Portal:Scottish islands
The Scottish Islands Portal
Welcome! — Fàilte! — Walcome!
-
Looking from the Isle of Mull towards Ardnamurchan peninsula as the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry MV Clansman sails past the Rubha nan Gall lighthouse -
-
Seilebost on Harris -
The Cuillin, Isle of Skye -
-
Portree Waterfront, Isle of Skye -
Tombolo connecting St Ninian's Isle to Mainland, Shetland -
View from Elgol on the Isle of Skye across to the Cuillin -
_P-SCO_Banner.jpg){kind=small}
_P-SCO_Banner.jpg){kind=small}
Scotland has around 900 offshore islands, most of which are to be found in four main groups: Shetland, Orkney, and the Hebrides, sub-divided into the Inner Hebrides and Outer Hebrides. There are also clusters of islands in the Firth of Clyde, Firth of Forth, and Solway Firth, and numerous small islands within the many bodies of fresh water in Scotland including Loch Lomond and Loch Maree. The largest island is Lewis and Harris which extends to 2,179 square kilometres, and there are a further 200 islands which are greater than 40 hectares in area. Of the remainder, several such as Staffa and the Flannan Isles are well-known despite their small size. Some 94 Scottish islands are permanently inhabited, of which 89 are offshore islands. Between 2001 and 2011, Scottish island populations as a whole grew by 4% to 103,702.
The geology and geomorphology of the islands is varied. Some, such as Skye and Mull, are mountainous, while others like Tiree and Sanday are relatively low-lying. Many have bedrock made from ancient Archaean Lewisian Gneiss which was formed 3 billion years ago; Shapinsay and other Orkney islands are formed from Old Red Sandstone, which is 400 million years old; and others such as Rùm from more recent Tertiary volcanoes. Many of the islands are swept by strong tides, and the Corryvreckan tide race between Scarba and Jura is one of the largest whirlpools in the world. Other strong tides are to be found in the Pentland Firth between mainland Scotland and Orkney, and another example is the "Grey Dog" between Scarba and Lunga. (More on Scottish islands...)
Selected picture
-
The Neolithic farmstead of Knap of Howar on Papa Westray, Orkney, dates from 3700 BC and might be the oldest surviving stone dwelling in northern EuropeCredit: Me677
-
-
The cliffs of Eshaness, North Mainland, ShetlandCredit: ThoWi
-
Eilean Donan Castle at the confluence of three sea lochs, Loch Duich, Loch Long and Loch AlshCredit: Diliff
-
-
-
-
-
Kilarrow Parish Church, known as the Round Church, is a Georgian building in Bowmore on IslayCredit: Ronsteenvoorden
-
-
Duart Castle, a 13th-century castle on Mull, the historical seat of Clan MacleanCredit: Philippe Giabbanelli
-
Alasdair Crotach MacLeod is the first McLeod not to be buried on Iona; his tomb on Harris dates from 1528, and is among the finest of this period in ScotlandCredit: Gvdwiele
-
-
The Bruichladdich distillery, one of eight on Islay; single-malt whisky is a major product of the islandsCredit: Bdcl1881
-
Neist Point Lighthouse on Skye was designed by David Alan Stevenson and dates from 1909Credit: Lionel Ulmer
-
-
-
Aerial view of the ruins of a hermitage on CannaCredit: Peter Van den Bossche
-
Rubha nan Gall lighthouse, Tobermory, Mull, built in 1857 by David and Thomas Stevenson, with a Caledonian MacBrayne ferry in the backgroundCredit: Colin
-
-
The Italian Chapel on Lamb Holm, Orkney was built from two Nissen huts by Italian prisoners of war during World War 2; the interior frescoes are by Domenico ChiocchettiCredit: Renata
-
The 1st-century Dun Carloway on Lewis is a well-preserved example of an Iron Age broch, a type of complex Atlantic roundhouse only found in ScotlandCredit: Morris R. Maciver
-
-
White-tailed eagle fishing off Mull, one of several islands to which the birds have been successfully re-introducedCredit: Jacob Spinks
-
Wildflowers in machair, a coastal dune grassland found in the Outer Hebrides and elsewhereCredit: Jon Thomson
-
The Corryvreckan Whirlpool in the narrow Gulf of Corryvreckan between Jura and ScarbaCredit: Walter Baxter
-
Baile Mòr, the village on IonaCredit: Clydecoast
-
The ferry from Glenelg to Kylerhea on Skye has run for 400 years; the present boat, MV Glenachulish, is the only hand-operated turntable ferry still in operationCredit: Wojsyl
-
Shetland mouse-ear, a rare plant species unique to Shetland and found only on two serpentine hills in the Keen of Hamar reserve on the island of UnstCredit: Melvin Grey
-
-
Skye Bridge, opened in 1995; the toll was lifted in 2004Credit: Gene Selkov
