IIt is just before dawn, and I am watching two seals playing on the beach from a viewpoint at Looe Island in Cornwall. The two seals are inseparable in the waves, his flippers around her, her creamy, freckled belly, with their eyes closed, they are in blissful love. I feel like an eavesdropper, watching behind a bush. I feel like I’m spying on a private moment, but the emerald eyed cormorants seem to be unbothered.
I arrived in Looe Island – also called St George’s Island – off the South Coast of Cornwall the day before via the romantically titled Night Riviera sleeper rail from London. I changed in Liskeard in the early morning and then travelled 15 minutes across to the island in a fishing boat. Cornwall Wildlife Trust is responsible for the island, which can only be visited on a guided tour. Most people go on day trips but I will stay a few days. I’m bringing all the food and bed linen I need for my 3-night stay, as well as the mental baggage from work. This weight has lifted as I watch a male seal court a female in the shallows.
The rain is threatening, so I return to Smuggler’s Cottage. It’s a charming whitewashed cottage that sleeps two. It’s tucked away in a garden with fruit trees and fading flowers. This cottage with its bedroom, small kitchen, bathroom, and cozy living room with wood stove is a comfortable place that was once home to a pipe smoking, fist fighting smuggler named Black Joan and Finn. The rain drips down from the sycamores that climb up the hillside. It clings to the spider’s webs on the windowsills. I cuddle back in bed and drink a cup tea to feel the warmth from an encounter with wildlife that never knew you were present.
It is clear that Roselyn Atkins, the former owner and resident of Looe Island left her island to the Cornwall Wildlife Trust to be used as a nature preserve. Babs Atkins was a woman who resisted all the rules of her time, as well as her sister Evelyn Attie Atkins. They invested in their careers, and pursued hobbies such as rifle shooting and mountaineering. Attie, in her mid-50s realised a dream she had held for a very long time: to own an entire island. She bought Looe Island along with her sister in 1965 for £22,000 and became a daffodil farmer; Babs joined her later when she retired.
Cornwall Wildlife Trust, after Babs’s death in 2004, took over the island. The charity manages 9 hectares of woodlands, maritime grassland, and rocky shoreline to benefit wildlife. This includes one of Cornwall’s largest breeding colonies for great black-backed geese (stately birds that have a wingspan over 1.5 metres), and marine life such as graceful compass jellies, which are often spotted in rock pools.
Visitors can also stay in a two-person bell tent overlooking Trelawny Island, to the south east, where seals kiss the waves while sleeping with their noses up. Day-trippers are charged a landing fee. Looe Sea Safari When the weather permits, we will go out a few time a day. There’s also a tiny museum with a giftshop where Claire and Jon sell chutney from their garden, as well as books by Evelyn Atkins about island life.
The seas were too rough today for day trips, so I had the island all to myself. I spend time reading in the meadow – something I don’t do often at home – and exploring the winding paths that lead to the summit 47 metres above sea level.
A self-guided path is available (free of charge) in the bookshop for more exploration. Babs’s Meadow is one of the stops, where she was buried with her back to her home. It is possible to walk the whole route in one hour but why hurry? The trail passes Island House – Roselyn and Evelyn’s former home – and then continues along the coastline with stunning views over the reefs surrounding the island.
I swim in the afternoon on the main island beach where the blackbacked gulls gather between fishing excursions. Claire told me to stay close to the trees and avoid looking at the birds to avoid disturbing them. I was delighted to find that the colony mostly ignored me. I am surrounded by ice and surf, but I see silver striped mackerel in the water inches from me. This thrill is enough to make me take a dip at a rarely-visited cove. Then, after drying and bundled up, I enjoy a cup or hot chocolate in my Thermos while catching the final light of the sunset. My mind is clearer than in recent weeks as I look across the water and watch the gulls sail along the coast.
Claire and Jon explained that the goal was to have visitors respect coastal wildlife by minimizing disturbance. When the seals sleep, she explains, “they lay down layers of fat that they ate, which helps them survive the winter, and enriches their milk.” Even if they are only awakened for a short time, each time they are disturbed by a vessel, the energy they use increases.
She agrees, however, that the balance between protection and the need to get people involved with wildlife is important to foster empathy and support. Staying on – or visiting – a nature reserve is one way that people can get to know the wildlife on its terms. Jon says that “the island forces them slow down, and to notice the little things.” “People put away their phones and spend an afternoon watching a web being built by a spider.”
I already feel this kinship after just a single day of watching the seals. These animals are so similar to us, that they were mistaken as mermaids in the past. Claire and Jon want guests to remember these precious moments and learn humility in how they interact with other animals.
As Babs and Attie before me, I’ve come to realize that the real owners are the majestic gulls, and the love-struck seals. Even so, I’m grateful to have been able to share their home for a few short days and the peace and connection with nature that it brought me.
The tour was organized by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. Smuggler’s Cottage is available to rent from spring until October and costs £450 for a three-night stay for Two-thirds of the population are able to vote.. Looe Sea Safari Runs day trips on either side of high tide during daylight hours in fair weather, £12 Adults, £Seven children aged 10 or under Cornwall Wildlife Trust is also available. Landing fee £8 adults, £3 children.
