Well Cove

"A natural cavern in the cliff, on the coast, in which there is a spring of fresh water." (1)

A partly subtidal cave with a fairly rectangular entrance, which is 18.7 m wide. The tunnel turns to the right and, at water level ends with a vertical wall.

On the left, there are various quite striking rock formations and, on the far (S) side of these, there appears to be a parallel gulley which carries on beyond the above mentioned wall.

This gully is almost crtainly not navigable at the highest high tide. It extends beyond the end of the subtidal tunnel by at least 9 m but it may be more.

The algal colouring on the walls is striking. There was no obvious sign of the spring mentioned in the namebook entry.

The length is a visual estimate, and the altitude is a guesstimate by Nigel Feilden 23/9/20.

Links and Resources:

1) OS1/19/17/52 Well Cove
Geology of the Souter Head Subvolcanic Complex 2020 by C. M. Rice and D. F. Mark, 11 May 20. This is something of an update on the current (May 23) BGS overlay, which shows no granite here.
Photo 1 the entrance on a calm day. The orangy pink rock exposed on the cliff-face is Bunstane granite - see article above. The dark rock is metasediment.
Photo 2 shows the LH (W) wall from just inside the entrance. The overhead rocks do not meet to form an arch - the RH one is closer.
Photo 3 the N wall further in. The ridge is above tide level at HWS. There appears to be a gully on the far side which may extend some distance. Tide level 2.2 m on 23 September 20.
Photo 4 The N wall when the tide level was 4.4 m on 31 August 23. Maximum astronomical tide is 4.8 m and the near ridge would only just be awash.
Photo 5 shows the rather square end of the subtidal channel which goes ENE.
Photo 6 looks up from the same position as photo 4. The gully mentioned with photo 3 appears to extend somewhat beyond the end of the subtidal channel.
Photo 7 looking up at the WSW extension on 31 August 23.
Sketch plan of this cave and Bunstane Cove over an aerial view from Canmore. This suggests that the line of the S tunnel of Bunstane Cove might be aligned with the E bar of this cave and roughly 36 m between what can be seen up to 31/8/23 without a landing.

This entry was last updated: 2023-09-08 20:33:17

Errors or omissions in this information? Submit corrections/additions/comments for this entry to the registrars.

NGR:	NJ 95781 01473
WGS84:	57.10420, -2.07128
Length:	77 m
Vert. Range:	29 m
Altitude:	-6 m
Geology:	Aberdeen Formation - metasediment with sills of Bunstane granite.
Tags:	Cave, SeaCave
Registry:	main

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