Coquet Island

Coquet Island is a small island of about six hectares, lying 1.2 kilometres offshore from Amble on the Northumberland coast. It belongs to the Duke of Northumberland and is managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds as a bird reserve. The island is uninhabited in winter, but wardens live there each summer to protect the nesting seabirds. Boats from Amble sail close to the island on summer days, giving visitors clear views of the birds. The island sits within the civil parish of Hauxley and has no permanent residents. The island holds Britain’s largest colony of the endangered roseate tern, which grew to 118 pairs in 2018 thanks to nestboxes that keep gulls and bad weather away. More than 18,000 pairs of puffins nest here, alongside sandwich terns, common terns, Arctic terns, black-legged kittiwakes, fulmars, several gull species and eider ducks. Seasonal wardens patrol the island while the birds raise their young, and public landings are not allowed. The birds gather on the grassy slopes and rocky shores, creating a lively scene each summer. Coquet Lighthouse stands on the island’s southwestern shore, built in 1841 by Trinity House to a design by James Walker. The white sandstone tower has walls more than a metre thick and a turreted parapet, originally housing a fixed lens by Isaac Cookson & Co. The first keeper was William Darling, elder brother of Grace Darling. The lighthouse later gained red sectors, a powerful oil lamp, explosive fog signals and electric lighting before automation in 1990. Its original optic will return in 2025 to work with a modern LED lamp, completing a long history of guiding ships past Hauxley Point and Boulmer Rocks.