2010 Wild & Ancient Britain

Wanderings in Wild & Wooly Ancient Albion June 17 – July 3, 2010 Travel Arrangements: Zegrahm Expeditions Author: Lois Olive Gray Photos: Kay Ellen Gilmour, MD

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Author: Lois Gray Photos: Kay Gilmour

Many of the sites we visited were exceedingly small and difficult to locate on most atlas maps of the British Isles. We hope this diagram enriches your reading of this record of our

exciting adventure. The numbers are in the order of travel.

Table of Contents DARTMOOR NATIONAL PARK ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 ISLES OF SCILLY ............................................................................................................................................................................... 4 SKELLIG MICHAEL ............................................................................................................................................................................ 7 SKELLIG MICHAEL MONASTERY................................................................................................................................................................... 7 GREAT SALTEE ISLAND .................................................................................................................................................................. 11 ISLE OF MAN ................................................................................................................................................................................. 13 GIANT'S CAUSEWAY ...................................................................................................................................................................... 16 HOLY ISLE OF IONA ....................................................................................................................................................................... 19 STAFFA ISLAND ............................................................................................................................................................................. 23 ST. KILDA....................................................................................................................................................................................... 24 SKARA BRAE.................................................................................................................................................................................. 33 MAES HOWE ................................................................................................................................................................................. 34 RING OF BRODGAR ....................................................................................................................................................................... 36 MOUSA ISLE .................................................................................................................................................................................. 39 BROCH OF MOUSA ................................................................................................................................................................................. 39 JARLSHOF...................................................................................................................................................................................... 41 NOSS ISLAND ................................................................................................................................................................................ 43 FAIR ISLE ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 43 ISLE OF MAY ................................................................................................................................................................................. 47 BASS ROCK .................................................................................................................................................................................... 50 EDINBURGH .................................................................................................................................................................................. 51 HOLYROOD ABBEY.................................................................................................................................................................................. 51 NORTHERN GANNET ..................................................................................................................................................................... 56 STORM PETREL ............................................................................................................................................................................. 57 GIANT SKUA .................................................................................................................................................................................. 59 PUFFIN .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 60 RAZORBILL .................................................................................................................................................................................... 61 KITTIWAKE .................................................................................................................................................................................... 62 HERRING GULL .............................................................................................................................................................................. 62 GUILLEMOT................................................................................................................................................................................... 63 NORTHERN FULMAR ..................................................................................................................................................................... 64 HERRING GULL EATS A RABBIT.................................................................................................................................................................. 68 THE LIGHTHOUSE .......................................................................................................................................................................... 68

INTRODUCTION “Wild & Wooly” probably is not a phrase most people would associate with Great Britain since it is such a venerable country with a long established culture and civilization. However, this trip with Zegrahm Expeditions would teach Kay and me that there are still “wild and wooly” places in the British Isles and we were also reminded about the older name for the country itself. The Romans called their northernmost colony Albion. The “wild” places we visited were the islands off the Irish Republic, Southern England, Northern Ireland, the Inner and Outer Hebrides of Scotland, and the two northernmost counties of the United Kingdom, the Orkneys and the Shetlands.

What qualified these places for an adjective like “wild” you may justly ask? And the answer is easily given in one word: seabirds! All of these places had amazing bird colonies, mostly beyond the easy geographical reach of human beings. The birds live in the most remote places in the British Isles. They are wild; too wild even for exhibitions in zoos.

OK, if you have accepted the above definition, then I'll explain the “wooly” part of my title.

The simplest justification for that term can be seen all around a visitor to almost any part of the British Isles where sheep are raised just about anywhere there is a blade of grass! And even more pertinent to this journey — we saw two primitive breeds of sheep: one of them called Soay which exists nowhere in the world except in the Outer Hebrides and the other the 4-horned sheep of the Isle of Man. So we were constantly among the wooly creatures!

One more question needs to be answered—why use “ancient albion” in my journal title?

That too is easy to explain: while watching the seabirds in their natural homes was half the purpose of the trip, the other half was exploring really ancient sites of human habitation found there. Some of these sites date back 5000 years and are of great interest to archeologists and historians studying the populations of these islands. There are other more recent but still very old places to visit in pursuing this interest as well: sites connected with early Christianity during the Roman times, Viking settlements after the Roman times, and medieval castles and fortresses to bring us even closer to the modern day.

Because the Zegrahm philosophy stresses education as well as adventure on its expeditions, we were accompanied by at least one each of the following experts:a

qualified

archeologist, historian, geologist, two ornithologists, a horticulturalist, and a marine biologist. During our 12-day sail, each of them gave us interesting lectures centering on what we would be seeing and experiencing at each stop along the way. Needless to say, 1

these lectures were vital to understanding not only the natural histories of the bird species and marine mammals, but also the contexts and perspectives on the human historic sites we were privileged to see and explore.

At bottom, however, Zegrahm trips are just plain fun! It is exhilarating to hop into the Zodiacs (rubber runabouts invented/developed by Jacques Cousteau) and ride the waves to a site where unpredictable sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and even textures await you. The places are often so beautiful they take your breath away, the creatures so fascinating that you can sit and watch them for hours, the history so “present” to you that you learn volumes without any effort at all!Painless enlightenment while enjoying the adventure, physical exertion to reach some sites, patience-building as you wait for the “action” of the birds and mammals, and happy camaraderie with fellow travelers of like enthusiasms.

Along the Way Even though Great Britain and both parts of Ireland are islands off the coast of Europe, these were not the islands we visited. As a matter of fact we barely touched on the “mainlands” of the British Isles except to arrive in London to join the group and then to leave from Edinburgh on our way home. Our visits were to very small dots in the Atlantic or the North Sea. No wonder they are such havens for the seabirds; many of them are so remote they are only reached by ships (sometimes ferries) and some others never see commercial transportation ships at all.

DARTMOOR NATIONAL PARK Above Plymouth, # 2 on map The first really ancient site we visited was on the English mainland in Devon County. We elected to tour Dartmoor National Park rather than the port city of Plymouth because we wanted to be outside and maybe see some wildlife. Dartmoor is the largest national park in Europe (770 square miles) so we saw only a small part of it.

The “old” part of the park is centered on the tin mining tradition which was carried on from 2000 BC to l939 AD. We saw the entrances to mines, the stone structures used to process the tin ore and the mounds created by the slag removed from the mines. The park is quite beautiful and interesting with rolling moorlands, many birds, very few and stunted trees, a prison from 1790 where American POWs from the Revolutionary War were held.

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It's still in use for local criminals serving life sentences. There were cattle and sheep grazing on the lush grasses. The old Warren House Inn where a coal fire has burned continuously since 1846 still serves customers. There are many Neolithic village sites in Dartmoor but we did not visit them.

Undoubtedly, the most curious and well-known thing in Dartmoor however is the strange stone formation called a “tor.” We were told that the granite intrusions are the same phenomenon called “kopjes” on the Serengeti Plain in Tanzania. They are granite and basalt pushed up through the limestone basement forming “plugs,” “chimney-like structures,” or granite “outcroppings.” Wildlife can use these formations for homes, birds can put their nests in them, and they provide some shade for the cattle and sheep.

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ISLES OF SCILLY #3 on map Warning! It is a big no-no to call this place “the Scilly Isles” since the proper pronunciation is “silly.” As you can see from the aforementioned map of our itinerary, these islands are off the westernmost tip of land in England (Lands’ End). About 60 miles from the mainland, they sit out in the Atlantic, the first to greet hurricanes, enemy ships in days gone by, and the constant pounding of the ocean waves. Over 900 shipwrecks have been recorded in the islands' history, making it the most dangerous place in the world for ships in the past. Three different lighthouses (all called Bishop's Rock Lighthouse) have existed on the most distant of the islands. The first was completely washed away in an Atlantic storm, the 2nd was overwhelmed with spray and wave action whenever there was a storm, and the third was built to 175 feet in 1887 and is now automated. The shipwrecks and the engulfed lighthouses testify to the dangers in so exposed a group of islands.

However, in compensation for their perilous location, the Isles of Scilly are richly rewarded by receiving the gift of the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, which gives them an amazingly temperate subtropical climate. However, our guide told us that the last two winters have been particularly hard and many of the most sensitive plants were killed. The change of climate we are experiencing all over the world can make for some peculiar weather in places. He also reported that a hurricane in 1989 killed more than 600 of their trees in less than 5 minutes! So all the weather is not benign there.

There is some controversy about how many islands comprise the archipelago (one of the largest in the world, strangely enough) with estimates ranging from 55 to 150, but the truth is that only 5 of them are inhabited by people, a total of 2000 of them at the last census.

The major industry of these folks is flower exportation, because of the Gulf Stream. Fishing, piracy, and smuggling were the major occupations in the years past. Tourism is fairly important now too, chiefly because of the island we visited, Tresco, consists of only 750 acres.

Tresco is a privately owned (leased) island (from the Duchy of Cornwall) where blooms the most amazing garden. The garden sits among the ruins of the 10th century Benedictine St. Nicholas Priory which fell into disuse and disrepair in the 16th century. Mr. Augustus Smith founded the Abbey Gardens in 1834 and his descendants have continued to improve and manage their heritage. There are over 20,000 different species featured in the gardens from more than 80 countries: from Brazil to New Zealand and from Burma to South Africa. Tresco 4

boasts 1752 hours of sunshine yearly as compared to London's Kew Gardens which receives only 1514 hours per year and most of the time it is completely frost free. No wonder horticulturists yearn for the 10 internships offered every year.

The walls and arches of the old Priory certainly qualified Tresco to be among the historic places we visited and the way these romantic ruins were incorporated into the design of the Garden was masterful. Those old stones must have many stories to tell of the days when monks lived there in religious isolation and contemplation. Now they provide a dramatic backdrop to the stage where the trees, shrubs, and flowers provide the excitement. It is very hard to describe so beautiful a place as a fabulous garden, so maybe it's better that you check out Kay's DVD to see the site for yourself.

