Скачать или смотреть Sea Kayaking Northumberland - St Abbs Head

Video of a sea kayak trip to St Abbs Head from Eyemouth.

Music: Gelatin Nature by Ooyy - licensed by Epidemic Sound

St Abb's Head is a rocky promontory by the village of St Abbs in Berwickshire, Scotland, and a national nature reserve. St Abb's Head Lighthouse was designed and built by the brothers David Stevenson and Thomas Stevenson and began service on 24 February 1862.

The layered sedimentary rocks of greywacke and siltstone which lie to the north and south of the Head were laid down at the bottom of the sea between 460 and 410 million years ago. The Head itself is made from hard volcanic rock which formed as lava flowed from volcanoes around 400 million years ago. The different type of rocks accounts for the contrast in colour between the rocks of the Head and those of mainland cliffs. The softer sedimentary rocks have eroded over time, leaving behind the high headland made from the harder rock. However even this tough volcanic rock has been affected by the actions of the sea, leaving steep gullies and sea stacks which are ideal for nesting seabirds. The harder rocks of the Head are separated from the sedimentary rock to the southwest by the northwest slanting St Abb's Head Fault, which is marked by a low lying valley which contains the man made Mire Loch and at times of higher sea level would have been flooded, cutting off the headland from the mainland.

St Abb's Head is home to a 60,000 strong seabird colony. Guillemots and razorbills nest on the offshore stacks, with guillemots nesting together in tightly packed crowds whilst razorbills prefer to nest in single pairs or in smaller groups. Kittiwakes breed on the sheer cliff faces of St Abb's Head, building nests from grass and mud on narrow ledges, whilst fulmars prefer grass-covered ledges and crevices. Shags, herring gulls, and puffins are also present. Although best known for its seabirds, the reserve also has flower rich grasslands and a freshwater loch.

Just 0.5 km to the SE of the lighthouse is Kirk Hill. On the summit of this hill are the remains of the 7th century monastery settlement of Saint Æbbe. About AD 643 Æbbe established the monastery on Kirk Hill within the remains of a 6th-century fort known as Urbs Coludi (Colud's Fort). Both monks and nuns lived at the monastery in basic beehive huts made from mud and branches. Æbbe remained as abbess until her death around 680, a few years later the monastery was accidentally burned down and was not replaced.