Priest Island

Priest Island

Infobox Scottish island |


latitude=57.96
longitude=-5.51
GridReference=NB925025
celtic name=Eilean a' Chlèirich
norse name=
meaning of name= Priest Island
area= 122 ha
area rank= 137=
highest elevation= 78 m
Population=0
population rank=
main settlement=
island group=Summer Isles
local authority=Highland
references= [2001 UK Census per List of islands of Scotland] Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate.] [ [http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/ Ordnance Survey] ]

Priest Island (Gaelic: Eilean a' Chlèirich) is a small, uninhabited island in the Summer Isles off the west coast of Scotland.

History

It is believed that the island was used by culdees for religious purposes, and has several stone circles.cite web| url=http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/features/featurefirst1678.html| title=Overview for Priest Island| publisher=Gazetteer for Scotland| accessdate=2007-12-15]

Geography

Priest Island is the outermost and most exposed of the Summer Isles, lying about 6 km off the west coast of Wester Ross.cite web| url=http://www.jncc.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=1862| title=Priest Island SPA Description| publisher=Joint Nature Conservation Committee| accessdate=2007-12-15]

Whitgift School study

In the summer of 1960, a group from an English school studied some of the bird life of the island. Pupils and teachers from Whitgift School in South Croydon spent 2 weeks on the island with official permission to study and ring some of the birds, such as storm petrels at night time (netting and ringing) and shags on the cliffs in daytime. They took a month's supplies with them, including food, tents and equipment totalling quarter of a ton on a trek cart pulled over from Garve Station. The cart's wheel broke half a mile from Garve. After further difficulties, and help from locals, a comprehensive ornithological study was compiled.

The scouts had a copy of Frank Fraser Darling's book "Island Years" with them, recounting, inter alia, his family's year on the Summer Isles.

Wildlife

Eilean a' Chleirich is owned and managed as a nature reserve by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It is a SSSI and a Special Protection Area. Non-avian fauna includes pygmy shrews, otters and grey seals.

Priest Island supports heath communities and a small amount of woodland. Enrichment from salt spray and bird guano enables more species-rich maritime heath and cliff communities to exist around the coast. The island has one of the largest Storm Petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus) colonies in the UK, together with other breeding seabirds.

Footnotes


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Priest (disambiguation) — A priest is a person who holds an office in a religion, for example a Roman Catholic priest.Priest may also refer to:*As a tool: ** Priest (tool), a tool for killing fish*As a vehicle: **M7 Priest, an informal name for an American World War II… …   Wikipedia

  • Priest —   [priːst], Christopher, englischer Schriftsteller, * Manchester 14. 7. 1943; geprägt von der Tradition der Sciencefiction; schreibt v. a. Romane, die den Bezug zu diesem Genre spielerisch reflektieren, z. B. »The space machine« (1976; deutsch… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Priest hunter — A Priest hunter was a person who, acting on behalf of British forces, spied on or captured Catholic priests during Penal Times in seventeenth and eighteenth century Ireland. A 1709 Penal Act demanded that catholic priests take the Oath of… …   Wikipedia

  • Priest Point Park — Infobox park park=Priest Point Park image size=300px caption= type=Municipal (Olympia) location=Olympia, Washington coordinates= size=314 acres opened= operator= annual visitors= status=Open all yearPriest Point Park is a public park located in… …   Wikipedia

  • Island of Kesmai — IoK redirects here. For Indian occupied Kashmir, see Jammu and Kashmir. Island of Kesmai Developer(s) Kesmai Publisher(s) CompuServe Release date(s) …   Wikipedia

  • Ryer Island — is a name shared by two separate islands in the Sacramento San Joaquin River Delta, each located in Solano County, California.The westernmost island is located in the entrance to the Delta between Suisun Bay and Suisun Cutoff.David L. Durham,… …   Wikipedia

  • Christopher Priest (novelist) — For other people of the same name, see Christopher Priest (disambiguation). Christopher Priest Born 14 July 1943(1943 07 14) Cheadle, United Kingdom Occupation Writer Nationality British Ethnicity …   Wikipedia

  • Heron Island (New Brunswick) — Heron Island is a previously inhabited 3.5 km long island in the Baie des Chaleurs, located approximately 4 km from New Mills New Brunswick and across from Carleton sur Mer. It is accessible only at high tide from a wharf on the south side of the …   Wikipedia

  • The Best of Judas Priest — Expand|date=March 2007Infobox Album | Name = The Best of Judas Priest Type = Album Artist = Judas Priest Recorded = 1974 1977 Released = 1977 Genre = Heavy metal | Length = 34:57 Label = Gull Records Producer = Jeffery Calvert, Geraint Hughes… …   Wikipedia

  • St. Brendan's Island — Situated somewhere west of Europe, St. Brendan’s Isle is a phantom island often regarded as myth, since, unless it is the so called Eighth Canary Island known since time immemorial to the Spanish and Portuguese authorities as San Borondón, only a …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”