Pharos, painting, arches and loops

 I knew that the Pharos, the lighthouse board supply ship was off the island (you can't miss her) but I didn't know that they were here to do their annual storing on the Mainlight, apparently they had the wrong phone number. That means taking all of the years waste off and reprovisioning it. Until I got an email to say that the helicopter flights would start shortly. Luckily it all fitted in with the visitor boat leaving the island and they had a clear run for a couple of hours to taxi back and forward from the ship to the lighthouse. It is always impressive to watch a skilled pilot and this was no exception. The helicopter seems to come within in feet of the building to drop off and pick up containers. And then after a 2 hours, peace reigned and the ship moved off for another year. Disappointingly I didn't manage to blag a ride in the chopper, but maybe next year guys ?

The RIB Osprey is dwarfed by the Pharos as she comes in to pick up a couple of contractors.

Another big event of the day was the painting of the Lowlight extension. The Isle of May Bird Observatory tat inhabitants the Lowlight have over the last year been improving the accommodation by building an new extension. The work has taken longer than anticipated but took a great step towards being finished when volunteers David and Emma painted the outside to give it a very smart finish. An opening ceremony is planed for next year.

At the end of the day Calum and I took a wander down to the Mill door Arch to pick up all the rubbish that was washed up on the beach down there. As usual we recycled all the plastic bottles that had come ashore. But we took the opportunity to enjoy the sight of the natural arch, this is a part of the island that is usually inaccessible to people due to the concentration of seabirds so it is only when they have left that we can get down to it.

At Mill door one of the loops of the 2nd World War U Boat protect system came ashore. Its purpose was to detect U-Boats coming up the Forth and so helped to protect the important dock yards at Rosysth.  Nowadays all that is left is the big heavy metal casing that protected the loop cable.