Priest Island
| Priest Island Gaelic: Eilean a' Chlèirich | |
 Priest Island, with Ben Mor Coigach behind | |
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| Location | |
| Location: | 57°57’36"N, 5°30’36"W |
| Grid reference: | NB925025 |
| Area: | 301 acres |
| Highest point: | 256 feet |
| Data | |
| Population: | 0 |
Priest Island is a small, uninhabited island in the Summer Isles of Cromartyshire, lying off the west coast.
Priest Island is the outermost and most exposed of the Summer Isles, lying about four miles off the west coast of Wester Ross.[1]
It is believed that the island was used by culdees, a strict sect of early Christian monks, whence its name. From long before their days, the island has several stone circles.[2]
Wildlife
Priest Island is owned and managed as a nature reserve by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It is a SSSI and a Special Protection Area. Non-avian fauna includes pygmy shrews, otters and grey seals.[2]
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 United Kingdom, together with other breeding seabirds.[1]
Whitgift School study
In the summer of 1960, a group from the Whitgift School in Croydon, Surrey studied some of the bird life of the island. Pupils and teachers from the school spent two 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.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Priest Island SPA Description". Joint Nature Conservation Committee. http://www.jncc.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=1862. Retrieved 2007-12-15.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Overview for Priest Island". Gazetteer for Scotland. http://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst1678.html. Retrieved 2007-12-15.
| The Summer Isles, Cromartyshire |
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Bottle Island • Eilean Dubh • Horse Island • Isle Martin • Priest Island • Isle Ristol • Tanera Beag • Tanera Mòr |