-
-
-
The tied island of St Ninian's Isle is joined to the Shetland Mainland by the largest tombolo in the UKCredit: ThoWi
-
Barra Airport is the only one in the world to use a beach as a regular runwayCredit: Steve Houldsworth
-
Blackhouses were the traditional form of house across the Hebrides and the Highlands; this example is at Arnol, LewisCredit: LornaMCampbell
-
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_2.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Selected island group
The Inner Hebrides (/ˈhɛbrɪdiːz/ HEB-rid-eez; Scottish Gaelic: na h-Eileanan a-staigh, lit. 'the Inner Isles') is an archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. Together these two island chains form the Hebrides, which experience a mild oceanic climate. The Inner Hebrides comprise 35 inhabited islands as well as 44 uninhabited islands with an area greater than 30 hectares (74 acres). Skye, Mull, and Islay are the three largest, and also have the highest populations. The main commercial activities are tourism, crofting, fishing and whisky distilling. In modern times the Inner Hebrides have formed part of two separate local government jurisdictions, one to the north and the other to the south. Together, the islands have an area of about 4,130 km2 (1,594 sq mi), and had a population of 18,948 in 2011. The population density is therefore about 4.6 inhabitants per square kilometre (12 inhabitants per square mile).
There are various important prehistoric structures, many of which pre-date the first written references to the islands by Roman and Greek authors. In the historic period the earliest known settlers were Picts to the north and Gaels in the southern kingdom of Dál Riada prior to the islands becoming part of the Suðreyjar kingdom of the Norse, who ruled for over 400 years until sovereignty was transferred to Scotland by the Treaty of Perth in 1266. Control of the islands was then held by various clan chiefs, principally the MacLeans, MacLeods and MacDonalds. The Highland Clearances of the 19th century had a devastating effect on many communities and it is only in recent years that population levels have ceased to decline.
Sea transport is crucial and a variety of ferry services operate to mainland Scotland and between the islands. The Gaelic language remains strong in some areas; the landscapes have inspired a variety of artists; and there is a diversity of wildlife. (Full article...)
News
- 12 February: The BiFab construction yard at Arnish near Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, is purchased by InfraStrata.
- 11 February: Wild fires occur in Benbecula; and at Achmore and Sildinish in the Isle of Lewis; Horsaclete in Harris; Brevig in Barra; and Eubhal in North Uist.
- 19 January: Barra and Vatersay are put under tier-4 restrictions after an outbreak of Covid-19.
- 18 January: The Shetland Space Centre submits plans for a spaceport on Unst (proposed site pictured), Shetland, including three rocket launch pads.
- 8 January: Distilleries in Orkney and South Uist receive government grants to research ways of reducing their CO2 emissions.
- 4 January: After the UK leaves the European Union, the Northern Celt, an Irish fishing boat based out of Greencastle, County Donegal, is ordered to leave the 12-nautical-mile zone around Rockall by officers of Marine Scotland.
- 1 January: A total of 72 cases of Covid-19 are recorded in an ongoing outbreak in Shetland.
- 9 December: A review by a committee of MSPs into the commissioning and building of two new dual-fuel Caledonian MacBrayne ferries, MV Glen Sannox and "hull 802", criticises CMAL, Transport Scotland and the Scottish government, as well as the ship builders, Ferguson Marine.
- 3 December: North-east Lewis, Sea of the Hebrides and Shiant East Bank are designated Marine Protected Areas, while East Mainland Coast Shetland, Sound of Gigha, Coll and Tiree, Rùm, the west coast of the Outer Hebrides, and the waters off St Kilda and Foula are designated Special Protection Areas.
- 30 November: Michael Russell, MSP for Argyll and Bute, and David Stewart and John Finnie, MSPs for the Highlands and Islands region, will stand down at the 2021 election.
- 17 November: Phytophthora ramorum-infected larch trees in Arran are to be felled over a 543-acre area, to prevent the fungus-like pathogen from spreading.
- 4 November: The Scottish Wildlife Trust objects to a proposed salmon farm in the Marine Protected Area of Wester Ross, near Horse Island, Summer Isles, because of the potential impact on kelp forests and maerl beds.
