Handa Island ( gd, Eilean Shannda) or simply Handa is an island off the west coast of

Sutherland Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire (later ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It is and at its highest point. The island is of national importance for its birdlife and maritime vegetation, and is a

Scottish Wildlife Trust The Scottish Wildlife Trust is a Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, registered charity dedicated to conserving the Natural history of Scotland, wildlife and natural environment of Scotland. Description The Scottish Wildlife Trust has well ...

nature reserve, a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

(SSSI), and a

Special Protection Area A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and cert ...

(SPA). Handa also forms part of the North-West Sutherland national scenic area, one of 40 such areas in Scotland. A small ferry sails to Handa from Tarbet on the mainland and boat trips operate to it from Fanagmore. The island receives five thousand visitors per annum.

Geography and geology

Handa is composed of Torridonian red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

and surrounded by cliffs covered with birds. In the north is a hill with two peaks, with the south and east being lower lying. The north and west have cliffs, and there are beaches in the south and east. The Sound of Handa separates it from the mainland and smaller islands around Handa include Glas-Leac to the south, Eilean an Aigeach to the north east and Stac an t-Sealbhaig to the north.

Flora and fauna

Handa is noted for its birdlife, which includes

puffin Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crev ...

razorbill The razorbill, razor-billed auk, or lesser auk (''Alca torda'') is a colonial seabird and the only extant member of the genus '' Alca'' of the family Alcidae, the auks. It is the closest living relative of the extinct great auk (''Pinguinis impe ...

s and

guillemot Guillemot is the common name for several species of seabird in the Alcidae or auk family (part of the order Charadriiformes). In British use, the term comprises two genera: ''Uria'' and ''Cepphus''. In North America the ''Uria'' species are c ...

s. The SPA designation lists six priority species:

fulmar The fulmars are tubenosed seabirds of the family Procellariidae. The family consists of two extant species and two extinct fossil species from the Miocene. Fulmars superficially resemble gulls, but are readily distinguished by their flight on ...

great skua The great skua (''Stercorarius skua''), sometimes known by the name bonxie in Britain, is a large seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. It is roughly the size of a herring gull. It mainly eats fish caught at the sea surface or taken fr ...

kittiwake The kittiwakes (genus ''Rissa'') are two closely related seabird species in the gull family Laridae, the black-legged kittiwake (''Rissa tridactyla'') and the red-legged kittiwake (''Rissa brevirostris''). The epithets "black-legged" and "red-le ...

, and

. The breeding colonies of razorbills and guillemots on Handa are the largest in the UK, representing 11% and 9% of the total British population respectively. The arctic skua and kittiwake populations are also of national importance, representing >1% and 2% of the British population respectively. Other birds at Handa include

eider duck Eiders () are large seaducks in the genus ''Somateria''. The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The down feathers of eider ducks, and some other ducks and geese, are used to fill pillows and quilt ...

s and

oystercatcher The oystercatchers are a group of waders forming the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, ''Haematopus''. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia. The e ...

s, and seals and

otters Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

can often be seen at Boulder Bay on the island's southern coast.

Dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...

basking shark The basking shark (''Cetorhinus maximus'') is the second-largest living shark and fish, after the whale shark, and one of three plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and megamouth shark. Adults typically reach in length. ...

s and several species of whale regularly visit the seas surrounding Handa. Handa is also of national importance for its maritime vegetation. The exposed cliff tops are home to maritime grassland species that can tolerate salt, such as thrift, sea plantain and ''

Festuca rubra ''Festuca rubra'' is a species of grass known by the common name red fescue or creeping red fescue. It is widespread across much of the Northern Hemisphere and can tolerate many habitats and climates. It is best adapted to well-drained soils in c ...

''. In less exposed areas can be found herb-rich grasslands which support species such as

Yorkshire fog ''Holcus lanatus'' is a perennial grass. The specific epithet ' is Latin for 'woolly' which describes the plant's hairy texture. Common names include Yorkshire fog, tufted grass, and meadow soft grass. In North America, where it is an invasive sp ...

, bluebell and

Scots lovage ''Ligusticum scoticum'', known as Scots lovage, or Scottish licorice-root, is a perennial flowering plant in the celery family Apiaceae (previously Umbelliferae) found near the coasts of northern Europe and north-eastern North America. It grows u ...

. Heather and

crowberry ''Empetrum nigrum'', crowberry, black crowberry, or, in western Alaska, blackberry, is a flowering plant species in the heather family Ericaceae with a near circumboreal distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It is usually dioecious, but there ...

are also widespread across the island.

History

The island's name is of mixed Gaelic and Norse origin and means "island at the sandy river". Anciently the island was used as a burial place, and there are still the remains of a chapel in the south east, commemorated in the name Tràigh an Teampaill (Beach of the Temple). The use of Handa as burial place is thought to be due to the fact that wolves would dig up graves on the mainland so frequently that the inhabitants of Eddrachillis resorted to burying their dead on the island:Wildlife in Britain and Ireland by Richard Perry, published by Taylor and Francis, 1978 It had a population of 65 in 1841, but following the 1847 Highland Potato Famine the inhabitants emigrated to

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. In some ways this is surprising, since it is recorded that the islanders had a fairly varied diet including oats, fish and seabirds, rather than depending heavily on a potato crop. The islanders had a parliament, similar to that of St Kilda, which met daily, and the oldest widow on the island was considered its "Queen". The Great Stack of Handa was first climbed from the sea on 1 August 1969 by Graeme Hunter, Hamish MacInnes & Douglas Lang. The island is now part of the

Scourie Scourie ( gd, Sgobhairigh), historically spelled "Scoury", is a village on the north west coast of Scotland, about halfway between Ullapool and Durness. The name comes from the Gaelic word Sheiling or shed, a stone-built place of shelter used dur ...

Estate, owned by Dr

Jean Balfour Jean Balfour (née Drew, born 4 November 1927) is a Scottish professional forester, landowner and conservationist. Early life and education Balfour was born on 4 November 1927 to Major General James Syme Drew and his wife Victoria. She ear ...

and J.C. Balfour. The Balfours leased Handa to the

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

for 25 years, however this lease was not renewed, because the Balfours wished a Scottish-based body to run the island; as a result the

(SWT) took it over. Under the SWT the island is managed by one warden and a handful of volunteers during the summer months.

Gallery

File:Klippen von Handa Island.JPG, Cliff with breeding guillemots File:Dreizehenmöwe (Rissa tridactyla) bei Brutfütterung02.jpg, Northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) at Handa Island File:Papageitaucher (Fratercula arctica) auf Handa Island.jpg, Puffin (Fratercula arctica) at Handa Island File:Große Raubmöwe (Stercorarius skua) auf Handa Island.JPG, Great skua (Stercorarius skua) at Handa Island File:Brutschutzgebiet Handa Island.jpg, Sign for the breeding birds' protected area File:Handaquinag.jpg,

Quinag , photo = Quinag.jpg , photo_caption = Quinag in the distance from the western end of Loch Assynt , elevation = Sàil Gharbh: 808 m (2,651 ft)Sàil Ghorm: 776 m (2,546 ft)Spidean Coinich: 764 m (2,506 ft) , prominence = ''c.'' 553 m, 158 m, 19 ...

and

across the Sound of Handa

Footnotes

External links