Damage Done! South Lighthouse - Fair Isle

Fair Isle's South Lighthouse lost it's wall yesterday due to high breaking waves.

Dave, Josie & Peter who live at the Lighthouse are safe & well, flats undamaged. My artist studio is untouched thank goodness, but the Northern Lighthouse Board's engine room window was smashed, flooding the room & equipment.  The window was temporally covered with a board, full damage will be assessed tomorrow when a NLB man arrives.

See yesterday's Storm video & blog post
http://fair-isle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/lighthouse-walls-fall-to-biggest-waves.html

The wall is gone form the road entrance to the foghorn.
Large chunks of wall have been move by the waves.

While everyone comes down to assess the damages, some folks say they seen storms like this before.
But that wall had been there for maybe a 100 years? I'm not sure when the fog horn was put in?

It's quite sad. The Norther Lighthouse Board who own the wall, must be glad they didn't just paint it...
  Do they really have the money to rebuild it, much less clean it up? Let's hope it's insured.

The wall plaque commemorating the WW2 bombing of the Lighthouse still stands.

You know that bench you like to sit on... I saw a few pieces in Hultry Geo.

The 4"by 4" post anchoring the bench was violently snapped off, stone and concrete scattered everywhere.

Who put all the rocks on my grass?

That's not a goal post on the football pitch. One goal post has been moved up the Skaddan by the Lifeboat Shed, the other is on the Muckle Uri Geo Beach. This post was to keep the sheep out of the Oysterplants on the beach? You can also see the grass is covered in gravel. We will have to see this spring how many of they rare plants are left? because, I can't find no trace of them now.

The bails washed around beach balls

The Fair Isle lighthouse Keepers Golf Course
 has some big divots made in the grassy slope by tumbling bits of wall pushed by waves.

Rocks thrown down the road.

The stone wall is gone... or moved further a field. 

It's not easy on the wildlife either...
The large waves churn up the bottom of the ocean washing fish onto the beach.
Yum! fried Octopus for dinner!


Ballan Wrasse

I have never seen or found Sun-stars on the beach before. Today I found 3!  I'm guessing their legs were smashed off by rolling rocks in the high surf. My sea shore guide says a Sun-star can have 8 to 13 legs, the one Sun-star had 13 legs while the one to the left had 14?

A  new  species for us found by Henry - Solaster endeca - 9 armed Purple Sun-star.

Purple Sandpiper

Liz taking video of the waves and damage to the Lighthouse.


Not Roadkill, Wavekill?
 Yes, We did eat the Octopus!
Fried in panko breadcrumbs served with a wasabi soysauce.
The next night we ate the rest braised in Spanish spices over pasta.
You got to take the good with the bad...