Switha is an uninhabited

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

towards the south of

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, approximately 41 hectares in area.

Geography and geology

Switha lies 2 km to the south of the island of

Flotta Flotta () is a small island in Orkney, Scotland, lying in Scapa Flow. The island is known for its large oil terminal and is linked by Orkney Ferries to Houton on the Orkney Mainland, Lyness on Hoy and Longhope on South Walls. The island ha ...

and 2 km east of the South Walls area of

Hoy Hoy may refer to: People Given name * Hoy Menear (died 2023), American politician * Hoy Phallin (born 1995), Cambodian footballer * Hoy Wong (1920–2009), American bartender Surname * Hoy (surname), a Scottish and Irish surname * H� ...

South Ronaldsay South Ronaldsay (, also , ) is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland. It is linked to the Orkney Mainland by the Churchill Barriers, running via Burray, Glimps Holm and Lamb Holm. Name Along with North Ronaldsay, the islan ...

lies about 5 km further east. The island is roughly rectangular in shape, about 1 km by 0.5 km in size and is aligned in a NE to SW direction. The maximum elevation is 28 m, found on the small cliff on the south coast, to the west of which is the only appreciable beach at The Pool. Geologically, the island is wholly of

Old Red Sandstone Old Red Sandstone, abbreviated ORS, is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the eastern seaboard of North America. It ...

, from the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

period, specifically Rousay Flagstones, dating from about 375 MYA, laid down by a cyclical series of lakes and containing many fish fossils.

Flora

The island is predominantly maritime grassland with small areas of heath and bog.

Wildlife

Switha is very important for wildlife and has been designated both as a Site of Special Scientific Interest ( SSSI) and an EU

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 cer ...

. The primary reason for this is the wintering population of Greenland

barnacle goose The barnacle goose (''Branta leucopsis'') is a species of goose that belongs to the genus ''Branta'' of black geese, which contains species with extensive black in the plumage, distinguishing them from the grey ''Anser (genus), Anser'' species. D ...

. About 1000 of the birds are thought to spend the winter months roosting on the island and feeding on nearby South Walls. This population is not only the most northerly in the UK but also the third largest after

Islay Islay ( ; , ) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll and Bute just south west of Jura, Scotland, Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The island's cap ...

and

North Uist North Uist (; ) is an island and community in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Etymology In Donald Munro's ''A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland Called Hybrides'' of 1549, North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist are described as one isla ...

. Common seabirds known to frequent the rocky coast line include

black guillemot The black guillemot or tystie (''Cepphus grylle'') is a medium-sized seabird of the Alcidae family, native throughout northern Atlantic coasts and eastern North American coasts. It is resident in much of its range, but large populations from the ...

great black-backed gull The great black-backed gull (''Larus marinus'') is the largest member of the gull family. It is a very aggressive hunter, pirate, and scavenger which breeds on the coasts and islands of the North Atlantic in northern Europe and northeastern Nort ...

, Arctic skua and great skua. In addition, Haswell-Smith records that there are many

European storm petrel The European storm petrel (''Hydrobates pelagicus''), also known as British storm petrel, or just storm petrel, is a species of seabird in the northern storm petrel family, Hydrobatidae. The small, square-tailed bird is entirely black except f ...

burrows. However, several surveys since the late 1960s have only revealed a small number of pairs on the island, probably never more than 10. The burrows are probably more likely to belong to the

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 ...

, which are reported to be resident on the island in some numbers, with about 250 pairs.

History

Pre-history

The presence of

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

standing stone A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright rock (geology), stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the Eur ...

s and a

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

show that the island was at least visited in

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

times. There are two standing stones, the larger, southerly stone is 147 cm high, by 91 cm wide and 30 cm deep. The northerly stone is 112 cm high, 48 cm wide and just 15 cm deep and is thus somewhat smaller. Further evidence of pre-historic use is provided by the presence of a 9 m diameter by 0.5 m high turf covered cairn, near The Ool at the southern tip of the island. When excavated the cairn contained a cist-like structure. Haswell-Smith (2004) maintains there is no written record of any post-Neolithic habitation, and there are 3 further sources that would support that assertion, at least for the past 350 years. The Blaeu '' Atlas of Scotland'' (1654) stated that the island was "neither inhabited nor cultivated". The ''Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland'', published in 1848, stated that the island was uninhabited. Finally, the Ordnance Survey map of 1882 doesn't indicate any significant building or habitation, although the enclosure mentioned below would seem to be present. Whether the island was uninhabited prior to 1654 is less certain since the ''Descriptions of Orkney'', written in 1529, states that the entire population of an island, "Southay" presumed to refer to Switha, is said to have died while sailing to a Christmas celebration on a neighboring island, and the island had never been populated since. In addition, there are archeological remains that could represent old dwellings, for instance a stone closure at the southern end of the island.

Agricultural use

The island would seem to have had a long history of use for agriculture, at least for keeping stock. In current times the island is wholly used for sheep grazing. Older texts support the island's use for other livestock however, for instance it is recorded that in 1747–48, 11 oxen were kept on Switha, part of the Burray inventory.

Notes

References

* *Omand, Donald (ed.) (2003) ''The Orkney Book''. Edinburgh. Birlinn. *Harris, Mike P and Wanless, Sarah (2011) "The Puffin". Poyser Monographs. {{coord, 58.79734, N, 3.10054, W, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(ND365905), display=title Special Protection Areas in Scotland Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Orkney Uninhabited islands of Orkney