Shiant Isles 582437 225352830 2008-07-13T06:35:54Z Morrismaciver 536965 /* Wildlife */ [[Image:UK Shiant.PNG|thumb|Location of the Shiant Isles]] The '''Shiant Isles''' ([[Scottish Gaelic]]: ''Na h-Eileanan Mòra''), also known in Gaelic as "The Enchanted Isles" (''Na h-Eileanan Seunta'') are a privately owned [[island group]] in the [[Minch]], east of [[Harris]] in the [[Outer Hebrides]] of [[Scotland]]. They are five miles south east of [[Lewis]].<ref name=Keay>Keay, J. & Keay, J. (1994) ''Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland''. London. HarperCollins.</ref> ==Geography and geology== [[Image:Shiant Isles.jpg|thumb|350px|looking from Eilean Garbh to Eilean an Taighe on the right and Eilean Mhuire in the distance.]] [[Image:Wfm lewis landsat.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Landsat image of Lewis, Harris, and part of Skye, showing the Shiant Isles]] The main islands are [[Garbh Eilean]] and [[Eilean an Taighe|Eilean an T(a)ighe]], which are joined by a narrow [[isthmus]], and [[Eilean Mhuire]]. The islands are known for their [[dolerite]] columns, similar to but much larger than those on [[Staffa]], and they are surrounded by tall cliffs, which are over 400 ft/500m high. In geological terms, these islands essentially represent an extension of the [[Trotternish]] peninsula of [[Isle of Skye|Skye]]. The rocks are volcanic, and at 60Ma, very young by [[Hebrides|Hebridean]] standards. [[Dolerite]] columns on the north side of Garbh Eilean are over 100m tall and about 2m across. Similar to those at [[Staffa]] and the [[Giant's Causeway]], they were formed by the slow cooling of volcanic rocks deep underground.<ref name=Guide>{{cite web| url=http://www.innsegall.co.uk/guide/outliers/out_shiant.htm| title=Western Isles Guide Book: Shiant Islands| accessdate=2007-07-21}}</ref> Intrusion [[sill (geology)|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 [[fractional crystallization (geology)|crystal settling]]. Recent study has suggested that at least one of the sills represents a multiple intrusion.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.shiantisles.net/pdffiles/g01.pdf| title=Geological Conservation Review: Shiant Isles SSSI| author=Kathryn Goodenough| publisher=[[Scottish Natural Heritage]]| date=September 1999| accessdate=2007-07-21}}</ref> In some places the [[basalt]] is overlain by [[Jurassic]] mudstone, which weathers to form much more fertile soil than elsewhere in the [[Outer Hebrides|Western Isles]]. ==History== [[Image:Garbh Eilean.jpg|thumb|left|[[Garbh Eilean]] from Eilean an Taighe]] At the turn of the 20th century, the Shiant Isles had a population of 8.<ref name=Keay>Keay, J. & Keay, J. (1994) ''Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland''. London. HarperCollins.</ref> The author and politician [[Compton Mackenzie|Compton MacKenzie]] owned the islands from 1925 until 1937. He was an island lover who, at different points in his life, also owned [[Barra]] in the southern Outer Hebrides, and rented [[Herm]] in the [[Channel Islands]]. He never lived on the Shiants, but paid several brief visits during his time as owner.<ref name=Keay>Keay, J. & Keay, J. (1994) ''Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland''. London. HarperCollins.</ref> In 1937 the islands were acquired by [[Nigel Nicolson]], then an undergraduate at Oxford, who like MacKenzie was later a writer, publisher and politician. Nicolson's son, the writer [[Adam Nicolson]], published the definitive book on the islands, ''Sea Room''. The Shiants now belong to Adam's son Tom. Sheep belonging to a Lewis crofter graze all three islands. The simple [[bothy]] restored by Nigel Nicolson on Eilean an Taighe is currently the only habitable structure on the islands.<ref name=Nicolson>Nicholson, Adam ''Sea Room: an island life'' [[Harper Collins]], 2001 (ISBN 0-00-257164-1)</ref> ==Wildlife== {{main|Nature of the Outer Hebrides}} [[Image:Shiant isles.jpg|left|thumb|The Shiant Isles.<Ref name ="Harvie-Brown">Harvie-Brown, J. A. & Buckley, T. E. (1889), ''A Vertebrate Fauna of the Outer Hebrides.'' Pub. David Douglas, Edinburgh. Facing P. XIV.</ref>]] The Shiant Isles have a large population of [[seabird]]s, including tens of thousands [[Atlantic Puffin]]s breeding in burrows on the slopes of Garbh Eilean, as well as significant numbers of [[Common Guillemot]]s, [[Razorbill]]s, [[Northern Fulmar]]s, [[Black-legged Kittiwake]]s, [[Common Shag]]s, [[gull]]s and [[Great Skua]]s. Although [[St Kilda, Scotland|St Kilda]] has more puffins, the sheer density on the Shiants is greater.<ref name=Guide/><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.shiantisles.net/nat_hist/nh02.htm| title=Birds of the Shiant Islands: 1970 & 1971 census| publisher=Shiant Islands| accessdate=2007-07-21}}</ref> The islands are also home to a colony of [[Black Rat]]s, which may originally have come ashore from a shipwreck.<ref name=Smith>Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004) ''The Scottish Islands''. Edinburgh. Canongate.</ref> Apart from one or two small islands in the [[Firth of Forth]], the Shiants are the only place in the UK where the black rat or ship's rat (''Rattus rattus'') can still be found.<ref name=JNCC>{{cite web | url = http://www.jncc.gov.uk/PDF/bto2_report223.pdf |title="Developing a mammal monitoring programme for the UK"|publisher=Joint Nature Conservation Committee | accessdate = 2007-01-02 | format = pdf}}</ref> There are thought to be about 3,000 rats on the islands. Analysis of their stomach contents has shown that the Shiant rats do eat seabirds, but it is impossible to tell if they prey on live birds or simply scavenge dead remains.<ref>Stapp, Paul (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.</ref> Their numbers are still controlled in and around the house. Elsewhere on the islands they are unmolested.<ref>A. Nicolson, personal comment.</ref> ==Footnotes== {{reflist}} ==Bibliography== * {{cite_book| | last = Nicolson | first = Adam | authorlink = Adam Nicolson | title = Sea Room: an island life | publisher = [[Harper Collins]] | year = 2001 | id = ISBN 0-00-257164-1}} * {{cite_book| | last = Benvie | first = Niall | authorlink = | title = Scotland's Wildlife | publisher = Aurum Press | year = 2004 | id = ISBN 1-85-410978-2}} ==External links== * [http://www.shiantisles.net Site about the Shiant Isles] {{Shiant Isles}} {{Hebrides}} [[Category:Islands of the Outer Hebrides]] [[Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Western Isles North]] [[es:Shiant Isles]] [[fr:Shiant Isles]]