The Bass Rock In all Its Glory.... Mavic 4 Pro.

he Bass Rock, or simply the Bass[5] ( /bæs/), is an island in the outer part of the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland. Approximately 2 km (1 mi) offshore, and 5 km (3 mi) north-east of North Berwick, it is a steep-sided volcanic plug, 107 m (351 ft) at its highest point, and is home to a large colony of gannets. The rock is uninhabited, but historically has been settled by an 8th-century Christian hermit, and later was the site of an important castle, which after the Commonwealth period was used as a prison. The island belongs to Hew Hamilton-Dalrymple, whose family acquired it in 1706, and previously to the Lauder family for almost six centuries. The Bass Rock Lighthouse was constructed on the rock in 1902, and the remains of a chapel survive. The Bass Rock features in many works of fiction, including Lion Let Loose by Nigel Tranter, Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Lion Is Rampant by the Scottish novelist Ross Laidlaw and The New Confessions by William Boyd. Most recently it features prominently in The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld, which won the 2021 Stella Prize. Geography and geology Map of Bass Rock An aerial view of Bass Rock The island is a volcanic plug of phonolitic trachyte rock of Carboniferous (Dinantian) age.[6][7] The rock was first recognised as an igneous intrusion by James Hutton. Hugh Miller visited in 1847 and wrote about the rock's geology in his book Edinburgh and its Neighbourhood, Geological and Historical: with The Geology of the Bass Rock.[4][8] It is one of a small number of islands off the East Lothian coast including the Islands of the Forth. To the west are Craigleith, and the Lamb, Fidra and finally to the west of Fidra, the low-lying island of Eyebroughy. These are also mainly the result of volcanic activity. To the northeast can be seen the Isle of May off the coast of the East Neuk of Fife. Bass Rock stands more than 100 m (330 ft) high in the Firth of Forth Islands Special Protection Area which covers some but not all of the islands in the inner and outer Firth. The Bass Rock is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in its own right, due to its gannet colony. It is sometimes called "the Ailsa Craig of the East".[9][10] It is of a similar age (c.340 million years), geological form and petrology to nearby North Berwick Law, a hill on the mainland [4] and to Traprain Law. There are related volcanic formations on the adjacent island of Craigleith and within nearby Edinburgh, namely Arthur's Seat, Calton Hill and Castle Rock. The Bass does not occupy the skyline of the Firth quite as much as its equivalent in the Clyde, Ailsa Craig, but it can be seen from much of southern and eastern Fife, most of East Lothian, and high points in the Lothians and Borders, such as Arthur's Seat, and the Lammermuir.