Priest Island
Encyclopedia
Priest Island is a small, uninhabited island
in the Summer Isles
off the west coast of Scotland
.
s for religious purposes, and has several stone circles.
spent 2 weeks on the island with official permission to study and ring some of the birds, such as storm petrels at night time (netting and ringing) and shags on the cliffs in daytime. They took a month's supplies with them, including food, tents and equipment totalling quarter of a ton on a trek cart pulled over from Garve Station. The cart's wheel broke half a mile from Garve. After further difficulties, and help from locals, a comprehensive ornithological study was compiled.
The scouts had a copy of Frank Fraser Darling
's book Island Years with them, recounting, inter alia, his family's year on the Summer Isles
.
. It is a SSSI and a Special Protection Area
. Non-avian fauna includes pygmy shrews, otters and grey seals.
Priest Island supports heath communities and a small amount of woodland. Enrichment from salt spray and bird guano enables more species-rich maritime heath and cliff communities to exist around the coast. The island has one of the largest Storm Petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus) colonies in the UK, together with other breeding seabirds.
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
in the Summer Isles
Summer Isles
The Summer Isles are an archipelago lying in the mouth of Loch Broom, in the Highland region of Scotland.-Geography:The only inhabited isle, Tanera Mòr, is also the largest. It is home to an Atlantic salmon fish farm, some rental holiday homes, a café and a post office, which has operated its own...
off the west coast of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
History
It is believed that the island was used by culdeeCuldee
Céli Dé or Culdees were originally members of ascetic Christian monastic and eremitical communities of Ireland, Scotland and England in the Middle Ages. The term is used of St. John the Apostle, of a missioner from abroad recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters at the year 806, and of Óengus...
s for religious purposes, and has several stone circles.
Geography
Priest Island is the outermost and most exposed of the Summer Isles, lying about 6 km off the west coast of Wester Ross.Whitgift School study
In the summer of 1960, a group from an English school studied some of the bird life of the island. Pupils and teachers from Whitgift School in South CroydonSouth Croydon
South Croydon is a locality in Greater London, the area surrounding the valley south of central Croydon about 1 km in radius, centred on the Red Deer public house on the Brighton Road. It is part of the South Croydon post town and in the London Borough of Croydon...
spent 2 weeks on the island with official permission to study and ring some of the birds, such as storm petrels at night time (netting and ringing) and shags on the cliffs in daytime. They took a month's supplies with them, including food, tents and equipment totalling quarter of a ton on a trek cart pulled over from Garve Station. The cart's wheel broke half a mile from Garve. After further difficulties, and help from locals, a comprehensive ornithological study was compiled.
The scouts had a copy of Frank Fraser Darling
Frank Fraser Darling
Sir Frank Fraser Darling was an English ecologist, ornithologist, farmer, conservationist and author, who is strongly associated with the highlands and islands of Scotland.-Early life:...
's book Island Years with them, recounting, inter alia, his family's year on the Summer Isles
Summer Isles
The Summer Isles are an archipelago lying in the mouth of Loch Broom, in the Highland region of Scotland.-Geography:The only inhabited isle, Tanera Mòr, is also the largest. It is home to an Atlantic salmon fish farm, some rental holiday homes, a café and a post office, which has operated its own...
.
Wildlife
Eilean a' Chleirich is owned and managed as a nature reserve by the Royal Society for the Protection of BirdsRoyal Society for the Protection of Birds
Bird Notes and News was first published in April 1903.The title changed to 'Bird Notes' in 1947. In the 1950s, there were four copies per year . Each volume covered two years, spread over three calendar years...
. It is a SSSI and a Special Protection Area
Special Protection Area
A Special Protection Area or SPA is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds.Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certain particularly threatened birds.Together with Special...
. Non-avian fauna includes pygmy shrews, otters and grey seals.
Priest Island supports heath communities and a small amount of woodland. Enrichment from salt spray and bird guano enables more species-rich maritime heath and cliff communities to exist around the coast. The island has one of the largest Storm Petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus) colonies in the UK, together with other breeding seabirds.