Lindisfarne, Island of Birds, Flowers and Saints
Holy Island is Regarded as the Birthplace of English Christianity
Feb 19, 2009
Aidan’s death, in 651, coincided with the vocation of a young shepherd, Cuthbert, who later became Bishop of Lindisfarne.
Cuthbert died in 687 and was buried on Holy Island. Nearly two centuries later, following Viking raids, the monks carried his body through northern England and southern Scotland for seven years, until they reached Chester-le-Street in 883. In 995, the saint was again disinterred and his body taken to its final resting place where Durham Cathedral now stands.
Geology
Lindisfarne Castle stands on an outcrop of the Great Whin Sill. This ragged line of volcanic rocks was squeezed through layers of sandstone and carboniferous limestone 280 million years ago, and is now exposed at various sites throughout north-east England, most notably along the course of Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland. Elsewhere, the island consists of low sand dunes, resting on a limestone bed.
Flowers
In the sheltered low ground behind the dunes, flower-rich grasslands have established themselves. Forget-me-nots, early purple and pink orchids and scurvy grass provide spring colour. These are followed by bird’s-foot trefoil, silverweed, ragwort and viper’s bugloss. In late summer, Hebridean sheep are brought in to graze on the tough grasses. This allows flowers like grass of Parnassus and orchids such as twayblade and marsh helleborine to thrive.
The flowers provide food for insects. Burnet, cinnabar and tiger moths are plentiful, as are butterflies such as grayling, tortoiseshell, painted lady and dark green fritillary. While walking through the dunes, a visitor needs great care to avoid trampling on brown-lipped snails.
Two small pools of freshwater are found on the island. The shores of the western pond, on a stretch of land known as The Snook, are home to the rare black bog rush. The Lough, near the east coast, is bordered by reeds, reedmace, yellow flag iris and bogbean. It was probably dug by the monks as a source of fresh water and fish. Now it attracts waterfowl such as mallard, coot, moorhen, shoveller and little grebe, as well as nesting black-headed gulls.
Birds
The invertebrates of the tidal marshes and mud flats that surround the island are food for waders and wildfowl. In winter, the numbers of feeding birds, knot, turnstone and oystercatcher, are swelled by visiting greylags, widgeon, grey plover, redshank and bar-tailed godwit. Lindisfarne is the only regular wintering site in Britain for pale-bellied Brent geese from the Svalbard archipelago. Winter also brings whooper swans and divers such as tufted duck and pochard to the more sheltered environment of The Lough, while peregrines, sparrowhawks and short-eared owls hunt across the centre of the island.
One notable resident, the eider duck, is known locally as St Cuthbert’s (or more colloquially, Cuddy’s) duck.
Because of its importance as a wintering site for birds, Lindisfarne has been named a Special Protection Area and a National Nature Reserve.
All year round, common and grey seals can be seen bobbing in the waves or basking on the pebbles of the north-east shore.
The Causeway
The seas around Lindisfarne are very shallow, and at low tide, the mud flats extend to the mainland. A causeway allows the passage of cars, while to the south of this, a line of tall wooden posts across the sands marks the Pilgrim’s Way, which can be followed by walkers who do not mind getting their feet wet. The daily tide tables are posted at both ends of the causeway, though motorists are often stranded and have to sit out the hours of high tide in the mid-way shelter box.
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