SHIANT ISLANDS, Scotland (30 Nov 2004) -- ACCORDING TO LEGEND, the ghostly and menacing Blue Men of the Minch live in the Sound between the Shiant Islands. Some say they are storm kelpies, others that they are bad-tempered angels who fell into the sea when they were expelled from Heaven. If you are accosted by a Blue Man it is important to have the Gaelic, if not, you risk being dragged to the bottom of the Minch. Even if you don't see any Blue Men, the columnar basalt rock formations are every bit as spectacular. This is the back-street Manhattan of the Western Isles. A skyscraper city of seabirds; noisy and rank-smelling. The pillars of Fingal's Cave on Staffa are a mere 10m high, those on the Shiants are over 150m (500ft). The Shiants are a group of two islands and several islets and outlying rocks. There is pasturage for sheep brought over from Scalpay but there are no permanent inhabitants nowadays. Eilean an Tighe, which is the southern part of the group's largest island, is connected with Garbh Eilean, the northern part, by a low narrow neck of polished pebbles.This isthmus covers at spring tides or during storms. Garbh Eilean is very steep; Eilean an Tighe is lower but has precipitous cliffs on its eastern side. Eilean Mhuire lies to the east of Garbh Eilean, so that the group almost forms a bay.. | | There is a cottage on the west side of Eilean an Tighe. It was renovated by Sir Compton Mackenzie who bought the islands in 1925 for £500. He often stayed there during the summer but sold them again a decade later. Behind the cottage is the ruin of an older dwelling and on the north side there are the limited remains of a probable graveyard and a small church. This would account for the island's former name of Eilean na Cille (church island). The common seal breeds here and basking shark, dolphin, porpoise, blue shark and Minke whale often frequent these waters. There are no rabbits but the islands are rat-infested, probably from a shipwreck. Because the rats steal the sea-birds' eggs and young, it was planned to eradicate them. However, these are not common Brown Rats, Rattus norvegicus, but rare Black Rats, Rattus rattus, the "plague rats" of old and they have been declared a protected species. Around 240,000 puffins nest in the turf at the top of the sea-cliffs - about two per cent of the world population - while thousands of kittiwakes, guillemots, razorbills and fulmars nest among the basalt columns. SOURCE - The Scottish Islands, The Scotsman |
