A heavy gloom oppressive o'er the world,
Through nature shedding influence malign,
And rouses up the seeds of dark disease.
                                       James Thomson 1700-1748
                                                           Scottish poet and pessimist

A boarding party was assembled and a device was lowered to provide access to the island, which it did successfuly with only one mishap involving partial immersion.

The island is to be cleared of scrub, so that it can be replanted with more wild-life friendly shrubs.

Let's see what else our poet has to say about Winter. Ah, yes, here we are:

                Dread Winter spreads his latest glooms,
                And reigns tremendous o'er the conquered year.
                How dead the vegetable kindom lies!

A cheery note on which to end!