Archaeology
There are several possible chapel sites. The first may have been dedicated to St Columba and have been on the west side of Garbh Eilean, perhaps at Àirighean na h-Annaid - the name Annaid means Old Church. There is also evidence of a more recent church, dedicated to the Virgin, near the present cottage on Eilean an Taighe. [7]
A gold torc was dredged up by some Scalpay scallop fishermen south-west of the islands. This beautiful object dates from perhaps 1200BC, and while similar such torcs have turned up elsewhere in UK, this is by far the furthest north. [7] It is possible to speculate endlessly about the provenance of such a find, and whether it got there by shipwreck, or as a votive offering.
Wildlife
The Shiants are a major seabird breeding ground due to their location next to good feeding grounds and lack of predators. Huge numbers of puffins breed in burrows on the slopes of Garbh Eilean, as well as significant numbers of guillemots, razorbills, fulmars, kittiwakes, shags, gulls and great skuas. Although St Kilda has more puffins, the sheer density on the Shiants is greater. [5] [8]
Until 2016 the island had a population of black rats, which may originally have come ashore from a shipwreck. Analysis of their stomach contents showed that the Shiant rats did eat seabirds, but it was impossible to tell if they preyed on live birds or simply scavenged remains. [9] These rats are now rare in the UK. On the Shiants their numbers have been controlled in and around the house for some time, and a comprehensive wildlife project has now extinguished the population. [3]
Gigha or the Isle of Gigha is an island off the west coast of Kintyre in Scotland. The island forms part of Argyll and Bute and has a population of 163 people. The climate is mild with higher than average sunshine hours and the soils are fertile. The main settlement is Ardminish.
Rona, sometimes called South Rona to distinguish it from North Rona, is an inhabited island in the Inner Hebrides. It lies between the Sound of Raasay and the Inner Sound just north of the neighbouring island of Raasay and east of the Trotternish peninsula of Skye. It has a total area of 930 hectares (3.6 sq mi) and a population of 3.
Sanday is one of the Small Isles, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It is a tidal island linked to its larger neighbour, Canna, via sandbanks at low tide, and also connected to the larger island by a bridge. Canna and Sanday form a single community, and are usually described as Canna.
The Shiant Islands or Shiant Isles are a privately owned island group in the Minch, east of Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. They are five miles southeast of the Isle of Lewis.
The Flannan Isles or the Seven Hunters are a small island group in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, approximately 32 kilometres west of the Isle of Lewis. They may take their name from Saint Flannan, the 7th century Irish preacher and abbot.
The island of Lunga is the largest of the Treshnish Isles in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The Isles are part of the Loch Na Keal National Scenic Area.
Fowlsheugh is a coastal nature reserve in Kincardineshire, northeast Scotland, known for its 70-metre-high (230 ft) cliff formations and habitat supporting prolific seabird nesting colonies. Designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) by Scottish Natural Heritage, the property is owned by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Fowlsheugh can be accessed by a public clifftop trail, or by boats which usually emanate from the nearby harbour at the town of Stonehaven. Tens of thousands of pelagic birds return to the site every spring to breed, after wintering at sea or in more southern climates, principal species being puffins, razorbills, kittiwakes, fulmars and guillemots.
Eilean nan Ròn is an island near Skerray, in the north of Sutherland, Scotland. An estimated 350 seal pups are born here annually.
Eilean Mhuire is the most easterly of the Shiant Islands in the Outer Hebrides.
Bayble Island is an uninhabited island off the south coast of the Eye Peninsula of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
The Islands of the Forth are a group of small islands located in the Firth of Forth and in the estuary of the River Forth on the east coast of Scotland. Most of the group lie in the open waters of the firth, between the Lothians and Fife, with the majority to the east of the city of Edinburgh. Two islands lie further west in the river estuary.
Eilean an T(a)ighe, meaning "House Island", is one of the Shiant Islands. It is joined to Garbh Eilean by an isthmus, so they each form part of what is actually a single island.
Eilean Mòr is the largest of the Crowlin Islands in the Inner Sound off the Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Garbh Eilean is a forested island in Loch Maree, Wester Ross, Scotland.
The flora and fauna of the Outer Hebrides in northwest Scotland comprises a unique and diverse ecosystem. A long archipelago, set on the eastern shores of the Atlantic Ocean, it attracts a wide variety of seabirds, and thanks to the Gulf Stream a climate more mild than might be expected at this latitude. Because it is on the Gulf Stream, it also occasionally gets exotic visitors.
The Western Rocks are a group of uninhabited skerries and rocks in the south–western part of the Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom, and are renowned for the numerous shipwrecks in the area and the nearby Bishop Rock lighthouse. In 1971, the rocks and islands were designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest for their breeding sea birds. Landing on the islands is both difficult and discouraged and there are few published records of visits by naturalists.
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
