The Scares
| The Scares | |
 Telescope view of Big Scare | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Location: | 54°39’50"N, 4°42’36"W |
| Grid reference: | NX259332 |
| Highest point: | 69 feet |
| Data | |
| Population: | Uninhabitable |
The Scares or the Scare Rocks are rocky islets in Luce Bay off the coast of Wigtownshire.
By far the largest of the rocks is Big Scare. There is a small outlying rock to its west and three companion islets called the Little Scares are about half a mile to the northeast.[1]
Big Scare is 7 miles southwest of Port William and a similar distance east of the Mull of Galloway.
Shipwrecks
The rocks are well named and many a ship and boat has foundered here.
- The schooner Annie Mclester was wrecked on Big Scare at an unknown date in the 19th century.[2]
- On 27 January 1849 the 400 ton barque Archibald of Memel in East Prussia, was wrecked on the Little Scares.[3]
- In September 1860 a small round-sterned four-oared boat, was picked up near to Big Scare. The parent vessel had presumably been lost in the vicinity although no record of this is known.[1]
About the bay and the rocks
There is an MOD firing range in the area with brightly coloured floating targets deployed. The southern limit is marked by buoys 1.75 nautical miles SSE of The Scares.
The islands are part of Luce Bay and Sands Special Area of Conservation and are leased to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. They have been described as an "inaccessible bird reserve" and provide nesting sites for more than 2,000 pairs of breeding Northern Gannets, hundreds of Guillemots and smaller numbers of Shags and Kittiwakes.[4][5]
Outside links
References
- Map: 54.667 -4.7
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Unknown: Big Scare, Luce Bay, Solway Firth" RCAHMS. Retrieved 19 July 2010.
- ↑ "Annie Mclester: The Scares, Luce Bay, Solway Firth" RCAHMS. Retrieved 19 July 2010.
- ↑ "Archibald: Big Scare, Luce Bay, Solway Firth" RCAHMS. Retrieved 19 July 2010.
- ↑ "Luce Bay and Sands" (pdf) Solway Firth Partnership. Retrieved 19 July 2010.
- ↑ Note: There is no mention of this reserve on the RSPB website.
| Islands of the Solway Firth |
|---|
|
The Scares • Hestan Island • St Mary's Isle • Little Ross • Rough Island • Islands of Fleet |