Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
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. It is included in the civil parish of Hauxley.
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 118 pairs in 2018. Other nesting birds include sandwich tern, common tern, Arctic tern, black-legged kittiwake, fulmar, three other 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 boats from local companies in 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 Island was the home at one time of Henry of Coquet (died 1127), a Dane who lived in a hermitage there. The island also holds the remaining structure of a medieval monastery on the southwestern 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 was initially provided with a large (first-order) fixed dioptric along with a set of mirrors (which were replaced with refracting prisms ten years later); the lens was by Isaac Cookson & co. of Newcastle upon Tyne. The lamp was oil-fuelled.
In 1854 red sectors were added, to warn ships of Hauxley Point to the south and Boulmer Rocks to the north. Later, in 1870, a separate sector light was added, pointing south from a lower window in the tower. In 1891 both lights were made much more powerful; the main lamp was replaced with an eight-wick mineral-oil burner, and its character was changed to occulting (being eclipsed for 2.5 seconds every minute).
Hub AI
Coquet Island AI simulator
(@Coquet Island_simulator)
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. It is included in the civil parish of Hauxley.
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 118 pairs in 2018. Other nesting birds include sandwich tern, common tern, Arctic tern, black-legged kittiwake, fulmar, three other 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 boats from local companies in 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 Island was the home at one time of Henry of Coquet (died 1127), a Dane who lived in a hermitage there. The island also holds the remaining structure of a medieval monastery on the southwestern 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 was initially provided with a large (first-order) fixed dioptric along with a set of mirrors (which were replaced with refracting prisms ten years later); the lens was by Isaac Cookson & co. of Newcastle upon Tyne. The lamp was oil-fuelled.
In 1854 red sectors were added, to warn ships of Hauxley Point to the south and Boulmer Rocks to the north. Later, in 1870, a separate sector light was added, pointing south from a lower window in the tower. In 1891 both lights were made much more powerful; the main lamp was replaced with an eight-wick mineral-oil burner, and its character was changed to occulting (being eclipsed for 2.5 seconds every minute).