Flodday, Loch Maddy

Flodday (Scottish Gaelic: Flodaigh) is an uninhabited island in Loch Maddy, North Uist in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

For other places with the same name, see Flodday.

Not to be confused with Flodaigh Mòr to the south east of North Uist.

Flodday, Loch Maddy

Gaelic name	Flodaigh[1]
Norse name	Flot-øy
Meaning of name	'raft' or 'float' island, from Old Norse[1]
Flodday from the south with the hills east of Loch Portain, North Uist beyond
Location
Flodday, Loch Maddy Flodday shown within the Outer Hebrides
OS grid reference	NF941696
Coordinates	57.613°N 7.126°W / 57.613; -7.126
Physical geography
Island group	Uists and Barra
Area	50 hectares (0.19 sq mi)[2]
Area rank	199= [3]
Highest elevation	25 m (82 ft)[4]
Administration
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	Scotland
Council area	Na h-Eileanan Siar
Demographics
Population	0[5]

The area of the island is recorded as 50 hectares (124 acres) in Rick Livingstone's tables,[2] although it is not listed by Hamish Haswell-Smith in his tabulation of Scottish islands greater in size than 40 hectares (99 acres).[6] No reason for this is given and his area calculation presumably provided a figure smaller than this total.

Loch Maddy contains a bewildering profusion of islands and islets. To the north west lie the smaller island of Fearamas and the complex island of Cliasaigh Mor/Cliasaigh Beag. The entrance to the sea loch is to the south east where lie the waters of The Minch. The village of Lochmaddy is to the west on the far side of the loch.[4] Flodday is separated from North Uist by the narrows of Caolas Loch Portain.[4]

The coastline is described as "lag boulders and gravel intertidal areas" to the north, east and west and rock or rock platform in the south and south east.[7]

Folklore and stories

The Carmichael Watson Project records a brief story concerning a great northern diver. Kenneth MacLean, a local merchant, describes his sighting of this bird, at Flodday in 1884. Although he was familiar with the species it was the sole occasion on which he had seen it in flight. He recorded that "the wings went rapidly and the bird seemed to exert himself greatly".[8] The island is also referred to in the Notebook of Alexander Carmichael, which contains material collected between October 1867 and December 1885.[9]

The freshwater Loch na Beiste lies just beyond Caolas Loch Portain not far from the shore of North Uist. It was reputedly the haunt of a sea-cow.[10]

Citations

1. Mac an Tàilleir, Iain (2003) Ainmean-àite/Placenames. (pdf) Pàrlamaid na h-Alba. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
2. "Rick Livingstone’s Tables of the Islands of Scotland" (pdf) Argyll Yacht Charters. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
3. Area and population ranks: there are c. 300 islands over 20 ha in extent and 93 permanently inhabited islands were listed in the 2011 census.
4. Ordnance Survey. OS Maps Online (Map). 1:25,000. Leisure.
5. National Records of Scotland (15 August 2013). "Appendix 2: Population and households on Scotland's Inhabited Islands" (PDF). Statistical Bulletin: 2011 Census: First Results on Population and Household Estimates for Scotland Release 1C (Part Two) (PDF) (Report). SG/2013/126. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
6. Haswell-Smith (2004) pp. xii, 206, 244
7. "Coastal Zone Assessment Survey: East Coast of North Uist, Benbecula & South Uist". (pdf) The SCAPE Trust. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
8. "Story about a great northern diver". Folio 22r, line 14 to folio 22v, line 20. Pròiseact MhicGilleMhìcheil MhicBhatair. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
9. "Transcription notebook of Alexander Carmichael ". Pròiseact MhicGilleMhìcheil MhicBhatair. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
10. "Water-horses and Water-bulls". Electric Scotland. Retrieved 2 January 2015.

References

Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. ISBN 978-1-84195-454-7.