Calf of Man Yn Cholloo (gv)
Map of the Isle of Man with Calf of Man to the southwest.
Geography
Country	Isle of Man
Archipelago	Isle of Man
Location	Irish Sea ( Atlantic Ocean )
Contact	54 03 '10 "N 4 49' 13" W / 54.0527, -4.8202 54 03 '10 "N 4 49' 13" W / 54.0527, -4.8202
Area	2.6 km 2
Climax	unnamed (128 m)
Geology	Continental island
Administration
Status	Nature reserve
Isle of Man
Crown dependency	Isle of Man
Sheading	Rushen
Parish	Rushen
Demography
Population	No inhabitant
Other information
Discovery	Prehistory
Time Zone	UTC +0
Calf of Man
Islands of the United Kingdom

Calf of Man, Manx is an island in the Irish Sea to the south-west of the Isle of Man to which it is connected politically. The two islands are separated by the Calf Sound, French "Detroit of the Calf" in Manx Yn Cheyllys, or simply The Sound ^Etymology

The term derives from the calf Old Norse kalfr and is used to designate an island located near an island greater ^Geography

Physical Geography

The island of Calf of Man is situated not far from the coast of the Isle of Man which is separated by the Strait of Calf at the end of the peninsula Meayll , dominated by the Mull Hill , south- west in the Irish Sea. It is surrounded by several small islets located between Kitterland Calf of Man and the Isle of Man, Chicken Rock, Manx Carrick ny Kirkey, located southwest of the Calf of Man, Yn Burroo Southbound and The Stack to west.

The island, rounded shape, measures 2.6 km ² and consists of two hills rising to 110 and 128 meters above sea level. Its cliffs are capes as Gibbdale Kione Beg Point and north and Caigher Point and the rock of Yn Burroo south framing a creek called The Puddle. The island has only one road connecting the north, west and south of the island and two streams.

Geology

Calf of Man, as well as Chicken Rock and the hills of the Isle of Man , is composed of the same rocks that form the Highlands of Scotland and the Mourne Mountains in Ireland . Indeed, there are 410 million years ago, the Iapetus Ocean was closed in favor of the merger of two continental masses. The sedimentary rocks which covered the bottom were found folded and then projected at high altitude, forming a chain of mountains. Some of his folded sedimentary rocks are still visible at Sugarloaf and Chasms. These mountains have subsequently been eroded almost completely under the action of weathering .

There are ten thousand years, the ice caps of the last Ice Age began to retreat by depositing rock debris and sediment that formed the soils of the Calf of Man and the Peninsula Meayll . Subsequently, the islanders have left their footprints in the landscape by creating fields bounded by stone walls .

Flora and fauna

Marine fauna and flora

The strait which separates the Calf of Man from the Isle of Man , only 500 meters wide, is subject to strong currents caused by tides . This mixing of water provides many nutrients that feed a fauna and flora varied marine: algae , sea anemones , crustaceans , molluscs , sponges , coral , seals .

Terrestrial wildlife

The island is home to numerous colonies of seabirds including Manx shearwaters , which are protected and promoted by The Sound Center, a division of the Manx Wildlife Trust. These birds find shelter and nesting in the many cliffs that surround virtually the entire island.

Species of mammals are represented on the Calf of Man by a variety of sheep , the Loaghtan , Loaghtan meaning in French "brown mouse", a descendant of the first sheep brought to the island and protected since the 1950's by the Manx National Heritage . The island, however, is invaded by two species: the rabbit and the rat. The latter arrived on the island following a shipwreck while the rabbits were introduced to the Middle Ages for their livestock . Attempts were held to introduce the red deer but without success .

Calf of Man is also a good place for observation of insects , because in addition to many butterflies , the island has lots of minotaurs , a beetle whose larvae feed including rabbit droppings, and rustic tiger beetle , a beetle predator of other insects including minotaurs .

Birds and bird-watching

The observatory bird of the Calf of Man was established in 1959 and obtained its official status in 1962 . Every year from March to November, scientists settled on the island and conduct studies and comments: counts, studies migration but also to allow the trapping banding of birds as was the case of 99 042 individuals of 134 species in 2001 with 11 280 identified by other bird observatories .

The most common birds on the island are the Chough , the largest breeding population of the United Kingdom , the puffin , the Manx Shearwater , the seagull , the guillemot , the black guillemot , the little penguin , the fulmar and storm-petrels .

The choughs living on the Calf of Man are among the last of the United Kingdom: they no longer meet in England but only in some places the coast of Wales and islands of Scotland . But only the people of the Calf of Man and the west coast of Ireland seem sustainable because it is only when adults teach their chicks the first year of life . This species requiring grass short for its food, consisting of about , larvae or beetles in the soil, Calf of Man offers them a good place for hosting a permanent population of sheep but also rabbits that feed on the grass and maintain open .

Manx shearwaters formed two centuries ago, the largest colony of its kind on the Calf of Man . It was decimated by rats on the island which preyed on individuals heaviest Manx shearwaters begin but some nonetheless return to the island .

Flora

Calf of Man has no tree , only a heath and grassland. Heath, consisting mainly of heather , provided building materials for nests of birds . Other species such as spring squill , the Elecampane , the thrift , the hoary , the sea campion and wild chamomile are present on the island .

