Fidra Lighthouse

Fidra is a small, uninhabited island in the Firth of Forth, about four kilometres northwest of North Berwick on Scotland’s east coast. It lies within the Firth as part of a chain of volcanic islands formed around 335 million years ago. The island has three distinct parts: a steep hill topped by the lighthouse, a low isthmus in the middle, and a rocky stack at the far end. It is now managed as an RSPB Scotland nature reserve because of its seabird colonies. Nearby on the mainland are the villages of Gullane, Dirleton and the Yellowcraig nature reserve. Remotely operated cameras on Fidra send live images to the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick. The island’s name comes from Old Norse and refers to the many bird feathers found there. In 1165 a chapel or lazaretto dedicated to St Nicholas stood on the island, part of the barony of Dirleton granted by King David I to John de Vaux. The de Vaux family built a stronghold called Castle Tarbet but later gave the island to Dryburgh Abbey. The lighthouse, designed by David Alan Stevenson in 1885, was the first unmanned lighthouse in Scotland and remains automated today. Its light flashes four times every thirty seconds after dark. Visitors to Fidra find a quiet island with the white lighthouse standing on the hilltop. The low isthmus and rocky stack provide sheltered spots for seabirds, especially puffins whose burrows have increased from about four hundred to over a thousand since tree mallow was removed. The shoreline at Yellowcraig, where Robert Louis Stevenson once walked, offers views across to Fidra. The island’s outline appears in the logo of Fidra Books, and its name is mentioned in Stevenson’s novels and a Marillion song.