Though some of the indeterminate number of islands in the group do host important seabird colonies, our visit did not encompass those places. Certainly there are birds living in the gardens and they add greatly to the charm of the place but there are no rookeries here.

Such an enchanted spot was a great start to our remote islands visits. Not too much “wild” here though, except for the songbirds.

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SKELLIG MICHAEL #4 on map Michael's Rock, in non-Irish English, is a precipitous rock island

(755 feet high) rising

straight out of the Atlantic about 9 miles off the coast of County Kerry, Republic of Ireland.

There is no real shoreline so landing here is always chancy, very dependent on sea conditions and weather. But it has been attracting people, the faithful in the past and the modern tourist nowadays, chiefly because of the monastic ruins at its summit.

The monastery was founded in the 7th century as a home for Irish Christian eremitic monks.

It is believed that there were never more than 12 monks and an abbot here at any one time.

The Vikings perpetrated several raids on the monastery in the 9th century believing that the monks were sitting atop a treasure of gold instead of a solid granite rock formation. Still the monastery persisted until the 12th century when the monks abandoned the site and joined a religious community on the mainland of Ireland. Part of the fascination with Skellig Michael lies in the amazingly intact ruins of the old site. Another draw is the difficulty of reaching the place by scaling the 740 vertiginous stone steps without handrails to achieve the magnificent views from the top. Unfortunately, 2 tourists fell off last year and perished.

Skellig Michael Monastery The monastery shows evidence of really monumental labors. First, the top had to be terraced by hand in order to provide enough fairly flat ground to build upon. There are two levels, both of which had to be created by hand digging and leveling. The “beehive” buildings are constructed in the “dry stone” fashion meaning there is no mortar between the stones. They are often “corbelled” at the top to create a roof and this technique involves cantilevering the stones inward against one another until the top is closed. This technique requires the stones to be piled atop one another in just the right balance so that they do not fall in. This stonework is very intricate and quite beautiful as well.

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Each of the eight little beehive residences had one tiny window, air holes, and a short narrow doorway. There was a cemetery for monks as well as a fine example of an early Celtic cross.

On the upper terrace, there is a later chapel built with mortared stones and, interestingly enough, it is in a much worse state of ruin than the non-mortared buildings. There are other smaller buildings which are believed to be storehouses for foodstuffs, clothing, blankets, and the like.

This monastery stands as a monument to a spiritual tradition that has mostly died out in the Christian tradition. Their very isolation was the largest part of their sacrifice but it also made them very vulnerable to the Vikings who believed that these few lonely men were sitting atop piles of gold and treasure instead of spiritual riches.

Finally, the marvelous puffinry attracts bird-lovers from around the world. The little birds nest in the rare grassy ledges, even digging their burrows along the stone pathway. Little Skellig, a companion smaller rocky island, is also part of the bird sanctuary and other seabirds in addition to puffins nest there. Because the Skelligs have achieved UNESCO World Heritage designation, the Irish government protects them as a bird sanctuary in addition to the cultural importance. A limited number of persons are allowed on the “rock” per day and only two ships are allowed to land per year. Besides that, the ocean and the weather also insure that not very many people get to visit there in a year.

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We were very fortunate for two reasons on our visit. First, the weather could not have been more perfect for a landing and for climbing the scary stone steps. We had sunshine and no wind so the steps were dry and there was no gale to blow us off them. Second, and probably, equally important, we did not know that two tourists had perished there in 2009 from falls off the sheer steps! I was really grateful that I did not know that history since I had already been alarmed at the descriptions of the steps. So Kay and I did make it to the very top of this “sea stack” of an island without incident.

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GREAT SALTEE ISLAND #5 on map This small island (220 acres) lies just 2 1/2 miles off County Wexford, Irish Republic. It has a smaller neighbor (Little Saltee at 16 acres) separated by St. George's Channel. Together they constitute one of the most important bird sanctuaries in Ireland. Both have been privately owned by the Neale family since 1943. Visitation to Little Saltee is prohibited and people are allowed on Great Saltee only from 11 AM to 4:40 PM. There is a remarkable and large gannetry on Great Saltee with at least 60,000 breeding pairs on site. Other birds also use the island for their breeding sites: puffins, cormorants, razorbills, guillemots, kittiwakes, and a rare Manx Shearwater colony is there as well. Equally important, the tiny preserves offer a breeding ground for the Atlantic gray seal too. What a wonderful service the Neale family has performed in keeping the islands as wildlife preserves.

Though there is evidence of Neolithic man on the islands, we

did

not

see

those

artifacts or sites. Supposedly there is also evidence of religious

settlements

on

Great Saltee as well, but again we were birding, not doing archeology there. It is interesting

to

linguists

and

note

that

historians

believe the name for the islands comes from a Norse word (saltey) meaning Salt Island. They conjecture it was so named because the low lying islands (highest point is only 198 feet) are often swept by salt spray during high winds and waves, especially during the winter months.

Zegrahm had received the required prior permission for an intrepid few of us (about 15) to go ashore at 5:00 AM for some very early bird watching. It was truly magical on that quiet island with only the birds for company; well, there were some twenty or thirty Atlantic grey seals swimming below the gannet rookery. What wonderful assaults on our just awakened 11

ears those beautiful birds were making calling out in raucous tones constantly. What pungent attacks on our olfactorys as well; quantities of guano wet in the morning dew do create an unmistakable perfume. What aerial acrobatics they performed for our entranced eyes (& cameras). Though we were on the island for about 10 hours, walking all over the 220 acres, we never tired of the experience.

Though our Zodiac landing site was “dry” in that we did not get our shoes wet, walking through the tall bracken (higher than my head in places) and other thick and wet, bedewed grasses did insure that our shoes were thoroughly soaked within 10 minutes of walking. But we were thrilled to see all the wildflowers we were among too: sea pinks, buttercups, wild iris, and purple thistles. The sandy bottom of the Irish Sea around the island made for beautiful Caribbean colors in the waters and out beyond the shore was a deep marine blue.

With the merry sunshine over our heads and the green moors all around us, we had a gorgeous day on Great Saltee.

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ISLE OF MAN #6 on map Such a curious place, this. All I knew about it before this visit was that the famous tailless Manx cat calls the island home. The Isle of Man has been a Crown Dependency of the British Monarchy since 1866, with its own Parliament, the House of Keys, which is considered one of the oldest continuous legislative assemblies in the world. Its history is similar to the Thingvir of Iceland, being about 1000 years old now. There is a measure of Home Rule under this Parliament but it is difficult for a visitor to understand the complexity of its relationship with Great Britain and the European Union on the basis of a day's visit. Suffice it to say that Westminster handles the Isle's foreign affairs, but the local government issues the Manx Pound, regulates the Post Office, and creates the local laws affecting the people's daily lives.

Unlike the Mother Country, however, the Isle of Man has some sort of trading relationship with the European Union in an economic sense. It is readily acknowledged by everyone however that Elizabeth II is “Lord of Man” (the old title of the ruler of the island because one king of the Isle renounced that title in favor of “lord” because he said he preferred to be an important lord rather than a petty king”).

The Isle started out physically connected with both Ireland and Great Britain but about 8000 BC the sea rose and eliminated the connection.The island is about equidistant between Ireland, England & Scotland in the Irish Sea. Archeologists state that the first human colonization of the island occurred about 6500 B. C. There has been Irish influence, Scottish domination, a suzerainty under Norway, and finally English dominion in its history so it has threads from all these cultures in its language, traditions, mythology, and everyday life.

There are no native speakers of Manx left, the last one having died in the 1970s. However, the government has been following a policy of cultivating the revival of the language in public education. That effort has had limited success apparently.

We really enjoyed our time on the Isle of Man because it has so amazingly retained much of its rural tradition and its air of being a big village. Actually it is rather like a miniature English village. The best word to describe it is “twee.” The Isle is only 227 square miles and the population is 76,200 people, so it's easy to understand how that quaintness has been preserved.

University education and business is centered on the chief “industry” of the Isle of Man acting as a “tax haven” for the world. The people don't like to label their economy that way, but they admit it is true. The former main livelihood for the people revolved around tourism, 13

but that has taken a big tumble recently due to the world economy and the preference among Europeans now for visiting Spain and the Riviera.

We left the modern capital city of Port Douglas and traveled by vintage steam railway, the Manx electric tram to Castletown.

There were three highlights of the visit to the old capital of the Isle of Man. The first is simple to explain. We had the chance to see the odd 4-horned sheep native to the island.

The two sets of horns sit one behind the other in front of the creature's ears. One set is smaller than the other, but the animal is very strange looking.

The second highlight was a visit to the town's Nautical Museum -- a place made interesting and charming by the enthusiasm of the local guide, Billy. The purpose of this museum is the display of a racing craft called “Peggy” built in the 1780s by a Mr. Quayle. It was quite an innovative vessel for several reasons but the main one was that it had keel slots for super supporting of the masts. That design had been borrowed from the American Colonies and enabled Mr. Quayle to win several races. The original design was probably of Chinese origin.

What was so amazing to Billy, and he managed to convey his awe and pleasure very charmingly, was the survival of this old boat. After the death of Mr. Quayle, the boat was “lost” for 225 years—at least no one knew anything about it. It was rediscovered in 1935 when the 14

old house under which it sat was being renovated. The discovery raised a bit of a stir, but then came World War II and everyone was concentrating on other more serious matters. So the Peggy continued to sit under that old house.

During the War, some RAF pilots and their crews were billeted in the old structure and because it was very cold and they had no fuel, they started to burn the ship. Billy was touchingly grateful that World War II ended before they had destroyed more than the decking of the old vessel. So now here it is housed in the very same place it has been since Mr. Quayle died all those years ago and tourists come in to marvel over its design and its survival!

After our visit to the museum, we visited the third attraction – an 11th century castle. It was well preserved and had an interesting self-guided tour that told of the many people who had been held prisoner here through the ages. Yikes!

One last thing about the Isle of Man must be addressed and that is the strange figure on their flag of three human legs in a bent position connected in the center in a wheel-like presentation.

