Name and Location

Brough of Birsay Lighthouse is an active major light located on a rocky promontory overlooking Birsay Bay, immediately south of the tidal island known as the Brough of Birsay. The address is 4MP6+P9 Birsay, Orkney KW17 2LT, United Kingdom. The coordinates are 59° 08′ 12.6″ N, 3° 20′ 20.6″ W (59.1368395, –3.3390505). A map link is available at https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=59.1368395&mlon=-3.3390505#map=15/59.1368/-3.3391.

Construction and History

The Brough of Birsay Lighthouse has an estimated construction era in the early 20th century, but the exact date is not recorded. The lighthouse serves as both a navigational aid and an AIS-equipped radio station, fully automated since its automation. There are no onsite keepers, and the tower only remains with no keeper's quarters.

Architecture and Materials

The structure of the lighthouse is a cylindrical tower with a gallery and lantern, painted white. The construction materials are not recorded. The tower has a height of 52 meters above sea level.

Light and Navigation

The light characteristic is a group of three white flashes every 25 seconds, with a sequence of 0.2 s flash + 4 s eclipse + 0.2 s flash + 4 s eclipse + 0.2 s flash + 16.4 s eclipse. The color of the light is white, and it has a nominal range of 18 nautical miles. The lighthouse serves shipping and local fishing vessels navigating the approaches to Birsay Bay and the surrounding coast.

Accessibility and Visiting

The managing authority is the Northern Lighthouse Board. While the tower itself is not open to visitors, the site can be viewed from the coastal path south of the causeway to the Brough of Birsay. Visitors can follow minor roads from the village of Birsay and take a footpath along the shore to a viewpoint beneath the lighthouse.

Notable Views and Landscape

The surrounding landscape offers panoramic vistas of the Pentland Firth, Hoy Sound, and on clear days, the hills of Hoy to the south. The views also feature rugged sandstone cliffs, tidal sands, and rich seabird colonies (gannets, guillemots).

Technical and Operational Details

The lighthouse is equipped with an AIS station, with MMSI 992351101, and has a seamark type of light_major.

Further Information

For more information, visit the Northern Lighthouse Board website at https://www.nlb.org.uk/lighthouses/brough-of-birsay/ or consult Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brough_of_Birsay_Lighthouse.