Steep Holme

In August just gone we took a trip to Steep Holm in the Bristol Channel. I thought -because I hadn’t been told otherwise- that we would be taking the old ferry that beached and then dropped its disembarking ramp onto the beach like a wartime landing craft. However, things have moved on. We would travel to the island by RIB with these guys https://www.bayislandvoyages.co.uk/.

The island has been in use for thousands of years, possibly since Neolithic times, definitely since Roman times (they got everywhere) … more here Steepholm Online and here Wikipedia Steep Holm. We shot some video and edited it together here Grims reality - Steep Holm there are other videos available here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkrmaHjGQpc and here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHeqDlvIXCs

This is one of those days out that is worth it just for the boat ride. BUT there is so much more. The place has been of strategic importance for the Roman and the Vikings, and of course during the Napoleonic era, the first and the second world wars. In this regard, it’s not much different than Tilbury Fort in Essex, Brean Down across the bay on the mainland or every other small strategic fort or lookout post around our nation. Nowadays it’s a nature reserve and tourist attraction, and that if you like is a great way for an island fortified for war to continue into the future.

The above said, there are a couple of things that demonstrate how little regard we pay to the world live in (get out the environment drum and starts banging it loudly). All over the island, we saw small pieces of plastic, bottle tops, bags, bits of net, bits of ships ropes, balls (tennis mostly, but various others). We also found chicken bones in an unnatural abundance. I puzzled over this for a while. The lighter plastic could have blown in, but what about the big bits and the bones? We found out the source of this material at the scheduled 2pm talk and Q&A. Seagulls.

People moan about gulls. People moan about gulls too much. Think not what gulls do to you in their environment, but what you do them in theirs. Your discarded fried chicken box, your dropped wrapper. Collected innocently by scavenging birds and taken eleven miles out to sea to their reserve, their space to then contaminate their home.

I would recommend this trip to everyone with a love incredible views and the history of Britain.