Garbh Eilean

Garbh Eilean (Scottish Gaelic Rough Isle) is one of the Shiant Islands at the south end of the Minch on the west coast of Scotland.

Beach between the two main islands of the Shiants (Garbh Eilean and Eilean an Taighe)
Garbh Eilean from Eilean an Taighe
For other islands with the name, see List of islands called Garbh Eilean.
Garbh Eilean
Gaelic nameGarbh Eilean
Meaning of nameRough Isle
Location
Garbh Eilean
Garbh Eilean shown within the Outer Hebrides
OS grid referenceNG414983
Coordinates57.9°N 6.36°W / 57.9; -6.36
Physical geography
Island groupShiant Islands
Area143 hectares (1⁄2 sq mi)
Area rank126 [1]
Highest elevationMullach Buidhe, 160 m (520 ft)
Administration
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
CountryScotland
Council areaComhairle nan Eilean Siar
Demographics
Population0
References[2][3][4]

Geology

In geological terms, these islands essentially represent an extension of the Trotternish peninsula of Skye. The rocks are volcanic, and at 60 Ma, very young by Hebridean standards. Dolerite columns on the north side of Garbh Eilean are over 100 m (330 ft) tall and about 2 m (7 ft) across. Similar to those at Staffa and the Giant's Causeway, they were formed by the slow cooling of volcanic rocks deep underground.[5] Intrusion sills show a progression in their chemical compositions, from olivine-rich rocks at the base to rocks with very little or no olivine at the top. The sills are thought to have formed by crystal settling. Recent study has suggested that at least one of the sills represents a multiple intrusion.[6] In some places the basalt is overlain by Jurassic mudstone, which weathers to form much more fertile soil than elsewhere in the Western Isles.

Economy

The islands were inhabited until the late 18th century, when changes in land ownership and society made the old way of life no longer viable. The previously inhabited and cultivated areas of Àirighean a’ Baigh and Àirighean na h-Annaid are unusually fertile land. Feannagan may still be made out in these areas.

Adam Nicolson, father of the present owner of the Shiants, published a book about them in 2001 under the title of Sea Room 'to tell the whole story'.[7]

Archaeology

There are several possible chapel sites. The first may have been dedicated to St Columba and have been on the west side of Garbh Eilean, perhaps at Àirighean na h-Annaid - the name Annaid means Old Church. There is also evidence of a more recent church, dedicated to the Virgin, near the present cottage on Eilean an Taighe.[7]

A gold torc was dredged up by some Scalpay scallop fishermen south-west of the islands. This beautiful object dates from perhaps 1200BC, and while similar such torcs have turned up elsewhere in UK, this is by far the furthest north.[7] It is possible to speculate endlessly about the provenance of such a find, and whether it got there by shipwreck, or as a votive offering.

Wildlife

The Shiants are a major seabird breeding ground due to their location next to good feeding grounds and lack of predators. Huge numbers of puffins breed in burrows on the slopes of Garbh Eilean, as well as significant numbers of guillemots, razorbills, fulmars, kittiwakes, shags, gulls and great skuas. Although St Kilda has more puffins, the sheer density on the Shiants is greater.[5][8]

Until 2018 the island had a population of black rats, which may originally have come ashore from a shipwreck. Analysis of their stomach contents showed that the Shiant rats did eat seabirds, but it was impossible to tell if they preyed on live birds or simply scavenged remains.[9] These rats are now rare in the UK. On the Shiants their numbers have been controlled in and around the house for some time, and a comprehensive wildlife project has now extinguished the population.[3]

gollark: Haven't actually checked.
gollark: I assume it just errors and rolls back stuff (if relevant).
gollark: Given arbitrary time and motivation (and nice solutions to all the irritating technical questions) I could probably make something nice. I have neither of those really.
gollark: SQLite - praise be - does very robust testing, they have a thing which simulates malloc failure after varying numbers of calls during their tests.
gollark: Un-anyway, I don't think it's worth not critically failing unless you write general important "infrastructure" stuff like SQLite or embedded code.

See also

Footnotes
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate.
  4. Ordnance Survey. OS Maps Online (Map). 1:25,000. Leisure.
  5. "Western Isles Guide Book: Shiant Islands". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  6. Kathryn Goodenough (September 1999). "Geological Conservation Review: Shiant Isles SSSI" (PDF). Scottish Natural Heritage. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-07-09. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  7. "Shiant Islands". Archived from the original on 2007-06-30. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  8. "Birds of the Shiant Islands: 1970 & 1971 census". Shiant Islands. Archived from the original on 2007-07-02. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  9. Paul Stapp (2002) Stable isotopes reveal evidence of predation by ship rats on seabirds on the Shiant Islands, Scotland Journal of Applied Ecology 39 (5), 831–840.

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