History

First settlements

Calf of Man is perhaps inhabited since prehistoric times but it is certainly from the early ^ninth century as evidenced by a remnant of chapels Christian from that time . This relic, a monument called the Calf of Man Crucifixion Stone, in French "Stone Calf of Man Crucifixion", is found in a stone wall in 1773. It was part of an altar in Slate and is the local Christ dying on the cross .

These chapels were probably built by monks and hermits Christians who Calf of Man is a refuge for a long time . They cultivate the land according to the method of lazy bed and raise the sheep .

Calf of Man private property

Calf of Man passes through the hands of individual owners and occupiers for centuries . The strategic importance of the island is such that the British royal family have managed to maintain for centuries, even during the period of domination of Norwegian kings . From the ^fifteenth century , the island belongs to the family but it is Stevenson recovered in 1644 by James Stanley , seventh Earl of Derby , who gives the Lord of Man . They will keep it until 1773 when the Duke and Duchess of Atholl was ceded to John Quayle to use it for agriculture . William Leece Drinkwater then became owner in 1832 after the island had experienced a short period of four years under the British Crown but by the interplay of heritage , the island finally returned to the family of Castletown Cary . During the ^eighteenth and ^nineteenth centuries , until five or six families living on the island so as Maddrell from 1909 to 1932 , some of which until recently lighthouse keepers

. South Harbour and Grant's Harbour were protected by batteries composed of one or two guns light installed platforms horseshoe protected by levees .

Shipwrecks and lighthouses

Dangerous waters around the island have caused many shipwrecks including the Young St. Charles in 1858 and Clan McMaster 30 September 1923. In December 1852 , the Lily of carrying gunpowder , and firearms , from cotton and rum ran aground off the coast of Kitterland. The dead from the wreck added those people get the good parts: an ax set fire to the powder which resulted in the explosion of the ship. In 1994 , a memorial stone was erected to honor the thirty dead .

These shipwrecks occur although lighthouses are built on the island since 1818 : the ¹ September this year, the lights of the first two lighthouses on the island, the Calf of Man Low Light and the Calf of Man High Light , secure its surroundings and this until 1875 . Both lighthouses, built by Robert Stevenson & Co and by an idea dating back to 1794 , are synchronized to cross their beams on the rocks of Chicken Rock ^, . Few effective time of fog , they will be abandoned, the Chicken Rock Lighthouse , a single 38-meter high tower commissioned on ¹ January 1875 on the Chicken Rock itself ^, . Damaged by fire in 1960 , he automated the following year and the flagship of the Calf of Man , a white octagonal tower on a building of granite, was built in 1968 to enhance maritime safety ^{, ,} .

According to a report of the General Lighthouse Authorities of the United Kingdom and Ireland dating from 2005 , the foghorn Chicken Rock lighthouse ceased operations in 2005 and reach the beam, increased to 21 nautical miles after work in September 2006 , took office on 13 June 2007. To avoid confusion between the two beams of white lights Chicken Rock and Calf of Man, it ceases all operations on 21 June 2007 .

Management by the National Trust

Estate of Joshua Popplewell and FJ Dickens until 1937 , Calf of Man was sold to date to the National Trust of United Kingdom . The Manx National Heritage takes then gradually under the control of the initiative Deemster Percy Cowley : first by renting it from 1951 and receiving its management in 1986 . Finally, in 2006 , management of the island is transferred to the Manx Wildlife Trust although the Manx National Heritage retains ownership.

The island is since its acquisition by the National Trust as a sanctuary for wildlife wildlife, including bird. A former farmhouse dating from 1878 is converted into a bird center hosting the public who can access the island during the period of breeding seabirds. Calf of Man is accessible by boat from Port Erin and Port St Mary. However, tours are organized according to the season, the number of visitors, the weather and tides . Scientists are present most of the year on the island, but its access is not possible in times of reproduction of birds. Rules of nature conservation must also be met: no direct contact with wildlife , no climbing , the dogs are prohibited as well as fires , the barbecues , the camping and metal detectors and it is not allowed to swim .

Culture

Legends

Based on Irish Celtic legends , the Strait of Calf was created during a battle between tle = "Giant (Norse mythology)" class = "mw-redirect"> giant Irish Finn Mac Cumaill and buggane , a giant of folklore Manx. While the two giants fought near Burroo Ned, the Finn Mac Cumaill buggane flung into the air. The latter, in falling, left two marks in the ground with both feet, which formed the two sides separated by the Strait of Kitterland rocks, thus separating the Calf of Man Isle of Man ^Philately

From 1962 , the Calf of Man issues its own stamps , captions Calf of Man Isle of Man , until the Isle of Man Post acquires its independence vis--vis the United Kingdom in 1973 . These emissions, considered private and not recognized by the Universal Postal Union , total 376 stamps that were used to pay to transport the mail from Calf of Man to Port St Mary . These stamps, with their unusual, are also sought after by philatelists .

Notes

External Links

• (In) Manx National Heritage - The Sound Center
• (In) isleofman.com - Lighthouses of the Calf of Man
• (In) isleofman.com - The Calf of Man

References