He told the News in a telephone interview while filming in Holland for his reality TV show 'The Next Uri Geller,' that he will not land his helicopter on the Firth of Forth island in case it disturbs the wildlife which he wants to conserve but will travel by boat to view it for the first time.

On board, he hopes, will be North Berwick resident Philip Coppens, an investigative journalist and author of work ranging from the world of politics to ancient history and mystery.

He is the editor-in-chief of the Dutch magazine Frontier as well as a frequent contributor to Nexus Magazine and New Dawn Magazine.

Window

He wrote The Stone Puzzle of Rosslyn Chapel, The Canopus Revelation, Land of the Gods, The New Pyramid Age and Servants of the Grail, and since 1995 has lectured across the globe.

Coppens, who has lived locally for nine years and can see The Lamb from the kitchen window of his harbour home, has known 62-year-old Geller for just more than a decade.

They met when Coppens was working on a book called The Stargate Conspiracy during which Geller was interviewed about his time in the 1970s when he became a household name for bending spoons using the power of his mind.

He has not seen Geller for a year-and-a-half and told the News that it was "an amazing coincidence" that they had become neighbours.

Connections

Geller, who has discovered oil and gold for big mining companies, said: "If I feel anything of archaeological importance on the island I will approach the right authorities and try to discover what is on The Lamb otherwise I will leave it and conserve it as it is now."

He added: "I am proud to have this opportunity to preserve it, not just for its mythological and historical connections but for its conservation value — Lamb island is part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

"I can't build there, of course, but it is home to countless seabirds, and perhaps to seals too."

He also revealed that he is planning to give the North Berwick-based Scottish Seabird Centre a £1,000 donation after he received an e-mail from its marketing manager Lynda Dalgleish congratulating him on his purchase.

Keen

Tom Brock, the award-winning tourist attraction's chief executive, said: "We are delighted that someone who has bought the island recognises the importance of the wildlife and that the seabird centre has a new friend.

"Uri Geller was very interested in the seabird centre and is quite keen to support us.

"We have offered to take him out in a boat to view his new island in the spring."

Geller became the owner of the uninhabited volcanic rock for £30,000 after spotting an article about its sale online in The Times when he was in Japan in October.

Pyramids

"It struck a chord with me. I remembered in the Book of Revelations the metaphor of Jesus Christ as the lamb," he said.

He described the island as one of the "Great Pyramids of Scotland", saying it was one of three rocky outcrops — the others being Craigleith and Fidra — which mirrored the layout of the pyramids at Giza near Cairo in Egypt.

Why I bought Lamb Island - Uri Geller

Full report appears in East Lothian News, February 20, 2009