Inchmickery

Inchmickery is a small island in the Firth of Forth in Scotland. It is about a mile (1.6 km) north of Edinburgh.

Its name comes from the Scottish Gaelic, "Innis nam Bhiocaire", meaning "Isle of the Vicar", implying that there may have been an old ecclesiastical or Culdee settlement here, as in nearby Inchcolm. It features occasionally in a riddle, "How many inches is the Forth?", playing on a pun on 'Inch' ("Innis"), the Gaelic word for island, and inch, the imperial measurement.

Inchmickery is tiny, only 100 metres by 200 metres. During World War II the island was used as a gun emplacement. The concrete buildings make the island look (from a distance) like a battleship. Although the island is now uninhabited much of this concrete superstructure remains largely intact. These buildings were used for filming scenes of the film "Complicity".

The island is now an RSPB reserve, and is home to breeding pairs of Common Eider, Sandwich Terns and the very rare Roseate Tern. There are two rocks off it, known as the Cow and Calf.

Inchmickery was formerly known for its oyster-beds [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=43448#s17] , and used to be covered in moss and lichen.

External links

*
* [http://www.gm0axy.ic24.net/inchmick.htm Report of a visit to Inchmickery]
* [http://www.scotlandthemovie.com/movies/compinm.html Details of the filming of "Complicity"]