Denny island

[graham]

Anyone know anything about Denny island? In the interest of doing something different I would like to anchor and row ashore on a quiet day. I vaguely remember it may be a bird sanctuary if so best to keep off I guess.

 

[damo]

Wikipaedia:

Denny Island (grid reference ST458810) is a small rocky island of 0.24 hectares (0.6 acres), with scrub vegetation, in the mouth of the River Severn. It is situated approximately three miles north of Portishead. Its rocky southern foreshore marks the boundary between England and Wales, but the island itself is reckoned administratively to Monmouthshire, Wales.

It appears in the record for the first time as Dunye, in the charter recording the creation of the county of Bristol in 1373.[1] This suggests that the name means, in Old English, 'island shaped like a down (i.e. a hill with a rounded profile)'.

It gives its name to the Denny Island Fault Zone, a part of the Avon-Solent Fracture zone.[2] If it is famous for anything, it is as a nesting-place for gulls, cormorants and other seabirds, which are regularly seen and ringed there.

Denny Island was, in 2004, subject to an unsuccessful appeal under Section 6(1) of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 against it appearing on a map of registered common land. [3]

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I think there is still some dispute, with some local "lord" claiming title, and putting up Keep Off signs, and others going over and removing them. There was an "official" trip out there last year for some reason associated with a court case.

There is an all-tide (neaps?) pool close by, and the local fishermen regularly anchor close. I have often thought of going over myself, but it's a bit scary due to the lack of time when you don't want to have to take the ground!

 

[Anwen]

I always looked at it when I was going over the SSC, and wondered what it was! I got the charts out and had a good look, and wondered how many boats have hit it over the years, as it isn't that conspicuous on either the Admiralty or Stanfords chart. I too would be interested in knowing more. It isn't lit at all as far as I could see.

 

[damo]

No it's not lit, but then it's an awful long way from any channel.

 

[john_filer]

Portishead Cruising Club races around it at high water several times each year. Even around high water the tide runs quite quickly. The island is used as a roost for many fist eating seabirds, and has its own aroma. I've considered going ashore, and if I did I would get someone to take me over there and anchor the dinghy in the tidal lee of the island and wait until the tide went out. Be wary that the sand becomes 'quick' on the rising tide.

 

[john_filer]

make that 'fish' eating seabirds

 

[graham]

Thanks for that John,I was wondering about going up on a very small neap tide and ideally SW wind. Anchoring on the NE side about an hour or two before HW as close in as possible then rowing ashore for a look around.

 

[Lynda Simpson]

Thanks for that John,I was wondering about going up on a very small neap tide and ideally SW wind. Anchoring on the NE side about an hour or two before HW as close in as possible then rowing ashore for a look around.

 

[Lynda Simpson]

Thanks for that John,I was wondering about going up on a very small neap tide and ideally SW wind. Anchoring on the NE side about an hour or two before HW as close in as possible then rowing ashore for a look around.

Re Denny Island:- as a child we would go down to the Channel at Redwick through my grandfathers farm and spend a few hours on the 'beach', this was in the 50's, and on the one end of the Denny Island was the tail of a plane sticking up out of the mud, I was told that it had gone down in the war, it worried me that there could still be someone in the cockpit, does anybody have any information of what actually happened. Cheers Lynda

 

[TOKOLOSHI]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Roberts_(businessman)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-473070/The-Lord-Extortion-holding-villages-ransom.html

A nasty man who caused a lot of worry to many home owners!
Even tried to say he was CDYC `s new Landlord! Just sign here, we wont charge you a lot!
We used diplomatic language and told him to " P&%s off"

 

[Snoopy463]

The stories of an over abundance of rats have so far kept me away. I’d love the know if these tales were false.

 

[jwilson]

In the 1960s/70s it used to be covered in strange cabbagy/sprouty plants that I've never seen anywhere else. Not many birds. Didn't see any rats, but they may have been hiding. Rats would explain the lack of birds.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

I always looked at it when I was going over the SSC, and wondered what it was! I got the charts out and had a good look, and wondered how many boats have hit it over the years, as it isn't that conspicuous on either the Admiralty or Stanfords chart. I too would be interested in knowing more. It isn't lit at all as far as I could see.

It has been hit during a race as another forumite might remember. No names no packdrill for the skipper.

It is too small to be likely to hold a resident population of rats and smells of guano but has had an overnight stay. Many of the sands round there are quick on a rising tide so exploring it not without challenge.

 

[Allan]

The RNLI pulled someone off Denny shoal on Saturday evening. The BBC have details. Maybe someone from here trying to visit?
Allan

 

[TOKOLOSHI]

The RNLI pulled someone off Denny shoal on Saturday evening. The BBC have details. Maybe someone from here trying to visit?
Allan

RNLI? or SARA?

 

[Yellow Ballad]

Portishead I believe, no forms of communication or propulsion IIRC which makes me think it may be a dinghy?