It was very difficult to get an explanation for this odd item. But my explanation here is the best I could gather. The figure is called a “triskelion” and is used on other flags as well as a 15

symbol in other cultures. But on the Isle of Man, the figure goes along with the motto of the Isle: “Whichever way you throw me, I will stand.” Some islanders say that it means “we do not kneel to the British.” Others say it is a representation of the myth about the god Mananan who turned himself into this figure to roll down a hillside to escape his enemies. So take your pick but whatever is the true meaning of this figure, it is a strange emblem for sure.

GIANT'S CAUSEWAY #7 on map This geological phenomenon lies on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland. It is the most visited site in this part of the United Kingdom. The “causeway” is formed of 40,000 interlocking basalt columns resulting from an ancient volcanic eruption that occurred at least 60 million years ago. The tops of the columns form stepping stones leading from the cliff foot and disappearing beneath the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, but there are some that have four, five, seven or 8 sides. The tallest are 36 feet high and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 92 feet thick in places.

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The entire complex has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. It is managed by the North Ireland government as a nature preserve as well, a sanctuary for many species of seabirds, many of which we were already familiar with by the time we visited this site.

Tom Sharpe, our geologist guide, explained to us how this strange phenomenon was formed.

Millions of years ago when the North American tectonic plate was pulling away from the European plate, magma and lava squirted through the fissures created by the separation.

The flows ran down into a valley and “puddled” there. This action permitted cooling at both the top and the bottom of the flow, allowing the formation of those hexagonal basaltic columns separate from each other.

Of course, the Irish are great storytellers and you would know that they have a myth to explain how the Causeway came into being. Geological, volcanological, and plate tectonical explanations don't play well in Ireland. Their story involved the Giant Finn McCool who decided that he needed to challenge another giant living across the Irish Sea in Scotland to see who was the strongest. Legend has it that he built the causeway so that he could cross over to find this Benandonner as the Scots giant was called. There are at least three major versions of the story of how the two came together and what then ensued, but all include the following details: Finn was shocked to see how huge Benandonner really was and decided that he could win only by duping the Scot. So he and his wife concocted a scheme 17

which involved building a huge cradle, sewing really large baby clothes, and putting Finn in the clothes and the crib. When Benandonner came to the house seeking Finn, his wife told the Scot that Finn was out chopping wood. Then she slyly asked him if he wouldn't like to see their baby son. There lay Finn, sucking on a pacifier in the baby crib. Benandonner was horrified at how big Finn's son was and decided he did not want to see Finn McCool in person. So he dashed back to Scotland destroying the causeway as he went so that Finn could not come to find him!

Interestingly, the Irish legend fits pretty well with the geological explanation because right across the Irish Sea lies Staffa Island in Scotland and there sits the other end of the Giant's Causeway. How about that for truth in Irish mythology. You can decide which version you prefer, the geologist's or the Irish myth-maker's.

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HOLY ISLE OF IONA #8 on map This little island is a treasure belonging to Scotland, but it is definitely inhabited by some hardy and spiritual people who tend the old Abbey and try to promote a more peaceful world. The island is located one mile from the town of Mull on mainland Scotland and it is only one mile wide and three miles long. There is a resident population of only 125. These folks are served by a couple of small stores, a public library (hours - 12:00 to 12:30 on Tuesdays), a primary school, post office, 2 hotels, the ruins of a Benedictine nunnery, and the magnificent Abbey. Very few mechanized vehicles are allowed on the island and none are available to tourists nor can they bring their own over on the ferries which serve Iona from the mainland. Visitors total 220,000 annually.

St. Columba came from Ireland (after having been banished from there for supporting the wrong side in an internecine battle) in 563 AD to found a monastery with 12 companions. In imitation of Christ, they set out to convert the pagan Scots & northern English Picts to Christianity. Iona's fame as a place of learning and Christian mission spread throughout Europe and it became a popular place of pilgrimage for many people. It was also recognized as a “holy isle” and many kings of Ireland, Scotland, Norway, and even France chose to be buried there.

The famous Book of Kells (early illuminated manuscript of the gospels) is believed by some to have been created on Iona though it is now housed in Trinity College Library in Dublin.

The manuscript in Latin dates from the 800s and is often called the Gospel of St. Columba.

A series of Viking raids on the island started in 794 AD and the treasures of the monastery were plundered again and again. Finally the relics and remaining treasures were disbursed to other safer locations and the monastery abandoned in 849. The Benedictine Abbey was built in 1203 and the Benedictine Nunnery, now in ruins, was established in 1208. The Nunnery is lovely in its ruined state but is too fragmentary for restoration.

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The Abbey is a jewel of medieval architectural detail with monuments from several periods in its history. It is now ecumenical and is protected by Scottish Heritage, an agency of the government. In front of the Abbey stands St. Martin's Cross, one of the best preserved Celtic crosses in the British Isles. A replica of St. John's Cross also stands at the front. The fragments of the St. John's original stone cross are housed in the Abbey Museum. There is an ancient burial ground adjacent to the Abbey with many grave-slabs and stones, most of which have been eroded away over time.

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Of intense interest to our avid (aka crazy) bird watchers, was a very rare bird, the corn crake.

Iona is one of the few places on earth where it can be seen. It is a very elusive small brown bird undistinguished except for it rarity. The “corn flakes”, as we respectfully named our fellow travelers, were determined to get this bird on their life-lists. Peter led the group's search out into the tall grasses. And to their delight, the hunt was crowned with success; they saw five of the birds!

We were particularly pleased with the evolutionary trajectory this holy isle has taken: from a strict Benedictine order of Christianity to an ecumenical and ecologically involved community bent on healing the earth and all its inhabitants, human and animal. It's a great sanctuary for the corn crake.

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STAFFA ISLAND #9 0n map

Now we are in Scotland, seeing what Benandonner left of Finn's work. The same columnar basalt towers fill the cliffs and create the stepping stones. On this side of the sea, however, salt tides, wind storms, and rain have created huge sea caves in the cliff walls. Inside the caves, the columns form the roofs, sides and walls. Fingals' Cave is the largest (a Scottish name for Finn McCool gives the cave its name) at 65 feet high and 246 feet long. This is the formation that inspired Felix Mendelssohn to write his “Hebridean Overture.” It is a tradition among tourists and tour boat captains to have a recording of this piece playing as the zodiacs and small boats enter the cave. We could hardly hear the music, but were still captivated by the idea.

The Norse provided this island with its name too; the word staffa means “stave” or “pillar” island. Pretty apt we had to agree. The island has been inhabited in the past but not in the last 100 years because the weather is so severe here. Atlantic gales lash the island without pity during the winter and the size of the island is really not large enough to support much

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more than one family. The last family finally tired of such harsh and lonely conditions and abandoned the island which then came into the hands of the Scottish Trust. The island is but 82 acres and its highest point is 138 ft. above sea level.

Staffa works well as a seabird sanctuary and has been quite useful in that regard. Though it is the other end of the Giant's Causeway, the area does not receive near the number of visitors as the Northern Ireland side. That fact stands the birds in excellent stead. They don't need many alien visitors to their remote homes.

ST. KILDA #10 on map What a haunted place this was! It is the most remote archipelago of the Outer Hebrides and faces the fury of the Atlantic alone. St. Kilda consists of three islands, the largest, Hirta, which we visited is 1656 acres, Soay of 247 acres and Boreray of 213 acres.

There are also three very high sea stacks close by. Two of those stacks are Britain's highest at 626 feet and 541 feet. However the highest point in the archipelago is the cliff on Hirta Island which is 1410 feet above sea level—a magnificent home for seabirds.

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The group is 100 miles from the mainland and at least 40 miles from the nearest island. This isolation is what makes the island so evocative when you realize that it has been inhabited by humans for 5000 years. It lost its last permanent residents in 1930. Remaining on the islands now are primitive houses, sheep enclosures, the famous cleits which are small round stone structures used primarily for food storage, some mysterious cave-like structures of unknown usage, church ruins, an intact stone “feather house” where the bird feathers were stored, and some modern buildings used by the military and the summer volunteer workers concerned with archeology, monitoring the Soay sheep, and reconstruction and repair crews.

The earliest human inhabitants were neolithic peoples and Vikings. Not much is left to testify to the presence of these people except for some stone tools, Viking jewelry, an ancient stone with a carved Celtic cross the “moderns” worked into an outer wall of a home and a few spears. In more modern times, starting around 1650, the islands were colonized by crofters from Scotland who were tenants of the Laird of Bute who owned the islands. These farmers and their descendants wrote the visible story of St. Kilda. The 36 people who requested evacuation from Hirta in 1930 are the progeny of these 17th century colonizers.

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The life these people led was pretty much unchanged until the late 19th century when their isolation was punctured by tourism, organized religion, and disease. Up until then, the life was arduous and perilous but perhaps satisfying in its familiarity. The chief staple among these folks was seabird eggs and seabird meat. They grew a few root vegetables and grains

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(barley, mostly) but the growing season was short and there was not much variety of vegetables that could withstand the constant salt spray and the peaty soil.

So the menfolk plied their dangerous trade: scaling the steep and sheer cliff walls of the islands and the stacks to steal the bird eggs and the chicks. The eggs were eaten as quickly as needed, but the birds were plucked of their feathers and then the bodies would be put into the cleits to dry out in the winds that rushed through the mortar-less walls.

Because of the Soay sheep, the farmers did have meat and because of the cows they had milk and cheese. The work to maintain the village was constant and involved everybody. The women were often called upon to hold the ropes which carried the men down the cliff faces to obtain the eggs & chicks. On days when it was too dangerous to climb around those narrow and slick ledges (barefooted too, remember) then other farm tasks would be undertaken. Because the laird in Scotland would send his Factor out yearly to collect the taxes (these people were only renting the land), they had to have sufficient feathers to send back as barter for the money owed.

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Back in Scotland, the landowner could sell the feathers for mattresses, furniture, dusters and the like, so the feathers were their “money.” Actually until the late 19th century when tourists and ships visited the archipelago, the St. Kildans had no need for money.

