Ballycotton Island

Yesterday, June 3rd, I fulfilled a long-standing ambition - I set foot on Ballycotton Island. One of my earliest memories is of looking out on the island from the little cottage I lived in as a child in Warren, Ballymacoda. It is part of a landscape indelibly imprinted in my mind. I remember the long, deep, booming sound of its foghorn whenever the bay was shrouded in invisibility; I loved to watch the red flashes from the lighthouse at night.

And so, after all these years, an opportunity arose to visit the island. I should add that unauthorised visitors are forbidden and I was definitely not authorised. Thanks to an approach to a third party a boatman was contacted and he agreed to land me at 6:30am as he was on his way out fishing. 

The sun was just rising when I arrived at Ballycotton and the sky was clear. It was going to be a beautiful day.

The boatman - I had better not mention his name - arrived at 6:15 and we were soon on our way out the harbour and across the calm sea to the island.

The boat pulled in to the pier on the north side and it was agreed that I'd be collected at about 10:30am. The tide would be ebbing at that stage; any later and a landing would not be possible - I'd have to wait until later in the day when the tide would be rising again. (Actually, that would have suited me just fine - a day alone on the island sounded just the ticket - but I didn't want to push my luck). I bade the boatman good fishing and I made my way up the path to the lighthouse. A gate near the top of the path seemed to bar entrance to the lighthouse area but luckily it was unlocked. I was now on top of the island.

From Wikipedia: "Situated on the steep sloped Ballycotton Island approximately 2 km from the village, the lighthouse was commissioned in 1851 when the keeper and his family lived on the island and their children rowed to school weather permitting. By 1899 the four keepers were housed in the town with keepers rotating duty at the lighthouse. In 1975 the light was converted to electricity and it was automated on 28 March 1992 when the lighthouse keepers were withdrawn".

And from the Commissioners of Irish Lights website: "The main light was converted to electric on 15 January 1975 when the original 1851 optic was replaced by an AGA sealed beam lamp array with a character of Fl W 10 seconds. On 14 August 1975 a 175° landward red sector was incorporated into the main light.

A modernisation of the station was carried out in 1976-77. New quarters were built for the keepers and tradesmen, with a watchroom on the roof, and the old keepers' dwelling became a general store...The diaphone itself was repositioned in a new diaphone house in the south-east corner of the compound complete with an ex Osprey lightvessel air receiver and an ex Inishtrahull diaphone trumpet. An eleven metre diameter concrete helicopter landing pad was constructed. Since April 1978 the light is exhibited in poor visibility when the fog signal is sounding.

The Radio Beacon and Radio Direction Finder Calibration Beacon service was discontinued on the 26th November 1991. In 1991 the diaphone fog signal was changed to an electric horn retaining the same character. On 28 March 1992 the lighthouse was converted to automatic operation. The three keepers were withdrawn from the station, and the station was placed in the care of an Attendant. The aids to navigation are also monitored via a telemetry link from Irish Lights Dun Laoghaire.

An undersea mains electricity cable was laid by the ESB from the pier at Ballycotton to Ballycotton Island on 17 July 2004. The three generator sets were replaced with a 10 kW mains fail generator on 16 April 2005, and the batteries and chargers were upgraded. The existing light and 4 nautical mile fog signal were retained. This project was designed to provide reliable operation of the station for the ensuing 10 years. 

On 11 January 2011, following a review of aids to navigation, the fog signal at Ballycotton was permanently disestablished. The light continues to be exhibited in poor visibility during daylight hours".

This is the fog signal that is now, sadly, no longer in use:

All the buildings, as expected, were locked. Peering through the windows revealed empty rooms except for a couple of old mattresses in one and a disconnected freezer in another.

It was great to be next to the lighthouse itself, one of the few black lighthouses in the world. 

 

Having photographed the island from the mainland side for so long it was interesting to be able to see the opposite perspective:

I then turned my attention to photographing the bird life, mainly gulls and cormorants. 

As I said, I would happily have stayed there all day but around 10:15 I saw, through my binoculars, the boatman heading towards the island from north of the bay. I made my way down to the landing area and soon I was heading back to Ballycotton pier.