Saturday, April 12, 2008

POINT OF AYRE



The Point of Ayre is the northernmost point of the Island, roughly 10k north of Ramsey. It's the closest point on the Isle of Man to the British Mainland, which is Burrow Head Scotland 26k away.

The name Ayre comes from the Norse word Eyrr meaning gravel bank. The oldest lighthouse on the island can be found here along with the disused foghorn in the photo above.

A carpet of gorse and heather surrounds the lightouse mingling with the sand dunes. This is why locals and tourists are attracted to this area for it's fauna, flora (some rare flowers even) and groups of grey seals.

Unfortunately today I didn't see any seals, which is why you got the foghorn.



14 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is a very unusual looking light house. I have never seen anything like it. I do really like the black and white as well.

Kitty said...

I love how stark the landscape looks.
The building looks absolutely cool, with its sloped walls to support the balconies above. What a great design?

love it!

Anonymous said...

I used to go fishing here with my grandfather over 40 years ago now. The Foghorn was always so white then.
Thanks for the memory of a happier world.

mrsnesbitt said...

I AM JUST LOVING THESE PICS. sO LOOKING FORWARD IN COMING OVER.

DX

isa said...

Is this a lighthouse? Queer shape...But I would love to hear that foghorn...from a distance, of course ;-)

Jane Hards Photography said...

This is a foghorn.It's not in use now, but it's definately a foghorn. There seems to be so little information about it, or many photos.

Gerald (SK14) said...

I once heard a foghorn close-up - at Cape Wrath, the north-western tip of Scotland. By eck it was loud!

Anonymous said...

Don't think i would want to be too close when that foghorn goes off!

Beautiful choice to make it in b&w too

Dina said...

I've seen seals before but never anything like this. So I'm glad we got the foghorn. So melancholy and mysterious the voice of a foghorn over the foggy water.

Joy said...

A very lovely shot. I like the sentimental feeling that evokes.

Thanks for visiting Norwich Daily Photo and leaving your comments. Have a great week ahead!


joy
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WichitaKsDailyPhoto said...

Thank you for that virus warning, I'll delete that comment. Oh, and I wanted to tell you the flowering pear tree in the photo is the name of the tree, but it's not a pear tree that bears fruit. It's always kind of confused me as to why it's called a "pear tree". Thank you for your visit. The foghorn is neat to see, I at first thought it may be a cannon.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if that's how Ayr in Scotland got its name as well?

I really like your black and white pictures. I must take some more myself, I'm usually not very brave and just stick to colour but when I do try B&W it sometimes comes out much better.

Re your question about flickr, I haven't had any problems as far as I know with people 'lifting' my photos. A couple of times people have contacted me to ask if they could have access to them (both times they were people who were the subjects of the photos, so that's fair enough), and I once asked another friend on flickr if I could link to their photo on my other blog. Generally though it seems that people are very respectful, and it's another forum for people to comment on your pictures, especially if you join a few pools and add your pictures to them.

I did say in response to Fenix's request that I enlarge the photo in flickr that I had heard (and I wish I could remember where now, probably a discussion on the flickr Scotland pool somewhere) that if you set it so that the large/original size downloads when you click on the photo it's easier for them to be 'lifted' by other people. I don't understand the science of it all, I'm not techie at all, but that's why my photos default to medium size.

Jane said...

Black and white always gives a photo more atmosphere, funny there used to be two horns on that building, I believe all the NLB lighthouse foghorns are no longer active-what a travesty I say.

purplecat said...

Hi there I live in Ramsey!

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