Selected fauna
The corn crake, corncrake or landrail (Crex crex) is a bird in the rail family. It breeds in Europe and Asia as far east as western China, and migrates to Africa for the Northern Hemisphere's winter. It is a medium-sized crake with buff- or grey-streaked brownish-black upperparts, chestnut markings on the wings, and blue-grey underparts with rust-coloured and white bars on the flanks and undertail. The strong bill is flesh-toned, the iris is pale brown, and the legs and feet are pale grey. Juveniles are similar in plumage to adults, and downy chicks are black, as with all rails. There are no subspecies, although individuals from the east of the breeding range tend to be slightly paler than their western counterparts. The male's call is a loud krek krek, from which the scientific name is derived. The corn crake is larger than its closest relative, the African crake, which shares its wintering range; that species is also darker-plumaged, and has a plainer face.
The corn crake's breeding habitat is grassland, particularly hayfields, and it uses similar environments on the wintering grounds. This secretive species builds a nest of grass leaves in a hollow in the ground and lays 6–14 cream-coloured eggs which are covered with rufous blotches. These hatch in 19–20 days, and the black precocial chicks fledge after about five weeks. This crake is in steep decline across much of its former breeding range because modern farming practices often destroy nests before breeding is completed. The corn crake is omnivorous but mainly feeds on invertebrates, the occasional small frog or mammal, and plant material including grass seed and cereal grain. Threats include dogs, cats, other introduced and feral mammals, large birds, various parasites and diseases.
Although numbers have declined steeply in western Europe, this bird is classed as least concern on the IUCN Red List because of its huge range and large, apparently stable, populations in Russia and Kazakhstan. Numbers in western China are more significant than previously thought, and conservation measures have facilitated an increased population in some countries which had suffered the greatest losses. Despite its elusive nature, the loud call has ensured the corn crake has been noted in literature, and garnered a range of local and dialect names. (Full article...)
Selected history & culture article
Description of the Western Isles of Scotland is the oldest known account of the Hebrides and the Islands of the Clyde, two chains of islands off the west coast of Scotland. The author was Donald Monro, a clergyman who used the title of "Dean of the Isles" and who lived through the Scottish Reformation. Monro wrote the original manuscript in 1549, although it was not published in any form until 1582 and was not widely available to the public in its original form until 1774. A more complete version, based on a late 17th-century manuscript written by Sir Robert Sibbald, was first published as late as 1961. Monro wrote in Scots and some of the descriptions are difficult for modern readers to render into English. Although Monro was criticised for publishing folklore and for omitting detail about the affairs of the churches in his diocese, Monro's Description is a valuable historical account and has reappeared in part or in whole in numerous publications, remaining one of the most widely quoted publications about the western islands of Scotland.
Monro also wrote a brief description of the five main branches of Clan Donald that existed in his day under the title "The Genealogies Of The Chief Clans Of The Iles", and this work was included when Description was first published as a stand-alone volume in 1805. The Sibbald manuscript also contains details about the "Council of the Isles" that operated from Eilean na Comhairle in Loch Finlaggan on the island of Islay. This is the most detailed extant account of the supreme judiciary body that had existed under the Lordship of the Isles until its demise in the late fifteenth century. (Full article...)
Selected island
Eilean Donan (Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Donnain) is a small tidal island situated at the confluence of three sea lochs (Loch Duich, Loch Long and Loch Alsh) in the western Highlands of Scotland, about 1 kilometre (5⁄8 mi) from the village of Dornie. It is connected to the mainland by a footbridge that was installed early in the 20th century and is dominated by a picturesque castle that frequently appears in photographs, film and television. The island's original castle was built in the thirteenth century; it became a stronghold of the Clan Mackenzie and their allies, the Clan MacRae. In response to the Mackenzies' involvement in the Jacobite rebellions early in the 18th century, government ships destroyed the castle in 1719. The present-day castle is Lieutenant-Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap's 20th-century reconstruction of the old castle.
Eilean Donan is part of the Kintail National Scenic Area, one of 40 in Scotland. In 2001, the island had a recorded population of just one person, but there were no "usual residents" at the time of the 2011 census.
Eilean Donan, which means simply "island of Donnán", is named after Donnán of Eigg, a Celtic saint who was martyred in 617. Donnán is said to have established a church on the island, though no trace of this remains. (Full article...)
Did you know?
- ... that prehistoric Orkney has provided so many ancient ruins (example pictured) that one of the islands in the archipelago has been described as "the Egypt of the North"?
- ... that according to a mediaeval chronicle, saga, and later clan tradition, Páll, son of Bálki blinded and castrated the son of a Manx king—a son who would in time become king himself?
- ... that Damian Lewis and Andrea Riseborough shot a film near Pennyghael on the Isle of Mull?
- ... that Alasdair Crotach MacLeod is said to have prayed for six hours prior to ordering the massacre of almost the entire population of the Hebridean island of Eigg?