Unfortunately, the contact with the outside world brought in diseases like cholera and smallpox and also created in the hitherto apparently satisfied folk a desire for a different sort of life. So the island began to depopulate as the young men decided to leave to seek a new beginning. The diseases hit the folks who stayed hard because they had developed no immunity to these bacteria and viruses.

It must be admitted that the arrival of organized religion in the islands also helped in the gradual demoralization of the people. The first two ministers who came to St. Kilda as representatives of the Church of Scotland were not determined to change the people's way of life. Instead, they tried to introduce new ideas for labor saving, better hygiene practices, and even help in constructing more comfortable dwelling houses. Hence the difference between the “black houses” with no windows which characterize the 1830s “village” and the healthier living quarters of the 1860s, where the stone houses had windows and room divisions, and better construction to prevent drafts and dampness inside.

The third minister was a martinet and was absolutely bent on changing what he considered the folks' pagan ways. He demanded church attendance on Sundays for at least four hours even when the day was bright and dry and the men needed to go out to the cliffs to obtain the food the village needed. He would have none of that so precious work time was lost.

The St. Kildans had previously amused themselves with song and dance in the evenings, but this minister forbade that as well. So the food supplies dwindled and the morale of the people steadily declined. No wonder the younger men began to look at greener pastures.

Between 150 and 200 people constituted the peak of ordinary population numbers, but through disease and disenchantment, those numbers dropped.

Finally, in 1930 the remaining 37 people requested to be evacuated because they were not able to maintain their lifestyle with so few people, especially because there were too few men to perform the difficult task of abseiling down the cliffs to get the birds. It was said that in earlier times each St. Kildan ate 115 fulmars yearly and that the islanders often took almost 90,000 puffins annually as well.

The women and children could not collect or grow sufficient food to feed even the few left at the end. So St. Kilda has been uninhabited since August 1930.

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No one knows for sure how the name St. Kilda was attached to the archipelago because there was never a saint named Kilda. Most historians and linguists believe the name came from the Norse “skildir” (meaning “shields”). Actually, many of the place names in the island group are from Norse words.

So it is clear that the Vikings did visit and perhaps even have campsites on Hirta (the biggest island).

FLANNAN ISLAND Not shown on map but rightnext to St Kilda This small island is the only place we were unable to land because of the sea conditions.

Large swells, though not rough, over- washed the landing site and it was considered unsafe to launch the Zodiacs so we did a circumnavigation on the Island Sky (our mother ship) and learned about the mystery of the island. That mystery centers on the lighthouse built there in 1899 and made operational on December 7, 1899. The lighthouse was designed by a member of the famous Stevenson family which through three generations built most of the lighthouses in Great Britain and in many places around the world. This architect was David Alan Stevenson, the uncle of Robert Louis Stevenson of “Treasure Island”fame.

The strange occurrence began a year after the lighthouse was first lit. A steamer, the Archtor, plying between Philadelphia and Leith, Scotland, passed very close to Flannan in heavy weather on December 15, 1900, and noted that the light was not functioning. When the ship arrived in Leith, the problem was reported. Nothing happened very quickly, but finally a lighthouse tender was sent out to check on the three man team of light-keepers. The Hesperus arrived at the landing site on December 26, and the crew was surprised to see that no flag was flying at the lighthouse. Neither were any of the provision boxes at the landing waiting for new supplies. More ominous still, none of the three men was there to greet the tender's arrival.

The relief keeper went ashore alone and found that the entrance gate to the compound and the main door to the lighthouse were both closed. He went inside and found that the beds were unmade, the clock had stopped but the lamps had been cleaned and were refilled. A chair at the kitchen table was upturned. There was no sign of any of the three men anywhere around the lighthouse nor on the whole island. The three men had simply vanished nor were any traces of them ever found.

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Many stories arose at the time to explain the disappearance ranging from a rogue wave that washed over the island and carried them off to a ghost ship and its crew taking them captive. A Lighthouse Board investigation concluded that they had been washed away in the enormous seas that the Atlantic Ocean is capable of producing in that area. The Board investigators believed that the men had been trying to make some sort of repairs or to prevent something from happening to their supplies and had gotten too close to the crashing waves. Nothing more definitive has ever been decided.

ORKNEY ISLANDS This group of islands is another of the Scottish archipelagos, but this one is far to the north of St. Kilda, actually 10 miles north of the Scottish mainland. Seventy islands make up the chain, but only 20 are inhabited by human beings. The largest of these is called “Mainland” and it is 202 square miles in size. Kirkwall (#11 on map) is the capital of the archipelago. The name of the islands dates to the first century BC or even earlier and the islands have been inhabited for at least 8500 years. There are evidences and sites of Mesolithic and Neolithic peoples, Picts, and Norsemen. It was actually annexed to Norway in 875 AD and then later surrendered to Scotland because the Norwegians failed to pay a dowry to James III for his wife, Margaret of Denmark, in 1472. However, it is clear to the visitor that Orcadians feel a closer affinity with their Scandinavian history than with the Scottish heritage.

The climate in the islands is very mild, thanks chiefly to the Gulf Stream, and the soil is quite fertile. Almost all the land is farmed on all 20 of the inhabited islands. Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy. There are plenty of boulders and rocks to be removed for farmlands and pastures, but there are no native trees on the islands. The population of the Islands is about 25,000 and there are more sheep than people. Seventy-five percent of the people live in the capital, Kirkwall.

Most conspicuous on the skyline of Kirkwall is the St. Magnus Cathedral, started by the Vikings in 1137 AD. Of course, like most of the big cathedrals in Europe, many years were required to complete the edifice—600 years in the case of St. Magnus. Magnus was a cousin to a rival for his throne, Haakon. When it became clear that there would be civil war between them, Magnus apparently decided to capitulate to Haakon to avoid that catastrophe. Haakon killed him and thus Magnus was proclaimed a martyr to peace in the Orkney Islands.

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The church is built of red sandstone atop soft sand and it must be shored up periodically as it sinks and shifts. When the construction was begun, the boats came right up to the site and unloaded the supplies. Now the church stands quite a bit away from the shoreline since there has been a retreat of the sea since 1137 creating more land for the Mainland.

The islands were owned by Norway's kings until 1472 when they were ceded to the Scottish crown in payment of a dowry debt. The name of the group has been used since the 1 st century BC and references to it can be found in Old Norse writings, Irish Gaelic stories, as well as in Roman chronicles. Depending on which source you depend on, the name can mean Island of the Pigs, Island of the Orcas, or Island of the Seals.

The Orkney Islands' biggest draw for both tourists and historians is the wealth of Neolithic ruins to be found here. From Skara Brae, Maes Howe, and the Ring of Brodgar, as well as many other sites of brochs and standing stones, this island group has the best preserved Neolithic sites in Europe. These will be discussed at greater length in a section on the archeology we were exposed to on this trip.

The Mainland of the archipelago is quite beautiful, soft and green with rolling hills and neat farms with healthy cows and sheep. Driving was interesting since most of the roads are oneway with little passing areas (wide spots in the road) to allow for efficient traffic flow. The houses are usually painted white so they stand out against the green. Many private homes and lawns are decorated with “standing stones” from the Neolithic period. These are mysterious structures, probably akin to “stelae” other places in the world. They usually contain decorations and runic inscriptions, most so worn now that it is not possible to translate them. But they add to the ancient atmosphere of the “Mainland.”

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SKARA BRAE Outside Kirkwall # 11 on map This Neolithic village is the very crown of preliterate history in Great Britain and Mainland Orkney, is its home. The excavated buildings date back to 3100 BC, back when human beings in Europe were just learning to cultivate crops, to domesticate animals and to create some useful tools. At this same time, Egypt was becoming one United Kingdom combining the Upper and Lower Nile Valleys. Their civilization had advanced way beyond the Neolithic criteria.

The site is quite beautiful, set on a seashore with the dry stone buildings emerging from the green grasses overlying the village now. Hill of Gulls is the translation most historians tend to accept for its name. Gulls still wheel over the residences and the “workshop” building. The ocean has actually eaten away part of the village through the relentless tidal assaults on the hillside. That is how the site was discovered; the rock houses were found sticking out of the sea side of the hill. The Bay of Skaill had been eroded back from the sea for thousands of years, but one night in 1950, the sandy dunes of the bay were bombarded by a huge storm.

In its aftermath, a Neolithic settlement was revealed. In 1927, an organized excavation was begun.

The subterranean site revealed that the inhabitants of Skara Brae left their homes in a hurried way, for what reasons we will probably never know. The huts were linked by interconnecting passageways which had specific entrances into the complex from the outside and the walls were made of sandstone slabs, with cobbled walling forming the roofs. It is believed that the huts, which were all of similar design, had thatched roofs due to the discovery of whalebones in one of the dwellings.

The interior of the huts showed a dresser, made of flagstone shelves and stone supports, which may have been used as a larder or similar storage area. There was a rectangular hearth in the center of the room used for cooking and heating. “Box beds” made of upright slabs of stone on three sides with the walls of the hut making the 4 th wall revealed the sleeping arrangements. There were recesses in the wall above the beds creating more storage space, perhaps for personal items. Another similarity in the huts was the presence of “limpet boxes”, the rectangular boxes of stone lined with clay to hold water for use in the huts. The fine stone work and the details in the huts show that the people living in this area were skilled with their stone tools.

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The site is still under threat from the ceaseless wave action of the sea undermining the entire site and efforts are constant in shoring up the hillside to protect it from the waves.

MAES HOWE Also outside Kirkwall # 11 on map This Neolithic chambered cairn is considered to be one of the finest architectural achievements of prehistoric Europe. From the outside, the structure appears to be a grasscovered mound about 114 feet in diameter and 22 feet high. The mound consists mostly of packed clay and stones, with an inner layer of stones around the chamber itself. The interior room is 15 feet square and about the same in height.

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There are three cells within the wall whose purpose is unknown. The entrance passageway is 48 feet long and only 5 feet high and is lined with huge slabs, the largest weighing over 3 tons. There is a blocking stone at the entry to the passage which seems to have been designed to be shut from the inside. In l861, when the chamber was entered through the roof, it was empty. But it was apparent that the chamber had been entered in earlier times, evidently during the Viking era since Norse runes were found carved into the wall. These runes constitute the largest such collection anywhere. Besides the lettering, there are detailed drawings of a dragon, a serpent, and a walrus.

