Inchmickery
IOSA FF-7 and IOTA
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About GM0AXY
Scottish Islands:
-
The
Lamb
- Inchmickery (here)
Summits on the Air:
- Introduction
- Glenkiln
-
Three days in May 2004
- Strathyre (being created)
| Inchmickery
is a small island measuring perhaps 200 by100
metres at most. It lies in the Firth of Forth
between Cramond Island to the south on the
Edinburgh side of the Forth and Inchcolm Island
near Dalgety Bay to the north, on the Fife side
of the Forth. The island was heavily fortified during WWII, and although all the military hardware has been removed, most of the pillboxes, gun emplacements etc. are still very much in evidence. The island is now designated a bird sanctuary, and landing on the island is only by special permission outside the bird breeding season. On a cold and drizzly November morning with force 8 gales forecast for most of the Scottish coastal waters, GM0VIV - John, GM4YMM - Christine and myself, GM0AXY - Ken, met up with the skipper of the Sea Hunter in Granton Harbour. After consulting with the harbour pilots about the weather forecasts for the day, the skipper declared that he would only be able to land us from a small boat i.e. we would have to transfer to a much smaller 15 foot boat some 100 metres off the island and ride the waves in to the landing site. Having seen the 'white horses' on the waves just outside the harbour breakwater, we took one big gulp... and said: "No problem, we will go for it"! The sea spray being thrown all over the boat as we sailed out towards the island was such that it was impossible to take any photographs during the 40 minute journey. |
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Inchmickery
seen from the boat looking towards the west. |
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The picture at the top of the page was taken once we were safely back on the Sea Hunter as we left the island, and as luck will have it, there was even a few rays of sunshine. Although the island is a 'bird sanctuary' there were very few birds to be seen on the island during our 3 to 4 hour visit. The most notable ones being a flock of some 15-odd pidgeons which had obviously inhabited the pillbox next to the one where Christine and I set up our station. Apart from the pidgeons, the only wild life in evidence were a couple of seals which looked on the landing stage on the east side of the island as their territory. They kept a constant watch on us during our stay, and no doubt once we were 'out of harms way', they would get back onto the concrete pier to resume their occupancy of the island. |
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