Rainish Eilean Mòr is an uninhabited island in Loch Orasaigh, north of the village of Leurbost in the area of South Lochs on the

Isle of Lewis The Isle of Lewis () or simply Lewis () is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides archipelago in Scotland. The two parts are frequently referred to as if they were separate islands. The t ...

Lewis and Harris Lewis and Harris (), or Lewis with Harris, is a Scottish island in the Outer Hebrides, around from the Scottish mainland. With an area of (approximately 1% the size of Great Britain) it is the largest island in Scotland and the list of isl ...

. At in extent, it is one of Scotland's larger freshwater islands, but it is probably the largest relative to the size of the body of water in which it sits, Loch Orasaigh being only about in area. The entirety of the loch has been an

SSSI 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 ...

since 1983 and the island's perimeter and the neighbouring islet to the south west have woodland cover including the species of

Rowan The rowans ( or ) or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus ''Sorbus'' of the rose family, Rosaceae. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the Himalaya ...

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

Downy Birch ''Betula pubescens'' (syn. ''Betula alba''), commonly known as downy birch and also as moor birch, white birch, European white birch or hairy birch, is a species of deciduous tree, native and abundant throughout northern Europe and northern Asia ...

, Grey Willow and Sallow Willow. The underlying geology is

Lewisian Gneiss The Lewisian complex or Lewisian gneiss is a suite of Precambrian metamorphic rocks that outcrop in the northwestern part of Scotland, forming part of the Hebridean terrane and the North Atlantic Craton. These rocks are of Archaean and Paleopr ...

overlain by peaty

podzol Podzols, also known as podosols, spodosols, or espodossolos, are the typical soils of coniferous or boreal forests and also the typical soils of eucalypt forests and heathlands in southern Australia. In Western Europe, podzols develop on heathlan ...

s and gleys. The Gaelic name of the island means "large island of Rainish" and is taken from the surrounding area, which itself means " Roe deer headland", from

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...

References

*
Western Isles Native Woodland Restoration Survey Report
'. (pdf) (2008) Comhairle nan Eilean Siar/SNH. Stornoway. Retrieved 23 January 2010.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rainish Eilean Mor Freshwater islands of the Outer Hebrides Isle of Lewis Uninhabited islands of the Outer Hebrides