Maes Howe was built on a leveled area of ground with a surrounding bank and ditch, peat from the bottom of which has been dated to 2750 BC which makes it contemporary with Skara Brae and the Ring of Brodgar. Since no artifacts were found when this impressive chamber was opened, little can be deduced about its usage. The fact that the surrounding bank maybe been rebuilt in Norse times suggests reuse in the 9th century. The Crusaders entered the mound in the 12th century. And it is said that Oliver Cromwell's men tried to enter around 1650 but were unable to do so.

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The only certainty about the structure, besides its unbelievably fine construction work, is that it must have been used as a calendar. At the time of the winter solstice, the sun shines directly into the entry passageway and reaches a point on the far wall. Because the weather and the light conditions must have been very important to the earliest people using Maes Howe, it is easy to believe that knowing the exact time of the winter solstice may have been of vital interest to them.

RING OF BRODGAR # 11 on map Near to Skara Brae & Maes Howe stands the Ring of Brodgar, a Neolithic stone circle, similar to the more famous Stonehenge in England. This ring is older than Stonehenge however. It stands on a small isthmus between two lochs (lakes). It is one of the northernmost examples of such structures in the world. The site has resisted efforts at scientific dating and the monument's age remains uncertain. However, it is generally believed to have been erected between 2500 and 2000 BC contemporaneously with Stonehenge.

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The circle is 342 feet in diameter and was originally comprised of 60-63 stones only 27 of which remain standing now. The tallest stones stand at the south and west of the ring and are about 15 feet high. The stones are set within a circular ditch up to 10 feet deep and 30 feet wide and 1250 feet in circumference. This ditch was carved out of solid sandstone bedrock by the ancient residents. Imagine how difficult that must have been with only stone tools to utilize in their work!

As is true of so many of these ancient structures, their exact functions can only be conjectured despite the best efforts of the archeologists and historians working with them.

Again, the only thing that is agreed upon is that the ring served some sort of astronomical purpose such as identifying the solstices and making some sort of calendar. Even without knowing exactly what the circle means, it was an impressive place to visit and muse upon.

There are some runes on the standing stones, but the experts believe that these were added much later than the construction of the circle, so they are not really clues to the mystery.

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SHETLAND ISLANDS These islands are yet another archipelago belonging to Scotland. The group is northeast of Orkney and forms part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. There are 100 islands but only 15 are inhabited. The total land area is 566 square miles. Like the Orcadians, the Shetlanders call their largest island “Mainland” and that is where the capital city, Lerwick, sits. The total population is around 23,000 and over 70% live in Lerwick. The oil discovery in the North Sea is the primary economic resource in the islands and because it has created good jobs, there is less emigration away from the islands so the population is remaining stable. Other economic contributors include fishing, sheep farming, and the Shetland pony.

Lerwick (name means “muddy bay” in the local dialect) is a little fishing village with old gray buildings surrounding the port area. The streets away from the port are all uphill into the residential areas and onto the High Street where there are shops for the locals as well as tourist “traps.” We did walk through the town but the main purpose of the visit there was to see the Shetland Museum which was really very well thought out and interesting. It focuses on the stages of human occupation in the Islands from before the Neolithic times to the present. The use of a relatively small space to create the exhibit areas was very clever. Inside the space, dry stone walls were wound in and around to create the appearance of one of the Neolithic houses that have been excavated here. That circular wall made for much more display space than would have been the case if just the four walls were utilized.

This is another set of islands that had 500 years of Scandinavian influence before their Scottish links which now are about 500 years old too. Again, like the Orcadians, the Shetlanders have not given up their pride in the Norse heritage. Almost all of their place names are of Norse derivation and many words in their particular Scottish dialect are of Norse etymology. Whereas DNA evidence reveals that one-third of the Orcadian men are of Norse origin, one-half of the Shetland men are of that origin. The official flag of the Shetlands is light blue to show their Scottish half with a Scandinavian cross laid across the field of blue to keep the Norse connection uppermost.

The islands enjoy a maritime subarctic climate which means long and mild winters and short and cool summers. It also means that most days are windy and cloudy all during the year with only 1065 hours of sunshine on average. The longest day at the summer solstice is 23 hours and the shortest at the winter solstice is only 3 hours and 45 minutes! Because of

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this combination of factors, trees are very rare in the islands. The main plants are arctic alpine ones with lots of wild flowers, mosses and lichens.

As you would figure by now, the Shetlands are a seabird mecca and an important stopover for migrating birds to and from the Arctic areas. The most common of the seabirds found here are Atlantic puffins (you can see that we viewed millions of puffins on this trip—but there can never be too many of these guys), storm petrels, Northern lapwings, winter wrens and Whooper swans.

Native fauna are restricted to three rodent varieties: the house mouse, the wood mouse and the brown rat, believed to have invaded along with the Vikings. Other creatures that have been bred and altered in the Shetlands are the Shetland pony and the Shetland sheepdog (sheltie). A subspecies of the sperm whale, the high-finned sperm whale, inhabits the waters off the Shetlands as well.

As with Orkney, the Neolithic “digs” were the main draw on Mainland, and we visited Jarlshof, the best preserved of them all. It rained a little on our heads while we explored the site, but that did not dampen our awe or enjoyment. The site will be discussed in greater detail in the section of the journal concerned with the archeological aspects of the trip.

MOUSA ISLE #12 on map This is one of the Shetlands that lies about 14 miles from the capital of Lerwick. It has been uninhabited since the 19th century and is now a bird and cultural sanctuary managed by Scottish Heritage. It is very small and is almost bisected by two bays: it is 1.5 miles long and 1 mile wide! What is being preserved there are two things: the first is the Iron Age Broch (round tower) which is the best preserved of these structures in Scotland and maybe even in Europe.

Broch of Mousa This structure is the finest preserved example of a round tower (broch) in Scotland and it is the tallest one still standing in the world. It is thought to have been constructed around 100 BC and is one of 570 brochs in Scotland. This massive construction, in addition to the remote location, probably explains why Mousa's tower is so well preserved.

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The tower stands 44 feet high and is accessible via a single entrance at ground level. There is an internal staircase (within the double walls) leading to an open walkway at the top. It is built of dry stone (mortar-less) so the hollow walled construction is easy to see. In its first stage of construction, it probably had at least two floors above the ground floor, reached by the intramural staircase. There was a low entrance passageway and a hearth in the middle of the floor. In addition, there was a well with a catchment basin for the water. Sometime later, a stone bench around the walls wasadded.

Other modifications made during the Viking period include a lifting of the low entrance passage roof and a “three tiered wheelhouse” whose function is still in doubt. The Vikings probably found the interior of the broch covered in debris and rubble which they had to clear before they could occupy the structure. There is also controversy regarding what kind of roof the broch would have had over the years. And it is unclear what purpose the broch served over the centuries. Hypotheses include the broch acting as a fortress, a tomb with ceremonial “furniture,” or a residence for a very important personage.

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The second important spot here is the storm petrel colony which is home to 8000 breeding pairs, or 3% of the world's total. Arctic terns also use the island for nesting. And gray and common seals are found there, hauled out on the beaches.

Our long walk from the broch to the cliffs where the birds were nesting took us through the moorland nesting areas of the parasitic jaegers (hunters in German) or Giant Skuas in Scottish terminology.

They are a very large brown bird that is very

aggressive

in

defending

its

territories. So the walk was rather active as we all ducked and dodged the big birds flying straight at us and divebombing us as well.

They were particularly averse to people who were walking along alone. And they hated beige hats, at least that's what we gathered from their attentions to those people and those hats. Of course, my hat was beige!

It was rather comical except that Peter had warned us that they can really hit hard—hard enough to knock an adult down on the ground. Though there were some near collisions, no one was the victim of a direct hit.

JARLSHOF Outside Lerwick, Shetlands near Mousa This archeological site contains remains dating from 2500 BC up to the 17th century.

2000 BC - 800 BC: The Bronze Age settlers left evidence of several small oval houses with thick stone walls and various artifacts including a decorated bone object. The remains of several small oval houses with thick stone walls are Bronze Age and are similar, but of a later

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date, than the structures at Skara Brae. These buildings may have been partly subterranean at the earliest period of habitation, a technique which provided stability and insulation.

There is also evidence of a cattle stall with a stone trough waste channel leading away into a tank in the courtyard.

There is also a “workshop” building evidently belonging to the local smithy since there are many artifacts connected with this occupation: broken molds for axes, knives, swords and pins. A bronze dagger was also found at this site.

1200 BC - 550 BC: The Iron Age ruins include several different types of structure including a broch (round tower) and a defensive wall around the site. The inhabitants of the Iron Age village built part of their settlement atop the Bronze Age one. These structures include a complex roundhouse and a broch with a defensive wall. Part of this structure has been lost to coastal erosion over the centuries and modern day sea defenses are in place presently. A cattle byre dating from the Iron Age has also been unearthed. A later Iron Age structure was a wheelhouse with three piers. Again, no one is quite sure how these building were utilized.

10 AD - 500 AD: The Pictish period provides various works of art including a painted pebble and a symbol stone with a cross etched into it, suggesting an influence of Christianity at this point in time. Pottery finds date to 10 AD and are considered to be Pictish in origin.

800 AD – 1300 AD: The Viking Age ruins make up the largest visible parts of the site and include a “longhouse” typical of Viking villages. Norse Period remains used to cover most of this site and it is believed that the Norse inhabited the site continuously from the 9th to the 14th centuries. Excavations in the 1930s revealed the first confirmed Norse longhouse in the British Isles and later digs in the 1950s found evidence of fishing and farming in the site.

There are seven Norse-era houses at Jarlshof and there were several outbuildings as well, including a small square building with a large hearth which may have functioned as a sauna.

