Islands of Ireland: To everything tern, tern, tern

From a distance, the standout feature on this lacustrine island in Lady’s Island Lake, Co Wexford, is of a solitary Monterey pine tree which dominates the character of the island. There are no other trees there and no other vegetation of significance except a blanket of grass. Just this giant, solitary tree. How it got there is anyone’s guess.

The late Dick Warner suggested on this page a few years ago that the Monterey, like the arbutus, may have survived in a warm pocket in the last Ice Age when the ice swept down from the North Pole to blanket almost everything. The Monterey is known to be resistant to salt water, which may be the reason it was planted there as a means to resist erosion.