The Calf of Man

No account of the Isle of Man is complete without a mention of the Calf of Man . It comes from the old Norse word [ those pesky Vikings again ] ...kalfr....meaning ....a small island off a larger one. The Manx word for the Calf is.....yn Cholloo

It is a small island off the southern tip of the Isle of Man, once farmed but now a bird sanctuary, staffed by a resident Warden in the summer. Open to the public and only accessible by small boats at three landing points..... just gaps in the high cliffs .....you have to jump ashore. ..... However, the old farmhouse, now the Warden's residence can take up to eight 'guests'. Helen and I stayed there on a few occasions for several days. The Warden met the boat with a quad bike and trailer to cart your luggage up a steep track to the farm......just as well, those bags of wine and beer can be quite heavy! You reserve your room at the Manx Museum in Douglas.. about £4 a night . It was no 5 star hotel...it was pretty basic, ...you had to bring your own food and drink, but every body shared , so it wasn't too bad..... Water was pretty scarce during hot weather, the spring outside used to dry up, so washing wasn't a priority, ....no TV, no cars to disturb the peace and lights out at 9 pm , to save fuel for the rickety old generator outside....but what a great time we had ! Wandering through heather and masses of bluebells, ,picnics and lazing in the sun or diving from the rocks into an ice cold sea. On one occasion , in the middle of the night, we helped the warden net and ring Manx Shearwaters.........the Calf is a stopping off place on their migration route . Other times we helped him record details of small migratatory birds he had trapped in mist nets. It was fascinating to see him handle such small creatures so expertly.

The day done, we might watch the sun set over the Isle of Man a mile away and then talk into the night with bottles of cool wine in front of a roaring log fire.. It was a fantastic time .....and we loved it !

I have put on a picture of the Calf from the air and one of Helen with the farmhouse in the background. Also two lighthouse pictures. ....the Chicken's Rock is the one in the sea and the other light is one of the unused ones on the Island.....three on the Calf and the Chickens...four all together not bad , eh !...... Notice the bluebells, the scent of them would knock you squiffy. The only animals on the Calf are several flocks of the Manx Loaghtyn sheep.......dark brown fleece with four massive horns.......and thousands of rabbits and I should imagine , lots of longtails.

One other interesting point is that one landing point is called Cow Harbour. When the Calf was farmed they used to drive the cattle into the sea here and swim them across to the main island for market . They had to choose the time carefully because there is a vicious tidal rip between the two islands.

I have an out of print book about the Calf. Surprising how much history and stories there are about such a small place ..