OUR little patch of the planet may be known as the British Isles, but just how much thought do we give to the little lumps of rock that dot our coastline?

Forget the Channel Islands for a moment, and think instead of the other outcrops, with fewer tourists beating a path to their door.

Island Fever (the title comes from a Beach Boys lyric) is the latest book to celebrate the islands and islets that cluster round our mainland like intriguing satellites.

From the larger, more frequented places such as Anglesey, Canvey, Lindisfarne and Barry, to remote outposts that are mainly left to the sheep and gulls, former journalist Robin Jones has compiled a comprehensive and fascinating account of 40 islands and their history, quirks and inhabitants.

Two of the main islands in the book are Portland and Brownsea – and some of the smaller islets in Poole Harbour also get a mention.

“I love Dorset, and both Portland and Brownsea are unique,” said Robin, a former news editor on the Birmingham Evening News who now compiles a Beach Boys fan magazine.

“I always think of Portland as an undiscovered part of the South Coast.

“A lot of people visit it to go to Portland Bill, but the island as a whole has a fascinating history, with the quarries and mining villages that sprung up around them.

“It certainly has its own character – even its own breed of sheep!”

The Island Fever pages devoted to “The Isle of Slingers”, which Thomas Hardy also called “the Gibraltar of the North”, concentrate on Portland’s quarrying heritage and the great monuments crafted from its stone, including St Paul’s Cathedral, part of Buckingham Palace and gravestones of soldiers who fell in both World Wars.

Robin investigates island lore about never using the word “rabbit” (“underground mutton” to the locals) and looks into the maritime quirks and history of the place, including the naval base, three lighthouses and infamous tidal race off Portland’s southern tip.

Brownsea Island is another popular location for the author, who visited it twice in the course of research and took his family on holiday to Sandbanks because he liked the place so much.

The start of the Scouting movement and Brownsea’s red squirrel population both get honourable mentions, as does the island’s Iron Age and Viking heritage.

Robin has also looked into the past of other Poole harbour islands, including Furzey, Long and Round islands.

The latter was inhabited by Poole Pottery designer Guy Sydenham and his family, who lived in a converted torpedo boat.

“I love Dorset and think that parts of it, such as Brownsea and Portland, are unique,” said Robin, who lives in Lincolnshire.

“There are also lots of other little islands that are privately owned in Poole Harbour, and I think the place is so wonderful that I took my family on holiday there.”

It took Robin several years to compile Island Fever (Ian Allan Publishing £19.99). Meticulous in his research (although it has to be pointed out that the author joins the long list of people mistakenly calling Baden-Powell’s wife Olive instead of Olave) he has scoured our coastline and come up with some real gems.

There are islands that have had their own stamps and coins, still use idiosyncratic dialect and several have uniquely evolved wildlife (not only does Lundy have its own cabbage, it even has its own cabbage beetle!).

The author’s favourite subjects from the book were the Isles of Scilly (‘England’s Hawaii’) but he found Steepholm in the Bristol Channel the most fascinating, a time capsule of gun emplacements and railway tracks, despite being hardest to reach because of temperamental tides.

Robin said: “Three or four years ago I realised that I had visited so many islands round the coast, I thought why not write a book about them.

“I have been travelling round the UK over the years and realised that I really like visiting islands. They’re awkward to get to, and, for a lot of people, it can be too much bother.

“But because they’re off the beaten track, every one has its own identity and characteristics.”