Hyskeir ( gd, Òigh-sgeir) or Heyskeir is a low-lying rocky islet (a

skerry A skerry is a small rocky island, or islet, usually too small for human habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low sea stack. A skerry may have vegetative life such as moss and small, hardy grasses. They a ...

) in the

Inner Hebrides The Inner Hebrides (; Scottish Gaelic: ''Na h-Eileanan a-staigh'', "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, whic ...

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 ...

. The

Hyskeir Lighthouse Hyskeir Lighthouse was established in 1904. The metre high lighthouse marks the southern end of the Minch, warning of the presence of the Mills Rocks, Canna, and Hyskeir itself. It was designed by David and Charles Stevenson and constructed by ...

marks the southern entrance to

the Minch The Minch ( gd, An Cuan Sgitheanach, ', ', '), also called North Minch, is a strait in north-west Scotland, separating the north-west Highlands and the northern Inner Hebrides from Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides. It was known as ("Sco ...

Geography

Hyskeir lies in the southern entrance to

, 10 kilometres southwest of the island of Canna and 14 kilometres west of Rùm.

Garbh Sgeir Garbh Sgeir (Gaelic: 'rough skerry') is a rock about 100 metres west of the islet Òigh-sgeir, in the Small Isles, Lochaber, Scotland. There is an anchorage between the two. It is not to be confused with the nearby islet of the same name th ...

is a rock that lies next to the islet and the landing place for Hyskeir lies in the channel between the two. Both islands are unoccupied. Òigh-sgeir is composed of hexagonal

pitchstone Pitchstone is a dark coloured, glassy volcanic rock formed when felsic lava or magma cools quickly. Since it is a volcanic glass, pitchstone may have a conchoidal fracture. Pitchstones may also contain phenocrysts, in which case it is a form of v ...

columns. The owner of the island in the 19th and early 20th centuries was Philip Ollas. At that time sheep from Canna were brought to make use of the summer grazing.

Etymology

Hyskeir is from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

''sker'' meaning skerry. ''Òigh-sgeir'' is

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

for 'maiden' or 'virgin rock', ''sgeir'' also meaning skerry. The English name 'Maiden Rock' has also been used.

Lighthouse

was established in 1904. The building marks the southern end of the Minch, warning of the presence of the Mills Rocks, the island of Canna and Hyskeir itself. It was designed by

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

and Charles Stevenson and constructed by

Oban Oban ( ; ' in Scottish Gaelic meaning ''The Little Bay'') is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William. During the tourist season, th ...

contractor Messrs D & J MacDougall. The white tower was manned until March 1997, becoming one of the last lighthouses in Scotland to be automated. The keepers were briefly known for their one-hole

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

following their appearance on

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

. Hyskeir and its lighthouse feature extensively in Peter Hill's book ''Stargazing: Memoirs of a Young Lighthouse Keeper.''

Wildlife

Gavin Maxwell Gavin Maxwell FRSL FZS FRGS (15 July 19147 September 1969) was a British naturalist and author, best known for his non-fiction writing and his work with otters. He wrote the book ''Ring of Bright Water'' (1960) about how he brought an otter ...

, who fished for

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 leng ...

s nearby in 1947, recorded a mass sighting of these sharks; quoted in “It was a gigantic shoal ... At one moment we counted 54 dorsal fins in sight at the same time.” The island has nesting sites for

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

and

common tern The common tern (''Sterna hirundo'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, its four subspecies breeding in temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. It is strongly migrator ...

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-l ...

s and

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 quil ...

s and also has a large

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

colony.

Footnotes

* Murray, W.H. (1966) ''The Hebrides''. London. Heinemann. {{Small Isles Skerries of Scotland Uninhabited islands of Highland (council area) Small Isles, Lochaber

Geography

Etymology

Lighthouse

Wildlife

See also

Footnotes