Canna, Scotland

Canna (Gaelic Canaigh )is the westernmost of the Small Isles, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It is linked to the neighbouring island of Sanday by a footbridge and, except at high tide, by sandbanks. The island is 7 km long and 1.5 km wide.

The islands were left to the National Trust of Scotland by their previous owner, the Gaelic folklorist and scholar John Lorne Campbell in 1981, and are run as a farm and conservation area. However, Campbell's widow, the American musician Margaret Fay Shaw, continued to live on Canna until her death in 2004 aged 101. The islands have a mostly Roman Catholic population of 12 people (2001 census). Canna House, one of two big houses on the island (the other being Tighard), contains John Campbell's important archives of Gaelic materials that were donated with the islands to the nation. There are 20 buildings on the island, such as three churches, one tea room and a post office.

The island is isolated - the inhabitants buy their groceries on the mainland - but it has a phone line and a broadband connection (unfortunately no mobile phone coverage). Electricity is providede by a diesel generator. The island has a zero crime rate - but a mainland-based policeman patrols the island twice a year. A doctor is available for house calls once a month.

Canna is known for its birds, including Manx shearwaters and puffins. The island is also inhabited by a number of rare butterfly species. In the nearby waters one can spot dolphins and smaller whales. The highest point on the island is Carn a' Ghaill (gaelic for rocky hill of the storm) at 210m. On the eastern edge of the island, Compass Hill (139m) is formed of a volcanic rock known as tuff of such a high iron content that nearby ships' compasses are distorted.

A large natural harbour is formed by the gap between Canna and Sanday. This is used by the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry, MV Lochnevis, which links the islands to the mainland port of Mallaig (2 1/2 hours away), and the neighbouring Small Isles of Rùm, Eigg and Muck. The harbour is well sheltered. It is the only deep harbour in the small isles, and is very popular with west coast yachting traffic out of Oban and Arisaig.

The isolated skerries of Hyskeir (or Heyskeir) and Humla lie 10km south west of the island. The lighthouse on Hyskeir is an important navigation landmark in the Minch.

Rat problem

In September 2005, it was reported that the population of Brown Rats on the island had grown to 10,000 and was causing such problems to both the human population and the birdlife, particularly the rare Manx shearwaters, that a complete cull would take place. However, the population of woodmice, Apodemus sylvaticus on the island is a distinct race descended from a norse lineage, and as the rat cull used rodenticide poison, a breeding population of mice was removed beforehand by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) to safeguard the population's future. The mice are currently, summer 2006, being returned to Canna and monitored by the RZSS. The rat project is ongoing and funded for winter 2005 and 2006.

Bibliography

• Shaw, Margaret Fay: From the Alleghenies to the Hebrides (Canongate, 1999)

External links

• grid reference NG245055
• www.road-to-the-isles.org.uk/canna.html
• "Families wanted for tiny island: An island which has seen drastic action to protect its rare mice and birds is now trying to end a decline in its human population". British Broadcasting Corporation. 2005-10-06. Retrieved 2006-10-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• South China Morning Post, 2006-10-18