

The marionette theatre starring Punch was at its height in the early 18th century. Punch was very well liked in Paris too, and by the end of the 18th century he was also performing in Britain’s American colonies where George Washington is said to have bought tickets for a show.

From Marionettes To Glove Puppets

During that time, marionette companies began to be replaced by glove-puppet shows.

This is when the punchman and his assistant bottler appeared on the scene. Mobile puppet booths at that time and into the early 19th century were covered in checked material or other inexpensive cloth.

By the 20th century, red-and-white-striped puppet booths became iconic sights on English beaches, seasides, and summer resorts.

Marionettes In India

Learning about the history of Punch and Judy and their beginnings as marionettes reminds me of these marionettes that David and I chanced upon them when we traveled in northern India in 2010.

They are iconic in the gloriously colored Indian city of Udaipur that lies in the magnificent region of Rajasthan (and by the way, I was so taken with the puppets that I bought several of them home with us):

Spotting An Iconic Red Telephone Box

Back from Udaipur to London: Seeing that almost everyone including myself is usually reliant on a mobile/cell phone these days, it was a treat for us to spot this working iconic red phone box when we were walking about the city streets of inner London.

So what does this phone box, the Liverpool Cathedral, and the Battersea Power Station all have in common?

Each was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott who lived from 1880 to 1960. Born into a family of architects, Sir Gilbert Scott was noted for his style that blended Gothic tradition with modernism.

He built a number of churches, and during WWI when he was a major in the Royal Marines, he was put in charge of building sea defenses on the English Channel coast.

Going ‘Steeple-Chasing’ For Inspiration

Scott’s early life was not a bed of roses: When he was three, his father was declared mentally unstable and he only saw his father twice in his life after that.

He grew up instead just with his mother. One of the type of outings that affected him was when they went ‘steeple-chasing’ together during his school holidays – in other words, they would bicycle around Sussex near the farm where they lived hoping to find interesting church architecture.

The Telephone Box With A Top Like A Mausoleum Dome

Beyond building churches during his career, Scott was one of three architects invited by the Royal Fine Arts Commission to present designs for new telephone boxes.

Scott got this invitation at the same time that he was made a trustee of Sir John Soane’s Museum (now known as the Soane Museum). Surely this influenced him to top his design that was in a classical style with a dome that is similar to Soane’s self-designed mausoleums in St Pancras’ Old Churchyard and Dulwich Picture Gallery in London.

The Post Office Steps In

Scott suggested that his telephone box be made of steel and be painted silver with a greeny-blue interior.

The Post Office, however, decided to make Scott’s winning design in cast iron and to paint it red so it would be very visible to all.

K6 for King George V’s Jubilee

Different reincarnations of the telephone boxes were numbered. And speaking of Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee this week, it was in 1935 that K6 (box number 6) was designed to commemorate her father King George V’s silver jubilee.

The K6 was the public telephone box that has been used the most in the UK.

Queen Elizabeth Brings In The ‘St. Edward’s Crown’

When Queen Elizabeth came to the throne in 1952 sixty years ago, she wanted to change from the practice of using the purely symbolic ‘Tudor Crown’ as a symbol of her government.

Instead she decided to use a representation of the St. Edward’s Crown, which is the actual crown generally used for British coronations.

The Scottish Variation

Living in lovely Edinburgh as we are, I want to note that the post office in Scotland at this time decided to use a representation of the actual ‘Crown of Scotland’, the crown used at the coronation of the Scottish monarchs.

Union Jacks At The Ready

As you will note, there are Union Jacks flying at the ready in the background of our photo of the iconic red telephone box – yielding two iconic images for the price of one, as it were…

At that time when the Diamond Jubilee was almost upon us, such flags were popping up all over London just like the rows of them on high in the rafters of this building at Covent Garden:

‘Tammy’ For Bunting

At the turn of the 17th century, a certain type of lightweight worsted wool fabric more commonly known as ‘tammy’ was used for making ribbons, flags, and signal flags for the Royal Navy.

Through a process known as hot pressing, the fabric acquired its high glaze. This and its other properties made it particularly suitable for creating such objects.

Fabric, Plastic, Paper, Or Even Cardboard

In modern times, the term “bunting” is used for any festive decorations made of fabric, plastic, paper or even cardboard in imitation of fabric.

Typical forms of bunting are strings of triangular flags in vibrant colors, or long pieces of fabric in the colors that make up a national flag gathered and draped into various shapes.

Bunting is also used to talk about a collection of flags on a ship. The officer who raises such signals using flags is known as ‘bunts’, which is why the term is still used for a ship’s communications officer.

Certain flags like Union Jacks pinned up for decoration as they have been for this jubilee period as also referred to collectively as bunting.

A ‘Bundle’ Of Decorations?

Interestingly, the word ‘bunting’ comes from ‘bunt’ which is the bellying part of a square sail, as the language site Edenics explains. However, the word ‘bunt’ in Middle Dutch means ‘a binding bundle’.

The pivotal function of ‘bunting’, it goes on to clarify, may be observed in the ‘buntline’, which is a rope to prevent a sail from bellying.

Well, that’s a bit of a stretch to all the bunting splashing so much vibrant color on jubilee decorations and street part tables, but I find it fun to discover where everyday items get their historical roots.

Queen Elizabeth Right There At The Pub’s Entrance

Speaking of decorations, we might not have been in London for the Diamond Jubilee – but at least we still got to say hello to the Queen.

As you can see here, she was standing outside the pub called the Woodins Shades on Liverpool Street when we walked by:

Actually, we thought it was quite nice for her to make such an effort – particularly with her jubilee coming up within days, the planning of which had been several years in the making!