IT was hardly the lull of Kintyre on Christmas Day after an earthquake struck the Scottish peninsula immortalised by Sir Paul McCartney.
The 2.4 magnitude quake occurred at 6.52am today, according to the British Geological Survey.
The epicentre was an offshore location, approximately 9 miles west of the Kintyre Peninsula.
As well as the Mull of Kintyre, Sir Paul wrote many of his best known songs – such as The Long and Winding Road – at his High Park Farm on Kintyre.
The farm, which he bought while living with actress Jane Asher in 1966, was where Sir Paul discovered vegetarianism, where he fled with then-wife Linda to rebuild his shattered confidence following the break-up of The Beatles, and where he also got busted for growing cannabis.
Sir Paul subsequently bought five neighbouring farms over the years, creating a large wildlife haven.
High Park Farm was the first home that Sir Paul and his country-loving first wife Linda created together after they married in 1969.
She took the place to her heart, renovating the three-bedroom farmhouse while Sir Paul installed a recording studio.
But since Linda’s death, the ex-Beatle rarely visits the farm these days.
Sir Paul McCartney asked Scots cop to fingerprint fag packet over stalker fears – but teen daughter Heather was culprit
Friends say the memories are too closely associated with Linda – and Sir Paul has remarried twice. A statue of Linda commissioned by Sir Paul stands in Campletown.
High Park Farm is about 20 miles from the Mull of Kintyre – the most south westerly point on the peninsula.
Earthquakes in Scotland are most often attributed to glacial rebound, and the largest known Scottish earthquake occurred near Loch Awe in 1880, with a magnitude of 5.2.
There are roughly 200-300 quakes in Britain every year, but the vast majority are so small that no one notices them.
However only around 20-30 are over 2.0 magnitude, which can be felt over a wider area.
Until about 10,500 years ago, much of the north of the UK was covered by a thick layer of ice – which pushed the rocks down into the underlying mantle.
These rocks have been slowly rising back up ever since the ice melted, causing occasional earthquakes in the process.
Most read in Scottish News
The UK is also subject to tectonic stresses caused by the expansion of the Atlantic Ocean, which is slowly pushing the entire of Eurasia to the east, and from the northward motion of Africa, which is pushing into Europe from the south
The most damaging UK earthquake was in the Colchester area in 1884. Some 1200 buildings needed repairs, chimneys collapsed and walls were cracked.