The Inner Sound (Scottish Gaelic : An Lighe Rathairseach) is a strait separating the Inner Hebridean islands of Skye, Raasay and South Rona from the Applecross peninsula on the Scottish mainland. [1] The Inner Sound is the location of BUTEC, a Royal Navy submarine sensor and emissions range. [2]
The Inner Sound includes the deepest section of the UK's territorial waters, with a maximum depth of 324 metres (1,063 feet). [3] An area, over 1+1⁄2 mi (2.4 km) long and up to 1⁄4 mi (400 m) wide, exists below a depth of 960 ft (290 m), with a relatively flat bottom. There is another cleft 828 ft (252 m) deep, separated from the deeper bowl by an area of shallower water. [3] A dive to examine the deeper trench found the bottom to be made up of bioturbated mud, with a steep slope towards the west of up to 60°. [4]
In 2020, over a hundred eggs belonging to the critically endangered flapper skate were discovered in the strait. This led to calls for the government to protect the area from trawling and dredging. [5] In 2021, a new Marine Protected Area in the strait for flapper skate was announced. It was Marine Scotland's second designation of an urgent Marine Protected Area using the powers contained within the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010. The urgent marine conservation order came into force on 17 March 2021 and prohibits access to the area for a number of marine activities, including fishing, diving and construction, for an initial period of twelve months. [6]
Between 1999 and 2004 a large scale archaeological project was undertaken in the strait, Scotland's First Settlers. This was a survey project to locate and examine sites relating to the Mesolithic period. The entire coastline of the Inner Sound together with its islands was walked by volunteers and archaeologists. In 2002, a separate project, the Sea Loch Survey was run by the same archaeologists to survey the sea lochs of Carron and Torridon. Between both projects they found 129 new archaeological sites. These sites were recorded and out them 36 sites were shovel pitted and 44 test pitted. One major excavation also took place at Sand which was a shell midden dating to the early-mid seventh millennium BC. [7]
Raasay or the Isle of Raasay is an island between the Isle of Skye and the mainland of Scotland. It is separated from Skye by the Sound of Raasay and from Applecross by the Inner Sound. It is famous for being the birthplace of Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean, an important figure in the Scottish Renaissance.
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.
Scalpay is an inhabited island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland which has a population of 4.
Loch Morar is a freshwater loch in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland. It is the fifth-largest loch by surface area in Scotland, at 26.7 km2 (10.3 sq mi), and the deepest freshwater body in the British Isles with a maximum depth of 310 m (1,017 ft). The loch was created by glacial action around 10,000 years ago, and has a surface elevation of 9 metres (30 ft) above sea level. It separates the traditional district of North Morar, from Arisaig and Moidart.
Beinn Alligin is one of the classic mountains of the Torridon region of Scotland, lying to the north of Loch Torridon, in the Highlands. The name Beinn Alligin is from the Scottish Gaelic, meaning Jewelled Hill. The mountain has two peaks of Munro status: Tom na Gruagaich to the south, and Sgùrr Mhòr at 986 metres (3,235 ft) to the north.
Trotternish or Tròndairnis is the northernmost peninsula of the Isle of Skye, in Scotland. Its most northerly point, Rubha Hùinis, is the most northerly point of Skye.
Sand on the Applecross Peninsula in Wester Ross, Scotland, is an archaeological site.
Loch Tay is a freshwater loch in the central highlands of Scotland, in the Perth and Kinross and Stirling council areas. It is the largest body of fresh water in Perth and Kinross, and the sixth largest loch in Scotland. The watershed of Loch Tay traditionally formed the historic province of Breadalbane.
The Crowlin Islands are a group of uninhabited islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. They lie between Skye and the Applecross peninsula on the mainland.
Loch Torridon is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland in the Northwest Highlands. The loch was created by glacial processes and is in total around 15 miles (25 km) long. It has two sections: Upper Loch Torridon to landward, east of Rubha na h-Airde Ghlaise, at which point it joins Loch Sheildaig; and the main western section of Loch Torridon proper. Loch a' Chracaich and Loch Beag are small inlets on the southern shores of the outer Loch, which joins the Inner Sound between the headlands of Rubha na Fearna to the south and Red Point to the north.
Loch Carron is a sea loch on the west coast of Ross and Cromarty in the Scottish Highlands, which separates the Lochalsh peninsula from the Applecross peninsula, and from the Stomeferry headland east of Loch Kishorn. It is the point at which the River Carron enters the North Atlantic Ocean.
Pabay is a Scottish island just off the coast of Skye. The name Pabay is derived from an old Norse word meaning "priest's isle" and there are the remains of a 13th-century chapel.
Pabay Mòr or Pabaigh Mòr is an uninhabited island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
The British Underwater Test and Evaluation Centre (BUTEC) is an underwater military test and evaluation range in the Inner Sound between the island of Raasay and the Applecross peninsula, on the north west coast of Scotland.
Loch Alsh is a sea inlet between the isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides and the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The name is also used to describe the surrounding country and the feudal holdings around the loch. The area is rich in history, and is increasingly popular with tourists.
The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the country. Although Sgitheanach has been suggested to describe a winged shape, no definitive agreement exists as to the name's origins.
Loch Sunart is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland. Loch Sunart is bounded to the north by the Sunart district of Ardnamurchan and to the south by the Morvern district. At 31 kilometres (19 mi) long, it is the longest sea loch in the Highland local government area. The maximum depth of the loch is 124 metres, east of Càrna and near the entrance to Loch Teacuis. Other islands in the loch include Oronsay, seaward of Càrna, Risga, which lies between the two larger islands, and Eilean Mòr, which lies towards the landward end of the loch in line with Beinn Resipol.
Eilean Tigh is a tidal island in the Sound of Raasay of Scotland, that lies between Rona and Raasay.
Rubha an Dùnain or Rubh' an Dùnain is an uninhabited peninsula to the south of the Cuillin hills on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It contains unique archaeological sites which in 2017 were designated as a historic monument of national importance by Historic Environment Scotland.
Loch Sunart to the Sound of Jura Marine Protected Area is a Marine Protected Area (MPA) off the west coast of Scotland. The MPA, which covers 741 km2 (286 sq mi), includes the waters of Loch Sunart, the Sound of Mull, the Firth of Lorne and the Sound of Jura. It has been designated to protect the population of common skate and the area's quaternary geological features. The MPA is designated a Category IV protected area by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
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