Selected portrait
-
The Standing Stones of Stenness, near Stromness, Orkney, started by 3100 BC and possibly Britain's oldest henge siteCredit: Fantoman400
-
-
Columba was a 6th-century Irish-born saint who spread Christianity in Scotland and founded Iona Abbey, where he is commemorated in this stained-glass windowCredit: Vegansoldier
-
Scottish Gaelic speakers in the 2011 census; the Outer Hebrides, Tiree, Raasay, Skye and Lismore have the highest proportion of speakersCredit: SkateTier
-
-
Puffins and guillemots on Lunga in the Treshnish Isles, with Bac Mòr (known as Dutchman's Cap for its distinctive shape) in the backgroundCredit: Simaron
-
-
-
-
The North Carr Beacon at low tide; the unlit beacon was built between 1813 and 1821 by Robert Stevenson to warn shipping of the North Carr Reef near Fife NessCredit: Kathrinpassig
-
-
The 8th-century Kildalton Cross, Islay, one of the best-preserved Celtic crosses in ScotlandCredit: Tom Richardson
-
Seals hauled out by Lyrie Geo on HoyCredit: Claire Pegrum
Selected geography article
Trotternish (Scottish Gaelic: Tròndairnis) is the northernmost peninsula of the Isle of Skye in Scotland, spanning in length from Portree to Rubha Hunish. The Trotternish escarpment runs almost the full length of the peninsula, some 30 kilometres (20 miles), and contains landmarks such as the Old Man of Storr and the Quiraing. The summit of The Storr, overlooking the Old Man, is the highest point of the peninsula at 719 m above sea level. The north-eastern part of the peninsula around Quiraing is designated as a National Scenic Area and the entire escarpment is a Special Area of Conservation.
Dinosaur footprints have been found at An Corran, which is also a Mesolithic hunter-gatherer site dating to the 7th millennium BC. The ruins of the 14th–15th-century Duntulm Castle stand at the northern end of the peninsula.
The three major settlements on Trotternish are Portree, generally regarded as the capital of Skye, Uig, a ferry terminus, and the township of Staffin. Trotternish is the strongest Gaelic-speaking area of Skye. (Full article...)
Selected biography
John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, KT, FRS (10 August 1793 – 18 March 1848), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1794 and 1814, was a wealthy Scottish aristocrat and industrialist in Georgian and early Victorian Britain. He developed the coal and iron industries across South Wales and built the Cardiff Docks.
Bute's father, John, Lord Mount Stuart, died a few months after he was born and as a young child he was brought up first by his mother, the former Lady Elizabeth McDouall-Crichton, and later by his paternal grandfather, John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute. He travelled widely across Europe before attending Cambridge University. He contracted an eye condition and remained partially sighted for the rest of his life.
Having inherited large estates across Britain, he married his first wife, Lady Maria North, in 1818, and together they lived a relatively secluded life in Mount Stuart House in Scotland, one of Bute's four seats. Bute was dour but industrious, with a flair for land management. He focused his daily routine around extensive correspondence with his estate managers, making biennial tours of his lands around the country. The couple did not conceive any children, and Maria died in 1841. Bute remarried four years later, to Lady Sophia Rawdon-Hastings, and she gave birth to Bute's only child, John, in 1847.
Bute was a member of the House of Lords and controlled the votes of several members of the House of Commons. He was a political and religious conservative, a follower of the Duke of Wellington, but rarely took part in national debates unless his own commercial interests were involved. Early on, Bute realised the vast wealth that lay in the South Wales coalfields and set about commercially exploiting them through local ironmasters and colliers. (Full article...)
Related portals
Selected panorama
-
-
-
-
Small freshwater islets on Loch AssyntCredit: Vincent
-
Eilean DonanCredit: Stefan Krause
-
-
-
-
Iona AbbeyCredit: Oliver-Bonjoch
-
-
-
Topics
|  | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Categories
The main category is Islands of Scotland, with subcategories
Things you can do
- Add new articles to the project by placing {{WPSI|class=|importance=}} on the talk page
- Add a link to the portal in the "See also" section of relevant articles with {{Portal|Scottish islands}}
- Take requested photographs or create requested pages, including Prehistoric Hebrides, Trialabreac, Dog Isle...
- Expand a Scottish Islands stub into a full article, adding images, citations, references and infoboxes; did you know that if you expand one 5x, you can nominate it for Did You Know?
- Improve one of the highest priority articles, including Mull, Bute, North & South Uist, Columba, Highland Clearances, Sorley MacLean, St Magnus Cathedral...
- Follow these hints to improve a B-class article and nominate it for Good Article
- Suggest articles, pictures, interesting facts, events and news to be featured here on the portal
Wikiproject
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus
