Fidra (archaically Fidrey or Fetheray) is a currently uninhabited island in the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...

, northwest of

North Berwick North Berwick (; gd, Bearaig a Tuath) is a seaside town and former royal burgh in East Lothian, Scotland. It is situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, approximately east-northeast of Edinburgh. North Berwick became a fashionable ...

, on the east coast of Scotland. The island is an

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment th ...

Scotland nature reserve.

Geography

Like the other islands near North Berwick, Fidra is the result of volcanic activity around 335 million years ago. Fidra consists of three sections; a hill at one end with the lighthouse on it; a low-lying section in the middle, effectively an

isthmus An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmus ...

; and a rocky

stack Stack may refer to: Places * Stack Island, an island game reserve in Bass Strait, south-eastern Australia, in Tasmania’s Hunter Island Group * Blue Stack Mountains, in Co. Donegal, Ireland People * Stack (surname) (including a list of people ...

at the other end.

History

The island's name is believed to be

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

in origin, referring to the large number of bird feathers found there. Like the nearby

Bass Rock The Bass Rock, or simply the Bass (), ( gd, Creag nam Bathais or gd, Am Bas) is an island in the outer part of the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland. Approximately offshore, and north-east of North Berwick, it is a steep-sided volca ...

, it has a substantial

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same envir ...

population, and is now an

reserve. The village of

Gullane Gullane ( or ) is a town on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian on the east coast of Scotland. There has been a church in the village since the ninth century. The ruins of the Old Church of St. Andrew built in the twe ...

lies to the south-west, and the nature reserve of

Yellowcraig Yellowcraig, also known as Broad Sands Beach, is a coastal area of forest, beach and grassland in East Lothian, south-east Scotland. Yellowcraig is partly within the Firth of Forth Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). It is bordered to th ...

and village of Dirleton, to which parish Fidra belongs,Martine, John (1890) ''Fourteen Parishes of the County of Haddington'', Edinburgh, p.50-51 are to the south. Remotely operated cameras on the island send live pictures to the watching visitors at the

Scottish Seabird Centre The Scottish Seabird Centre is a marine conservation and education charity, that is supported by a 5 star visitor attraction in North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland. Opened by HRH Duke of Rothesay in 2000 and funded by the Millennium Commission ...

in North Berwick. Upon the island are ruins of an old chapel, or '' lazaretto'' for the sick, which was dedicated in 1165 to St Nicholas. In the 12th-century, the island formed part of the barony of Dirleton, which was granted to the

Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to: *Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066 *Anglo-Norman language **Anglo-Norman literature *Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 1066 ...

John de Vaux by King

David I David I may refer to: * David I, Caucasian Albanian Catholicos c. 399 * David I of Armenia, Catholicos of Armenia (728–741) * David I Kuropalates of Georgia (died 881) * David I Anhoghin, king of Lori (ruled 989–1048) * David I of Scotland ...

. The de Vaux family built a stronghold, known as

Castle Tarbet Castle Tarbert is located on the island of Fidra, East Lothian, within the Firth of Forth, Scotland. History A castle was constructed on the island of Fidra in the 12th century by John de Vaux, Baron of Dirleton. The castle, chapel and island ...

, on the island, but in 1220, William de Vaux gifted Fidra to the monks of

Dryburgh Abbey Dryburgh Abbey, near Dryburgh on the banks of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders, was nominally founded on 10 November (Martinmas) 1150 in an agreement between Hugh de Morville, Constable of Scotland, and the Premonstratensian canons regu ...

, in the Borders. His successor built

Dirleton Castle Dirleton Castle is a medieval fortress in the village of Dirleton, East Lothian, Scotland. It lies around west of North Berwick, and around east of Edinburgh. The oldest parts of the castle date to the 13th century, and it was abandoned by th ...

, on the mainland, as a replacement dwelling.

Nature and ecology

The number of breeding puffins on the island has increased recently due to the removal of an introduced plant,

tree mallow ''Malva'' is a genus of herbaceous annual, biennial, and perennial plants in the family Malvaceae. It is one of several closely related genera in the family to bear the common English name mallow. The genus is widespread throughout the temper ...

(''Lavatera arborea''). It is likely that it was planted by lighthouse keepers for use as toilet paper, and for its medicinal qualities. The shrub was blocking the entrances to the breeding burrows, and in 1996 the number of occupied burrows had fallen to approximately 400. Following clearance by RSPB Scotland staff and volunteers over 1,000 burrows are occupied in 2016.

Cultural references

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as '' Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

often visited the beaches at the area known today as Yellowcraig and it is said that he based his map of ''

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...

'' on the shape of Fidra. (This claim is also made about the island of

Unst Unst (; sco, Unst; nrn, Ønst) is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. It is the northernmost of the inhabited British Isles and is the third-largest island in Shetland after Mainland and Yell. It has an area of . Unst ...

in Shetland.) He also mentioned Fidra in his novel ''

Catriona Catriona (pronounced "ka-TREE-nah" is a feminine given name in the English language. It is an Anglicisation of the Irish Caitríona or Scottish Gaelic Catrìona, which are forms of the English Katherine. Bearers of the name Caitríona * Ca ...

''.

Fidra Books Fidra Books is a publisher based in Edinburgh specializing in reissues of bygone children's books, mainly those from the 1940s onwards. Foundation and range The firm was set up in 2005 by Malcolm and Vanessa Robertson, who also opened Edinbur ...

is a publishing house, named after the island, and which uses Fidra's outline as part of its logo. The

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...

band

Marillion Marillion are a British rock band, formed in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979. They emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock, becoming the most ...

also briefly mention Fidra in the song, ''Warm Wet Circles'', which contains the line "She nervously undressed in the dancing beams of the Fidra Lighthouse", the coast nearby apparently being a well-known courting spot.

Lighthouse

The lighthouse, which was designed by

David Alan Stevenson David Alan Stevenson (21 July 1854 in Edinburgh – 11 April 1938) was a lighthouse engineer who built 26 lighthouses in and around Scotland. Life He was born on 21 July 1854 the son of David Stevenson and his wife, Elizabeth Mackay. His ...

(as his first work) in 1885 and supervised by his uncle

Thomas Stevenson Thomas Stevenson PRSE MInstCE FRSSA FSAScot (22 July 1818 – 8 May 1887) was a pioneering Scottish civil engineer, lighthouse designer and meteorologist, who designed over thirty lighthouses in and around Scotland, as well as the Stevenson s ...

was manned until 1970 and is now automated, as are all Scottish lighthouses. However, Fidra was the first unmanned lighthouse. It is accessible via a private jetty on the east coast of the island. The light flashes 4 times every 30 seconds during hours of darkness.''Reeds Small Craft Almanac'', London,

Adlard Coles Adlard Coles Nautical is a nautical publisher, with over 300 books in print. The company publishes books on topics of interest to sailors and motorboaters and also ‘landlubbers’ with an interest in the sea. Their list includes almanacs, cruis ...

Nautical, 2007

References

External links

Images of FidraFidra light

Northern Lighthouse Board

{{Lighthouse identifiers , qid2=Q12034940 Islands of the Forth Landforms of East Lothian Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserves in Scotland Uninhabited islands of Scotland North Berwick