Animal bones have been found in the settlement including seals, sheep, ponies, cattle, even a single dog, but no chickens. Evidence of the importance of wool to the Norse is found in remnants of equipment used to card, spin, and weave wool into cloth. Over 150 loom weights have been unearthed as well as spindle whorls. Iron tools have been found as well: knives, shears, scissors, sickles, fish hooks, and needles. Apparently the iron used was bog iron. This type of iron refers to impure iron deposits that develop in bogs (swamps) through a chemical or biochemical oxidation of iron carried in the solutions. It was discovered in the pre-Roman Iron Age and most Viking-era iron was smelted from bog iron. Drawings on slate

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include depictions of dragon-prowed boats, portraits of an old man and a young bearded man, and a four-legged animal.

The most visible structure on the site is the wall of the Scottish period fortified manor house, which was named “Jarlshof” by Sir Walter Scott in one of his novels from 1821. This site is still ripe for further archeological exploration, but because such work inevitably destroys as it discovers new things, there is a current moratorium on further excavations.

NOSS ISLAND #13 on map Another of the small (773 acres) uninhabited island members of the Shetland group is this one. It had a small population of about 20 until 1851 but has been empty of people residents (except nature wardens and scientists) since then. It became a Nature Reserve in 1955. The high cliffs and grassy plains make it a haven for seabirds of all the types we were becoming so familiar with. In addition, sea otters also call there regularly.

FAIR ISLE #14 on map Yet another of the tiny islands in the Shetlands noted for its bird populations. It is considered to be the very best place in Great Britain to see rare and unusual birds who pass through in migrating season or are blown off course. The island is famous for a Bird Observatory founded in 1948 by George Waterston who sold the remainder of the island to the Scottish National Trust in 1954.

The island's other claim to fame is the world famous knitting patterns created there. The wool is high quality and the patterns are bright and vivid. Due to the decrease in the population (down to 70 including 10 children who live in Lerwick for schooling) there are insufficient knitting ladies to meet the demand. Currently orders for future deliveries are not even being taken. In 1900 the population was 400!

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There are two churches (Methodist & Scots Presbyterian), no pubs or restaurants, a community center, and the bird observatory which includes hotel accommodations for birders.

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This little bit of earth, only 3 miles long and 1.5 miles wide, has an amazing diversity of land forms. There are the high cliffs on the west coast which reach 660 feet and provide excellent nesting sites for the many seabirds. The southern part is more like a grassland area and it is where the farmers (crofters) do their farming. The northern part of the island is beautiful but not very useful to the human residents because it is rocky moorlands.

The sheep enjoy the area however. Actually the fields there look manicured and mowed, so the sheep do tend their area well.

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The island is crisscrossed by high stone fences. Some are over eight feet tall. They do not serve to delineate one owner's land from another's as all pasture-land here is communal.

Rather, the fences are an attempt to protect the people, animals and grasslands from the often strong ocean winds. On the positive side, the islanders use the constant wind to drive two wind turbines that create the electricity for the islanders. It is not hard to see why this is the remotest island in the British Isles with ahuman population.

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ISLE OF MAY #15 on map This small dot of land sits in the outer north part of the Firth of Forth about eight miles off mainland Scotland. Just a mile long and a quarter mile wide, it now belongs to the Scottish National Trust and is a National Nature Reserve. Rangers live there seven months a year. It is home to millions of seabirds but also is a breeding ground in winter for the Atlantic grey seals. The Isle has a complex history with many visitations, raids, establishment of Christian churches and monasteries, modern lighthouse construction (there are two on the island) and two foghorns as well.

During our visit, the beautiful moorlands were filled with wildflowers on every possible inch of the place. The birds filled the skies and the bright sunshine was actually hot on our skin.

We enjoyed seeing the fine stone fences all over the place with their elaborate gateposts but no actual gates any longer. We did see a couple of bunnies on the land but no other 47

mammals were visible. This little bit of paradise is shared only by the bountiful birds and the humans who guard and study them.

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BASS ROCK Not on map – seen from Isle of May This steep-sided volcanic plug rock is also situated in the Firth of Forth, but much closer to the mainland than Isle of May. It is 351 feet high and from Edinburgh appears to be white, but that's because of the tens of thousands of Northern gannets who nest there. Their white feathers and guano turn the dull grey rock into a snowy landscape at breeding season. In its past, Bass Rock has been a retreat for hermit monks, a fortress castle, and a prison.

Nowadays, it is home to an unmanned lighthouse and the largest single rock gannetry in the world. The Scottish Seabird Center manages the bird sanctuary and their naturalists are the only ones with permission from the island's private owner to go onto the rock, except for the Scottish Lighthouse managers who can service the lighthouse when necessary.

At one time, there was enough grass growing on the rock to permit about 200 sheep to graze there. There was also a well on the rock that produced enough fresh water for the needs of the monks, prison personnel and the sheep. The Seabird Center now has webcams on the island. The lenses produce such clear images that the letters and numbers on the rings around the bird legs can be read. See them at http://www.seabird.org/webcam-live.asp.

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However, if you tune in during nighttime, you'll see a black screen and if you tune in after all the babies are fledged (after August) you'll see a bare rock.

EDINBURGH #16 on map In some ways, the visit to this fine city encapsulates the whole history apparent in the remote islands and sites we had previously visited. All the different stages of human occupation in the British Isles are met in Edinburgh and still it flourishes as the vibrant capital city of Scotland.

Humans have occupied the land in the Edinburgh vicinity since the Bronze Age, leaving traces of primitive stone settlements at Holyrood as well as other sites which we did not visit. There are Celtic influences which have been present since before the Romans reached what is now Scotland in the 1st millennium AD. The Angles from Northumbria had a three-century influence in the area beginning about 638 AD. It was not until 950 AD that the city Edinburgh fell to the Scots who maintained control from then onwards.

By the 12th century, Edinburgh was well-established, founded upon the famous “castle rock,” a volcanic crag geological feature shaped by 2 million years of glacial activity. Growing up alongside the castle and its community was the settlement developed around the Abbey of Holyrood, known as Canongate.

In the 13th century, these two became Royal Burghs separately but also grew together physically. In 1492 King James IV moved his capital from Stirling to Holyrood which made Edinburgh the undisputed capital of the country. It grew and flourished despite religious turmoil (the Scottish Reformation) and some political upheavals as well.

In 1603, King James VI of Scotland became King James 1 of England, Ireland and Scotland following the death of Queen Elizabeth I. So the unification of the British Isles was complete, though the actual Act of Union was not ratified until 1707. There have been disputes many times between England & Scotland but the Union was never seriously threatened.

Holyrood Abbey

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The Abbey dates from 1127 according to a legend which states that King David I ordered the abbey constructed following an encounter he had while hunting. He was supposedly thrown from his horse and threatened by a huge stag trying to gore him. Suddenly, a cross appeared between the stag's antlers and the King grabbed it. The stag then raced away and the King deemed the experience a miraculous saving of his life. A further detail of the story says the incident occurred during the Feast of the Cross. As part of the King's personal thanksgiving, the Abbey was begun on the site of the incident in 1128. “Rood” is an old word for “cross,” thus the name for the Abbey. The Abbey was originally served by a community of Augustinian canons.

This original abbey church was reconstructed from 1195 to 1230. The completed building consisted of a six-bay aisled choir, three-bay transepts with a central tower above, and an eight-bay nave with twin towers at its west front. Scottish royalty quickly exerted influence over the Abbey and used its cloister as a residence occasionally. The tradition of coronations in the Abbey began around 1437 with the crowning of James II. The English inflicted structural damage on Holyrood Abbey in 1544 and again in 1547 during one of the periodic raids various English Lords would wage against Scotland. Lead was stripped from the roof, the bells were removed and the contents of the Abbey were plundered.

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In 1559, during the Scottish Reformation, the Abbey suffered further damage when a mob destroyed its altars and further looted the church. In 1569, the Church of Scotland declared the east end of the church redundant due to the end of monastic rule of the Abbey. It was decided that the east end was in a terrible state of disrepair and should be demolished and it was. Only the nave was retained since it was serving as the parish church for Canongate.

Between 1570 and 1573 further depredations were made with the removal of the royal tombs to the south aisle and the blocking up of all but two windows in the nave. The Abbey was extensively remodeled in 1633 for the coronation of Charles I. By 1688 with the religious conflicts, the Abbey was again plundered by a mob and much of the royal trappings looted.

A violent storm caused the stone vaulted roof to cave in, that being the final insult to the Abbey itself. It has been an unroofed ruin ever since. Even though there have been proposals to renovate and restore the Abbey, these efforts have come to naught as the proposals were rejected.

The Palace of Holyrood was built by James IV between 1498 and 150l. Today it is the official residence of the monarch, Elizabeth II today, in Scotland. The palace was built around a quadrangle situated to the west of the Abbey cloister. It contains a chapel, gallery, royal apartments, and a great hall. Mary, Queen of Scots, had apartments in the Palace. The palace too has seen its share of looting, plundering and reconstruction over the years but appears as it did when it was first built in the 15th century. The palace stands at the opposite end of the Royal Mile from the Edinburgh Castle.

Edinburgh Castle is a castle fortress dominating the skyline of the city from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated as far back as the 9th century BC although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. There has been a royal castle here since at least the reign of David I in the 12th century. Over the centuries the Castle has been involved in many of the historical conflicts from the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century to the Jacobite rising in 1745, and has been besieged, both successfully and unsuccessfully, on several occasions.

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The most important survivor of turbulent times is St. Margaret's Chapel which dates from the early 12th century. Actually it is the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh itself. The chapel is in the Romanesque style During the Protestant Reformation it was used as a gunpowder storehouse The stained glass windows were added in 1922 and now the chapel is once again consecrated and is in use for prayer, wedding ceremonials and baptisms.

The Memorial to the Unknown Soldiers of Scotland is within the fortress and there is also a War Memorial dedicated to exhibitions of weapons, uniforms, and military honors over the years.

