2011

HU3720 : Sands of the tombolo, St Ninian's Isle

taken 13 years ago, near to Bigton, Mainland, Shetland Islands, Scotland

Sands of the tombolo, St Ninian's Isle
Sands of the tombolo, St Ninian's Isle
The beautifully formed tombolo linking Mainland, Shetland to St Ninian's Isle is composed of fine light golden sand. The sea laps gently on both sides - in this weather at least !
Tombolo

A tombolo is a beach or bar (sometimes called an "ayre") which connects an island either to another island or to the mainland. It therefore effectively results in the smaller island becoming a peninsula, though this depends on definitions.
Tombolos are formed by the refraction and diffraction of waves around the island causing sand, gravel and pebbles to be swept in both directions around the island until they meet on the mainland-ward side of the island. The sand/pebbles then pile up to create a bar or spit of land above normal sea level, creating a causeway to the island.
The finest (and largest) tombolo in the British Isles is considered to be that which links St Ninian's Isle to the island of Mainland, Shetland. See HU3720 : St Ninian's Isle tombolo to view this example.

St Ninian's Isle :: HU3620

Lying off the west coast of Mainland Shetland adjacent to the village of Bigton, St Ninian's Isle is connected to the main island by a shell-sand tombolo, reckoned to be the finest (and largest active) example in the British Isles.
St Ninian's occasionally becomes a true island when tides and weather combine to inundate the tombolo, but usually it is, strictly speaking, a peninsula.
The little island has an area of approximately 178 acres (72ha) and rises to a maximum elevation of 174' (53m). According to the information board on the Bigton side of the tombolo, the coastal walk around the island is approximately 3½ miles (5.3km) long and will take about 1½ - 2 hours to complete. This board also tells us that the island was inhabited until 1775, though Wikipedia gives a date of 1796.
On 4th July 1958, a schoolboy, Douglas Coutts, who was helping visiting archaeologists, uncovered the fantastic Pictish silver "St Ninian's Isle Treasure" dating from c.800 AD see LinkExternal link and LinkExternal link for more details.


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Rob Farrow and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Coastal Islands other tags: Tombolo St Ninian Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Shetland Mainland [8] · Linking St Ninian's Isle [6] ·
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
+
+
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
TIP: Click the map for more Large scale mapping
Grid Square
HU3720, 75 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Rob Farrow   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Thursday, 1 September, 2011   (more nearby)
Submitted
Friday, 20 January, 2012
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! HU 3704 2075 [10m precision]
WGS84: 59:58.2004N 1:20.3005W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! HU 3731 2074
View Direction
WEST (about 270 degrees)
Clickable map
+
NW N NE
W Go E
SW S SE
Image classification(about): Geograph
This page has been viewed about 145 times
You are not logged in login | register