Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
Why we should all treasure islands
Each of Britain’s 6,000 islands has its own unique history, says Monty – visit one and bring out your inner explorer
There’s something magical about islands, although my two-year-old daughter Isla – in the process of discovering that sea-sickness is hereditary – might have needed a little bit of convincing on the subject last week. We were on the ferry to Lundy Island, on what could be described as a brisk autumnal sea, all grey lumpy waves and hissing white caps. Isla had staggered theatrically around the pitching saloon of the boat, before going an interesting shade of green and ridding herself of her breakfast.
So I hurriedly carried her out onto the deck and into the fresh air. Hair ruffled by the breeze – well, hers was, my ruffling days are long gone – together we watched the island materialise out of the Bristol Channel.
It doesn’t matter where a boat takes you, whenever you disembark you always feel like you’ve had an adven- ture. Somehow the flinty-eyed explorer within comes alive. I always feel like charging into the interior and claiming the land as my own – fairly ambitious when driving off the roll- on-roll- off ferry in Calais, but you get my drift.
As we prepared to dock, I hefted my inexplicably massive rucksack onto one shoulder (I’ve still no idea what was in it as I didn’t open it all day), gathered Isla into my arms, and together we stepped onto her first ever island. A frisson of excitement in this case was entirely justified. Lundy might be only three miles long by half a mile wide, but it’s a very special lump of rock indeed. For me, as a British biologist, it has a near mythical status, a place it’s essential to visit at least once. To be doing so with my girlfriend, Tam, and little Isla made it all the more special.
Lundy Island was established in 1986 as Britain’s only statutory Marine Nature Reserve, followed in 2003 by the establishment of a fishing No Take Zone to the east of the island. In a testament to the power of recovery of the natural world when left unmolested, the island is now – a mere decade later – surrounded by bustling reefs and waters that teem with life. It’s home to a mere handful of people, many of them researchers. It’s been a base for piracy, smuggling, skulduggery and – as is the case with all islands – still holds many secrets in echoing coves and steep cliffs.
Despite me explaining this in considerable detail to Isla, it was of limited relevance as far as she was concerned. She was more interested in the glossy beetle Tam had discovered. This got perhaps the best reaction of the entire day, which for her marine biologist dad was something of a disappointment as he frantically pointed out sea birds like skuas and shags, and peregrine falcons. A close second in terms of excitement for Isla were the pigs at the small farm on the island.
If you go to an island with your kids it will be a day you – and they – will remember for ever. Depending on your definition of an island, and indeed your definition of Britain, we have about 6,000 of them around our coast, each with a character all of its own. As I wrestled an understandably reluctant Isla back onto the ferry at the end of the day, I knew the memories of Lundy would stay with her. A magical day on an island with my daughter and my girlfriend, exploring the home of pirates and peregrines. Not forgetting of course, of pigs and beetles.