Shiant Islands

The Shiant Islands[1] (/ʃænt/; Scottish Gaelic: Na h-Eileanan Mòra [nə ˈhelanən ˈmoːɾə] or Na h-Eileanan Seunta [nə ˈhelanən ˈʃiant̪ə] ⓘ) or Shiant Isles are a privately owned island group in the Minch, east of Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

[2] The name Shiant is from the Scottish Gaelic Na h-Eileanan Seunta, which means the "charmed", "holy" or "enchanted isles".

Dolerite columns on the north side of Garbh Eilean are over 120 metres (390 feet) tall and about 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in diameter.

They are much higher in places than those at Staffa and the Giant's Causeway, but similar in that they were formed by the slow cooling of volcanic rocks deep underground.

[10] In some places, the basalt is overlain by Jurassic mudstone, which weathers to form much more fertile soil than is present elsewhere in the Western Isles.

Nicolson (2002) calls this "vault" on Toll a' Roimh at the north east end of Garbh Eilean the "Hole of the Seals" and describes rowing a dinghy through it.

Island-More hath a chapel in it dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and is fruitful in corn and grass; the island joining to it on the west is only for pasturage.

[17] The Shiant Islands have a large population of seabirds, including tens of thousands of Atlantic puffins that breed in burrows on the slopes of Garbh Eilean, and significant numbers of common guillemots, razorbills, northern fulmars, black-legged kittiwakes, common shags, gulls and great skuas.

Analysis of their stomach contents had shown that they ate seabirds, but it could not be determined whether they preyed on live birds or simply scavenged dead ones.

[24][25][26] In March 2018, the Shiant Islands were deemed to have satisfactorily completed the internationally agreed two-year eradication period, and were officially declared rat-free.

Landsat image of the Little Minch . The Shiant Islands are at centre between the much larger islands of Lewis and Harris to the west and northern Isle of Skye , to the south.
View from Garbh Eilean , with Eilean an Taighe on the right, and Eilean Mhuire in the distance. This photograph was taken through a "fisheye” (ultra-wide-angle) lens; it is not representative of what an observer on the ground would see.
Map of the Shiant Isles
Sea cave of Toll a' Roimh on Garbh Eilean
Galtachan sunset. From left to right: Galta Beag, unnamed islet, Bodach (with the stooping silhouette of the "old man") Stacan Laidir and Galta Mòr.
White-tailed eagle eyrie on the Shiant Islands in 1888.
The Shiant Islands. [ 18 ]