The Isle of May is located in the north of the outer Firth of Forth, approximately 8 km (5.0 mi) off the coast of mainland Scotland. It is 1.8 km long and less than half a kilometre wide. The island is owned and managed by Scottish Natural Heritage as a National Nature Reserve.
Most visitors to the island are daytrippers taking the ferry from Anstruther in Fife, although up to six visitors can stay at the observatory, usually for a week at a time. The only way to get there is by ferry, the journey taking 45 minutes from the small ports of Anstruther and Crail. The island is closed to visitors from 1 October until 1 May to prevent disturbance to the large number of seal pups. The Scottish Seabird Centre at North Berwick has three live cameras on the island, which can be remotely controlled by visitors at the Seabird Centre, to allow close viewing of the seabird cities in spring and summer, including puffins, guillemots, razorbills, shags, cormorants and terns and the fluffy Grey seal pups in winter, without disturbing the animals.
There are now no permanent residents, but the island was the site of a priory (St. Adrian's Priory) during the Middle Ages.
Read more about Isle Of May: Geography and Geology, History, Lighthouses, Wildlife
Famous quotes containing the word isle:
“It is so rare to meet with a man outdoors who cherishes a worthy thought in his mind, which is independent of the labor of his hands. Behind every man’s busy-ness there should be a level of undisturbed serenity and industry, as within the reef encircling a coral isle there is always an expanse of still water, where the depositions are going on which will finally raise it above the surface.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)