- Horse Isle
Horse Isle is a small, rocky, uninhabited island in the
Firth of Clyde , inScotland . The island lies around 1 km west of the mainland town ofArdrossan at gbmapping|NS211427, providing some shelter to the harbour that the Arran ferry sails from.Geography
Two smaller islands, North Islet and East Islet, skirt the east coast of Horse Isle and a number of other rocks litter the sound between the island and the mainland.
It is within the administrative district of
North Ayrshire .History
An old and derelict tower is located at the south end of Horse Isle. Presumably at one time it was used as a
lighthouse but it is indicated only by the word "landmark" on theOrdnance Survey map.A number of ships have been wrecked on the island such as:
* "Minerva" (1821, brig)
* "Morning Star" (1871)
* "Brigadier" (tugboat, 1960, sank) [http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/features/featurefirst12005.html]Wildlife
Today (
2006 ), Horse Isle is aRoyal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) "Area of Special Protection" (AoSP)cite web|url=http://www.clydeforum.org/reports/focconf.pdf|title=Conference on the Ecology and Management of the Firth of Clyde - Papers|year=2001|work=Firth of Clyde Forum|accessdate=2006-10-27] for breeding seabirds and waterfowl and winter grounds. (The term AoSP replaced Bird Sanctuary Orders (Protection of Birds Act 1967). AoSP’s are created under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 with the aim of preventing disturbance or destruction of birds.)Species found here include herring and
lesser black backed gull s, andeider . [http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/features/featurefirst12005.html]References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