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BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES From the largest species of seabird in the North Atlantic, the Northern Gannet to the littlest seabirds of all, the storm petrels, we did see every size in between. The gannet has a six-foot wingspan while the little petrel has only a 12 inch one. Most of the seabirds we saw on this trip were colonial and cliff- nesters. That word “colonial” in this sense means they put their nests as close to next pair's home as they can manage. Most of them are also “pelagic” which means they come to land only to nest and the rest of their life is spent at sea. Many of the birds are really “lost” to scientists during the non-breeding season and no one knows where in the world they spend the rest of their time. Most of these birds will nest on ledges and sea cliffs among other species as well as their own. Because they “fish” differently and in different places as well as choosing different fish, they can co-exist quite well in the rocky, high, and lonely spots in the sea along the British Isles. However, in general they are not confined to the British Isles areas. Some of the biggest colonies of some of these birds are in this area however and we were privileged to see a few.

Northern Gannet

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Let’s start with our largest Atlantic seabird—the Northern Gannet. According to our on-board ornithologists, the Gannet is the albatross of the North. Its marking are similar about the face and it is a pure white bird except for black wingtips and it has a light golden color on its head and nape. It is a plunge diver from heights as much as 130 feet and it spears its prey on the bill on the way up from the dive. It can dive up to 72 feet down in the ocean as well.

When gannets inhabit a cliff-side or a sea-stack, the site can appear to be covered in snow because the birds are so numerous and so white. Each gannet pair has only one chick to feed since only one pale blue to greenish egg is laid in the nest which is made from seaweed, grasses, flotsam and feathers cemented with excreta. Gannets can live up to 21 years and don't begin breeding until they are 3 to 4 years old. This bird is 32 to 43 inches long and weighs from 4 to 8 pounds, a good sized bird. They are elegant in the air and very beautiful as their wings are black in silhouette and then brilliant white when the sunlight hits them.

Storm Petrel

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Seems only fair to let the smallest seabird in the world be next in our spotlight—the Storm Petrel. They are little fellow ranging from 5 to 10 inches in length. They are found over all the oceans of the world which means they are much more widespread than the other seabirds we saw. Like the gannet, this bird is also a colonial nester and uses crevices in clifffaces and burrows. They are mostly dark with some white on the rump and the most characteristic trait is the seeming ability to “walk on water.” Actually they are able to flutter their wings and hover above the water while letting their feet patter at the surface.

Even though the storm petrel is tiny he shares something amazing with his bigger brothers, the albatrosses. He also is a member of the “tube-nose” family. This means that atop his bill with its nostrils, he has a narrow tube running down the bill which is very important to his survival at sea. Through this tube, the bird excretes the salt that he takes in with his food and during his dives. When seen up close, he appears to have a runny nose, but it is the salt dripping down the beak.

One of our favorite bird encounters was on the island of Mousa. The storm petrels nest there in the dry stone crevices that make up the Broch there. As we climbed up through the interior wall staircase, we could the birds “purring” in their nests. It really did sound like contented cats in the wall, soft and soothing. The storm petrel has another rather unique identifier. In order to escape the bigger birds of prey, the petrels usually gather together at dusk and fly into their nesting area using the cover of darkness. He is the only seabird which employs this tactic. Only one bird has figured out how to penetrate this defense, the giant skuas on St. Kilda.

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Giant Skua

So it seems logical to discuss the Giant Skua next. He has a nickname in the Shetlands which is used nowhere else—the bonxie. No one knows where the name originated. He is a good sized bird with a body length from 20 to 23 inches long and a wingspan of 49 to 55 inches.

However, even though he is smaller than a gannet, he can bring one down when he is attempting to steal its catch. He does this by grabbing one wing of the gannet and dragging it into the water. He will often kill the gannet if it does not give up the fish. The bird is a grayish brown with lighter streaks and a black cap. He is very aggressive and will attack anything he thinks is menacing his nest site, even human beings. On Mousa Island, we were all dodging the Giant skua attacks because our trail took us near to their hillside nesting place.

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Puffin The seabird everyone is familiar with and which is the easiest for all to identify is, of course, the Puffin.

He is often called the “parrot of the sea” because of his heavy and colorful beak streaked with red, blue and yellow pigments. The monks on Skellig Michael called him “the little brother of the North” and that name became his Latin (in translation of course) moniker. His legs are set back far on his body so he stands upright rather like a penguin, but he is not kin to those Antarctic birds. He is of the auk family. His stance and his black and white tuxedo style feathers give him a comic dignity that most folks find appealing. He has white cheeks and reddish-orange legs to complete his clownish attire. Because of barbs on his palate, he can carry a prodigious number of fish in his big beak at any one time. We heard all sorts of records for the most ever counted in a puffin's beak, but most ranged between 45 and 63.

However, the puffins we watched so avidly were generally carrying no more than 10 or so.

Puffins can live up to 30 years and do not start to breed until they are somewhere between three and six years old. They nest where there are grassy areas because they need earth in which to dig their burrows. They line the burrows with feathers, seaweed and grasses. When at sea they usually fish about 60 miles off shore, but when they are caring for their chicks, they generally go about half that far from the nesting sites. From inside their burrows, we could their calls which sounded to us rather like a leaf blower revving up. On the wing they sound more twittery and more like songbirds. In size the mature birds are 11 to 13 inches high and have 20-24 inch wingspans. So they are a fairly small bird. Their eggs take longer to hatch than most of the seabirds and the fledging time is also more prolonged. So they are also very busylittle birds.

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Razorbill

Another very attractive and small member of the auk family is the Razorbill. He is a plump little bird who also sits upright like a penguin. He is 6 inches in length and has a wingspan of 24 to 26 inches. His color is black above and white underneath. He has vertical white marks on his thick black bill and another white stripe from his beak to almost his eye. He is quite dapper in appearance. He too has a rather growly call when sitting on his nest. The razorbill couple produces one egg and since their nest is almost nonexistent, it is cone shaped to prevent it falling off the ledge where it is deposited. The razorbill is comical to watch as it takes off from the sea surface because he is clumsy and it appears that lift-off will be aborted. Razorbills can live to 28 years of age.

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Kittiwake The sweetest looking member of the gull family is the Kittiwake. He too lives in big colonies and is the only gull which will only nest on cliffs. The kittiwake has a white head and body with a gray back and

wings.

While

most

gulls

appear somewhat fierce in the face, the kittiwake's face is sweet.

Perhaps it is because his head is very round that he such a different expression on his face. This gull is 16 inches long and has a wingspan of between 35 and 39 inches. He gets his name from his call which sounds to birders like: kitty waaaake.

Herring Gull Next, let's move on to another member of the gull family: the Herring Gull. This handsome bird sports a silver grey back with a white head, neck and underbelly.

He smartly sets off his wings with black tips. He has a heavy yellow bill with a red spot which attracts the chicks who peck at it to get him to regurgitate their meals for them.

His legs are flesh-colored. This is also a long-lived bird; he can last up to 30 years like some of his neighbors on the cliffs, though there have been some few banded specimens known to have survived 49 years. This bird is also widely dispersed around the Atlantic Ocean and is no danger of extinction at this point because he has learned to live well with human beings through some very good scavenging skills. He is a good sized bird, 22-26 inches in length.

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Greater Black-Backed Gull is the largest member of the gull family.

This gull is 28-31 inches in length and has a wingspan of 5 to 5.7 feet.

It weighs up to 4.4 lbs. He is both a scavenger and a predatory bird, acting more like a raptor than a typical gull. His head, neck, breast and belly are pure white while his back is dark charcoal to black. He has a yellow bill with a red spot and fleshy pink legs. The bird lives to 27 years in the wild. The chicks were present on many of the islands we visited and they were adorable.

They have fluffy gray feathers with black spots of varying sizes and distribution but mostly on their heads! The parents maraud through the nesting colonies of other seabirds near them and eat eggs and chicks.

Guillemot Another of the auk family we encountered was the Guillemot. He too nests in packed colonies and is very noisy in them. However, he is a very quiet bird at times other than breeding season. It is his chicks who have to perform the “derring-do” of jumping off their cliff-side ledges, even with their fluffy chick feathers, into the sea below

them.

Nature

has

also

provided that the father cannot desert them once they jump off the cliff because he is molting at that time and cannot fly away and abandon his fatherly responsibilities. However, the mother guillemots have no

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such “ties that bind” and they fly away to sea as soon as the chicks launch themselves out on the air with tiny and undeveloped wings.

Northern Fulmar The last of the important seabirds we observed is the Northern Fulmar.

Remember, it's the one that will throw up on you! This bird, along with the puffin, has long been a foodstuff for human beings living on islands and near their colonies. It is gull-like but is not in the gull family; instead it is a tube-nose like the storm petrels and the

albatrosses

of

the

southern

ocean. It has a white head and black back, white undersides, reddish feet and legs and a yellow beak. Fulmars are not particularly big birds; they are between 15 and 19 inches long and their wingspan is between 39 & 44 inches. Fulmars are long-lived, the average age is 32. But it is one of the longest surviving birds in the North Atlantic with specimens up to 50 years old. Because of its long lifespan, it does not begin to breed until it reaches 8 or 10 years. There is one white egg per nest and both parents share feeding and care duties. If you recall the section on St. Kilda, you will remember that the human residents of that remote place used fulmars extensively in securing their livelihoods. The fulmar feathers were their “money” as well for paying the absentee landlord back in Scotland.

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ANIMALS OF THE BRITISH ISLES Most of the animals we saw during this trip were domesticated but we enjoyed seeing them in such lovely surroundings in rich green pastures. So these creatures do not really fit into the categories “wild” or “wooly” except for the three different kinds of sheep we saw. The usual ones were almost everywhere we went except on some of the uninhabited islands. The Soay sheep live on St. Kilda and the four horned sheep were residents of the Isle of Man. We saw two different kinds of seals; most numerous were the grey seals but we also watched a few of the common seals (harbor seals in North American terms). Some of the folks were lucky enough to see the basking sharks, but Kay and I did not. Nor did we see any of the sea otters which we were told it was possible to view in Scottish waters.

