The Rinns of Islay (

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

: Na Roinn Ìleach; alternative English spelling Rhinns of Islay) is an area on the west of the island of

Islay Islay ( ; gd, Ìle, sco, Ila) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll just south west of Jura, Scotland, Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The isl ...

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 ...

. It is a

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

that is attached to the main body of the island by a narrow isthmus towards its northern end. The main population centres are Port Charlotte and Portnahaven, based on the A847 that runs along its eastern coast. It is designated a Special Protection Area due to its importance for a number of breeding and wintering birds, particularly

Greenland white-fronted goose The greater white-fronted goose (''Anser albifrons'') is a species of goose related to the smaller lesser white-fronted goose (''A. erythropus''). It is named for the patch of white feathers bordering the base of its bill, in fact ''albifrons ...

and

chough There are two species of passerine birds commonly called chough ( ) that constitute the genus ''Pyrrhocorax'' of the Corvidae (crow) family of birds. These are the red-billed chough (''Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax''), and the Alpine chough (or yellow- ...

. The significance of the area owes much to its wide variety of habitats including bog, moorland, dune grassland, maritime grassland, marsh and extensively-farmed agricultural land. The Rinns of Islay

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

is located on the island of Orsay. The

Rhinns complex The Rhinns complex is a deformed Palaeoproterozoic igneous complex that is considered to form the basement to the Colonsay Group of metasedimentary rocks. The largest outcrop of the complex is on the Rhinns of Islay, from where the complex ge ...

, a deformed igneous complex that is considered to form the

basement A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...

to the Colonsay Group of metasedimentary rocks takes its name from the Rhinns of Islay.

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Special Protection Area designation

Northern Lighthouse Board
* Landforms of Islay Special Protection Areas in Scotland Ramsar sites in Scotland Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Islay and Jura Special Areas of Conservation in Scotland Geological type localities of Scotland Peninsulas of Scotland Works of Robert Stevenson (civil engineer) {{Argyll-geo-stub

See also

References

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