Grey Seal is much the larger and in this species the males can be almost twice as large as the females. The males can reach 10 feet and the females usually are 4-5 feet Males can weigh up to 770 lbs. while females are usually less than 500. They have longer snouts than the harbor seals and look more like dogs in the face. Both males and females do not eat during the 4-6 weeks of the mating and pupping seasons. The animals congregate in breeding colonies but spend their time alone otherwise. They have two layers of fur for warmth as well as a thick layer of blubber. Females typically live about 40 years while makes usual reach no more than 30 years.

Harbor Seal is common in our NE and have a rather round face with a short snout. They commonly reach 4-6 feet and males can weigh up to 375 lbs. These seals live about 25-30 years and do not move much from their home waters so they are vulnerable to changes in that environment. They are solitary creatures and both breed and birth underwater. They are the most widely distributed of all seal species.

Four-horned Sheep We saw this unusual breed of sheep on the Isle of Man. It is considered to have been bred in ancient times. There are many coat colors and horn shapes for the two pairs. Usually, though, one set is larger, spiral and down-curving while the second is more straight up and smoother. These animals are very hardy and require little care, especially in the way of extra feedings. As a matter of fact, two much supplemental feeding results in difficult births. They are not a flocking variety and they are sheared only once yearly. Their wool quality is deemed medium fine and there are problems with clumping and knotting of the wool. Most experts believe that the sheep are descendants of the sheep the

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Norse brought with them to the British Isles. Others believe that their true origin is the Middle East and the sheep got to the Isle of Man from wrecked Spanish ships in the 1600s.

Soay Sheep This breed is another primitive one and is considered to be a survivor of the earliest sheep found in Europe. They are smaller and more agile than domestic sheep or the 4-horned variety. They commonly climb on the cliffs of their current home—Hirta Island in the St. Kilda archipelago. They can be almost any color from white to black with many combinations and they are self-shearing. Both males and females can be horned or not. At present the group on Hirta is unmanaged but studied intensively. There are no predators for them on the island and no competitors either so they are excellent specimens to study for evolutionary trends, population, and demography. It has already been understood that they will out-breed their food source and their numbers can drop dramatically within 12 weeks of this phenomenon occurring. So the group is not self-regulating in terms of population balance.

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ANIMAL STORIES Thomas, The Fair Isle Cat: It really isn't accurate to call this cat unusual or a primitive breed. But he was a beautiful cat and we had a really fun thing happen with him while we were on Fair Isle. As we wandered through the village looking for the Museum we had been told to visit, we spotted this big tom cat on a walkway right behind the landmark we had been instructed to watch for—a large yellow plastic container—which would mark the Museum for us. So we marched right up the walkway and leaned over to talk to “Thomas” as we instantly named the big tabby cat. He was friendly but a little shy of any touching.

However, he did talk to us and yawn really widely for us. When we started back up the walkway to enter the Museum, “Thomas” smartly preceded us and stood expectantly at the glass entrance door. We figured he knew where he was and where he belonged so we opened that door and he ran in. We followed and found ourselves in a foyer between that outer door and another inner glass door. We peeked in and immediately realized that we were in a private home and NOT the museum. Thomas continued looking at us hopefully but we were reluctant to open the inner door. So we skulked out hoping no one had seen our mistake but Thomas would not follow us. He knew this is where he lived. So we left him there trapped between the inner and outer doors. We laughed all the way to the real museum as we wondered what his family would be thinking on seeing him in that foyer.

How did he get there? Has he learned to open the door? Is he a magical cat who can pass through a glass door? Of course, the answer will never been known so we can imagine the conclusion any way we like.

Tale of Two Mice: This is another interesting story that occurred on St. Kilda, Hirta the big island to be exact. While human beings occupied the island, two kinds of mice lived alongside them and thrived—the St. Kilda Field Mouse and the St. Kilda House Mouse. They did not interbreed and were recognized as two separate species. Within only a few years of the departure of the last human beings from the island, the House Mouse disappeared and is now certified as extinct. Meanwhile, the field mouse has continued to do well and is still resident on the island. Surely this is a tale of caution in evolutionary history—it not a good thing to evolve into an animal totally dependent for its survival on another species.

The Wren, Sheep, Puffin & Field Mouse: A species interdependence that works is evident on St. Kilda too. This one involves 4 different animals and probably explains why the 67

St. Kilda Field Mouse has survived while the House Mouse population failed. Biologists have noted that the St. Kilda Wren (it may become a recognized species soon and if it does, it will be the UK's only indigenous bird) and the Field Mouse use the puffin burrows at times other than breeding season. Not only do they shelter there, they also eat the lice and ticks that infest the puffins as well as carrion left by the puffins. The sheep trample the fields and keep grasses low and the soil soft enough for puffins to dig their burrows. The field mice finish off the carrion of the dead sheep. It's quite an intricate but rather elegant circle of life that plays out there in that remote Atlantic Archipelago.

Herring Gull Eats a Rabbit At Jarlshof, we saw something we never had ever seen, never had wished to see, and certainly never hope to see again. But it's worth relating because it is so unusual, we trust! As we were leaving the Neolithic site under a cloudy and even a little drippy sky, we were walking beside a field of wildflowers with a sheep-mown lawn. There were shorebirds birds flying overhead and rabbits leafing through the blades of grass for tidbits. The sheep were munching along and songbirds were singing their twittery songs. Everything appeared bucolic and serene, like the Edward Hicks’ painting of the “peaceable kingdom.”

Then swoosh out of the sky came a very large herring gull! He fell upon a young bunny who did not seem to sense his danger before it was upon him. We watched in a terrible fascination, wondering what a gull would want with a rabbit. Almost immediately, the answer was terribly clear. The gull reached down between its webbed feet, opened his beak wide and began to swallow the rabbit whole. It didn't take even 30 seconds before the bunny had totally disappeared down the gull gullet! That seemed wrong on every level we could imagine. A seabird eating a live rabbit whole! The stuff of nightmares!

THE LIGHTHOUSE An unexpected part of the story of our "wild and wooly" British Isles adventure involved lighthouses. We had very little knowledge about lighthouses before this trip and we were surprised to learn that many of the ones we would be seeing were the work of a famous Scottish family, the Stevensons. You may not know anything much about lighthouses either but you do know this family through its most famous son, Robert Louis Stevenson the author of “Treasure Island" and "Kidnapped."

In 1786, the Scots founded the Northern Lighthouse Board to further shipping safety and support research into more efficient methods of warning ships about stationary hazards.

The Board still functions in this way today. In the past there was instruction for lighthouse68

keepers and now it is more directed at the people who service the automated lighthouses which are the most numerous today. Like our own county, Britain has very few actively manned lighthouses any longer. But back in the 19th century, lighthouses were vital to commercial shipping as well as to the casual boating public. Robert Louis Stevenson's grandfather, Robert, became interested in designing and building lighthouses with the latest technologies and equipment. His mother had remarried following the death of Robert's own father, and his stepfather was a member of the Northern Lighthouse Board.

Robert apprenticed with him to learn the craft and began to fulfill his ambition of building these vital structures. His first was completed in 1791 when he helped supervise the construction of the Clyde Light in the River Clyde. During his career, he developed the intermittent and the flashing lights. He also built bridges, roads and railroads. He was a very productive man.

Robert had 13 children but only five survived into adulthood. His three sons, Alan, David, and Thomas (father of RLS) all went into the business too. Among them they built at least 40 lighthouses in the UK as well as in Japan and Europe. They were the foremost lighthouse designers and builders of their day. We saw at least four of theirs during our travels: one on the Isle of May, another at Sumburgh Head on the Mainland of the Shetlands, the one already mentioned on Flannan Isle and the last one on Bass Island, the huge gannetry already described.

It was a major disappointment to his father Thomas that Robert Louis Stevenson was never in the least interested in lighthouses or other kinds of civil engineering. All his life he repeated to his father that he wanted to be a writer and nothing else. At least two of the children of his father's brother, David, did join the family profession, David Alan and Charles Alexander Stevenson. They continued in the work until the 1930s. Even one of RLS' aunts was somewhat involved since she illustrated a book on the Bell Light House as well as a biography of her father.

The lighthouses designed by the members of this family are not only functional but attractive buildings as well. They are also created to make for comfortable living for the lighthouse-keepers and their families as much as possible. The designs are generally in keeping with the other buildings of their times, which means that many are fine Victorian edifices.

Perhaps, we can hope, Robert finally forgave his son RLS for the desertion when he saw that the books he wrote were popular and well-received. And that his son was making a good living from his choice of work. So the Stevenson story ended in two kinds of successes!

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OUR SHIP – THE ISLAND SKY

Our home and transportation for this adventure was the newly refurbished (in 2008) Island Sky. The ship was not very old anyway since was first built in 1992. It is a spacious yet intimate ship with facilities for 100 passengers, but we were only 86. The cabins are roomy with separate bedroom and sitting areas as well as a private bathroom. There was indirect and direct lighting which our cabin great reading in the evenings and always bright enough.

There were three portholes with floor to ceiling draperies providing privacy, as well as darkness since the sky itself was often totally light until very late into the wee small hours when we were high "up on the globe." We had a TV, small fridge, twin- beds, a sofa, an easy chair, and a desk for furniture. There was lots of storage, both with closets and drawers.

Public areas were very comfortable; a single seating dining room on our deck, and a formal restaurant on the Lido Deck (5th). We had a well-supplied Library on board which also functioned as a computer room. There was a bar with piano, a Lounge (where we had our lectures and cocktail parties), a promenade deck which gave us a mile walk if we went round 9 times. A popular place during our times at sea was the 6th floor observation deck with comfortable chairs and a 180 degree unobstructed view.

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CONCLUSION Our "wild & wooly" trip to the UK and its gem-like isles proved to be educational and a merry expedition as well. We loved every single one of the places we visited and had so much fun bird watching, sightseeing, gawking at strange creatures and behaviors, riding in the wonderful Zodiacs, hiking through the wildflowers and among the nesting birds, relaxing in the very comfortable Island Sky, our oceangoing home for the two weeks, and enjoying some darned good meals besides. Thanks to Zegrahm and all the terrific and enthusiastic experts on board with us too. We certainly understand why so many Zegrahm veterans rank this trip as among the best the company offers. We would rank it right up there too.

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